​​We just passed the phase of the Autumnal Equinox, around the 21st of September here in the Northern hemisphere. The "change" from Late Summer to Autumn has reared its severe head. Here, we have been presented with 20-degree temperature difference overnight; warm and sunny in the day hitting mid-20s, then down to 5 degrees in the night. Our bodies, with pores wide open like windows of our houses in Summer, were shocked into closure. If not, we got sick with a cold or digestive distress, forcing us to stay in bed under warm covers, which in a way is a form of drastic closure. 
 
After the Autumnal Equinox passes, the light of the sun diminishes every day; over a minute at sunrise and over 2 minutes at sunset. What does this do to living beings on this hemisphere? It makes us, animals and plants, focus more inward; our energies begin to be more Yin concentrated. It is then not surprising that we modern humans stay more indoors, as it is colder, darker and we feel less active, possibly even tired. If you have been feeling this way these past few weeks, there is nothing wrong with you. Nature and the weather affects us because we are a part of nature. What we can do is to honor this connection by taking time to do quiet things, to rest and sleep more. Also, to eat certain foods that will help the process of moving inward, such as with root vegetables. There is this idea in Chinese Medicine and other forms of Complementary Medicine that "like treats like"; if we want to feel more rooted, we should ingest roots, as they will guide our energetic body to create more "rooted connections."
 
One of my favorites is Sweet Potato, 番薯 Fān Shǔ, Ipomoeas batatas in Latin. That's the plant pictured above. For the past few years, we have been planting this wonderful vegetable in our garden as it is a plant that almost all parts - leaf, stem, flower and root, are edible. Its leaves are heart-shaped and they creep and hang off the edge of our veggie-raised-beds, with its blossom so like the Morning Glory. They can propagate by leaf-cuttings but if you had a root that was sprouting, like many root vegetables, you can put this root in a bit of water to allow the sprout to grow leaves and then place them in the Earth. One can boil the roots in water with a little salt, add them to curries, fry/ bake them like Sweet Potato fries or make Sweet Potato pie with walnuts, like they do in the US for Thanksgiving. In East Asia, we make Rice Congee with Sweet Potato roots, deep fry them with a batter to make tempura in Japanese cuisine or in ball-form as a sweet snack in Malaysia (fān shǔ dàn) or served in a sweet soup in China. We also eat the leaves and stems, in the Spring-Summer seasons, as a stir-fry like you can with spinach, with a little garlic and soy sauce. They are beautiful beings that thrive in sunny, warm conditions, but are very sensitive to frost, as they are originally from Central/ South America like the regular potato. As such, it is now soon time to harvest the roots in our garden.
 
In Chinese Medicine, Sweet Potato is sweet in flavor, neutral to cooling in temperature and, affects the Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine and Kidney meridians. When a food or herb is naturally sweet in flavor, it often will tonify Qi. As such Sweet Potato's functions include strengthening Spleen to promote Qi, increase mother's milk production, as well as helps support bowel movements, remove toxins from the body, builds the Yin in the body, which then treats dryness and inflammation. From a Western nutritional perspective, its orange color already suggests that it is high in Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A. Sweet Potato is also high in Vitamin C and E, potassium and fiber. Its natural sweetness and being a root vegetable, versus fruits, has a low-glycemic index and can help stabilize blood-sugar imbalances such as diabetes. Hence, one can eat it as a dessert without having any processed sugar or fructose. I know people who do not tolerate night-shade vegetables, such as potatoes and tomatoes, but Sweet Potatoes are not night-shades, as such very agreeable with those who have these issues. As often the case with most things, too much of a good thing transforms it to a hindrance. Eat it or anything with consciousness, LESS IS MORE.  
 
I find the Sweet Potato plant so versatile and resilient, taking root all over the world; from the Americas to Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe through the Columbian Exchange, but also it has been found that Polynesia had cultivated this plant before the British came to the islands. We can learn a lot from this plant in being adaptable yet being able to root almost in every continent on the Earth. Best of all to go inward to find our own roots at this time of year.
 
