PRACTICING QIGONG

Yesterday at 3 p.m., I headed west to the Hudson River and found some shade under a tree to practice qigong. Under another tree, a young man to my right was practicing an ambitious dance routine. Nearby, a woman lay on a picnic table getting a postural alignment from her trainer. Three girls sprinted by as their coach encouraged them. So many other activities were all around that I knew my slow movements imitating a crane would not gather much attention.

It felt good to move in the way I learned so many years ago. When I began my training, I had no idea that it was a ‘healing’ martial art. Back then, my friends and I laughed when our teacher told us to “put our mind in the soles of our feet”, or “in the palms of our hands”, or “to direct our energy into our dantian” (the lower abdomen below the navel). I cannot imagine being unable to practice qigong to rejuvenate like I did today. I needed it after finishing work past nine last night on the tail of a whirlwind of many days.

I learned qigong at an age when my energy was easily replenished by youth. As I got older I came to understand my teacher’s wisdom when he told us what a treasure from the East this form of exercise was. He said that qigong could not only restore and refresh but sometimes, with a very good teacher, it could even heal a disease.

With the wind off the Hudson River on my back I finished the ‘five routines’ and got into a still standing position to practice the final exercise. Just then, the man to my right began moving back and forth about two feet in front of me, still practicing his dance. I stood behind my dark glasses as he passed, looking straight at me. Of course I wanted to burst out laughing and ask him just what he was doing, but I had an appointment later in the afternoon. If I had broken my practice, I never would have gathered the qi (vital life energy) that made me feel like a new person when I left.

I thank my teachers – Wu Yi, Shen Rong-Er, and Zhao Jin Xiang – for teaching me Soaring Crane Qigong at a time when I had no idea how much it would help me. That was the very beginning of my study of Chinese Medicine and a rich resource from which I draw frequently.

JOIE DE VIVRE photo: Maureen Goss

“Few see it. Fewer choose it. What’s your wild rabbit?”
As Don Draper of Mad Men knows, all good advertising pulls you in and gets you to think twice, or best of all, begin to imagine.
“Hmmm,” I thought after seeing the above quote on a huge billboard, “What is my wild rabbit?”

 
Certainly not cognac as the advertising implied. And since this is a blog on how to stay healthy, you can probably guess it has something to do with that. You are right. My passion is to strive for that sense of well-being that permeates our very essence—not just physical health, but emotional stability, mental soundness and an infusion of spirit that keeps our lives joy-filled.
If everyone desired this health and balance of body, mind and spirit, what a different world this would be. Imagine: people looking for inner peace that would automatically affect everyone around them.

 
And so I continue treating one person at a time with this ancient skill made modern by many of my teachers and other practitioners in the last 30 years. Acupuncture is the oldest medicine on the planet, but it is being used in new and innovative ways. In fact, I am headed to San Diego at the end of this month for an intensive study in sports medicine acupuncture for the neck, shoulders and upper extremities. It is not just for athletes, but for those who sit at computers all day, or raise children, or just feel as if they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. That is the “wild rabbit” I have chosen, so to speak. I know from experience that my patients get better not just physically but in the way they inhabit their world. In my opinion, this is a “rabbit” worth chasing—the chance to do my small share in making the world a better place.

LOOKING FOR A NECK RUB

Last night, a good friend of mine, Dr. Benjamin Abelow M.D., sent me an opinion piece that he wrote for a local newspaper in the Berkshires  where he lives. It made me think about the hamburger I had eaten for lunch yesterday. Here it is: 

An April 12 story in The Berkshire Eagle on the ammonia-treated hamburger filler known as “pink slime” drew attention to the integrity of our food supply. But as consumers, we need to ask a basic question: Where does hamburger come from and, ethically or otherwise, is pink slime really any worse than the meat itself?

I recently spent time with calves on a Berkshire dairy farm. The experience was unusual, in that I got to know the calves well and personally. For six months, I visited up to four times a week, in some cases starting on the day of birth. I formed close bonds with some of the calves.

