Keep your lungs healthy.

It is one of the most delicate organs in your body.

It is organ that has the most rapid progression in cancer and the worst prognosis.

It’s the first organ in the Chinese Meridians circadian system.

The lung captures your very first breath of life and your very last.

Wise Chinese Doctors say that the most difficult thing to treat is colds and flus because in Chinese Medicine colds that have been improperly can lead to other health problems including chronic fatigue, low grade fevers, bronchitis, digestive disorders, skin problems, etc.  Many people have had chronic bronchitis after just one a really bad bronchitis.  In Chinese Medicine, the lungs may have been weakened as a result and there still may have things uncleared from the Lungs.

In Western Medicine, the lungs consist of 2 lobes and are referred to as in plural form.

In Chinese Medicine, Lung Qi refers to the energy of the Lungs and it is singular.

Take care of your lungs:

• Breathe deeply.
• Do breathwork, Qi Gong, Tai Qi, or any therapies that engage the breath.
• Take care of your colds.  Make sure a flu or cold is completely cleared out the lungs.
• Avoid anti-biotics if possible.  It puts a big band-aid and suppresses things that need to be cleared out of hte body.
• Don’t ignore residual lingering coughs.  Long-term coughing can weaken the Lung Qi.
• Keep your colds above your head and neck.  A cold worsens once it has moved down past your throat and enters the lungs.
• Protect your lungs especially during the autumn and winter season.  They are most vulnerable during that season.
• Appreciate your lungs.

But if you do…. most likely it means you’ve got too much (imbalanced) Qi rising up to your head region and causing you discomfort in one way or the other.  By the way, this can happen with too much thinking.

Do this.  Think of a tree.

In fact, be like a tree.

The roots of a tree (like your feet) are grounded.  It is the densest and heaviest.

If the densest and heaviest sensation is up near your head… well, then you’ve got an upside down tree and that never occurs in nature.  That would be a problem.

Ground yourself and be like a tree.

You have to know your baseline. Everyone’s baseline is different. You’ve got to become aware of your own baseline.

When you know your baseline, you can better distinguish when something’s not right with your body.

1. Recognize what you generally feel like on a generally “good day”. What does it feel like for you when…

• you’ve had restful sleep.
• you have enough energy even if you’ve got alot of work on your plate.
• your digestive system working optimally.
• your breathing is full, natural, and easy.
• you are energetic and don’t feel tired at all.

2. Recognize what it’s like on your “bad days”. What does it feel like for you when…

• you haven’t gotten enough sleep.
• you’ve overworked and are worn out.
• you have bloating or gas.
• your breathing feels shallow.
• you feel tired and exhausted

Your point of comparison is not so much your good days, but rather your bad days.  You’ll recognize that something feels unusual or “off” to you because it will feel worse than your typical “bad day”.

For example, you may have bloating or gas on a regular basis and that’s “a normal bad” for you. But, once you know your normal baseline, then if you somehow feel an unusual level of bloating or gas, then you’ll recognize that this beyond what is usually “normal” for you even on your bad days. In another example, you might feel tired lately but you recognize that this level of fatigue feels really different and is beyond your typical “fatigue” baseline.

Becoming intimately aware of how your body is a very good sense to have. It borders intuition and it is truly there to signal you when something is off in the early stages. You only need to pay attention to these subtleties. Moreover, pay attention with your “sense”, not with your “mind”.

Common adverse effects from most drugs are:

• depression
• psychosis or hallucinations
• dizziness upon standing
• sexual dysfunction
• confusion or delirium
• constipation
• urine leakage
• dementia

Going Crazy From The Side Effects

Most of these adverse effects relate to mental or emotional instability. So if you are taking medications long-term and you feel a little beside yourself, know that you’re not going crazy. It can be related to your medications.

From a Chinese Medicine perspective, these symptoms suggest that the drugs are disrupting the Heart and Kidney Qi. Acupuncture, Tai Qi, and Qi Gong can sometimes offset some of these side effects, particularly the mental-emotional ones.

(The depression, psychosis, hallucinations, confusion, delirium, and dementia indicate imbalances in the Heart Qi, while the urine leakage and sexual dysfunction suggest imbalances in the Kidney Qi.)

However, it is now apparent that some high level, prominent physicians have been paid high sums of money (thousands) to endorse and sign off on pharmaceutical research studies, in which they did not conduct. It essentially gave the public the illusion that these drugs were thoroughly researched and therefore safe for consumers.  Buyer, beware.

These unsettling facts leave health consumers wary of doctor’s suggestions for drug medications because their medical advise can be tainted, and they can be misinformed themselves.

