Health Maintenance

How do I evaluate my level of health when no symptoms of disease has been observed?

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Here are some ideas:

  1. Sleep
    People who can sleep all night usually have good and functioning organs.

  2. Appetite
    A normal appetite is to feel hungry at meal times. If you have poor appetite, do not feel hungry or have no desire to eat at all, then there’s a problem.

  3. Defecation
    Defecate daily, preferably in the morning. Since 5 to 7 AM is the time when the large intestine meridian operates, which is critical in bowel movement, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

  4. Urination
    Preferably a minimum of 5 to 7 times a day. Healthy amount of urination is about 400cc to 450cc (about volume of a typical bottled water). Normal color of the urine should be transparent with light yellow.

  5. Thirst
    It is normal when you feel thirsty, start drinking and the feeling disappears. However, if someone is always thirsty and keep drinking, yet after e.g. 5 cups of water, the thirst is still unable to be quenched, then it is a sign of illness.

  6. Temperature of hands and feet
    When the heart pulsates, most of the generated blood will flow to the organs and muscles, and the remaining to the extremities. If the heart function is impaired, the hands and feet would get colder; if heart is further weakened, they would become ice-cold. Under this circumstance, we need to bring heat back to the hands and feet.

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    Evaluate Your Health and Improve It via Regimen & Exercise

Cosmetology Effect of Moxibustion

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Where do you think a person is least afraid of cold?

It is the face. You may understand better if recall people in the ski resort, where almost every part of the body is covered except the face. No matter how cold it is, the face will always be exposed, but you won’t feel cold. Why is it so?

It is because the head and face are the areas where Yang Qi is most abundant. So by strengthening Yang Qi in this region, it would be a shortcut speedy cure.

One of the greatest benefit of moxibustion is it could quickly eliminate acne in the face, especially the acne for the adult women. After several times, your face would turn pink and white, and skin texture would improve perceptibly, which is almos as effective as the expensive cosmetics. Meanwhile, it was also found that chronic and allergic rhinitis that have been dragging for years often improve too.

Granted one must be careful not to touch moxa stick with the skin if you don’t want to leave any scar.

If your constitution is deficient in Yang, you could quickly get local channels dredged via moxibustion, and restore luster to the face. If you are past adolescence and deficient in Yang Qi, then effect of this method would be even more amazing- it could slow down aging and rejuvenate.

Furthermore, moxibustion of the Yintang acupoint could also help you discover other hidden conditions of the body. Then you can combine moxibustion with other methods and obtain unexpected health enhancement effects.

Yintang acupoint
Yintang acupoint


Is It Possible to Perform Moxibustion at Home?

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Because of innate risk factor of moxibustion, primarily the various adverse effect, where some could become very uncomfortable and may take weeks to disappear, such as certain rashes; also in come cases, new symptoms, especially those related to past illnesses of the individual, would emerge again after the treatment is performed, which be very confusing and even frightening. So it is not recommended to perform moxibustion without proper guidance.

However, the overall safety record of moxibustion is pretty high, and even the most serious adverse effect could be eliminated with correct measures. In fact, moxibustion is deemed a relatively safe treatment method of TCM, which includes acupuncture, cupping, scraping theropy, massaging, and herbs.

The greatest challenge of performing it at home actually lies in whether one could obtain proper guidance to sail through various obstacless through moxibustion.

  1. What kind of equipment is to be selected?
  2. Where to get quality moxa/stick?
  3. Which moxibustion method is best based on individual case?
  4. What diseases or conditions can be treated by moxibustion?
  5. How to select acupoints that would best treat disease or conditions?
  6. What are the precautions that need to be followed?
  7. What are the diseases/conditions not suitable for moxibustion?
  8. What kind of adverse effect may happen during and after moxibustion, and how serious can they become? 
  9. Most importantly, if adverse effects did happen, are they treatable? and if so, how to treat them?
  10. Are there any other benefits of moxibustion other than treating diseases/discomforts, such as improve constitution and enhance immune system, so that one would be well equipped against possible pathogenic factor in the future?
  11. If any accidents during moxibustion happens, how to deal with them?
  12. And more…

Therefore, we are providing a consultation service that is targeted at solving all questions and doubts you may have about performing moxibustion at home, so you could fully enjoy the immense benefits that have been proven to be effective for over 2,000 years and on numerous people for a variety of diseases & conditions.

