Many years ago, I watched a movie with my husband; it was a Chinese movie involving a student with his Daoist master. The student asks his master for some wise life lessons and the master replies, "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep."
 
Not long later, I was writing a letter to my university administration, to express my dissatisfaction with how certain class dates were changed at short notice that it had affected my travel plans, which involved flights that had already been booked. In the middle of my constructing this letter, my husband invited me to eat the hot meal that he had prepared and I decided to leave the letter aside to have the meal. However, my mind was still rummaging through the discontent I was experiencing with the school. Later, I had to spend time in the bathroom, dealing with my digestion that was reacting to my emotional state. In this moment, I became very aware how the Daoist master was right - "Eat when you eat." 
 
How often does this happen to so many of us? Many times we try to reflect on what we had eaten to find the "culprit" to blame for the indigestion and diarrhea we are experiencing, but actually it may have been how we were eating, with too many thoughts, among other things, and not what we were eating. Just as when we couldn't fall asleep, worrying about the events of tomorrow. Often times it was our minds being too busy with what was or will be, while expecting that our bodies calm down - "Sleep when you sleep."
 
Such simple advice, yet profound and sometimes feels unattainable. It is these very simple things in our everyday lives that make the difference, but we, unfortunately, seldom give recognition to the simple. We, as a society, love the complicated and the superheroes; hence, the overload of movies in the theatres about them, yet they are the flawed ones, who developed superhuman capabilities due to some deficiency or dis-ease that they experience. Take Batman for instance; his "normal-life" character being Bruce Wayne. Mr. Wayne becomes a vigilante, crime-fighting superhero after witnessing the murder of his parents as a young child. Basically, he experienced Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) as a child and as an adult compensates for his inability to control the events that shaped his life, by having "super" toys as well as assumes a different identity, behind a mask, in order to shape the life of others. Therein lies the complicated.
 
Actually, it is the simple and the steady regularity that gets us through life in a wholesome manner. In the 20 years of being a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I have observed that those who find this regularity and consistency often also have habits that positively affect their lives. This begins already as children. When as children, we are served regular, homecooked meals, which we are maybe a part of the process of making, we become used to taking time to cook and eat with others. This then shapes the digestive system, in terms of rhythm and environment. I once treated a patient, who shared honestly with me how dietary changes that would require him to cook would not likely be successful. He realized that his growing up in a boarding school shaped his relationship to food; food was served to him and his fellow boarding schoolmates, of which they were not involved in its preparation process. He associated food with just going into a cafeteria, consuming enough so that he would have enough energy to go on with his day. I was thankful for his disclosure of his experience, as it helped me understand what he needed and my becoming aware of other realities of life. Many of us consume what is easy and fast, sometimes as we are moving to our next appointment, as we are trained as such. If we didn't give our digestive system the time or the space needed to digest what we just ingested, how can we expect that it will process it well. Just as when we humans were not given the time and space to do our work, how can we be expected to submit a successful, finished project. So maybe it is not just what is eaten, but also how we eat it, that shapes what we produce out of our bodies. But this does not mean we cannot change what we learned as children. This is where we have a choice, to be conscious of our habits.
 
Similarly with sleep; we drop into our beds after working on stressful projects or doing mind-stimulating activities, expecting that our body-mind would just calm down on its own, at a snap of a finger, enough to fall into regeneration mode. Maybe just like with our digestive systems, they will for a time, until they don't anymore. We are then confronted by our insomnia, tossing and turning in our bed, wondering why we can't fall asleep. Then, we imagine what it will be like when we have to work the next day with little sleep; thus, solidifying our inability to find the peace to sleep. The downward spiral continues on and on until we choose to stop it by becoming conscious.
 
Simple is not always easy, especially in our modern, complicated manner of doing things, which is often times neither efficient nor beneficial to us or our environment, even though we are told it should be. But if this is what we need, then it is time to become conscious of our everyday habits. Let go of the complicated that has not served us. Honour the simple, honour the everyday space and time! - "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image Sleeping Dog by Chris F on pexels.com

​A few days ago, I looked into a book that was passed on to me and extremely invaluable as I attended university in the 1990s - an English dictionary. Since my last post about Sweet Potatoes and Roots, I have been contemplating this word "Root." So I looked in to find the definition of Root and I find 12 different possibilities as a noun and as a verb. Most of them have something to do with having a "base" or "core" or "source," whether referring to human, plant, language or mathematics, and even to encourage. Fascinating, isn't it? 
 
Many of the Herbal Medicines in the Chinese Materia Medica are Roots. One that particularly stands out is Ginger and is listed in a few different forms. They are fresh Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang), Ginger peel (Cortex Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜皮 Shēng Jīang Pí), dried Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Officinalis, 干姜 Gān Jīang) and quick-fried Ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Praeparata, 炮姜Páo Jīang).
 
In its fresh form, just like we get them here in the normal grocery store, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang, is a food-grade herb. As such, one can cook it with other ingredients to enhance the taste of that particular food, like fish, meat or vegetables. In some Asian supermarkets, you may find young ginger, that which is yellowish in color with a green stem protruding out of the rhizome. This form is a little less warming than the older brown version. Herbal decoctions regularly containing multiple Herbs, prescribed by a Chinese medical practitioner, often includes Ginger to harmonize the Herbal Formula combinations; aiding better absorption of the Herbs into the body and to prevent possible toxic side-effects from other potent Herbs. In fact, I have read that Ginger can be used as a remedy for food poisoning, and in fact is cooked with fish in order to neutralize toxins in many traditions. 
 
In the everyday, we can grate it, make an Herbal infusion out of it just by adding hot water and letting it steep for 10 minutes just as a beverage. This can be very helpful too if you had symptoms like chills and/or fever caused by the common cold virus. In fact, making a foot-bath or a whole-body-bath with this infusion till one gets warm and sweaty would also help expel what we call "Wind-Cold Invasion" in Chinese Medicine. If you wanted to enhance the digestive effect of Ginger, then you can throw in a couple of slices of Ginger into a pot with water and cook it for at least 15 minutes. This infusion would be less spicy but more warming for the Stomach, good for stopping nausea and vomiting in pregnancy or otherwise, help relieve bloating and digestive distress. Shēng Jīang enters the Lung, Spleen and Stomach, is spicy and warm. In contrast, Shēng Jīang Pí, Ginger Peel is spicy-cool and is good for edema and promoting urination. 
 
As with anything, too much of a good thing transforms it to a hindrance. If you tend to heat in your system, then too much Ginger will overheat you. A spicy flavor will circulate Qi and too much circulation will dry out the body. Use moderately or speak with your practitioner, if Ginger is appropriate for you. I find that this is one of the many simple Herbal foods that I almost always have at home or with me when I travel. One of our favorite meals is rice with chicken, cooked with Ginger, soya sauce and Sesame oil; a simple but scrumptious recipe passed down to me from my mother. Like so much around the world, people have used food as medicine since time in memorial. It is only us modern urban-dwelling, city-folk, who are often times disconnected from nature, who question the validity of food as being able to affect our health or never really realizing that what we put into our bodies might affect who we are. Just because something doesn't come in a form of a pill, doesn't make it less potent. In fact, it is this that I challenge; something in its purest form, like the Ginger Root, may be the strongest medicine as it is whole. In its wholeness, it helps us to find unity in ourselves, to reconnect us to our source, to our core. 
 
 
 
 
Image Ginger Root by Engin Akyurt on pexels.com
 

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