When I was in my Chinese Medicine studies in San Francisco, I has a classmate who was of Japanese ethnicity but grew up in Hawaii. We laughed about how we thought that Pears were meant to be eaten crunchy. Where we both grew up, Pears were imported so when it was shipped to us, they were not yet ripened. This is how I got to know Pears as a child, as sweet, juicy, crunchy beings.
 
The Pear is called 棃子 lí zi in Mandarin. There are 3000 known varieties of Pyrus around the world. We have come to know Pears as "pear-shaped," but there is also the Nashi Pear which is rounder. In Chinese Medicine, Pears are cooling in temperature, with sweet and sour flavors. They enter the channels of Lung, Large Intestines, Gallbladder and Spleen. Like Apples, Pears are from the Rosaceae family, the same family of the Rose. Their main function is to tonify Yin and moisten dryness, especially in relation to the Lung with symptoms like thirst, dry throat as well as skin. They may also help with constipation, specifically when the stools are hard and dry, indicating a Yin deficiency, which can often happen when we get older. Another function of Pears is to cool heat in the Lungs and dispel phlegm. Here we have once again food that is medicinal. One of my teachers in Chinese Medicine school gave us a recipe for a lovely dessert with Pears for the Autumn to help moisturize the Lungs that tend to get irritated in this season. Simply steam the Pears on a plate for 15 minutes and then remove from heat. Then drizzle a teaspoon of honey over the steamed Pears to enhance the Lung moisturizing effect. Definitely drink the juice that has been released from the steaming process. 
 
I have a Pear tree growing in my garden, which my husband and I planted when we moved into our home a few years ago. Last year, as the Spring and Summer were warm and sunny, our young, tender-branched tree bore an incredible amount of fruit, something like 30. Its branches began to bend from the load of the fruit, we had support them with sticks. This year was a totally different story; it was raining in Spring and the summer cool, as such, we had ONE Pear growing, which has already been harvested. The fruit harvest was meager but the life lesson rich. I learned that Nature is intelligent, a lot more intelligent than us humans. When it produces too much in a year, the next year's harvest will be milder. Sometimes even no fruit. In this way, the being, whether plant or animal, will be able to conserve its life energy for a longer period of time. Thus, ensuring a higher chance of survival for the coming years. We humans, unfortunately do not understand this concept of respecting limits and Nature's rules. We push things to extremes, "bigger and more is better," making bigger cars, buildings, cities and even more as well as bigger humans. We don't just want a 100 percent, we want a 110 percent! So, what happens then is that we overdraw on our resource account and then we have a deficit, which we will be paying back for generations or even the possibility of not surviving. It is simple math that even a primary school child can solve but we adults just can't seem to figure it out. 
 
The answer is simple, USE LESS. Find balance, just take enough and put back what we take. Treat every being with respect, even the common Pear. It has many lessons to teach us.  


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Image by Elaine

The Chinese character for Centre or Middle is, 中 Zhōng in Mandarin. I recently looked up a Wiktionary etymology of this character and it describes 2 versions of this pictogram: one being a target, the rectangle box being shot through by an arrow, the second, derived possibly from a more ancient character as in the image above, being a flagpole with a drum being beaten by the wind, placed in the centre of a field to gather people together and to detect the direction of the wind. The meaning of this character, Zhōng, is either "middle" or "centre" or "to hit the centre" or "to attain."  

It is quite unknown to many that the name for the country China is not what Chinese people call their own country. They call their country Zhōng Guó,中國, meaning "Middle State" or "Middle Country." The modern mainland Chinese call their country Zhōng Huá Rén Mín Gòng Hé Guó, People's Republic of Republic. "China" was a name given to them by the Persians, or possibly ancient Indians and then adopted by the Europeans. There are many reasons that led to the people of China calling their country Zhōng Guó, which archaeological sources date back to the period known as the Warring States Period, ca. 471 to 221 BCE. But what has then occurred is that the medicine that we called Chinese Medicine, which is called in Mandarin Zhōng Yī,中醫, directly translates as "Middle Medicine." 

