This morning, like many other mornings over the past years, I took my herbal medicine. One of these is called “Xiāo Yáo Sǎn - Free and Easy Wanderer Powder.” I am reminded of the first time I became aware of the English translation of this formula’s name almost 25 years ago. I was in clinical training at the American College of TCM in San Francisco and I was instructed by my clinical supervisor to obtain this formula in pill form for one of our patients at the clinic. I entered our herbal pharmacy to look for the bottle of pills. I found it on a shelf and looked at the bottle; on it I saw an image of an older Chinese man in traditional garb with his walking stick and small pack, looking out from high into the horizon that spreads over mountains, rivers, waterfalls and trees. Both Chinese in Pin Yin and English names were printed on the bottle, so I was able to distinguish the formula, which I was taught to memorize in Pin Yin. But what stood out for me is the English name and image of the Wandering Daoist; since then it has been embedded into my consciousness.

Not too long ago, I finally got around to attaining the classical Daoist text of Zhuang Zi (365-290BCE), one of the famous scholars/ masters of Daoism. As I looked through the book, I came across the title of the first chapter - “Free and Easy Wanderer.” I found out that this is no coincidence. The Chinese medical experts, who compiled the Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang (Imperial Grace Formulary of the Tai Ping Era), in the Song Dynasty period (960-1279 CE) were themselves scholars of Daoism. They named this formula “Free and Easy Wanderer” for precisely the effect that it should invoke in the individual with her/his use of this herbal combination.

In our modern-day Western society, Xiāo Yáo Sǎn is one of the most prescribed formulas. In my clinical training in the USA, almost every second patient was receiving this formula in her/his treatment. These days, I still prescribe Free-and-Easy-Wanderer Powder regularly to my patients, as well as take it regularly myself. Why? This is due to its function to move Liver Qi Stagnation and prevent Qi congestion, harmonize Liver (Wood) and Spleen (Earth), as well as tonify Blood. Life in our modern-day world appears to make us feel tight and blocked, as shown in the muscles and joints of our bodies; unable to access our “free nature,” our minds too become stuck. Many of us feel restricted, stuck in a “box” too small for our bodyminds with constraints of time and space, leading to us feeling stressed: get out of the door on time so you get your tram or else you’ll be late for work, which would then make your superior angry with you and may dock your salary or worse fire you, then you wouldn’t be able to buy your basics like food or to pay your bills and rent…the list of things could go on and on, if we let it. But pay attention to what has happened to our jaws, necks and shoulders; they contracted together and tighter as the list went on, manifestation of our Liver Qi congesting. Over a longer period of time of reduced circulation, this would lead to a depletion of Qi and Blood, affecting our Spleen’s ability to digest food and make Blood which is needed to nourish our bodies. Another common modern usage of Xiāo Yáo Sǎn is for Pre-Menstrual Syndrome PMS. This is once again a case of being “forced” into a container too small, too restrictive and undernourished, that the body begins to rebel by causing mental irritation, mood-swings, physical tension and pain.

Xiāo Yáo Sǎn - the formula of over a thousand years, helps with all these and more, but it is not and should not be the sole remedy. What we need is Free and Easy Wanderer mentality, find the Wandering Daoist within ourselves. “Unbox” our bodies and minds! Go out into Nature, breathe, move, walk, dance, sing - release and unbind our Qi and our lives regularly from the constraints of the human world. Let it flow free and easy!
 
 

 
Image by Ansgar Sheffold on Pixabay

I have come to recognize the walking style of some people as I walk behind them. This often reminds me of the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch from the infamous Monty Python, watch this before you read on.

Often times I get off a bus or a tram to get to work and right then someone in front of me moves in a slow, aimless, unfocused manner, sometimes even across the pedestrian walk, where vehicles are waiting to drive on but can’t until this individual passes; they are often gazing at an almost 45-degree angle downward and unaware that other people actually exist around them. I am forced to do an overtaking maneuver and as I pass this individual I notice that s/ he is staring into her/ his mobile phone. This is what I call the Smartphone Stomp. Just this week, one of my older patients was walking through the city in the shadow of buildings, to avoid the strong sunlight and she informed me that she nearly got stomped over by 2 people looking into their mobile phones, also walking in the shade so that they could look into their devices while walking. Smartphone Stomp – the walk a person engages in when s/he is looking into their mobile phone irrespective of others around them, possibly walking into others or stopping traffic for no apparent reason other than not being present in this reality. Maybe Monty Python had the ability to look into the future in 1970, to be able to foresee that society in the 2020s would be dealing with this theme of silly walks.

Then of course there are the other ones riding a bicycle or an e-bike, scooter or car while looking into their mobile phones – the ones with a death wish but unaware of it. Talk about taking risks; risking your own life and the life of others in order to stay on your mobile phone. Why would one do this? It would be a sad way to leave the world; falling into a hole or getting driven over by a car as one was too busy staying in touch on social media or news on the mobile phone, which somehow couldn’t wait till we got to a safer place. What have we become? Slaves to a digital object that dictates we stay on it all of our waking hours and some.

When they named it a smartphone, did they mean we would become smarter if we used it, or did they mean the smartphone would become smarter while we became stupid-er? From what I have observed, I believe it to be the latter. Even I, who try not to use my mobile device often and most definitely not staring into it while I am walking, am starting to feel the effect it has on my ability to memorize things. In fact there have been recent studies conducted that have shown that the smartphone effects a deficiency in memory and learning just by its mere presence in the room. This object somehow distracts, makes us lazy and by the looks of it on the street, stupid.

We, humans of the modern world, have to get a grip on things and take back our intelligence and our attention. It’s time to hold ourselves accountable for our actions, as well as Big Tech that makes these devices and content to keep people glued to it 24/7. It’s time to wake up from the lull of smartphone distractions, become present with ourselves and the people as well as the environment around us. I was just informed by my partner that there is a rise in the use of the “dumbphone,” those mobile phones without a touchscreen. If it means we take back our intelligence and our common sense, then so be it.
 
 
 

Image by Pete Linforth on Pixabay