 
 
Image Sweet Potato Plant and Blossom by Elaine
Image Sweet Potato Roots by Suanpa on Pixabay

The scene is set. Two Tai Ji Quan players are about to engage in a fight. They stand facing each other, neither begins, neither moves. They wait for the other to begin the attack. They are standing still, yet nothing is static. Qi is flowing, they are both sensing the subtle changes of the other and the environment. Through sensing, comes awareness. A Tai Ji Quan player will have an edge over the other, if her/his ability to sense is more acute. The moment one begins an attack, s/he has begun a forward, outward motion of energy, transmitting her/his information of her/his energetic distribution to the opponent, who will then utilize this energy to a counterattack. As such, no Tai Ji Quan player would make the first move, unless s/he is sure that her/his Qi is stronger than the other. Check out this clip from the movie "Hero," from many years back. It is not of Tai Ji Quan but demonstrates what I am trying to describe very well.   
 
Tài Jí Qúan太極拳, sometimes written as Tai Chi Chuan (Wade-Giles romanization), translates as "Supreme Ultimate Fist." As you may have read in a previous post, Tai Ji Quan is a martial art with Chinese roots. It is estimated that 300 million people from at least 57 different countries practice Tai Ji Quan, making it one of the most practiced martial arts in the world. However, many have no idea that it a martial art, even those who practice it, as it has been transformed into a method of maintaining health or a form of dance. And why should it not be so? If something has the ability to adapt better in a changing environment over a period of time, then this adaptation will ensure its survival. This is something that has helped Tai Ji Quan to persist and thrive in the world, as people of all ages, children, adult and elderly practice this art with different emphasis and intentions set by its practitioner. Maybe it is even this skill to adapt to change, which is in itself a flexibility in being, that the Tai Ji Quan practitioner acquires through the practice of this art. One image my Tai Ji Quan teacher, Donald Rubbo, used to present was of bamboo. He described how bamboo is flexible and bends with the wind without breaking, as compared to rigid trees that may be strong but break due to the lack of flexibility under the strain of strong winds.  
 
Tai Ji Quan is considered an internal martial art, meaning that the energetic work is done inside the body, versus an external focus where emphasis is placed on external strength. It is based on Daoist philosophy and the principles of Yīn-Yáng, which many of us know as the diagram with the black and white 'fish;' white fish with black eye and black fish with white eye. Master Huang, master of Tai Ji Quan, calligraphy and dance, describes the philosophy of Tai Ji and Yin-Yang very well through movement as well as intellectually. One of the Daoist ideas that is key to Tai Ji Quan and Chinese Medicine is the principle that we, all living beings living in this world, are connections between Heaven and Earth; the sacred trinity. If we learn to be and stay connected constantly to this Heaven-Earth power, we are always filled with Qi; thus, we are able to conserve our own personal Qi and Jing (life Essence) to maintain life in our bodies. A manifestation of Yin-Yang is in the form of the elements Fire and Water: 
 
"Fire rises and water flows down. Water can put fire out when placed on top. This is reversing. It is a natural law that never changes. However, when the water flows down and you put your pot under it to stop it from reaching its extreme limit, the result is the boiling of water. This is called Yin-Yang reversal theory that allows one to make use of the natural laws. The T'ai Chi boxing system is based on this reversal theory, which is used in every aspect of the skill." (Kuo, Guttman, 1994, p.1)
 
Tai Ji Quan applies these philosophical principles into movement and through practicing these movements regularly, we begin to embody these principles in living our daily lives.
 
Going back to that first scene in which I described the two players; my teacher used to emphasize to us to 'play' Tai Ji Quan when we got too serious thinking and trying to make the correct form or application. We learned to move slowly but also quickly, when it was needed. In moving slow, one becomes aware of the subtle changes in weight distribution on the different aspects of the feet; thus aiding in balance training. Also, the awareness of the space around oneself, the elements in the environment and that a gentle flick of the finger, when one is connected to her/his Dān Tían, can move boulders. One aspect of Tai Ji Quan is form training, Tào Lù, where one performs the empty-hand or weapon form without contact, and if so it is choreographed. This is how many people practice Tai Ji Quan, especially if it is for health and it works on the basic form. Tùi Shǒu is Pushing Hands; this is the application of the form with contact to another practitioner but only to push the hand to uproot her/his stance, not to strike, punch or hurt. Another two aspects are the Nèi Gōng and Qī Gōng, which translate as "internal work" and "Qi work" respectively. These refer to breathing techniques, meditation, awareness training, meridian stretching as well as stillness practice. For me these are the most important aspects of the practice because they work on the unseen, deeper connections of the individual to Heaven-Earth and the clarity of mind to dis/engage in a confrontation. With stillness in body, the mind learns to become still but the Qi flows relentlessly.
 