It only recently occurred to me that a "Medicine of the Middle" is about finding the Centre, which for me also refers to finding balance. This is true of Chinese Medicine, there is a focus in finding balance within the individual; the individual within her/his social-emotional, physical and spiritual environment. The concepts of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases/Elements, which are the basis of Chinese Medicine, are about balance. Over 10 years ago, I was in a course for Shonishin, Japanese Children's Acupuncture, with Dr. Thomas Wernicke. He got us to lay like babies, in order that we understand the perspective of the world that babies have. One of the important growth milestones for a baby is rolling, either from belly to back or reverse, which typically occurs between the 4th and 6th month in a healthy child. Before a baby can perform this, it must first find its midline, that means hands and feet, right and left must be able to connect with each other. Once they can perform this on a regular basis, the body will be able to tip sideways, and they begin their movement journey towards being upright. This was an illuminating moment for me. I became more aware of my own Centre as well as how important it is to be Centred in order to be alive and thriving. 
  
It has been a few years now since I began practicing Yoga. What has drawn me to practice it regularly in recent years has been the connection I sense with myself internally and externally as well as, what I perceive as a playfulness with my own body(-mind). After spending my early years of life till my 20s dancing on my feet and the next few decades practicing rooting through my feet-legs through Tai Ji Quan/Qi Gong, I find being upside-down on my head, arm and hands just fabulously exciting. My most recent goal is the Handstand; the description of Handstand is very deceiving as it not just about trying to stand on the hands. Through this process, I am evolving a new awareness of balance and my Centre, not just in the literal sense but also in my life. I am finding that balance is not a static place/event; it is a constant fluctuation between stillness and movement. Some days I achieve balance on my hands for 3 seconds and another for just a milli-second. I receive minute information from different body parts like the base of my hand or my phalanges (the bones of my fingers) on where my balance is. I find that I am in constant "conversation" with my body and its different parts. It brings me into the here-and-now, because if for one split second of handstanding I lose my focus, I may fall painfully on my head. I accept all these gratefully as I know deep inside me, a cauldron of deep knowing is in the brewing.
 
As we just passed the Autumn Equinox (time of equal day and night) last week, I had the feeling that balance is being called for. We can all definitely find a little more balance in our lives and what better way than to become aware of our Centres. Take a moment of quietness and stillness in either standing, sitting or lying. Become aware of your body in space. Then, ask yourself, "Where is my Centre?" and just listen to your body answering.
 
 
 
Image Headstand by Aron H.
Image Zhōng Bronz Inscription and Silk Script from Wiktionary
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When I was 15, I had a history teacher, Mrs. Wong, who seemed rather ancient herself. She had an old-fashioned style of teaching, where she stood in front of the class, looked into her book and basically read out of the book. But, in between, she would add little quirky comments and additional information that didn't appear in any book. One thing she used to often say, "You know, common sense is not very common." I remember this even to this day, because she has a point there.
 
Every time I get on the tram I look around and I see, I will make an estimate, that 9 out of 10 people are on their mobile phones or digital object all the way till they get out of the tram, even as early as 7 in the morning. Sometimes they are in conversation with someone on the phone, not realizing that the rest of us can hear every detail of their conversation and of course there are those who have headphones on, sometimes sharing their music with the rest of us. I get out of the street and it continues, some are walking while still looking into mobile phone, almost walking into another person and others with headphones on, not realizing that a car just came to an abrupt stop, trying to avoid a collision with them. This are some of the moments I remember Mrs. Wong. Since I grew up in Malaysia, where cars do not stop for pedestrians and if you do not hear a person creeping up behind you to rip the jewelry off your neck, this all seems foolish and risky to me. But what of the people here in Switzerland, do we have to wait till cars drive over pedestrians regularly or for crime becomes the norm to wake-up our numbed senses? "Use it or lose it," our sense organs need stimulation, but just enough and appropriate stimulus that connects us to our environment. 
 
We have become a society of "information consumers." This is not a coincidence when you look into the developments in the western world since the 1950s, as we have been trained and groomed to accept these changes, adapting technology as part of our daily lives. Television used to be/possibly still is in certain places the main mode of media in households; it shaped how people created their living space, with seats placed around a TV; it created interactions with the people closest to them like family, eating meals in front of the TV together or determining the time to a meal to correspond to a TV series; TV gave us the creation of the "couch potato" body. Instead of what was sold to us as one of the reasons for technology, that technology will make our lives easier, WE have been shaped to the needs of technology. Industries, jobs, language and gadgets have been developed to serve this so-called need. 
 
