​I never really thought about when my journey to becoming a healer began until a few years ago. As a child, my mom would get us kids to give her leg massages in the evening, after a long day standing. I guess, it was her way of keeping in Touch and connection to us, as we in my Asian family didn't continue getting hugs when we reached school-age. Often during these moments of Touch, we would share about my day in school or stories from my mom about her childhood. I can now see that the seed of becoming a healer was being planted then when I was about 7 years old; that I would one day choose the path of Touch as my livelihood. Of course, like in gardening, one can plant many seeds but only some will come to fruition, with the right amount of nourishment and environment conducive to growth for that particular seed. As I began studying Chinese Medicine over 20 years ago, I became aware how Touch came very naturally to my hands. What I had felt in my hands and my being as a younger person, became illuminated through the view of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Qi Gong and Tui Na hand techniques.
 
Many methods of massage exist all over the world, as I stated in my last blogpost. I imagine that different traditions imparted this knowledge very differently: orally, by physical demonstration and/or by writing and drawing. As historians look for clues as to the when massage began to exist in human societies, they are finding images from Egypt and writings in Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE, writings around 700 BCE in China and Greece and 500 BCE India and Thailand. These culture where we have found physical evidence of massage or the laying-of-hands, are cultures that recorded information in the form of writing and drawing early on, as such we have evidence of massage's existence. However, I am confident that humans already knew of massage and healing with hands much earlier on than the physical evidence shows. We, in the Chinese tradition, are lucky to have written records passed down to us in an unbroken line till this day.   
 
A few posts back, I began introducing Acupuncture Points, which I would like to continue doing. There are 303 Acu-Points on the Regular Organ Meridians; this is not including Acu-Points on the Extraordinary Meridians of the Ren and Du Mai, or the Extra-Points such as the Hua-Tuo-Jia-Ji Points. If we add these together, there would be 390 Acu-Points. Yet there would still be even more Extra Acu-Points that don't lie on a particular channel but are used symptomatically. But let us just say that there are 390 Acu-Points on the body and of these, there are 90 that lie on the back, on and along the spine, as well as the shoulders blades. This accounts for almost a quarter of the Acu-Points on the whole body. This is not a coincidence. The back of the body is what we in Chinese Medicine describe as the Yang aspect of the body. Two of the longest Yang channels, the Urinary Bladder and the Gallbladder, have most of their Acu-Points on the posterior part body. Many of these Acu-Points have direct connections to internal organs, as such can directly influence the state of these organs. For instance, BL-15 心俞 Xīn Shū, translated as Heart Transporter, treats issues with the Heart organ such as heart and chest pain, palpitations and arrhythmia. Interestingly when we look at how Western anatomy locates the Heart organ, at the level of the 5th and the 6th rib on the left side of the body, it correlates with the Chinese Medical location of BL-15, at the level below the 5th vertebra. For Chinese Medicine, the Heart also houses the Mind; when we say mind, we refer to the Spirit and the emotions. Some of the other indications for this Acu-Point are also poor memory, anxiety, disorientation, mania-depression and insomnia. As one can observe, this is an important point. Now imagine 88 other Acu-Points like this on the back, connecting to almost all the main internal organs like the Lung, Liver and Kidneys. Then, we realize that the back is a very crucial aspect of the body. In treating these points on the back externally, we can affect the body internally.
 

