Guest guest Posted February 18, 2000 Report Share Posted February 18, 2000 -- --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 01:30:21 Dagmar Riley <gesund2000 Letter-from-China _____ LETTER FROM CHINA December '99 (3) A newsletter on and modern China by Dagmar Riley ______ In this issue: THE 5 ELEMENTS ....restricting relationship and examples of use QIGONG ....what is Qi? BEIJING MEMOIRS OF MY CANADIAN FRIEND ROBIN ....first impressions of Beijing DISCLAIMER SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE information ______ For BACK ISSUES of this newsletter, please visit http://www.topica.com/lists/Letter-from-China ______ THE 5 ELEMENTS First of all, thanks for your feedback! Your e-mails are so important for me: For one, they give me an idea what interests you most, where I should explain in greater detail, etc. But they also give some human shape to that empty space I am writing into. I love getting to know you, that's the biggest joy of publishing a newsletter! So you lot, please remember this human being here behind the newsletter! One common request in your e-mails was: Tell me more about herbs in relation to the 5 Elements! Well, all you herbal witches, I wanted to save that for later because we need to study some more basics (e.g.the internal organ-system in Chinese medicine)first, but simply put, this is how it works: The 5 Elements determine what herb (or food) has a natural therapeutic affinity to which organ-system (with organ system I mean the actual organ, its functions and its acupuncture channel). Recall the 5 organs and 5 tastes: WOOD-liver-sour FIRE-heart-bitter EARTH-spleen-sweet METAL-lung-spicy hot WATER-kidney-salty An example: Cinnamon is classified as sweet. Indications for use of cinnamon are no appetite, stomach pains, cold hands and feet, tiredness - all symptoms of an impaired spleen. But let's get on with the basics and plenty of examples to let the new knowledge sink in: The 5 Elements are linked together in a cycle expressing a feeding relationship (or relationship of creation). [For past issues on the 5 Elements, visit http://www.topica.com/lists/Letter-from-China] Let's review this cycle: Earth feeds Metal, Metal feeds Water, Water feeds Wood, Wood feeds Fire, Fire feeds Earth, ... It is helpful to draw this cycle out, because we now have to add a second relationship: In order to maintain a natural balance, there must always be 2 forces: Creation (feeding) and destruction (restriction). Look at your cycle and think who will restrict whom. Draw arrows in another colour for the restriction relationships. Did you come up with this?(I put some helping associations in brackets, you can make your own if you like): metal restricts wood (imagine an axe cutting wood) wood restricts earth (wood uses earth to grow) earth restricts water (filling in a swamp with earth, or building earthen dams against floods) water restricts fire fire restricts metal (fire melts metal) It becomes obvious that the weakness of one element affects the other elements in the feeding-restricting relationship. For example: A weakness of the kidneys (Water)will result in Water failing to nourish Wood (liver), the liver will show signs of deficiency: bad eyesight, headaches, menstrual problems are some common symptoms. At the same time, Water (kidneys) will not properly control Fire (heart) which will flare up. This may cause palpitations of the heart, or high blood pressure (just naming a few possible syndromes). Now how would you treat this type of palpitation? By treating the heart? The root of the problem is the kidney, and the kidney has to be treated to achieve a lasting cure. Another very common example is the liver restricting the spleen. An excessive liver will over-restrict the spleen, resulting in any of the following: digestive problems, stomach aches, feeling sick, diarrhea, etc. Again, treating only the spleen will only bring temporary relief if any: The root cause is the liver over-restricting. My teacher Mrs. Wang told me another interesting example: She had a female patient who had recently suffered a divorce, more or less tragic anywhere in the world, but still very tragic, embarrassing and a social catastrophy in China. The woman was suffering from severe digestive problems, diarrhea, no appetite, stomach pains and listlessness: All classic spleen deficiency symptoms. Attempts to treat the spleen deficiency with proven herbal formulas, however, had almost no effect. Mrs. Wang asked the woman about her emotional state and was told about the divorce. The woman admitted that she took long sick- leaves from work and spent days brooding over her fate and why this catastrophy had happened to her. That explained why the herbs didn't work: The root cause was a very strong emotional imbalance