TV was just the warm-up, now we have digital devices like computers, digital tablets and of course our most consumed mobile phones. We can access information and "connect" with anyone everywhere and at anytime on our mobile device. In fact, many of us do, irrespective of others around us; we connect with whoever or whatever on the mobile phone and disconnect with the physical reality as well as people around us. When we bombard our sense organs, i.e. eyes, ears and skin, with constant information, can we even process these to become more informed or even intelligent? Neuroscientist, Beau Lotto, in his book, "Deviate" describes in Chapter 2, "Information is Meaningless" of our time:
 
"It is the Age of Reason pushed into the new frontier of the Digital Age. This unprecedentedly accessible, ever-expanding web of data has altered our daily existence, and yet very little is translating into new understanding. This is because when it comes to creativity, success, and even personal happiness, information isn't itself power." (Lotto, 2017, 44)    
 
Personally, as a parent I find it challenging, disturbing and even downright infuriating that I have to filter the technology that has slithered into our consciousness and homes. We have let technology and its industry to grow unchecked like weeds, that is starting to hijack our information, which by the way Big Tech takes for free, when we use our digital device unconsciously through Surveillance Capitalism.  Just because something is convenient, it does not make it good or appropriate for habitual use. Do we need to wait till the "Smartphone Slump" becomes the norm in our children before we act? It is time to wake-up our "true senses," unplug ourselves from the digital fog, so that what used to be more common becomes the norm again.  
 
 
 
Reference
Lotto, Beau (2017): The Cretive Power of Transforming your Perception. London: Orion Publishing
 
 
 
Image by FunkyFocus on Pixabay

This past week, we experienced what it is like to have summer after a cool, wet Summer; it was scorching hot and humid. It reminded me a little, and I mean really just a little ;-), of the tropics. We were all feeling the heat as well as heaviness, sweating, and it felt like no one really had an appetite. This is what we call Summer-Heat in Chinese Medicine.
 
Growing up, I never really thought about how food affected me. I remember my mother making foods to cool us down, due to the ever-constant warm temperature in Malaysia. We ate and drank lots of fruit/ juice in general. I never really thought about it until I began studying Chinese Medicine. Fruit in general has a cold temperature and is often sweet in flavor, as they ripen in the heat of Summer. This means most fruit will cool down heat and influence the Spleen and Stomach, as the sweet flavor is associated with the Earth element.
 
One fruit that comes to mind for this season is the Watermelon, Fructus Citrullus vulgaris. It's juicy, refreshing and cooling. This is one of the most common fresh-made juices one can get when you are in Malaysia, because it cools Summer-Heat. It grows locally all-year round there and in the Summer in most warm-weathered countries. One of my teachers called it the "Chinese aspirin," as it clears heat from the body like when we experience feverishness, though I must emphasize it's not the best herb for fevers. The Chinese call it Xī Guā, 西瓜 , which translates as "Western Gourd/Squash/ Melon." This was because in ancient China, Watermelon grew in its Western regions. Interestingly, I found out that Watermelon has been found to have originated in North Africa, possibly Sudan, and even in ancient Egypt there were seeds found in the pyramids and references in carvings dated 2000 BCE. Africa is West of China and it may be that it made its way to China through trade. 
 
Watermelon is one of those fruit that almost all parts can be eaten and act as medicinal food. The part which we all eat is the red-juicy-sweet core enters the Urinary Bladder, Heart and Stomach channels in Chinese Medicine. Hence, it functions to cool the Summer-Heat, generate fluids, expel jaundice and promote urination. The peel is used for its stronger effect on promoting urination. Watermelon seeds are eaten regularly as a snack in Asia; it is first sun-dried and roasted with salt. The skin of the seed is peeled off and the inside is eaten. This is said to help clear urinary tract infection and lower blood pressure. Watermelon is sweet in flavor and cold in temperature. Therefore, if one has blood sugar imbalances or a cool digestive system, tending to loose stools/diarrhea, then be careful to keep the Watermelon intake to a minimum, or for that matter fruit/juice as well.
 
Like so many of our foods, Watermelon's journey on the Earth from Africa and its transformation from a water-bearing possibly bitter/bland fruit into sweet, red nectar is a fascinating story of migration and resilience; just as us humans migrating to greener pastures, surviving and adapting. It not only nourishes and heals us but also inspires our creativity. I watched the famous jazz musician and composer, Herbie Hancock describe how and why he wrote his famous song, "Watermelon Man" in 1962. So as you eat your Watermelon next time, listen to the Mongo Santamaria's version of the song and get into the Watermelon groove.
 