​Acu-Points can be utilized with different methods in Chinese Medicine. An Acu-Point like BL-15 can be stimulated by metal in the form of Acupuncture needles, by plant and flame with Moxibustion, by external vacuum pressure with glass Cupping, friction with a ceramic spoon with Gua Sha and by hand with Tuī Ná-Àn Mó. My view is that the most versatile and most needed of all methods in our times is the touch of the hand. It is the most basic of all methods, that if a practitioner did not have the ability to touch with the hand, in my opinion, the other methods would be less effective. It is for me like my mom used to say, when we grumbled about not having cutlery to eat with when we were out and about, "Hands were made before spoons." If the skill of the hand is not present, then any tool that is held in the hand would not be able to compensate for the lack of skill. Tuī means to push, Ná is to grasp, Àn is to press and Mó is to rub in circular motion. So, the name for the Chinese system of massage is after 4 techniques that are used in treatment. There are obviously many more hand techniques in the massage. Tuī Ná-Àn Mó can be very vigorous and forceful, resembling chiropractic manipulation; which would make it more a Yang style Tui Na. But it can also be gentle, subtle and mild, sometimes no more than just laying-of-hands on a body area or finger pressure on some Acu-Point; which would be a Yin Style Tui Na. This depends on the practitioner and the needs of the patient. Whether Yin or Yang, the goal of the treatment is to affect the body-mind as a whole in a beneficial way.
 
Very often I have found in my practice of Tui Na that I tend to massage the back, stimulating the Acu-Points, like BL-15 to affect the whole body and their internal organs. In the process of doing that the muscle and fasciae tension from daily life can be released as well as other acute issues like pain resolved, allowing free flow of Qi and Blood through the body. Tui Na doesn't just provide symptomatic relief but deep release of blockages as well as strengthening of the whole body. Like in Acupuncture with needles, each Acu-Point can be stimulated with the hand. What has come to my awareness is that new scientific research is showing why we need or desire our backs to be massaged. Professor Francis McGlone, a neuroscientist, has been researching how a nerve fiber called C-tactile afferent, which responds to gentle touch that activates the area of the brain for positive feelings, is abound on our backs compared to any other area of the body. He hypothesizes that having more C-tactile afferent fibers on our backs has to do with our evolutionary need for social-bonding, as we can't really reach our own backs in order to massage it, but someone else can. Thus, strengthens our social bonds to each other. Professor McGlone's findings fascinates me, as it explains to me what the tradition of medicine I chose to practice is doing from another perspective. The ancient Chinese saw Acu-Points on the back and the current Western science sees C-tactile afferent. Whatever it is, we, as individual human beings, feel it and sense how it affects our lives. In Touch, we bond. Through bonding, we create relationships. In relationships, we find connection. Thus, enabling healing.  
 




Image Tui Na by Okapi     
Image Back Acu-Points by Elaine

Remember the time when you were a child and you had a bellyache or bumped your head, and cried? What did your mom or dad do? They may have taken you in their arms and rubbed your belly or your head where it hurt. Then, the pain eased and you felt better. This is the power of Touch; the most powerful healing tool that is innate to us humans as well as almost every animal on Earth.
 
One of the first things that a human baby experiences as it comes into the world is to be touched; by the midwife/doctor who is present at the birth as the baby exits the birth canal, as well as by its mother, as the baby is presented to the mother to be fed. What I never really thought about until recently, is how an embryo begins to be touched in-utero by its mother already at the time of conception by the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus, as well as how early this embryonic being starts to feel Touch. Touch is the first sense to develop in a human being; already by week 8 of pregnancy a human embryo has touch receptors on its face, by week 12 on its palms and soles and by week 17 the abdomen. By the third trimester, the fetus can sense and respond to Touch from external sources, like when its mom puts her hand on her belly. We humans like to be Touched as well as like to give Touch. This is our way of connecting and communicating with each other. What is extremely interesting is that we can often sense the intention of the person giving the Touch, without even the person saying anything. If someone had an intention to hurt us, we would feel the discomfort in us build up and we get a sense of distress, as well as a feeling we should get away from this individual. Just as we would be able to distinguish if the person was giving us caring Touch, that is intended to soothe, nourish and bond.
 
