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Daffodils

4/4/2022

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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
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Spring: Time to Get Stretching

27/2/2021

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I was outside these past few days enjoying the warmth of the sunlight and the scent of spring. There is still a chill in the air but you can feel the earth is warming up and the plants are twisting their way out of the earth to reach the sunlight. It is the return of life and the energetic motion of rising upward. 
 
In Chinese Medicine, it is the time of the Wood element with the color green and the climate of wind; hence, be mindful of the cool wind when you go outside to get sunlight. The organs that are associated with Wood are the Liver and Gallbladder. They govern the sense organ of sight, the eyes, and the tissues are the sinews. Interestingly, the emotion related to this time of year is anger/ frustration and the sound of shouting. I say "interestingly" because one would imagine after a long, cold winter, it feels like a relief to have sunlight and warmth. Which it is, if we are allowed to grow outward. But if you imagine yourself as a plant breaking through stone to come out to the light but being restricted when you have all that powerful energy in you, you would become frustrated and at some point, angry. It is a time of movement. All that storing of qi inward in winter needs to start to move outward. As the Yellow Emperor Inner Classic or Huang Di Nei Jing, Su Wen Chapter 2 states:
 
"The three months of spring,
they denote effusion and spreading.
In heaven and earth everything comes to life;
the myriad beings prosper.
Go to rest late at night and rise early.
Move through the courtyard with long strides."
 
It is the time of the year to move our bodies and minds. This is why many of us feel like beginning new projects or starting to exercise. It is not just us humans but the energy of the season that inspires us to movement. The reference to "move through the courtyard with long strides" arouses in me the feeling of stretching.
 
I like stretching. I began formal dance training at the age of 5 and continue movement training even till the present. I feel blessed when I can move and stretch. It is like breathing for me, existential and essential for life. When the Chinese say "sinews," they refer to tendons, ligaments and fasciae. This is fascinating as I realized that being flexible has more to do with our connective tissue, which are made up of collagenous, elastic and reticular fibers, than to do with our muscles or bones. More and more scientific research into the body is revealing that we do not know everything about the body. For the longest time anatomists thought that they discovered all there is to know about human anatomy. Then not so long ago, they realized that fasciae are not just "junk" tissues around organs and muscle, but a deep network of tissues that connect the whole body. Currently, more connective tissues are being discovered and they are realizing that stretching is a very important component to having a healthy body. In The Science of Stretch, Dr. Helene Langevin describes her research with stretching connective tissue with acupuncture and how deep the effects of this stretch are on a person. 
 
For me, stretching goes even deeper than connective tissue; stretching my physical body brings me deeper into my mental, emotional and spiritual being. This is why I like practicing Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong and Yoga. These practices incorporate breath, movement and stretching of my body, as well as the awareness of Qi. I have learned to focus and discipline my body-mind, being aware of sensations in my being as well as the environment that envelops me. I have learned to distinguish between a beneficial, stretching sensation and the sensation of ripping, piercing pain when I have overstretched; in other words, I have come to know the healthy boundaries of my body. This does not stop at the physical body, it extends to my awareness of the other aspects of my being, be it emotional, mental or energetic.
 
If you are sitting in your chair right now reading this blogpost, begin by opening your chest to the sky and lifting your arms above you. Feel how good that feels. It is now the time to move, turn off your digital device and get stretching!  
 
  
 
 
Reference
Unschuld Paul U. (2003): Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen - Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Test. London: University of California Press, Ltd.
 
 
 
Image by kevin burt on Pixabay
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Toilet Paper Connections

26/4/2020

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As the whole virus crisis began in the Western world, there was a rush for toilet paper. Many people I know and myself included were a little stunned by the stockpiling of this otherwise rather mundane article of modern life. Of course, it is interesting to observe what people were hoarding, food and toilet paper, both items that we utilize on both ends of the digestive tract.
 
I personally don't find toilet paper such an essential. But it got me thinking of the things we take for granted in our everyday. I turn on the tap and CLEAN water flows, I press a switch and the light comes on. When I was growing up in Malaysia in the 1970-80s, we had power outages, sometimes for days and then the water pumps wouldn't work, so when the tap got turned, nothing flowed. I lived in Petaling Jaya, close to the capital city, so if we didn't have water, a lot of other places in Malaysia would have it worse. I learned very early on not to take these very basic things for granted. I learned then that toilet paper isn't such an essential, especially if you can't flush the toilet, where do you put the toilet paper?
 
I walk into a grocery store here and I see possibly 10 different brands of toilet paper; from 3-ply to 5-ply, super soft to silky soft, with Chamomile to Gold Melissa extract, or FSC-certified to recycled paper. It's crazy the choices we are faced with at just the toilet paper shelf. I started to look closer at the labels on the packaging. I personally am interested in environmentally-friendly products so I pay attention to recycling information. They are very deceiving. Some have a recycled-sign on the packet but when you look closer, it states that it's the packaging that is recycled not the paper.
 
I looked a little further on where our toilet paper comes from and I was horrified. I watched a documentary on FSC, Forest Stewardship Council, about how their certification of paper and wood products functions and who runs it. FSC was a council of environmental groups, like Greenpeace, Indigenous people from around the world and the timber companies, who wanted to do sustainable managing of the forests of the world. Turns out, this WAS the case but not anymore. Watch the documentary to find out more. I found out where our toilet paper is coming from. If it is recycled paper, then it is locally or European produced. If not, it is coming from trees, like Eucalyptus, which were grown in place of primeval forest because they grow faster and can be cut down faster. When we refer to primeval forests, we are talking about forest with trees and a whole ecosystem, of over a couple of hundred years old, of which we do not have any more of in Switzerland and most of Western Europe. We, consumers of these products and beings of the earth, have been deceived. If you did not pay attention to the fine-printed details, it is time you did. Too many things have been done in the name of "recycling," "caring for Mother Earth and the environment" etc. but, they are nothing more than ways to sell more products, help us consumers have a better conscience so we buy more and fill the pockets of these companies. Greenwashing for more profit!
 
It is time to act. Use less, buy less, recycle and reuse. It is only a small step but a choice we make. We don't need the newest smartphone, which by the way requires the use of rare earth, or new clothes. These are/will be relics of a time when we consumed without thought of where or what or whom we were affecting. The next time you rip that toilet paper, remember that we are all connected. That piece of toilet paper may have come from a Eucalyptus tree, grown in place of a clear-cut rainforest, which housed thousands of species of plants, insects, animals and indigenous people, who now are extinct or on the verge of extinction. Maybe many of us were revolted by the hoarding of toilet paper because it displayed to us this ugly side of humanity, this irreverent part of us that consumes without regard for those around us. Become aware and awake of what you can do. There is a saying in Malay, "Sedikit-sedikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit," which translates as "little by little over time creates a hill" - Our small actions over time will create change.  


Image by katharinakanns from Pixabay
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    Elaine Yap

    I am a Chinese Medicine practitioner at ICM, mother of 2 boys, living on my third continent. I love to share my perspectives on healing, TCM, gardening, social change and life.

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