Image Watermelon by Jorge Furber on Pixabay
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Chinese Medicine is special, in my opinion, as it is based on certain philosophies or view point of life. One precept is that humans are part of a whole, which encompasses the earth, the heavens, the universe; that we humans are not separate but a piece of this jigsaw puzzle we call life. Another principle is that even though we are part of a whole we are all unique in our own individual way. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, neither are two human beings alike, not even identical twins. They might appear physically the same, even gene-wise, have the same upbringing or grow up in the same climate and environment but their internal environment and constitution determines each person's uniqueness.
 
There are 4 dimensions to Chinese Medical diagnosis: asking, listening, looking and touching. Often a treatment session begins with a question (asking) like, "What brings you here today?" Then I, the practitioner, begin to listen and look. The answer that individual presents may include the verbal response that s/he decides to provide.  But the Chinese Medical practitioner listens and looks with what distinguished contemporary Chinese Medicine professor, Dr. Leon Hammer describes as with "the third ear and eye."
 
"This accounts for the emphasis in this text on diagnosis: on uncovering what is not obvious. This emphasis is in place throughout the entire process of interviewing a patient, gathering information, and formulating a management plan [...] When someone learns to listen with the third ear and see with the third eye, he will listen for what people avoid, and not just what they say. It is important to do this, because patients need their practitioners to know what they cannot know about themselves, but what they must know." (Hammer, 2017, 41)
 
Often times, the first session with a patient requires over an hour of discourse as I get to know the patient as an individual. I will then inspect the tongue, which reveals tremendous insights to a person's internal environment. Then, I can finally touch the person. Touching in Chinese Medical diagnosis refers to the taking of the radial pulse on the wrist as well as palpating areas around the body to find correspondences to Acupuncture meridians as well as organs. The noble art of pulse-taking is not simply just counting the beats per minute. Chinese Pulse Diagnosis is extremely in-depth, taking into account rate, rhythm, depth, as well as qualities. This is one of the methods in which we practitioners spend years, if not a lifetime, developing. Since we do not rely on any machines in Chinese Medicine, we develop acute sensitivity in all our senses and most especially at the tip of our fingers.
 
Why the tongue and pulse? Because they are both the expressions of the Heart. The Heart is central in Chinese Medicine; it is described in the classics as the "Emperor." If the Heart is not functioning well, then all organs are in disarray. It is one of the first organs to develop in an embryo in utero. In Chinese Medicine, the Heart doesn't just govern blood but also houses the Mind. When we say Mind, we refer to not just mental and emotional activity, but also consciousness, memory and thought. As such, our diagnostic methods examine the state of the Heart, as it pulsates persistently to maintain life. This is one of the reasons that brought me to study and practice Chinese Medicine. It is a medicine with Heart. 
 
    

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Reference
Hammer Leon I. (2017): Contemporary Oriental Medicine Concepts. Gainesville, Florida: The Contemporary Oriental Medicine Foundation.
 
Image Heart by Raman Oza on Pixabay 
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As I was growing up as a child in Malaysia, my mother used to cook foods with the awareness of the climate. As Malaysia is just north of the equator, it experiences tropical climate all year long; daytime temperature highs often in the early 30s Celsius, nighttime lows of 24 degrees with over 80 percent humidity. My mother often cooked us drinks to cool us down and move dampness, like herbal sugarcane drink, mung and adzuki bean tea. We, the children of the family, also used to give mom leg massages, kneading the muscles of her legs in the evening. I recall one of my sisters, asking me as a child to walk on her back to stimulate the points too. Sometimes when we went outside to the park or playground, we would see an elderly person practicing Tai Ji Quan, moving very slowly. However, I did not get to experience acupuncture until I was in my 20s. Chinese Medicine is very ingrained in the culture in Asia, especially in areas where Chinese immigrants settled. It is not just a medicine for when you are sick but a way of living in balance with your environment. This is a medicine not just for the Chinese but for people all over the world, including animals.
 