For the longest time Western science doubted the power of Touch. Even till the 1960s babies were separated from their mothers after birth and placed into a sterile crib, because science thought that it was more "hygienic" for the babies to be alone in a crib than to be with its "germ-rich" mother, as well as that it was more convenient to put crying babies in a separate space. Parents of the time were told not to "spoil" their child with Touch and thus, we have a few generations of post-World-War-II humans deprived of healthy Touch. In human children and animals, Touch and the lack of it has shown to affect physical and emotional development. At some point experimentations with premature babies were conducted, where scientists realized that those premature-born babies who received Touch developed better and were healthier than those left in glass incubators without Touch. The effect of Touch in this early stages of a pre-mature-born baby's life has been shown to have an effect on the child up to 10 years after birth. It is important to remember that the lack of healthy Touch in children is a phenomenon of the industrial age. Before our parents were working in factories and offices, babies/children were right there with their parents, sometimes on the body of their mothers on the field in agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies.
 
Once again in our era of the 2020s, even with the knowledge that we have from previous Touch studies, we have been pushed into the infamous "social distancing," to protect others from our germ-rich presence by not only not Touching but also not being in the physical space of our loved ones. We are already becoming aware how 2 years of the lack of Touch and connection has affected us individually but scientists are also observing these effects on a societal scale. If you are living in a collective environment, i.e. family and friends, chose not to engage in social-distancing measures and continued to Touch one another, then you have been lucky! Studies are showing us that mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, are on a rise as a result of social distancing. I watched a very good documentary on Touch. It explains what we currently know of Touch from the scientific perspective but if we really are truthful, we already know deeply in our own inner selves that Touch is essential to life. 
 
In almost every culture in the world there is some form of Massage or the laying-of-hands that has been practiced since probably human life existed on Earth. It began with our mothers/fathers holding us, nursing us and nourishing us as babies. Later, this Touch sense developed into more complex awareness and technique of the body's mechanism of connecting and healing. One of the first things that I pass on to students who come to study Chinese Medicine with me is to be aware of the intention of their Touch when they lay their hands on a patient. Then after that comes technique, which is secondary. If we, the receiver of Touch, can sense the intention from the Touch, then why not Touch each other with positive intentions. We can send healing to each other by just something as simple as a gentle Touch of the hand on the arm of a colleague or a gentle hand-rub on the back of your partner after a long day or a hug with your teenager after a heated debate on teenage issues. We all have the ability to heal in our hands and in our being, we just have to make the first move to connect with each other. 
 



 
Image from Pixabay by bingngu93      

​As with my last post about Daffodils and William Wordsworth's tribute to these beautiful beings, I have been fascinated by the ideas put forth by Romanticism in Europe. I have been watching documentaries and reading up more about this movement; about how it came about in response to the events of the time as well as how valid they are even till this day.
 
As a child, I grew-up watching TV, as my parents didn't really set healthy boundaries for my media consumption. When they watched horror movies, I watch them too. I remember covering my eyes with my fingers to soften the blow of my distress, though I would hear everything, from bloodcurdling, suspenseful music to gory mauling sounds and screaming. But I would peek between the spaces of my fingers, to get a 'filtered view' of the scary scenes. My older siblings would then tease me about being scared, which I would flat-out deny, but I was frightened out of my wits. What I needed then was clearly a "No, this is inappropriate for you. You may not watch this film." Anyhow, my exposure to horror films as a 5-year-old did allow me to see Frankenstein, in many of its Hollywood versions, which scared me thoroughly. Later, when I was in my primary school library, I was surprised to find a book, an abridged version for children, written by Mary Shelley. I remember borrowing it to take home to read and I was surprised by how un-horrifying it was. The "monster" who many call Frankenstein but that is not his name; it's the scientist who is Frankenstein. This creation of Dr. Frankenstein has emotions and a sense of justice, enough so that he chides Dr. Frankenstein for creating him so hideous that no human will love him, not even his own creator, and that Dr. Frankenstein had the responsibility as his creator to help him dispel his loneliness by creating a companion for him. If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which was first published in 1818, when she was 21, you should. It is more than just a horror novel. 
 