that was not easily treated by herbs. Let's review the 5 emotions: WOOD - Liver - Anger FIRE - Heart - Joy -->EARTH - Spleen - Brooding METAL - Lung - Grief WATER - Kidney - Fear Mrs. Wang thought about how to tackle the problem. She couldn't tell the woman to stop brooding in her present state. Then Mrs. Wang had an idea: She knew the head of the patient's neighbourhood committee and asked him what the patient really cared about. She was told the patient was very close to her mother who lived in the same neighbourhood. Mrs. Wang worked out a plan with two other women from the same neighbourhood: One should visit the patient and tell her that the other woman had spread the most horrible lies about the conduct of the patient's mother. Upon hearing the infamous lies, the patient rushed to the " liar's " house and had a fit of anger, screaming at the woman at the top of her voice for a long time. After letting off enough steam, the patient was told about the scheme and that it was Mrs. Wang who had attempted to cure her this way. Well, the patient got better, she went to work again, took interest in her surroundings, and had reasonable appetite. She responded well to the continued herbal treatment and soon her digestive problems were completely gone. So what had happened? Mrs. Wang had to find a way to remove the root cause of the spleen disharmony, which was ecxsessive brooding (EARTH - brooding - spleen). Whatever good herbs she gave the patient, they had almost no effect as the cause of the disharmony was still present. Because the brooding could not be attacked directly - the patient was so engrossed in her suffering - Mrs. Wang had to find an indirect method. She used the restricting relationship of Wood (Anger) restricting Earth (Brooding). According to western psychology, the woman had probably released all the suppressed anger towards her husband and was finally able to express herself. Whatever the interpretation, it worked! Next time we are finally going to talk about the 5 Elements and YOU! Have you ever wondered why the diet that helped your friend didn't work for you at all? That you just can't get into Yoga or Taichi, although " everybody else " is raving about it? Chances are the diet or exercise doesn't suit your element. We all have a strong tendency towards one element. What we love, our goals in life - all this is the reflection of our element. If we know this element, our true nature, we will feel at home and in control. We are not helplessly confronted with our weaknesses - and it will be easier for us to forgive ourselves. Every type has different physical and psychological/ spiritual strengths. Every type is also susceptible to different bodily or emotional imbalances. Cure and prevention, lifestyle, relaxation exercises and diet are therefore different for each element type. ______ QIGONG For those of you who had time during Christmas to actually do the exercise I don't really have to explain Qi. As with a lot of phenomena that can't be seen and only felt, explanations don't really do justice to what can be experienced. Qi is often translated as " energy " , " life energy " , also " vitality " . One old saying explains it like this: If Qi is gathered, life comes into being. If Qi is scattered, the result is death. Qi cannot be seen, but it can be felt. The concept of Qi does not only appear in medicine: Qi is present in all aspects of life. For example, my calligraphy teacher showed me an example of bad calligraphy and said: " It has no Qi " . Then he showed me one of his favourite calligraphies and proclaimed proudly: " This has Qi! " . When we say in the West that a piece of art or, say, a musician or a dancer have got " it " , for the Chinese his dance or music has a lot of Qi. Consider how you felt after dancing and being completely taken by the music, or after playing an instrument and becoming one with the instrument and the music, or running a successful marathon: Did your body feel light, supple, vibrant and in harmony? That was because what you were doing had Qi - you were doing Qigong! You see that Qigong is something natural that you have been doing many times before in your life - the Chinese just refined the process into an art of complete control to achieve perfect harmony. Qigong exercises are exercises that nourish and regulate Qi within us. Within the body, Qi has the following functions: 1) Qi is the origin of all change and movement of the body, e.g. breathing, the heartbeat, the thought process, the growing process (birth, maturity, death), all physical movement like walking, etc. 2) Qi protects the body from pathologic " invadors " . In this function, the qi is called " Wei Qi " . It circulates beneath the skin and thus operated as a protection shield of the body. 3) Qi