In the old days, it was common that a Chinese Medical practitioner was supported financially by the community in return for her/his medical services, even when the people were healthy. It was her/his job to keep the community continually healthy by helping them to eat appropriately and regularly, reminding them to go to bed on time and to refrain from the over-consumption of alcohol as well as sex. If you read books and articles about Chinese Medicine, you will come across the "Five Pillars of Chinese Medicine." They are: 

1. Acupuncture and Moxibustion
2. Tui Na massage 
3. Chinese Herbal Medicine 
4. Chinese Nutrition and Dietetics
5. Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong

 
The Chinese have an old saying, "When you are ill, get Acupuncture/Moxibustion, Tui Na and take Herbal Medicine. If you want to stay healthy, sleep enough and eat healthy. If you want to build strength practice Tai Ji Quan/Qi Gong." The 5 Pillars are not just methods of treatment but a foundation to becoming/staying connected to Life.
 
As a Chinese Medical practitioner, I am very thankful to have the 5 Pillars to support me in aiding my patients. I often have to determine which method/s is/are best, as some patients react more positively to certain methods. For instance, I have had patients requesting acupuncture for a certain health theme but have had strong reactions, such as fatigue for a few days, after treatment. This is often a sign of "over-stimulation" and requires me to tone down the treatment, either by using less stimulation or reduce the number of needles. Frequently, I have substituted needles with touch of the hand, with Tui Na massage. This method is often more suitable for "sensitive patients," as these individuals return to treatments describing how their symptoms have resolved and the feeling of being more energetic than prior to treatment. This is when I hear the reminder of my teachers that "less is more."   
 
I like to describe Chinese Medicine as a medicine for the individual; each person is unique and distinct through their constitution, environment and style of living that each requires different treatment strategies. It is not a "one-size-fit-all" medicine, as I like to say, unlike a lot of cheap, massed-produced clothes or products available today that don't really fit our needs. As such, no two individuals coming in with a headache will get the same treatment or Herbal Medicine or advice. The 5 Pillars provide me the foundation and stability, as pillars of a building do, but they also allow me, the practitioner, the flexibility to adapt to my patients' needs and individuality.
 
 
 
 
Image by NguyenDo on pixabay 
Image Hand Acupuncture by jorgeparedes1992 on pixabay
Image Hand Massage by andreas160578 on pixabay
Image Herbal Medicine by vivi14216 on pixabay
Image Food by Ruttikal Chularom on pixabay
Image Qi Gong by ICM

In quite a few countries of the world over the next few Sundays in June will be the celebration of Father's Day. Till now, this has not been a very well commemorated day in Switzerland, which by the way is on the first Sunday of June, except maybe by the electronic/digital gadget industry trying to get us to buy more of their products. Fathers get little acknowledgment in general; they often get the role of being the breadwinner of the family but little else in our society. It was not until September 2020 that it was officially recognized that Fathers may have 2 weeks of paid-paternal-leave after the birth of a child. It displays to us what our society used to think of Fathers; that they are simply only there for the financial stability of the child and nothing more. Hopefully, this new law will help long-held views to transform.
 
For me the roles of a Mother and a Father brings me to the concepts of the Yin-Yang, which is one of the central precepts of Chinese philosophy. One scholar of modern Chinese Medicine, Giovanni Maciocia summarizes the Yin-Yang relationship into 4 main aspects:


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1. The opposition of Yin and Yang, as displayed in night and day; night is Yin and day is Yang. "However, the opposition is relative, not absolute, in so far as nothing is totally Yin or totally Yang. Everything contains the seed of its opposite."
2. The interdependence of Yin and Yang, "one cannot exist without the other."
3. Mutual consumption of Yin and Yang, in which both Yin-Yang are "in a constant state of dynamic balance," "maintained by a continuous adjustment of the relative levels of Yin and Yang."
4. The inter-transformation of Yin and Yang, in which Yin-Yang "are not static, but they actually transform into each other: Yin can change into Yang and vice versa. This change does not happen at random, but only at a certain stage of development of something."  

 ​​(Maciocia, 1989, 5-6)

I find it also very appropriate that we are celebrating Father's Day in June, as we are heading to the highest point of the sun in the northern hemisphere around the 21st of June, the Summer Solstice. From a Yin-Yang perspective of the Earth, this is the Yang at its extreme, at its zenith; Yang within the Yang. That means from this point forth in the year, the sun will begin its descent which will culminate at its nadir around the 21st of December, Yin within Yin. Back to the extreme Yang, as we approach the Summer Solstice we can feel in ourselves the rising of our energy, the expansion and opening of the external parts of our being. If Yin is the female, deep, dark, nourishing principle, the Yang is the male, outward, bright, movement principle. These descriptions of Yang sound much like a role of a Father to me. The Yang aspect provides an individual the ability to be courageous and adventurous; to explore the world around her/himself with confidence. This means being able to try things out and find her/himself in the world.
 