 
 
Reference
Kuo Lien-Ying/ translated by Guttmann (1994): The T'ai Chi Boxing Chronicle. Berkeley, CA, USA: North Atlantic Books 
 
 
 
 
Image by Ron 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.  


​
Image by Elaine

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:


​







​


​


​

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.
 


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

Over a month ago, we were discussing the coming of autumn in my yoga class. A few of us spoke of the "dread" of the change from summer to fall season; the change of light and temperature. I find this time of year has its beauty but it is not simple to adapt to. From the full openness that the summer warmth has created in us, we begin the journey back inward of autumn. The darkness and the coolness outside forces us inward, our bodies are pushed to close the pores of our skin in order to conserve warmth. Since I began studying Chinese Medicine, I have begun to understand and appreciate each season of the year better and observe how my body/being changes with them.
 
As Claude Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée, sinologists and Chinese Medicine scholars describe in The Secret Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid:
 
"To rise in order to fall, and to fall in order to rise, that makes circulation. It is so high that we cannot perceive the essence of it. It is so universal that everything, everybody, every animal and every plant is affected and is under the same natural movement of tian yun. The progression of this is seen through the four seasons [...] Spring manifests itself everywhere as some beginning of life or renewing of the beginning of life [...] Summer takes what has been started and progresses along the line up to an acme, to the highest point of that progress, and then suddenly, in order to protect life and to protect the universe, it has to reverse its movement. So on some uncertain morning in the autumn time, the quality of air is very different. It's shocking. Something has started to reverse. It means that the yin which has been there but covered, unable to manifest itself except as a hidden, sustaining power, is now able to arise in its own right." (Larre, Rochat 1992: 7)
 
This "uncertain morning in autumn" is upon us now and we knew it was coming. Nevertheless, it is "shocking" for our beings, just as a metallic object touches our bare skin; a certain coldness makes us contract inward. This is the effect and energetic movement of Metal, to be more inward focused and passive, more Yin.
 
From the 5-Element perspective, Metal is associated with the organs of Lung and Large Intestine. It is not surprising then that many of us will experience Lung and digestive themes, such as a cold/ flu or those with asthma can have a flare-up or a gastrointestinal virus (stomach flu) at this time of year. As with all the elements there is an emotion associated with Metal, it is sadness/ grief. The direction is the West, where the sun sets. Makes sense, doesn't it? The Yang, like the sun and daylight, is setting, and the Yin, the moon and night, is rising. The climate becomes dry, making our skin dry. This is that clear manifestation of the energy moving inward, no longer nourishing the most external parts of us, as with the trees. In humans, the skin and in trees, the leaves. 
 
For me, this is a beginning of a death that will happen in winter. But through this death, comes new life next spring. Can we find beauty in death? Yes, I believe so. I look to the trees, the Japanese Maple tree, Acer palmatum, especially. We have a few in our garden. One in particular has a longer process of a "glorious death." He, I sense him as male, is green and robustly thick all summer. Then, just as that "uncertain morning in autumn" comes, he transforms his green leaves into a rusty red. Then suddenly comes the piercing frost at the end of autumn and then begins that magnificent, crimson red phase till he drops his leaves completely for his winter's sleep. The Japanese have a practice in this time of year, momijigari, "the hunt for deep red leaves." Many go on a "pilgrimage" to places where the Maple trees are transforming life to death, to appreciate this beautiful process. I personally have not yet been to Japan but I know that I will be at least once in this lifetime on a momijigari.
 