I learned that calves are warm and gentle creatures with distinct personalities. When happy, they sometimes kick up their rear legs like a foal. They express affection and show courage.

I witnessed a calf standing watch over a dying mate in a cold and dark barn. I saw another calf trying to escape her tiny pen by boldly—yet impossibly—attempting to hurdle a high fence. She failed, and ended up leaping painfully, face first, into the fence. I saw another calf slowly drop to her forelegs, deliberately lowering herself into the layer of feces and mud that covered the floor of her dank enclosure. She spent several minutes trying vainly to push herself under the metal gate that held her captive. When she stood up, filth was smeared on her torso and face.

On most commercial farms, calves are permanently separated from their mothers—some are literally dragged away—within a day of birth. They pine for their mothers and their mothers pine for them. Some of the calves become despondent. More than a few die. The male calves, which have no role in a dairy operation, are shipped off. Many are reared for veal—isolated, tightly confined, utterly alone—and killed at a few months of age.

Those females who survive to maturity endure their own particular nightmare. They are artificially inseminated on a scientifically determined schedule and have their own calves repeatedly taken away. They spend most of their lives crowded together in a small, cement world. Through breeding, tightly managed impregnation cycles, special feeds, intensive milking, and sometimes artificial growth hormones, these cows are driven to produce many times more milk than they would for their own calves. Some develop mastitis or arthritis and live in chronic pain.

The intense lactation exhausts the cows quickly. In four or five years—about a quarter of their natural lifespan—their milk slows. Their purpose served, the cows are now worth more dead than alive and so are taken to slaughter. Smelling the blood of those who came before them, they are stunned with a bolt gun, have their throats slit, and are ground up for hamburger and processed meats. Yes, this is the source of most hamburger we eat: frightened, spent dairy cows who started life as gentle and playful creatures longing for their mothers.

Is the ammonia used to make pink slime any worse than the antibiotics and hormones that are often given these cows? Is the meat that we use for ordinary hamburger ultimately any less horrific than the leftover butchering scraps that are used to make the filler?

I have focused here on calves because I know them best, but the suffering of other farm animals is equally acute. Think of times you’ve accidentally stepped on the foot of your cat or dog—and how they reacted. Now think of a piglet being castrated and having its tail cut off without anesthetic—standard practice on most pig farms.

The scope of the disaster we inflict on sentient farm animals is almost beyond imagining—incomparably worse than any “tooth and claw” they might experience in nature. Each year in the U.S., over nine billion farm animals, including 150 million mammals, are killed for food. These numbers come from the USDA. The situation has much in common with slavery, with a gulag, with a concentration camp. The scale is infinitely more vast than anything humans have ever done to other humans.

Animal products are not necessary for a healthy diet. This means we do all this for nothing more important than a personal taste preference. In fact, these food preferences contribute to rampant cardiovascular disease and cancer.

If you are moved by the plight of these animals, keep feeling. Bring your behavior into accord with your empathy and your ethics. Educate yourself. Adjust your lifestyle. Perhaps you will wish to start spreading the word yourself. If you stop eating animal products, you will save dozens of feeling animals every year from intensely painful lives and terrible deaths. You don’t need to do this all at once. Start gradually. If you eat half as many animals, you will cause half as much suffering.

To learn more, watch the 12-minute film narrated by Paul McCartney at Meat.org. Or watch the equally good short video at MeatVideo.com, narrated by James Cromwell. These mini-documentaries are graphic and hard to watch but are necessary to see if we wish to understand the consequences of our diet and farming practices.

Or read a book. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is one of many volumes on the subject that helps communicate what it really means to eat hamburger and other animal products.