"Children with a healthy maternal matrix will test their limits freely knowing that they can easily return to the mother should things get uncomfortable. Children with healthy father role models are encouraged and inspired to experience new things because they can see the confidence and enthusiasm in their father's eyes."  (Farrell, 2016: 94)
 
As Yin-Yang exists in all of us, it means the Father role can be coming from a female too, just as the Mother role model can come from a male. This is what the Yin-Yang shows us, we have both female/male, maternal/paternal aspects in us, in varying degrees. What most of us have experienced in our societies are extremes of the roles, where females manifest the maternal nourishing role in the home and were not allowed to display their outward, adventurous nature, and males only allowed their paternal providing-nature but not their gentle nourishing aspects. We are a product of our societal conditioning. What if both Mothers and Fathers can provide both nourishment, adventurousness and courage for new experiences? What if both parents are allowed to be present for their children as they are growing up? What if both parents are given equal respect for the things they do and provide for their children? It is time to change the conditioning, as it has not served us well. 
 
So many of us grow up seeing little or none of our Fathers, as they were out there working to provide for their family or were not given the space/time to be present with their children. As I read this last phrase from Yvonne Farrell referring to "father's eyes," it reminds me of Eric Clapton's song, "My Father's Eyes." It was only recently that I became aware of Mr. Clapton's story of not knowing his own father, like so many in the world. I am very touched by the song. For the Fathers of the world... 
 
 
 
 
    
Reference
Farrell Yvonne R. (2016): Psycho-Emotional Pain and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. London: Singing Dragon.
 
Maciocia, Giovanni (1989): The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. London: Churchill Livingstone.
 


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Image baby-father's fingers by RitaE on pixabay
Image Tai Ji Symbol by clker-free-vector-images on pixabay

Look at the image above, note what you see. If you really study the image, you will become aware that it is like a chess board; all the squares are of equal size alternating black and white; some of the black squares toward the middle of the image have been marked with small white squares of varying amounts of 1 to 3. These markings have created what we call an optical illusion, where the squares in the middle appear to be folding into the center of the image. But in actuality these squares are no different except for the little white squares on the big black squares.  
 
I often meet people who are skeptical of a certain thing/ event and they say, "I'll believe it when I see it." This often gets me thinking about our eyes, our vision and how we perceive the world. How do our eyes actually see? Do what are eyes perceive really show us the truth?
 
I watched a description of the anatomy and physiology of the eye. When you become aware that nearly 70 percent of human sensory receptors are in the eyes, you realize that the human world is very visual and we place a lot of emphasis on seeing. The fact that you are reading this post, not hearing, nor smelling nor tasting it, is testament to that. There is a reason for that as Chinese Medical scholar Yvonne Farrell describes:
 
"An upright posture has its benefits and is perhaps the key structural difference between humans and other mammals. The ability to walk upright frees up the arms and shoulders (SI-10, LI-15) giving both access to and mastery of the world around us that other mammals lack. It also changes the priority of our senses, making vision our most important sense. Most mammals use smell as their primary sense, but standing upright takes our nose away from the ground shifting the focus to the eyes (UB-1). (Farrell, 2016: 130)
 
Our sense of sight involves many aspects; the definition of shape, movement, light, color and depth. So much of modern day life is focused on our ability to see. In fact, most of our communication, livelihood and entertainment is visual-based. If you step into a public space right now, you will observe how most people are looking into their mobile phones or a newspaper, either reading or viewing something. If you go into a store to buy food, vegetables, fruit or food packets are organized in visual-orderly manner; by color, shape and size. Most of the stores in the center of Basel sell clothing or adornment for some part of our bodies, which are related to how we will look or appear on the external parts of our bodies. Again, this is based on color, shape, size and possibly texture. We humans have created much of life around us based on our ability to see. We have also learned that our vision is "imperfect," that we are able to tweak or manipulate what others see of us. Maybe we have certain colors that highlight the color of our skin and projects a certain feeling of us to others, so we dress ourselves in this color to invoke this particular feeling in others. We want to appear friendly to others, so we raise the ends of our lips in a smile to convey friendliness. 
 