As I have mentioned before in other posts, I look to the trees for life's wisdom. Even in this time of contraction and closing in, there is beauty and purpose for the inward movement. It is as Larre and Rochat state, it is "in order to protect life and to protect the universe."


Reference
Larre, Claude/ Rochat de la Vallée, Elisabeth (1992) : The Secret Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid. Nei Jing Su Wen Chapter 8. Cambridge: Monkey Press.

Images by Elaine ​

If you go on a walk right now, you will observe that the Peony is in or coming to blossom.  In German, we call them Pfingstrosen, I imagine due to the fact that they flower around the time of Pentecost. As a child, I recall having experienced the flower Peony in the form of soap from China; a very strong, sweet scented soap, which was almost too sweet for me. We also used to get duvets from China that were Peony brand. When I went with my mother to the market, I would ask her about the flowers, whose blossoms were wrapped in white tissue and she would tell me that they were Peonies imported from China. So, I had an impression that Peonies were Chinese, as they don't grow in the tropical climate in Malaysia.
 
Since my studies in Chinese Medicine began, I have come to know of how the Chinese honor the Peony. It was referred to by Confucius (551-479 BCE), was often the subject of art in the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) and even declared the national flower of China during the Qing dynasty, the last imperial government of China till 1912. In Chinese it is called Fu Gui Hua, "flower of riches and honor." Peonies are naturally occurring in temperate and cold areas of the northern hemisphere, from Morocco to Japan to North America. There is a Greek myth of Peony, where the God of Medicine, Aesclepius, got jealous of his student, Paeon, and he was saved from Aesclepius' attack by Zeus who transformed him into a flower - the Peony. 
 
There are tree Peonies, herbaceous Peonies and hybrids that have leaves like the tree but are herbaceous.  In the Chinese Medicine itself, we use 3 different species of Peony: Paeonia suffruticosa, Paeonia lactiflora and Paeonia veitchii. Interestingly, the part of the plant that it used as medicine is not the flower. The part of Paeonia suffriticosa, which is the tree, that is used is the cortex or bark of the tree, Mu Dan Pi. It is used to cool the blood and clear heat, as in the case of fevers. It also moves blood when there has been trauma, lowers blood pressure and inflammation. Paeonia lactiflora, the herbaceous Peony, provides its radix or root as medicine in the form of Chi Shao or Bai Shao. Chi Shao is the root that is still red, which helps move blood and relieve pain from trauma or menses. Bai Shao is the white root, which tonifies the blood, calms the liver, relieves tension and adjusts Ying Qi (Nutritive Qi) as well as Wei Qi (Defensive Qi). One of my Chinese herbal teachers called Bai Shao the "White Fairy Mother."
 
I grow Peonies in my garden, both the tree and herbaceous ones. They are special plants that don't like to be moved, they find a spot and they root there till they die. I observe them throughout the year. After they flower in Spring (April to early June), the tree has already flowered now and the herbaceous form is flowering soon, the energy of the plants goes inward and dies back its external manifestation in autumn. This does not mean the plant is not working, the power of the Yin (autumn and winter being Yin times of the year) is being generated in the root of the plant. This I believe is why the root of Bai Shao are so powerful to nourish the Yin and Blood in our bodies. Right now, those who react to the seasonal pollen that is currently in full emission, that includes myself, will be thankful to Mu Dan Pi for providing the cooling and calming of the mucous membranes in the eyes and nasal passages. The bark of the Peony tree is hardy yet gentle, providing the soothing coolness and protection of autumn-winter in the searing heat from growth of spring-summer. It is an herb of balance; sinking when there is strong rising action, calming when there is over-excitement. 
 
Chinese Herbal Medicine uses herbs mostly as formulae, almost never one herb alone, as the synergy of the combined herbs counteract the overexertion of another. One could say they operate as a team, supporting one another and balancing the forces of the other. Each herbal formula is prepared specially for each individual person, paying attention to causes of the imbalance and not just on symptoms. If you are interested in using Herbal Medicine, discuss it with your practitioner so that s/he can help you understand your imbalances and how these amazing plants can aid you in your health.  

Images Peony by Elaine