Unfortunately, these days, most consumers will have to do their own homework to search for unbiased drug and medical information. Here are some sites for that:

Worst Pills
www.worstpills.org
A nonprofit, independent second opinion site for prescription drugs. Their focus is to ban or relabel unsafe or ineffective drugs while encouraging greater transparency and accountability in the drug approval process.

The Medical Letter
www.medicalletter.org
A nonprofit organization of physicians, unaffiliated with the pharmaceutical industry, critiques both new and old drugs.

Rxlist
www.rxlist.com
An online medical resource for detailed information about current brand name and generic drugs.

Medwatch
www.fda.gov/medwatch
The FDA’s site for reporting safety information and adverse effects of drugs. Note: By the time a drug has reached this website, the information provided here is already delayed.

A medical diagnosis, like asthma, has a whole set of symptomology, expectations, medical implications, prognoses, fears, and limitations attached to it.

But perhaps you can refer to “asthma” as “shortness of breath”.

Your experience as “shortness of breath” is more descriptive in nature and has less of a “charge” to it than an official diagnosis.

I understand that asthma as a diagnosis may be important in some instances but you can be open to the idea that detaching from a diagnosis may bring new perceptions and less limiting ways of seeing your health… and yourself.

Identifying yourself with that diagnosis or your stories can hold you back from transforming it.

Here are 3 ways to detach the story and your identity from (health) problems:

1. A Single Experience In This Time & Space. You can refer to physical discomforts as a single experience in this particular space and time, unrelated to the past or the future.

2. Avoid reiterating or re-telling the story behind the (health) problems. Overtime, people attach themselves to the stories related to their problems.  Our identity and sense of who we are becomes intertwined with this problem.  Once you can let that go, you can begin to perceive your situation with more levity.

3. Notice what is different. If you can stop measuring the pain or discomfort today compared to how it was yesterday,  and just notice how you feel right now (uncompared to your previous experience of the pain or problem), you may notice something different.   The key is to focus on what’s different, not the same.

From a Chinese Medicine point of view, stress creates havoc in the body as well. When Qi (energy) flows smoothly throughout the body, it nourishes the skin and creates a healthy glow.

However, when stress obstructs this smooth flow of Qi (energy), it cannot reach internally to all the internal organs and externally to your skin.  After all, the biggest organ in the body is the skin.

After a long period of stress, doesn’t your skin appear stressed too?  Doesn’t it look dull and malnourished?  That’s exactly what stress does to your skin.

By minimizing stress, you allow the natural ability of your skin, tissue and cells to heal because there is a free flow of Qi and circulation to your skin.

In Chinese Medicine and all holistic medicines, all three are intimately connected.  Acupuncture and  herbs treat the mind by treating the body, and vice versa.   All three operate as one.

Here are 3 simple concepts to show you how to unify your body, mind, and spirit.

1. Consider The Consequences. When you make an intellectual decision, consider the consequences for your body and spirit.  Your mind is limitless, bound by nothing except your own beliefs.  However, your body is bound by limitations. Yes, you can push your body but it really does have limits.   You may recognize this concept when you get sick after too many weeks of overworking.

2.  Acknowledge That It Exists On All Levels. Emotional or spiritual blocks often show up as problems in the body.  Patients who are experiencing grief are often vulnerable to chronic colds, flus, and bronchitis.   Is it a coincidence?  No.  The emotion of grief is particularly related to the Lungs in Chinese Medicine.  What occurs in the emotions, spirit, or mind, occurs in the body as well.

3.  Convey Information To All Three. People often try to make changes in their lives by reciting affirmations or goals intellectually in their minds.  However, it’s essential to also convey these messages to your spirit and kinesthetically into the body in order to fully actualize your goals and desires.  Remember to engage all three: body, mind, and spirit.

So how can you promote better digestion? Minimize sweets and dairy.

In Western Medicine, if that food item doesn’t give you a stomach ache, then you’re ok.  But not so much in Chinese Medicine.  The effects of foods can be subtle and it can accumulate.

In Chinese Medicine, dairy and sweets make it hard on the digestive system, especially over time.

These foods make digestion less efficient and more sluggish.

And when that happens, the digestive system is not functioning properly, and then excess weight, sagging dull skin, or even cellulite can show up.

So here are some good reasons to eat less dairy and less sugar:

1. Improve Your Health

2. Lose Weight

3. Cosmetic Reasons… Having Radiant Beautiful Skin!

But here’s a hidden secret!… The digestive system is the key to exterior beauty… the glow and suppleness of your skin. What you take in reflects on what appears on your skin.

Tip: Avoid greasy foods & processed foods … unless you want that showing up on your skin.