I was trained as a dancer and as I was in university, I was taught choreography and stage production. We were trained to place ourselves at certain angles in certain positions, wearing a specific costume of a specific shape and color, with props created to highlight the feeling/idea we wanted to convey to the audience. Look at the second picture above of the ballet dancer. She is performing a grand jeté with her left leg forward, moving a slight diagonal angle to the left, with an open position of the body and face. This accentuates the length of her legs and the height of her jump. If she were to do this exact same jump in the same direction with the right leg, her legs would look a lot shorter, she would be in a closed position, her back and buttocks would be accentuated; thus, she would not seem like she is effortlessly flying through the air. This is a scene from the ballet Don Quixote, based on the novel of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. So we can observe that the dancers are clothed in Spanish style with a backdrop of a Spanish town by the sea, with buildings and masts of ships. The backdrop is actually not 3-dimentional; there are no real buildings or ships, but the lighting and the way the forms are painted on the canvas creates this perception. These are all optical illusions, like the first picture. Our eyes are being led in a certain direction. Is what I am seeing real? No, because I know that I am sitting in a theater watching a ballet. But if our vision is so malleable and prone to manipulation, how do we know that in our daily lives we are really seeing what is and not just what we are meant to see like in this ballet production?
 
This is the point; our vision is very limited. If we put too much worth into only believing what we see with our eyes, we will often be deceived. Maybe like Yvonne Farrell describes of mammals, we humans need to come back down to the earth and begin to use more of our other senses. Maybe then we would become more "sensible" and aware of the ourselves as well as of the environment around us. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reference
Farrell Yvonne R. (2016): Psycho-Emotional Pain and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. London: Singing Dragon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image by clker-free-vector-images from pixabay
Image ballet dancer by wikimedialimages from pixabay
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As I look out the window right now, I observe the extreme changes of Spring; the winds blowing the trees, the rain splattering the window and suddenly the blue sky pops out from behind dark clouds. It is stormy, restless, unsettling and all of a sudden it's sunny again. It reminds me of birthing a child.
 
Almost 15 years ago, I was initiated into the realm of motherhood and my "ritual," as most mothers would endure, was a long, intense torrent of contracting, ripping pain that didn't appear to end. Somehow the 9 months of pregnancy didn't seem to be enough to prepare me for those intense hours of labor. But labor itself revealed to me that I was embarking on a very profound journey with myself and another being, whom I would guide/ am guiding through this lifetime. This is a great responsibility filled with many challenges. Through experiencing the birthing of a being, I came to a realization of how remarkable and exceptional life is. As such I value life more than I did before I became pregnant. I appreciate the little things that I experience of my children growing up as I know that these could have not been, had the birthing process taken a different turn.
 
We in the modern world take many things for granted; we turn on a tap and clean water flows; plug in our electrical device and it powers up; women become pregnant and babies get delivered all wrapped in soft linen, all cleaned and "perfect," with no trace of blood or mucus that nourished it for 9 months. Even this word, "delivery," that we use in English to describe birth is strange to me. I definitely did not feel that my babies were "delivered" like a package arriving by post. It required resources, nourishment, connection, preparation, endurance of pain and patience. Birthing is just one step in a longer intense process of nurturing life, which continues throughout the child's and caregiver's lifetime. I say "caregiver" because it could be that it may not be the mother that births the child, who will care for it in its lifetime. Not only do we take for granted that life just keeps happening, we take the people who make it happen for granted.
 
"The woman of ancient times had possessed a strength we no longer claimed. If she had too many children, or not enough strength to rear another child, or if feeding it would deprive the tribe at the wrong time of year, she could look into the face of the child and put forth her hand and send that child back into the nowhere and nothingness as if it had never been born...A man must know that he is breathing because his mother looked on his face and saw that it was good and chose freely to nourish him." (Zimmer Bradley, Paxson, 179-180)     
 
I am here today, as you are, because our mothers chose to bring us into the world and nourish us as best as they could. Sometimes this is not easy and may be extremely challenging, depending on the circumstances life presents in different geographic and cultural circumstances. Mothers give us the unconditional love to be who we need to be, they are that hand which supports us when we are falling and pick-up what we left behind. In this day and age of looking for superheroes, we forget these invisible beings who do superhuman actions, like creating, maintaining and nourishing life; right there in front of us, in our own homes. To mothers all over the world I say, "I see you and I appreciate your invisible hand. I am grateful and I thank you for being Mother."   
 