Benjamin Abelow, M.D

SEEDS SPROUTING ON A SPRING WINDOWSILL

The following article by Maureen Goss was published in the March 2011 issue of Westview: The New Voice of the West Village.
A List of Things to Do — or Not Do — When Winter Finally Wanes
Ah…spring in the West Village. Volunteers tending tulips at the Jefferson Market Garden and flowering pear trees forming graceful canopies all around. Of all the seasons, spring is the one that affords the most movement, whether in sap flowing through the trees, crocuses breaking through the earth or buds blossoming. According to Chinese medicine, the increased warmth and light not only makes our outer world come alive again, but our inner world as well. What can we do, according to these ancient principals, to lend support to health and rejuvenation in this season of rebirth?
Get Out and Move. Go for a fast walk on the High Line or a slow jog along the Hudson. Integral Yoga on 13th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues has classes from early morning into the evening (a typical weekday offers 17 classes from gentle and basic beginner to advanced and restorative). Balancing heart-elevating exercise like fast walking with the stretching and strengthening of yoga is a perfect blend to help the circulation move in healthy ways.
Eat Green. According to ancient texts, each season has a corresponding organ system that is more active than the others. In spring, it is the liver, often referred to as the “commander” of the other organs, because of its function of controlling the flow of blood and ensuring a smooth flow of qi (vital life energy). Fresh greens help to cleanse the liver. Dandelion greens, watercress and baby spinach are particularly good. If you are feeling adventurous, try the “green champagne” from the juice bar at Life Thyme on Sixth Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets. It is a surprisingly tasty blend of celery, kale, collard greens, chard, ginger and apple. Sour foods are good in the spring, as well, so think of adding lemon or lime to your water, pickle slices on sandwiches and extra vinegar on salads.
Express Yourself. According to Chinese medicine, a healthy liver moves one toward creativity in all of its uniquely personal manifestations. It is time to plant a garden, paint a picture, begin writing that memoir or take a class. Take advantage of the season’s energy to start a new project or finish an old one.
See an Acupuncturist. A competent practitioner of Eastern medicine can feel stagnation in the liver in the pulse, see it on the tongue and in the eyes, as well as hear it in the voice. Irritability, depression and frustration are all signs pointing to the need to free up the circulation. Seasonal “tune-ups” are effective in dealing with issues that, when left unresolved, can grow into greater problems requiring more serious intervention. It is much easier to redirect the flow of a small river rather than have to build a dam. If someone shows signs of “liver qi stagnation” — the most common presentation in spring or any other season — needles, massages or any number of techniques can be used to help change circulation. The majority of people feel lighter and less stressed after a good session.
Finally, if none of the above sound appealing to you, maybe being able to just sit outside again and watch the world walk by at Jack’s or Joe’s or wherever your favorite perch lies, will be the perfect spring awakening. Find your fit and enjoy!

SPRING HAS ARRIVED!

Spring arrived in perfect style yesterday with sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s. Here are 3 things I am doing to support my well-being this spring:

Juicing: Every other day this week I have enjoyed the new addition to Jack’s Stir Brew—a 16 oz. ‘cold pressed’ deep green drink made of kale, spinach, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger and some other things. It is good to eat green in spring—it helps cleanse the liver that is responsible for ensuring a smooth flow of blood and qi.

Laughter: The night before last I had dinner with the woman I lived with in Paris when I was 21 and she was 19 years old. Our families, some old friends, and an ex or two were there. Our children were quite intrigued to hear some of our stories (the ones we chose to tell, that is!). A good belly laugh is a great workout for our internal organs. Of course we can go for a jog or to the gym but why not mix it up? Laughter is great medicine.

Work: My work is quite physical. Not only do I use needles, but I employ other techniques as well to relax muscles and balance circulation—gua sha, tui na (Chinese massage), and myofascial release. More people come for treatments in the spring for seasonal tune-ups  and symptoms that become more prominent when things start to ‘move’ again, both internally and in nature around us. I am grateful for my work—I help others get balanced while helping myself. Special thanks to everyone who trusts me to care for them!

Think of three things you can do for yourself this spring to improve your diet, exercise and lifestyle. O.K. now just do it!