I have only recently become aware of Mary Shelley's life. Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, a famous feminist philosopher of the 18th century, best known for "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" written in 1792, which I had to read for a class in university. Mary Shelley's mother died of birth complications, as such she was brought up and educated by her father, William Godwin, a political philosopher, one of the early advocates of a form of anarchy. Her husband was Percy Bysshe Shelley, another famous British romantic poet of the time. Returning to the story of Frankenstein and how Mary Shelley developed it; it was in good old Switzerland, in a villa on Lake Geneva. In the company of other Romantic poets and literary greats, Mary Shelley goes to bed after some discussions of the events of the time, of science, of electricity and wakes from a nightmare of this creature created by man, without regard for the laws of Nature. 
 
"Frankenstein is a prophesy that science might be misused by those who wish to alter or tamper with nature. The novel's frightful horror is the dark reflection of the Romantic sublime. Its message was simple but powerful. Respect and revere Nature for it has the power to destroy you. Science alone is not enough. It is a warning many people are repeating to this day."  (Peter Ackroyd, The Romantics - Nature BBC Documentary)       
 
Just because we are able to create something, it does not mean we should. Hence, the necessity of ethics in science and medicine. Science used to be as defined by the Oxford dictionary "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." However, many in science have gone far beyond the boundaries of "the physical and natural world" as well as over-exceeded them, with little regard for the consequences of their inventions. Take nuclear fission, when German scientists discovered it in the early 1930s, they may have been unaware how this discovery would be later used to create the atomic bomb or how it would be used to create energy, that would leave behind thousands of years of radioactive garbage, which we still do not know how to dispose of, and some very sick people struggling with cancer from radiation due to nuclear power plant malfunctions. The climate crisis, polluted environments, the nuclear arms race...the list continues are what we humans have done in the name of science and progress to Nature. We are in this state of "emergency" because we chose to not listen or respect the boundaries given to us by Nature. Maybe it is time to stop and listen to the voices of reason, such as from the Romantics of 200 years ago, that we return to listening and being with Nature.
 
 
 
 
 
Image Power Plant by fietzfotos on Pixabay

 
I wondered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
 
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
 
The waves beside them danced; 
but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
 
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon the inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
 
 
William Wordsworth (1804)
 
 
It is a cool Spring day; the sky is blue and the sun is shining. Yesterday, the sky was grey and it was snowing. On the ground the snow is gone but the coolness prevails. Last week, it was dry, warm and sunny; all the plants were blossoming. I heard the exclamations of joy from people around me of how beautiful and warm it was, but also the apprehension of how dry it was for the plants. I listen and observe. I note that it is Spring, a time of extreme change. The weather of this time of year can change from one end of the spectrum to the other in a day, which we experienced this past week. 
 
What has caught my eye and my consciousness are the Daffodils; those yellow, golden rays of sunlight that have burst through the Earth and prevailed through sun, dryness, rain, snow and cold. As a young student in a former British colony, I learned the poems of the British Romantic poets, such as William Wordsworth, which I could not really understand then since I lived in the tropics and had never experienced real Daffodils growing in the early Spring. What a wonder they are!
 
Daffodils or Narcissus are bulbous plants, that stay dormant for more than half the year. Then at some point in time in late winter, they manifest their first green, pointy shoots out of the Earth. Every ray of sunshine nurtures their inching-shoots out of this fantastically-designed bulb, that not only nourishes with food, but also protects this being like a cocoon as it develops its bud into flower. We admire how humans design and create intricate things but look at this "simple" bulb that keeps growing and receding year after year, even if we do not really put much attention or care to it, in the most extreme of temperatures (between 30-35 degrees Celsius difference). Through its long leaves, this being gets enough food and energy to go into dormancy from Summer to the end of Winter. I read that bulbous plants, including the Daffodils, have been in existence since the Miocene geological epoch, between 23.03 to 5.33 million years ago, as a result of the decrease in global temperatures. Crazy, amazing ancient technology that is still functioning! 
 
Now, every time I pass by a troop of daffodils dancing in the breeze under a tree, I recite this lovely over-200-year-old Wordsworth homage to some very ancient beings, who not only impress me with their bell-shaped-flair-skirted fair blossoms but every aspect of their existence, most especially their resilience to the snow, the heat and the changes of Spring.
 