 
    
Reference
Zimmer Bradley, Marion/ Paxson, Diana L. (2000): Priestess of Avalon. London: Penguin Books Roc.
 
 
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Image by Phalia from Pixabay

When we look at the Chinese calligraphy for Tea, Chá 茶,it shows us how the Chinese view Tea. At the very top stands 艹which is the radical for any plant or part of it that is herbaceous. In the middle is human, rén  人 . Finally, at the bottom is the radical for tree, mù 木 . I see this character as Human being rooted through the Tree in the Earth and Herb to the Heavens. This is my experience of Tea, whether I drink it or be with people who drink/work with Tea; Tea seems to root the person to the Earth and connect their Minds to the Heavens.
 
Camellia sinensis, Tea are divided into 6 types: Green Tea (Lu Cha), White Tea (Bai Cha), Yellow (Huang Cha), Black Tea (Hong Cha), Wu Long Tea, Pu Er Tea or Dark/Fermented Tea (Hei Cha). In my last post, I wrote about Green Tea, which does not undergo any form of oxidation as with White Tea, which are the buds/immature Camellia sinensis. All the other forms of Tea undergo a process of oxidation, which sometimes is called fermentation. Yellow Tea is Camellia sinensis leaves that have undergone very light oxidation to remove the grassy flavor but is often categorized as Green Tea. Pu Er and Dark Tea are sometimes known as Brick Tea. This was the way Tea was able to be transported all over the world including the Silk Road, as they were compressed into a brick/cake form to save space and remain fresh. What we know as Black Tea, the Chinese called Red Tea (Hong Cha) is 100 percent oxidized. Wu Long Tea is a categorization for oxidized Tea from 8 to 85 percent. Here, there are innumerable possibilities for creativity, creating Wu Long Tea that appear like Green Tea or Black Tea but aren't. As such the Gong Fu Cha ceremony was created to enjoy this form of Tea.
  
My husband and I are Tea drinkers. We drink Tea almost everyday and often in the ceremonial form of Gong Fu Cha. Our favorite type of Tea is Wu Long Cha, which means Black Dragon Tea, referring to the shape that the Camellia sinensis leaf curls up into as it undergoes oxidation and unfurls as you steep it in your teapot. About 15 years ago, we travelled to Taiwan for the first time, which is well-known for its Wu Long Tea, to see where Tea is grown and experience Tea culture. We met people who drink, grow, make and sell Tea. Every corner you turned to there is Tea, whether it's a Tea shop or a place where people just gather to drink Tea. We met intellectuals who studied at the university, Tea farmers, Tea shop-keepers or just Tea connoisseurs. They all had something in common; there is a certain respect for the plant and for life. Taiwan is an island with steep, misty mountain slopes ideal for growing Tea. They make some of the best High-Mountain Wu Long Tea. One can observe these by the way the leaves look, whole and large. I must say that the Taiwanese are some of the friendliest people I have ever met on my journeys throughout the world. If this has an effect on the Tea or vice versa, I cannot say, but the experience of Tea-drinking is definitely enhanced by the company you share it with.   
 
In Chinese Medicine, Wu Long Cha is used for clearing heat and detoxifying the digestive system as a result of food poisoning. It is also good for edema as it is a diuretic. It clears the head and eyes as a result of hangovers from alcohol or tiredness, as well as breaks down grease as a result of a heavy meal. This is often why you will get a pot of Wu Long Tea in a Chinese restaurant to go with a meal in Asia. Wu Long Tea is never drunk with sugar or milk, as these additives will destroy the flavor of good teas. Unlike Green Tea, you use close to 100-degree Celsius heated water for Wu Long Tea. The first flush is to wash the leaves and from the second onward, you drink and savour its essence. If a Tea is of good quality, its flavor will remain for a few flushes. As with any Tea, teabags often do not hold good quality Tea as there would not be enough space for the leaves to expand and therefore often contain crushed leaves. In my opinion, teabags are convenient but lacks the subtlety for "real" Tea drinking. As with humans, Tea leaves need space, enough time to steep and the ideal atmosphere to flourish; this will allow it to display its best qualities. 
 
 
Images by Elaine