Fresh Tea

“Tea tempers the spirit…harmonizes the mind”. So wrote Lu Yu many centuries ago in his ‘Classic of Tea’. I have a tea room in my office now where clients can enjoy a few sips, if they choose to, after a treatment. There is something sacred about the stillness of sitting with a warm cup of tea after getting your circulation balanced with acupuncture. The mind is eager to contemplate, to look at our lives thoughtfully. It might be time to cut something out or perhaps change our focus in some bright way that may seem small but could change the course of our life!

Right now, I am content serving the few types of tea I am familiar with. This is usually green tea for those who come early in day. Come mid-afternoon and early evening, there is the fresh chamomile or rooibos (African red bush) that are both known for their soothing and relaxing qualities.

Eventually, as my repertoire expands, I will introduce the tulsi and goji teas that my colleague recommends (he suggested eating the goji seeds after steeping). I am a long time fan of an afternoon cup, long before we knew that tea was loaded with anti-oxidants and other healing properties. I am sure that Lu Yu, that ancient seer of tea, was onto many of the benefits without knowing exactly why or where they came from.  Take ten minutes mid afternoon to enjoy one today and, if you are so inclined, think of one small change you can make to support your health and joy. Here is to cultivating the art of tea!

photo by Michael Murphy from an exhibit at DNA

Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers. Sending each of you some inspiration on this day that we celebrate LOVE!

An uplifted spirit infuses the body/mind with vital life energy to help bring us back in balance.  Here are five words that help to catch this spirit of healing:

CONNECT…We discover who we are through others who ‘mirror’ different aspects of our unique essence. I never would have become an acupuncturist had I not opted to become unlikely friends with a man from China. He helped me to discover my gift for helping others to heal…and I almost cancelled on meeting him! When we can put aside our  judgments of others, we see things from new and different perspectives. This can change our lives.

CHALLENGE…Sometimes we need to jump out of our comfort zones. I am determined to finish the book I have been working on for years. One day last summer I felt like I needed some help. With a little research and a phone call I joined a group of local writers to listen and read to each other. It was just what I needed to keep my creative juices flowing.

MOVE…in ways you enjoy while getting the exercise you need. Lately, I have been attending dance class at DNA. They have something for everyone there–from African contemporary and Flamenco to hip-hop, Pilates, and Mind Body Dancer Yoga. I opt for  Simonson dance for its easy-on-the-joints but rigorous and uplifting workout. The time goes by fast and when I hop on the subway to go home, I am sweaty and smiling and ready to get on with the rest of my day feeling much better than if I had chosen not to go.

FAST…Give up one thing that is not good for you, even if it is only one day a week—too much sugar, bread, red wine, or martinis? Take an inventory of those things that can tip the scales of a healthy balance. Saying no engenders temperance as well which builds character. Always a good thing.

AMEND…as in ‘make things better’ and ‘make them now’! We all have relationships that could use a little rejuvenation. Be creative.

There are other words I can think of to inspire health–laughter, curiosity, and community. Take a moment to come up with a few of your own.

Northern Coast, Barbados

We need time away from our routines to learn to ‘listen’ to the language of our bodies. They are like instruments always playing the ‘music’ we need to hear to bring us to healthier places That ‘music’ can be a feeling of well-being telling us we are right where we are suppose to be. It can also be a headache,  an anxiety, some irritability, or a pain that calls us to take a closer look at our lives. Sometimes the answer is as simple as cutting down on sugar to relieve a headache. Other times it is more complex and may require medical attention.

Last week I was in Barbados. The waves crashed and the warm trade winds blew as I sat under the stars and wrote, “We are headed to hear some reggae and feast on catfish and breadfruit under the stars. I have only been here a few days, but I already know the places I carry my New York tension–my right hand (the one I needle with and use on my computer) and my shoulders which have a tendency to creep closer to my ears when I overwork”.

I am all for vacations, staycations, retreats, a day of rest–whatever it takes to get an idea of what we need to ‘hear’ when we finally get off the treadmill. Often it is easier to assess our lives ‘from a distance’. Sometimes all we need is a new perspective to help us shine some light in the darkness and other times we need help from a trusted friend or professional. Giving the space to become aware of unhealthy patterns in our lives takes commitment, but looking at it as an adventure in self discovery and change for the better is a good attitude to inhabit.