extracts nutrients from food and transforms the absorbed nutrients into substances such as blood, sweat, urine, etc. 4) Qi tones the body so that organs don't prolapse, blood stays in the arteries and sweating is controlled not excessive), etc. 5) Qi warms the body and regulates the body temperature. Within the body, Qi flows in channels that are connected to each other and to the internal organs. If Qi flows uninhibited, the internal organs function smoothly, the body is in harmony. In some places these channels run close to the surface of the body and their Qi-flow can be manipulated by acupuncture. ______ BEIJING MEMOIRS OF MY CANADIAN FRIEND ROBIN [i had the opportunity, over the past year, to visit China. My husband is a refrigeration mechanic who was sent to Beijing to build an ice rink in a shopping plaza so that you can skate and shop. Since I love to travel, I quit my job to follow him. This is the story as it unfolds.] We are starting to feel more at home. Things are not so strange anymore and people are starting to recognize us and say ni hao (hello). We went to the Summer Palace last week. What a place! There is a sense of serenity as you walk through the massive gates and into the compound. It is situated on a lake that has many small islands, which are connected by bridges. Of course each bridge has a meaning and special number of arches, posts etc. Down on the lake were people in paddle boats. In a pavilion up the hill was a huge Buddha, which was hundreds of years old. Photos of him were not permitted, as they fear the flash bulbs will eventually harm it. (I dont know what the smog does). The one thing that stands out in my memory however, was the sense of calm and quiet in spite of all the tourists. On the weekend we walked down the road near our apartment to find a vegetable market set up on the street with a multitude of fresh fruits and veggies. Across the street in the park were groups of people doing ballroom dancing to music from a cassette recorder. In front of one restaurant all the staff lined up, chefs in their whites and waiters in their black uniforms, and they were having a team meeting much like in the army when they do drill. The leader barked some words and they responded, clapped hands and MARCHED quick time back to the restaurant. Sales reps take note and make sure your managers dont come to Beijing. The most interesting restaurant is across the street from us, set up in the open air and with tables for about 6 people. In the middle of each table is a pit filled with hot coals and a grill over top of them. Thats where each customer grills his own kebab of meat and/or vegetables. The tables were filled so obviously it was very popular. We saw on TV that Drew Carey was in Beijing taping an episode of his show where he was drugged and ended up in Beijing without money, shoes or passports. Well, he was taping in the Temple of Heaven a few days ago and true to the disrespectful ended up lying down on some carved marble slopes that were surrounded by a small fence. It was the place that only the Emperors could travel over, even the people carrying him in his chair had to walk up the steps on either side of the marble slab. Police promptly tried to fine him but were talked out of it by his crew. It is a very Holy place and he was being quite tacky. Michael is supposed to be starting work properly next week so I will be exploring by myself-something that is quite easy to do. We have been doing a lot of walking around town so I feel quite confident. The people couldnt be more helpful even though they dont always help due to language difficulties. I will let you know what I have found next time. ____ DISCLAIMER The material in this newsletter is intended for informational purposes only. I do not prescribe and I do not diagnose. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of a health professional, you prescribe for yourself, which remains your constitutional right, but the author assumes no responsibility. _______ SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE The Letter from China is published every two weeks on Fridays. New rs will be forwarded the current issue. by sending a BLANK email to: Letter-from-China- by sending a BLANK email to: Letter-from-China- submit your own personal stories gesund2000 and write " article submission " in the subject line. comments, suggestions or criticism gesund2000 and write " comment " in the subject line. _______ Copyright ) 1999 by Dagmar Riley Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://messenger. ___________ Get your favorite topic delivered daily. http://www.topica.com/t/11 --------- End Forwarded Message --------- --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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