What is wellness & health?

Every culture has a definition of what health looks like. You may have a sense of what that looks like. What does health feel like to you? Each culture has a definition that fits the philosophies and ideas that allow the culture to flourish. The traditional and indigenous cultures of the world have a practical and holistic understanding of what health and wellness means. While Chinese medicine is not native to me or my United States culture, I have chosen to study and practice it because I have found that it works. My experience of using the practices and theories of health and wellness from a tradition that is at least six thousand years old has been inspirational and practical. The Chinese Medicine view is holistic and comprehensive in understanding of what a healthy person is. Chinese Medicine has developed health practices that anyone can do and shift their wellbeing.

So what does it feel like to feel healthy? What does a healthy person look like? The breath is unencumbered, the skin is clear, digestion is good, elimination is complete, the eyes convey a sense of awareness. There is flexibility not only in the body, also in the mind and emotions. Even when there is illness in the body, disturbance in the disposition, confusion in relating to any aspect of our lives, our recovery is quick. We can say we are in balance and we feel alive just because we are alive.

In Chinese Medicine we work with the life force or qi (chee). When we have a sense of peace, vitality and openness to our lives, our qi is flowing. Our qi is in balance and we can meet ourselves, family, friends and the world with clarity and confidence, even when challenges arise. When we feel “off” or continually out of sorts or feel pain, our qi is out of balance and we feel depleted or stagnant. If this continues we become sick and require healing.

To keep our qi balanced we require good breath, unadulterated food, good sleep and relaxation. In life our qi balance is always changing, so there are additional ways to support our everyday equilibrium. Such practices as qi cultivating exercises like qigong, taiji, and yoga, herbs that nourish and move the qi and getting seasonal qi balancing work like acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu or some form of qi based bodywork all help to keep us healthy and balanced.

It can’t be emphasized enough that in maintaining health and wellness, prevention is key. Our qi (life force) naturally moves the body/mind toward health and balance. Each of us has a unique constitution and qi flow and we inherently want to flourish. So taking good breaths into the belly, eating vegetables, fruits and unprocessed foods, moving our bodies both for strength and flexibility, resting the thinking mind and deep sleep all contribute to staying in balance. As we become more mindful of our state of health we can know when we need support and guidance from a Chinese medicine practitioner.

It is interesting to note that in “ancient” times you paid your doctor when you were well, and if you became sick, you didn’t pay him. You trusted your healer to partner with you to be your healthiest and fullest self. To achieve that end practitioners learn to observe all parts of the body. Similar to a detective we are looking and listening for clues. To name a few things we notice your posture, your skin, your clothing, your eyes. Some practitioners look at the tongue. We listen to what you have to say and the quality of your voice. We train our nose to “listen” through smelling. We feel your pulses and palpate the abdomen. Naturally, we ask many questions about your symptoms, your diet, your sleep, your relationships, your work and your health practices. And it is important to contribute any information that you feel is relevant to your path to healing. From all this information we can determine where qi is not enough, or maybe too much, or not flowing smoothly. With this assessment we can determine what acupoints to use, what qi channels to palpate, what herbs to proscribe, what movements may be helpful and what meditations may be supportive. And we may give home work to support the continuation of healing. Complying with the guidance is not only empowering, but it is another way of cultivating qi. One of the virtues of Chinese medicine is that it empowers us to thrive as human beings so that we can be our best selves. As we grow we may even send out an unnoticeable ripple of healthiness to our friends and family and beyond.

Of course, in our modern world there are many obstacles to being healthy, clear, open and fulfilled. Our everyday urban life is overwhelming to our bodies, minds and spirit. Breathing in auto fumes, the myriad toxic chemicals from herbicides and construction; eating food that has too much sugar and unpronounceable names of chemicals and has had the life force processed out of it; being so busy that we can’t connect with family and friends; working to exhaustion so that relaxation becomes numbing out. And then there is the aggressive and violent action that we see constantly in our world that keeps us in states of anxiety, worry, despair, fear and anger. All of this depletes our qi, our life force. It’s so overwhelming that I sometimes feel that the big sigh we take is the unconscious need for a deep breath. Take a conscious breath now…really, relax your belly and breathe!

What I find so heartening about Chinese medicine is the recognition that everything is interdependent and interconnected. Our health and well being, our qi is formed from our inheritance: our parents, grandparents, etc… This is called our prenatal qi. And as science keeps discovering we are impacted by our surroundings: our nourishment, our natural habitat(or lack of) our families, our schools, our neighborhoods, our society and even our whole world. This is our postnatal qi. Lastly there are situations that are unexpected like natural disasters, traumatic activities, misfortunes or good fortunes, lucky occurrences. We could call this fate, coincidence or karma.

All of these influences swirl around in infinite ways to make us uniquely us with unique patterns of qi flow. Some of us will have better health and some of us will have more challenges, but how we meet these challenges, how we manage our qi will be crucial to our sense of wellbeing and unique balance. Plus, because we are interconnected and in relationship with others our healing may quietly germinate a shift towards health for others. 

Another important recognition that Chinese medicine expresses is the interconnectedness in our human systems: our body, mind and spirit are not separate parts, but intertwined as a whole. While any experience that we have in our lifetime may or may not be held in our mind’s memory, it will be held in the body’s memory and will influence our qi or behavior patterns. What we witness in our lives our bodies also witness. When it comes to trauma what we forget or hide may be our mind and spirit’s way to regulate trauma. 

What science is beginning to discover, but what Chinese medicine understands is that our nervous system and body holds the response to trauma and that it reverberates through our whole bodies. It may show up as physical symptoms, emotional or mental dysfunction, and existential suffering. We also know that what is traumatizing to one of us may not effect another. Remember our unique qi patterning? Those are the different ways that it can show up. Some of us have more resiliency than others for all kinds of reasons. The healing journey is our way to resolve and balance so that we come back to who we are. The principles of qi flow can helps on our healing journey. Qi can become stuck and stagnant or depleted and empty through poor nutrition, lack of exercise, shallow breathing, held emotions, difficult experiences and traumatic events. Qi work such as acupuncture, acupressure, herbs and movement can be a powerful part of our healing process.

Choosing to use Chinese medicine or any healing modality means initiating a healing relationship with a knowledgable and compassionate practitioner. This relationship becomes the space or container that allows healing to unfold and help guide us to our authentic and good selves. Trust and kindness are important in this relationship. Through the guidance of a healing practitioner (in the case of Chinese medicine an acupuncturist, acupressurist, herbalist, bodyworker) we can open to the method that shifts the qi flow and imbalanced patterns whether it is needles, fingers, hands, herbs, movement or meditation. We become an active partner in our own healing as we comply with the prescriptions for health and open to knowing more about ourselves.

We have so many ways to create health and wellness in our culture. Often it is hard to make choices as to what would be best. Certainly modern medicine has contributed greatly to how humans work and how they can be healthy. The technology is miraculous. There are times when we need those modern miracles. There are also times when we can and should support our own healing using the wisdom and the knowledge of Chinese medicine. Health is not just physical efficacy. Wellness is not measured in how often we can push ourselves to the brink of exhaustion. It is about learning who we truly are, what our innate wisdom and compassion is, what are our limitations are. Because our breath is natural and deep, our bodies are flexible, our mind is clear and our hearts open we can touch into our innate goodness and radiate our gentle confidence in the world.

So take a good breath, appreciate where you’re at, and take a step toward your own health and wellbeing.