Winter is beautifulโthe snow, the holidays, the Christmas spirit, and the appreciation for everything you have, especially as you head towards a new year. There seems to be something in the air, and itโs not just a cultural thing. The energy shifts, and your body picks it up.
This is a cue for you to prepare and treat your body according to the current time.
In this post, you will learn how to use Chinese Medicine in winter. Everything from acupuncture points to stimulate and massage, to useful daily habits to optimize your health during wintertime.
https://flowingqitcm.substack.....com/p/how-to-use-chi
People can either love or hate this time of the year, with the festive season often regarded as a stressful time of the year.
For some, the emotional strain of spending more time with relatives or the sadness of missing those no longer here. Loneliness, financial worry or perhaps driving to your holiday destination.
Stress can trigger a cascade of hormones that produce physiological changes such as digestive issues, sleep disorders, cardiovascular problems, weakened immune function, or simply muscle tension and headaches. Anxiety and depression can increase, causing social withdrawal, perhaps leading to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as increased smoking or drinking.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can assist with the effects to health stress may induce. It affects the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing muscles to relax and physical tension to ease assisting with sleep and digestion, and lowering cortisol (the โfight flightโ hormone) to reduce anxiety.
Clinically, depression is defined as having persistent feelings of sadness, despair, fatigue, and loss of interest. The pathophysiology of depression is regulated by the biosynthesis, transport and signalling of neurotransmitters [e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, or ฮณ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)] in the central nervous system ยน, all of which Acupuncture has been shown to affect.
Research shows that herbal medicines can modulate a broader spectrum of cellular pathways and processes to relieve depression. Chinese Medicine Practitioners will combine several herbs into specific formulas, based on the individualโs symptoms to achieve a beneficial therapeutic effect. ยฒ This does not suggest the exclusion of GP prescribed medications if required.
To help you get through this silly season, find a registred acupuncturist today.
(1) https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1054726
(2) https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1217886
Please help spreading the word on this upcoming seminar series with Merlin Young and Yuki Itaya, called The Global Moxa Summit. Merlin and Yuki are the principles in Moxa Africa, a research organization that has added a feather in our professionโs cap by publishing moxa studies in peer-reviewed journals.
In Europe and the USA we speak mostly of โacupunctureโ, but really to be true to the Chinese phrase (zhen jiu) we should speak of needle-moxa, which would put moxibustion in its rightful place alongside acupuncture.
Sadly, moxa techniques are given short shrift in our TCM education. This is tragic. Please join this seminar and invest in your practice and your patientsโ health.
Saturday, Jan 24; 6 โ 10 PM UK time; 10-2 PM Pacific time
Saturday, Jan 31; 6 โ 10 PM UK time; 10-2 PM Pacific time
Saturday, Feb 7; 6 โ 10 PM UK time; 10-2 PM Pacific time
For more details and to sign up:
https://www.moxafrica.org/globalmoxasummit
David Bernard sits down with John Jaarsveld, a Dutch acupuncturist, researcher, educator, โ Kiiko Matsumoto โ style practitioner, and former head of research for the European TCM Association.
John brings three decades of personal study, 18 years of clinical experience, and a rare blend of critical thinking, philosophical depth, and practical insight. What unfolds is a profound dialogue on the true purpose of medicine, the business and ethics of practice, the gaps in modern healthcare systems, and the sacred exchange that happens between practitioner and patient.
Together, David and John explore:
The difference between nourishing life and fighting disease
How Chinese medicine fills the enormous gaps left by modern allopathic care
Why the infrastructureโnot the scienceโis the real strength of Western medicine
The sobering reality that acupuncturists must navigate in business, money, and ethics
How to practice integrity in a world where the patient is also a customer
Why pricing carries psychological and energetic significance
The tension between service, integrity, and the need for financial survival
The future of the profession across Europe, the U.S., and the world
The role of community clinics and low-cost care
Why commodifying human relationships is a danger to both patients and practitioners
How to use money ethically, consciously, and as part of a healing relationship
This conversation weaves together philosophy, clinical insight, economics, ethics, and the lived reality of being a practitioner in the modern world.
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