 
 
Image by Elaine

 
What first drew me to study Chinese Medicine or more specifically Acupuncture and Tui Na massage, the 2 bodywork methods of Chinese Medicine, is that you have it all on your own body. I can be anywhere, at any point in time and if I feel some sort of symptom coming on, such as a headache, I could press an Acu-Point on my own body to relieve it. This does not mean that the symptom may completely disappear, as it may be that I have to change the environment or situation that I am in, in order that the headache can dissipate completely. But being able to press a point on my own body to relieve the pain, till I can alter the space that I am in, is quite empowering.
 
The Chinese call Acupuncture, 針灸 Zhēn Jiǔ,which actually refers to both Acupuncture and Moxibustion. The Zhēn character has a metal or gold character on the left, which also contains the character for Earth, 土 Tǔ, and threading a string through a hole of a needle on the right. Jiǔ has the Fire character below and above the phonetic character to create the sound Jiǔ. In English, the word "Acupuncture" first presents itself in the late 17th century; a combination of Latin for needle, acus, and punctura, pricking. This is most probably a description from observations from Western physicians who traveled East Asia at that period in time. As you read these two descriptions of what we call Acupuncture in the West, you come to realise that the Chinese refer to more than just the "pricking of needles" when it comes to Acupuncture. They are referring to the elements of Metal, Earth and Fire coming together, with precision of "threading a needle." Moxibustion is performed with the burning of the plant Artemisia vulgaris on or by an Acu-Point. For me this incorporates the elements Metal, Earth, Fire and Wood. If you have ever had direct Moxa, you will also have had Water being used to moisten the skin. Hence, all of the 5 Elements are being incorporated into a treatment.
 
Even the translation for the word Acupuncture Point is not the same as what the Chinese understand. As Ellis, Wiseman and Boss explain:
 
'The word "point" indicates a linear coordinate, i.e., the intersection of two lines, a dot on the skin suitable for the insertion of needles or the application of some other stimulation. The Chinese character for acupuncture point,  穴  xuè, brings to mind a "cave" or "hole." The meaning is clear from the two parts of the character: the top portion represents a roof, while the bottom portion is a character on its own, meaning to divide or remove. The combined meaning of the two parts is a dwelling that is made by removing dirt or rocks, i.e., a cave, a hole, a den.' (Ellis, Wiseman, Boss, 1989)    
 
In the West, students of Chinese Medicine are taught the names of Acu-Points with an association to an organ and a number, for instance Large Intestine 4 (LI-4). In the Chinese-speaking world, students are taught in traditional names, some a thousand years old, depending on the lineage that their teacher holds. The Acu-Point I mentioned before, LI-4, is named 合谷 Hé Gŭ in Chinese, meaning Union Valley. As you can already observe from this name, there is an image of a valley where two mountains unite. One interpretation of this name is that it refers to the location of Hé Gŭ, between the "mountains" of the thumb and the index finger, where there is a valley-like depression. 
 
This Acu-Point is on the Large Intestine channel, as such it will treat issues with digestion like diarrhea. It is also used to treat headaches as it is the control point of the head, regulating the face, eyes, nose, mouth and ears, as well as pain in other parts of the body. It also helps in treatment of colds and flus. One other very special indication is that it induces labour or stimulates uterine contractions to aid in menstrual cramps. Hé Gŭ is also what we call a Yuan-Source Point; it is one of the Acu-points in a category of points that hold the Source of Qi for its designated organ channel. As you may have observed from its indications, this is a special Acu-Point that is used often as it can have profound effects on many parts of the body.
 
You can locate this Acu-Point by making a fist with one hand and covering the fist with your other hand cupped over, as in the image. Where the thumb of the top hand lands is where Hé Gŭ is located. This is the called the "palm-hold-fist" greeting, the way many Chinese people greet others since thousands of years. When you press on this Acu-Point you will feel a sensation that is stinging or heaviness, which is the stimulation that you want to have in order to affect the body. 
 
