These are hard times. On varying levels, we are being confronted with deep questions about death, health, family, community, livelihood, and our responsibilities towards ourselves and to one another. We are stripped from our usual comforts and diversions and we are living into these questions at a distance from one another.
What does Traditional Chinese Medicine have to offer at times like these? While most of us think of TCM as needles and herbs for ailments, there is a value to TCM that runs deeper. The depth and breadth of TCM is immense. As prevention, TCM works with the present moment to understand where we are in relation to things. It brings our attention to what we do daily, to the foods we eat, to our day to day movements, to the feelings we have, to the thoughts we think, to the rest our bodies crave and connects the day to day things to a greater cosmology. This is a powerful step to recovering the integrity of our body and our place in the world. TCM points the way to yourself and to the world around you to find the ground beneath your feet. Its great wisdom and power lies in the understanding and cultivation of connection and relationships that optimize health, integrity and resiliency. TCM is a medicine more focussed on living and thriving than on the prevention of dying, although it has powerful medicine and guidance even for the last stages of life.
How are you feeling this very moment? If you are feeling scared, take a deep breath and gently hold the area that feels scared. Nourish yourself with good food, good thoughts, good company and good humor. If you are feeling anxious, take a warm bath, listen to relaxing music, take a nap. If you are feeling angry, vent, run up a hill, sing loudly. If you are feeling sad, cry, share, hug. If you are feeling lonely, reach out to a friend. While these things may seem basic, almost too common sense, the often overlooked key here is to check in with yourself. Feel into and trust what is real for you now and have a willingness to take that seriously. Then empower yourself to shift it with the tools you have within yourself.
Yes, TCM has more sophisticated tools and guidance about what to do as well. That is where the needles and herbs come in. But if you learn how to do the very basic things regularly, it may be enough to take care of yourself. If it is not enough, you can avail yourself with a TCM practitioner who can guide you back to balance and harmony.
TCM evolves from an ancient body of knowledge that emphasizes humans as inseparable from the natural world. Living in harmony with Nature and the environment is essential for health and healing. Harmony and balance are emphasized to cultivate strength, flexibility and resiliency. TCM, by its very nature, is adaptive and capable of giving guidance and remedy at all phases of illness and in every situation.
Keep an eye out for self care video #2 on diet and qigong!
