As if it hasn’t been turbulent enough recently, it’s almost time for the volatile and fiery Year of the Dragon! This year, January 23rd is the first day of the Chinese New Year, and marks the end of year of the Rabbit, and the beginning of the year of the Dragon. As you might imagine, […]
These days we’ve all heard of ‘superfoods’, but what are they, and do they really do what they say? The simple answer is that there’s no official definition of a superfood, and the term is normally used to try and convince you that a food has special health-giving properties. But as we know, all natural […]
“Relish oblivion and obscurity, think less, have little desire and practice economy of speech in order to nourish the Qi.” – Li Dong Yuan (pictured) This quote is from a short chapter in a book by Li Dong Yuan (1180-1251 CE), an influential figure in the development of Chinese Medicice. The book is the Pi […]
Here in the UK, Channel 4 have recently been showing a program called ‘Food Hospital’ exploring the use of food as medicine. For all that it’s billed as ground-breaking, I can’t help but feel it’s a missed opportunity. According to the experts involved, all manner of health conditions can be helped by eating a natural […]
Probably the most used acupoint of them all, a favourite of acupuncturists and tui na massage practitioners, and an essential point for health maintenance, Stomach-36 does it all! This point is called Zu San Li in Chinese, meaning ‘leg 3 miles’ – the curious name gives a clue as to the energy boosting properties of […]
A systematic review of complementary and alternative treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has come out in favour of Chinese medicine, finding that ‘studies of qigong, massage and tuina were demonstrated to have positive effects.’ Although the data is still limited, and more research is needed, I’m pleased to see scientific evidence that backs up […]