As for me, the week away was enough for me to realize I need to relax my wrist more when I work and to take time out for some deep abdominal breathing when my shoulders start to rise. That is my medicine for the moment. What is yours?

WINTER

The cold weather has arrived. Winter is the time to reflect on how our lives match up to what we envision for ourselves and for pondering how to close that gap in the coming more active seasons. Here are some tips to help recharge your psyche, spirit and body:

REST: In Chinese Medicine, we try to adjust our body’s rhythm to the season. Just as the trees become dormant to gather energy to prepare for the burst of spring to come, so should we. It is the season to slow down. Of course we are all busy, so perhaps just making it a point to get a good eight hours sleep is the best we can do.  This is a good time to try a less strenuous form of exercise like restorative yoga, tai chi or qigong.

DIET:  Hot soup warms the core, helps to clear phlegm and moistens the nasal passages.  Chicken soup and miso soup with scallions are good for colds. Black beans, bones filled with marrow, ginger and garlic, roasted peanuts and walnuts are all foods that nourish in the winter. Try some new recipes and invite someone to join you in trying them out.

MOXA: In winter, Chinese medical practitioners use a lot of moxa which is an herb that is burned close to the skin in order to warm the channels and promote a smooth flow of blood and qi. Ask your acupuncturist to teach you how to use it. It is especially good to warm the immune points and a specific point between the two kidneys in the small of the back. Always get direction from a licensed professional to show you where and how to use it.

GUA SHA: This ancient technique is great for breaking up congestion in the chest from a cold and wonderful for aches and pains. It involves gently rubbing the affected area with a smooth edge.

WASH YOUR HANDS: One of the easiest ways to stop the spread of colds and flu is by washing your hands. If you don’t have access to soap and water, buy a small bottle of Purell to carry with you.

STRENGTHEN IMMUNITY: If you are prone to allergies in the spring, now is the time to get several acupuncture treatments to help support your immune system to decrease your body’s sensitivity to allergens.

BE GRATEFUL: Gratitude lifts the spirit and is good for the mind and body when we start to “sweat the small stuff”. Try to make it a habit to be in a positive frame of mind. If you find it difficult, begin to count your blessings, be kind to yourself, bundle up, and enjoy the cold!

WELCOME, 2012

The festivities are over. Extreme socializing done. Now is the time put into effect the means to achieve the intentions that will find us  in better shape next year at this time–physically, economically, emotionally—any aspect of our lives that is begging (maybe even screaming) for help.

Having a clear intention is a skill I have learned to hone as an acupuncturist. When I insert a needle to reduce pain, relieve anxiety, or improve sleep, I am always crystal clear on what I would like to achieve. Here are some tips on improving intention.

STAY PRESENT. What is it you would like right now? And then you might ask yourself, “Where would I like to be with this in a month from now, a few months, and then, next year at this time?” I know when I insert a needle in the foot to reduce irritability that it will take more needles to achieve my goal, and most likely, more treatments. But being present with my intention sometimes produces miraculous results.

BE REALISTIC. So you would like a million dollars? How about beginning with making the same amount that you spend? I have a friend who had a two year campaign called “operation get out of debt by 2012”. She just announced that she did it! It did not happen overnight, but with a slow and steady pace, and when she finished it was with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride. Try to use the same grounded approach with weight loss, relationships, work, etc.

FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES, GET UP EIGHT. I love this Japanese proverb because it speaks to our humanity. Most goals that have meaning for us require clarity, discipline, hard work, and perseverance. Keeping our intention clearly in mind with confidence in success helps dispel discouragement when the things do not happen immediately.

Finally, learn from your mistakes, don’t be afraid to take some risks, and be sure to ‘keep it real’. Here is to your happiest, most joy-filled New Year. EVER. Go ahead and make that list of intentions now and let next holiday season find you in the ‘shape’ that you envision yourself in.  ONWARD!