Right at the beginning of my studies in Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, one of our professors asked us why we were studying the medicine. As I began to ponder on the reasons for it, I realized that part of it had an aspect of tradition and my lineage. My family name Yap (Chinese character on the right of the stamp in the picture), or Yè in Mandarin, means "leaf." I never met my grandparents, as they had passed before I was born, so I only had the stories of the Yap Chinese Medical pharmacy from my mother. My grandfather, from what I understand was a farmer in China, who had left around the turn of the 20th century for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Malaya in that time). He sold imported herbs from China and learned to pick his own from the local jungles. I imagine my fascination with plants and healing may not just be unique to me but rather a continuation of a lineage of "plant people."
I grew up in Malaysia, spent my twenties studying in the US and for the last 15 years I have been practicing Chinese Medicine in Basel, Switzerland. I find my experiences of living in 3 different continents very enriching, not just the experience of traditions, language and food, but also the energetics of the environment, plants and people. I have come to realize that I am an embodiment of East-meets-West. I feel Western on the inside yet Eastern on the outside.
Movement is nourishment for me. I started training in ballet at 5. It taught me control of my physical body, spatial awareness and ability to move in rhythm to music. As I began my Chinese Medicine studies, I also began a journey with Qi Gong and Tai Ji Quan. These were, still are, for me the application and manifesting of Qi, the practice of the theories I was learning in Chinese Medicine school and books. They opened an awareness of the energetic world that exists simultaneously to our physical. Over the past few years, I have started a practice of Yoga. I love stretching my body and mind. Yoga provides me with a space to play with my body-mind, to find balance in sometimes uncomfortable positions but still being able to breathe deeply.
I like listening to stories, of people and plants - of how and where they grow, of things and beings they used to play with, and how they become who they are now. I like practicing Chinese Medicine as it provides me with this possibility. Chinese Medicine has also given me new perspectives to view the world we live in and help me develop skills in sensing as well as observing.
It is this that I want to share with others in this blog, the stories and perspectives I have gained, with the hope that it will inspire others to be excited about life, the earth, people, animals and plants. That life is simple, if we allow it to be. To go back to having that child-like wonder of simple things. Dig your hands into the earth and plant a seed, stand on one leg and fall off balance, to go back to the source of who we really are as living beings on this planet.
I grew up in Malaysia, spent my twenties studying in the US and for the last 15 years I have been practicing Chinese Medicine in Basel, Switzerland. I find my experiences of living in 3 different continents very enriching, not just the experience of traditions, language and food, but also the energetics of the environment, plants and people. I have come to realize that I am an embodiment of East-meets-West. I feel Western on the inside yet Eastern on the outside.
Movement is nourishment for me. I started training in ballet at 5. It taught me control of my physical body, spatial awareness and ability to move in rhythm to music. As I began my Chinese Medicine studies, I also began a journey with Qi Gong and Tai Ji Quan. These were, still are, for me the application and manifesting of Qi, the practice of the theories I was learning in Chinese Medicine school and books. They opened an awareness of the energetic world that exists simultaneously to our physical. Over the past few years, I have started a practice of Yoga. I love stretching my body and mind. Yoga provides me with a space to play with my body-mind, to find balance in sometimes uncomfortable positions but still being able to breathe deeply.
I like listening to stories, of people and plants - of how and where they grow, of things and beings they used to play with, and how they become who they are now. I like practicing Chinese Medicine as it provides me with this possibility. Chinese Medicine has also given me new perspectives to view the world we live in and help me develop skills in sensing as well as observing.
It is this that I want to share with others in this blog, the stories and perspectives I have gained, with the hope that it will inspire others to be excited about life, the earth, people, animals and plants. That life is simple, if we allow it to be. To go back to having that child-like wonder of simple things. Dig your hands into the earth and plant a seed, stand on one leg and fall off balance, to go back to the source of who we really are as living beings on this planet.
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