I find pressing Acu-Points on my own body a very good way to be connected to my being. The points do not always manifest the same sensation, as our bodies are in constant flux within and with our environment. Try finding Hé Gŭ on yourself, begin your own journey to yourself.   
 
    
 
 



Reference
Ellis, Andrew / Wiseman, Nigel / Boss, Ken (1989): Grasping the Wind. Brookline, MA, USA: Paradigm Publications
 
 
 

Image Mountain Lake by GSquare on Pixabay
​Image Palm-Hold-Fist by Elaine

Many people I meet assume that as I look Chinese and practice Chinese Medicine, I must have grown up having Acupuncture. This is not the case, I got to know Acupuncture, which wasn't very common at the time in Malaysia, a little over 25 years ago. I was in the US at university at the time and was experiencing an injury of my own from dance training. I began by talking to a friend of a friend, who was Native American; she had had Acupuncture for her issues and had a very positive experience. This inspired me to try it and it opened up a whole new world of my body that I had never been aware of. At first, it all seemed so mystical and supernatural, my practitioner sticking needles into my injured ankle, which then began a healing process that required me to become observant of my own body. It was this new awareness of my body that inspired me to begin my journey into healing. I began researching Acupuncture Meridian/ Channels and Points, trying to understand how Acupuncture works, realizing that actually there is a logical body of knowledge and understanding in Chinese Medicine that dates back thousands of years. It is one that does not just focus on the physical, material world but also the energetic; what our eyes may not see but our beings can sense if we are open and ready to sense it. As we walk out into Nature, we may not see what moves the trees or the rivers, but we "know" that this power exists. The ancient Chinese called this force Qi. 
  
I like to view Acupuncture Meridians as Rivers of Qi flowing through our bodies in very distinct patterns and configurations. The Chinese civilisation, like many civilisations around the world, was born along 2 Rivers, the Huang He and the Yang Zi. As such Water shaped a lot of their understanding of Nature and reality. These Qi Rivers are essential to the flow and nourishment of life in a living body. If for some reason the flow is blocked or stopped at a place in the body, this area or other areas further downstream will become undernourished or depleted of Qi. This can then manifest pain, swelling, necrosis or other symptoms that may cause discomfort. The complete absence of Qi in a being would then result in death.
 
As a student in Chinese Medicine school, I often asked the question, "Which came first, the Channels or the Points?" This question was not clearly answered until I was a practitioner at a continuing education course in Shonishin (Japanese Children's Acupuncture-Massage). As we learned to massage children along specific Meridian pathways, I became aware that most Acu-Points are not mature at birth but actually develop through years of movement, nourishment, experience and growth. As such, we can deduce that the body's Qi Rivers begin flowing first and with time the Acu-Points develop. Through my practicing of Acupuncture and Tui Na massage, I have gained the perspective of Acu-Point as being like access locations to the Qi flow of our body, like access sites at the bank of a River. We could also therefore describe Acu-Points as doorways into our Qi pathway that are already in flow. Through pressing or needling an Acu-Point, we could influence this flow of Qi to increase, decrease its volume and force, or to divert its flow into an area or an organ of the body.  
 
There is an Acu-Point called Yŏng Quán 湧泉, Kidney 1 (KI-1), the first Acu-Point of the Kidney Channel and the closest Acu-Point to the Earth. It is on the bottom of the foot, in the centre-line of the foot, on the area just below the ball of the foot. This is translated as "Gushing Spring." (Ellis, Weissman, Boss, 1989) The Kidneys are associated with the Water element, as such a body of Water like a Spring indicates to us that this is where the source of life manifests. This is an Acu-Point that can revive consciousness, like in the case of fainting or a stroke, by taking the Qi upward, like a gush from the source. Another name for this Acu-point is Dì Chōng 地沖 Earth Surge. (Ellis, Weissman, Boss, 1989) This explains the other function of this point to root the Qi down to the Earth by descending Qi blocked in the head. This point can be used for headaches but also to dispel local foot pain. In a blogpost a few years ago, I wrote about Earthing, walking barefoot on the Earth to create connection. This is clearly the Kidney 1 Point being stimulated.
 