Click Here if you are interested in learning more about our consultation service.

Is Moxibustion Suitable for Everyone? (2)

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So if someone’s physical condition is suitable for moxibustion, does it mean moxibustion can be performed at any time? The answer is no.

Many people may have heard of the saying that women cannot perform moxibustion during menstruation. I think this makes good sense in principle. Because the innate nature of moxibustion is Pure Yang, once enters the body, it would accelerate blood circulation and significantly ehnance vitality. However, for a girl with heavy menstrual flow, moxibustion during menstrual period would lead to even greater bleeding, thereby weakening the body, which is counterproductive of purpose of moxibustion. Therefore, moxibustion during menstruation should be very cautious.

Suspended Moxibustion
Suspended Moxibustion

There is a reason that I did not shut the door completely about performing moxibustion during menstruation, because it is not absolute. Traditional Chinese Medicine originated from philosophy, and is dialectical in a sense. One example is a classmate of mine, who exhibited symptoms of Blood Stasis. She often performs moxibustion in the middle of her period, which would make her menstruation smoother and her body more relaxed.

The moral of her case is moxibustion must be performed based on wise selection of timing, and depend on individual situation, so as to maximize its effect.



This post is eidted and translated from an article on douban.com.


Is Moxibustion Suitable for Everyone? (1)

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Based on many materials I read, including some books on TCM theory and consultation with doctors of TCM, it seems that not everyone is suitable for moxibustion, and the use of moxibustion does bear certain contraindications.

As a traditional health treatment, moxibustion uses natural product such as moxa or moxa stick, to burn and generate heat and smoke that carries healing and health enhancing power, which could fumigate and stimulate different acupoints in the body, strengthen the Yang, as well as all parts of the body, and remove Cold and Evil. Thus the body would enter a positive cycle and eliminate diseases. After performing moxibustion for a period of time, many people would feel better mood, more energetic, and sleep quality greatly improved, thereby becoming more healthy.

However, despite all these benefits, not everyone is suitable for moxibustion, or at all times.

Suspended Moxibustion
Suspended Moxibustion

One example is my mother-in-law, who always feel dry mouth after moxibustion, and could not sleep well, thus getting more uncomfortable rather than the opposite. Why is this? The answser is from Western Medicine diagnosis, her blood pressure is relatively high, and occasionally she still takes antihypertensive drugs to control her blood pressure. According to TCM diagnosis, she has hyperactivity of Liver Yang and needs to to nourish Yin, regenerate Body Fluid and clear Fire in daily life. Since moxibustion is a treatment that introduces more Fire into the body rather than clear it, her case is not suitable for moxibustion.

My mother also likes moxibustion. While watching me do it, she asked if I could perform it on her too? Afterwards she reported feeling energetic and sleeping well . Every year during dog days in summer, she would feel a little debilitated; but she said she felt energized and comfortable after moxibustion was performed.

This means it varies from person to person, and moxibustion is not suitable for everyone. A word of caution: it is a taboo to perform moxibustion during pregnancy.




This post is eidted and translated from an article on douban.com.

A Difference between West and China- Health Maintenance

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Maybe it is because of its rich history (3,000+ years) and a medical tradition of almost the same length, Chinese people are more aware of health and the majority of the population have some basic understanding on medicine, particularly Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is not uncommone to see a senior Chinese lady making comments on someone’s red face and oral ulcer that “he is suffering from Fire flaring upward”, and advise him to “eliminate the Fire”. In fact, Chinese TV broadcast, as well as social media, is inundated with health maintenance programs that are particularly popular among the elderly.