I mentioned in my last blogpost about honouring the Rivers we live by, stimulating your Acu-Points on your body is like honouring your Rivers within. Try taking off your shoes to walk barefoot on the Earth, or bathe your feet in Water, or even both at the same time in a River near you.
 
   

​

​
Reference
Ellis, Andrew / Wiseman, Nigel / Boss, Ken (1989): Grasping the Wind. Brookline, MA, USA: Paradigm Publications
 
 
Image Baby Feet by 5921373 on Pixabay, adapted by Elaine
Image Okavango Delta River by Lion Mountain on Pixabay

My new year has begun with a period of retreat, into myself and into Nature that surrounds me. I have been blessed everyday this past week to have had time to connect with the Genius loci, Spirit of Place, of where I live and with the incredible weather of this season; cold, warmth, snow, rain, sunshine, blue skies, grey skies...
 
I grew up in the city of Petaling Jaya, in the Klang Valley in Malaysia, just outside of the Malaysian capital city Kuala Lumpur. Kuala in Malay means estuary, mouth of a river and Lumpur refers to mud. Kuala Lumpur lies at the estuary where the River Klang and Gombak meet. Klang River then flows all the way to the Straits of Melaka passing through Petaling Jaya, ending at the port city of Klang. Like many cities and places in the world, people gather together to live by a River because it provides water, to drink and irrigate crops, as well as to provide a means of transportation, of connection. My experience of Rivers till then was that they were dirty and polluted, which unfortunately is still true, and that you should never go to swim in it, much less explore it and its surroundings. The Klang has a brownish colour that looks like Teh Tarik, (a milk tea from Malaysia) which is a combination of the mud and silt washed down stream as well as industrial pollution. I have never been anywhere near this River except in a car driving alongside it on the highway or on its concrete bank in the city, which I now find sad. Yet it was this River that was providing me with the water that I was drinking and washing all through my childhood. 
 
This past week, I went on an exploration of the River where I live, the Birs. It is surrounded by industry, forest greenery and urban housing. It begins in the mountains in canton Jura and flows downward to feed the Rhine, which then flows all the way to the North Sea. The Birs provides drinking-water and electricity for the region of the Birseck, where I live, and I had never been aware that it was flowing right under the roads and highway that I often use. I am told that it used to be too polluted from industry until the past 20 years, where there have been efforts to re-naturalise the River and its surroundings. It has a greenish-brownish tinge to its colour, which gives me a feeling that it is not completely back to its natural state, though fish and crab have begun to breed once again in these waters. The Birs as it approaches Birsfelden seems unnaturally straight, as it was cut to fit our human 'want' for straight and organized arrangements. In doing so, the wetland areas began to dry out and animal habitats destroyed. Further upstream, where I have not yet explored, in Zwingen a dam was built in 1890, to harness the power of the water; this too limited the flow of the River. When you see pictures from the archives of the Birs from the 19th century, you will understand how much we humans have changed this River and its environment. 
 
One of my teachers, Nathaniel Hughes describes,
 
"In our march of 'progress,' I feel we have acted more than we have listened, taken more than we have given and done so without sufficient respect or gratitude. In response, the wild places are diminishing. However, we can each, individually, renew this ancient honouring of the land should we wish. I have long been a believer that real change starts on an individual level, that personal responsibility, personal integrity, small steps towards living in our world harmoniously, are ultimately powerful. (Hughes, Owen, 2014, 4-5)    
 
As I walk beside this living being, I hear its trickle, its gush, its torrent. This relaxes my spirit and I am thankful that this water flows and nourishes us physically as well as mentally. At the same time, I hear the competing hum of the highway, the trains and the jet planes. I know that these too are part of our world but they do not have to be the dominant force. We have a choice in this. We can slow down, to listen, to give space to the subtle and the placid. It does not have to be about competition, it can be about collaboration; that we create together, rather than destroy to dominate another. I observe a heron on my walk standing stoically on a rock, enduring the spray of cold, winter flow of the Birs on its feathers, seeking its next meal, possibly.
 
    
Reference
Hughes, Nathaniel / Owen, Fiona (2014): Intuitive Herbalism - Weeds in the Heart. England: Quintessence Press
 
 
 
Image by Elaine

As a teenager, I remember observing my mom and her news consumption. She would walk out in the morning to get her newspaper, then read it through the day, clipping articles that she felt were interesting to keep. Then, every hour she turned on the radio to listen to the hourly news bulletin while still reading her newspaper. Then when the news broadcast appeared on the TV, she would turn that on too. She was what we would define today as a "news junkie," an addict of news and she is not alone. In fact, we, the humans living in this time and space of 2021, have become a society of news junkies. 
 
We in the modern world have perfected the art of receiving news by introducing TV news networks that play 24-hour news with second-to-second updates moving below the screen, the internet, push notification on our mobiles phone for the newest, most important news of the minute right at the tip of our fingers, delivered directly to us. I get to the tram station and there is a dispenser for a free newspaper, which many do not think twice to take along to read and leave on the seat of the tram as a service to the next person. I sit on the tram and I am bombarded by the news on a screen, which is extremely hard to avoid because it's right next to the screen displaying the next tram stop. I, like many in our society, was taught to stay informed of the news, as it meant that you were a well-read, aware, educated individual. But is this really true?
 
I believe that one of the questions should not be "what" is the news but "how" is this news. Over the years, I realized that the news being broadcasted/ published has become increasingly negative and bleak, about some event like an earthquake in some part of the world that I have never been to or a plane crash that killed a whole lot of people. If you know how many earthquakes occur in a day, which according the US Geological Survey happens 50 times a day, or that the number of commercial plane crashes in a year in the world is between 0-2. I ask myself sometimes why we don't hear of the thousands of flights daily that landed safely and didn't crash, as well as the information that earthquakes happen on a regular basis because our Earth is a living entity. How is my knowing of this event going to change anything? Many of us just read, listen, watch and do nothing about it except maybe to feel a little depressed or fearful for a moment until the next tragedy occurs. Who defines what news should be? This is where I question the intentions of news providers. Are they reporting this news because they have a genuine intent to aid society or living beings or is it just gaining profit by provoking some sort of emotional reaction in us through sensationalize information reporting? When I consider the "why" I am being provided with a free newspaper at my tram station every weekday morning, I observe that the paper is in fact NOT FREE, as it is filled with advertisements paid for by companies wanting to sell something to the readers. When we get news on the internet or push service, our data is being collected, possibly sold, to companies that are once again trying to sell or get something out of us. We are not benefitting from these but being sapped of our time, energy, attention and mental health.
 
What can we do so that we are getting news that we need and want? We have to be mindful and to search for it ourselves, if we want to. We will need to stop consuming the "media diarrhea" that is being projected on us.  As neuroscientist Beau Lotto describes,
 
"While we still know very little about attention [...], it seems that the power of attention is not in doing the looking but in the ability to stop looking..., to look away, to move your eyes to the less obvious, to stop a cycle of thoughts and perception. (Lotto, 2017, 264)
 
We can consciously look away and fill our space of attention with thoughts and ideas that we ourselves deem important. If you are really in need of news, historian Rutger Bregman suggests:
 
"My rule of thumb? I have several: steer clear of television news and push notifications and instead read a more nuanced Sunday paper and in-depth feature writing, whether online or off. Disengage from your screen and meet real people in the flesh. Think as carefully about what information you feed your mind as you do about the food you feed your body." (Bregman, 2020, 392) 
 
  

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Reference
Bregman, Rutger (2020): Humankind - A Hopeful History. London: Bloomsbury Publishing
 
Lotto, Beau (2017): Deviate - The Creative Power of Transforming your Perception. London: Orion Publishing
 
 
 
 
Image by _Alicja_ on Pixabay

When I was in my Chinese Medicine studies in San Francisco, I had 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