Part of the reason for such more widespread medical knowledge stems from the fact that TCM is a medicine originated more from philosophy than science, which was non-exitent in the ancient past; actually Modern Medical Science did not emerge until beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, and gained its greatest development in the early 20th century, e.g. after WWII. For example, 30% of deaths were still due to infection at the end of the 19th century; but this figure had fallen to less than 4% by the end of the 20th century.

Therefore, a Chinese patient have better chance of understanding a TCM physician because certain philosohpical concept of TCM is well familiarized among the masses, such as Yin and Yang, Qi and Blood, Cold and Heat, etc. For example, the ‘Fire’ mentioned in the above case is a very well-known concept. On the other hand, a typical Western patient may find it difficult to comprehend, not to mention communicate with a WM doctor. For one thing, it is unlikely that he would even understand the sbstruse terminology uttered from the doctor’s mouth. In sharp contrast, it is not a rare scene that a Chinese patient argues with a TCM physician regarding diagnosis and treatment of his disease, because he thinks he too, knows a thing or two about TCM.

The upside of the relatively easy-to-understand nature of TCM is people are hence more aware of their own well-being, specifically what to do to maintain their health, and what factors or life style to avoid. In fact, almost every adult in China could speak of some regiment they know or hear from media or friends and family that may actually work well if executed, not to mention those who pay particular attention to health maintenance and would know a lot more than average people.



Secret of Staying Health- Regulate Righteousness Qi

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Regulate Righteousness Qi

The 3 principles of expelling Cold-evil, dredging meridians, and supplementing Original Yang are primarily suitable for people of illnesses. How about healthy people, what can they do to remain healthy? 

The answer is to regulate Righteousness Qi, which could prevent disease and maintain health, and is recommended for everyone. Those who are familiar with TCM would know it is very particular about “Qi”, like Nutrient Qi, Defense Qi, Yang Qi and so on.

So what is Righteousness Qi?
– It’s the ability of the human body to fight against Evil, or pathogenic factors.

The reason why people would get sick is because of insufficient Righteousness Qi, which can be divided into two cases: Deficiency and Excess.
– Deficiency means Righteousness Qi is weak, &
– Excess means Evil is excessive. 

Therefore, regulating Righteousness Qi would help human body fight against Evil so that Righteousness Qi could prevail.

This is probably most distinct in the case of an influenza. Usually influenza spreads in a large area where significant number of people live, but always only a fraction of the population is affected, while not the rest even though they are exposed to the same virus. One theory accredits this to their robust immune system, but from TCM’s perspective, it is the abundant Righteousness Qi that protects body against the virus (Evil).

In my experience, moxibustion is effective for both Deficiency and Excess cases, and my first option when it comes to advice to patients. When Righteousness Qi is well regulated, Evil would not prevail. This is important for both patients and healthy people.  

When in sickness, one should
1) expel Cold-evil,
2) dredge the meridians, and
3) supplement Original Yang.

When healthy, one should regulate Righteousness Qi so that Evil Qi would not prevail. If these four items were all well taken care of, one should have nothing to worry about staying healthy.  


How to take good care of the kidneys? (II)

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3. Diet regulation
Dietary regulation is mainly based on foods that nourish the kidneys, such as those of black color. 

Three foods are recommended here: black fungus, mulberry and black beans.

1) Black fungus:
Kidney tonification and detoxification. 

For people with kidney stone after lithotripsy, some doctors may advise them to eat more black fungus, which would help discharge the stones.

Contraindication: Black fungus could promote blood circulation, so patients with bleeding tendency should stay away from it. Since black fungus is rich in dietary fiber, people prone to diarrhea or of weak digestive function are not suitable for eating black fungus either.

Black fungus
Black fungus

2) Mulberry:
Kidney tonification, especially for the health of male reproductive system.

If man drank a little mulberry juice every day, it would improve vitality of the body and improve quality of sexual life. For infertile couples, if the male had symptoms of weak sperm, one could also eat more mulberry or drink more mulberry juice.

Contraindication: Women should be conservative, because mulberry is slightly cold in nature, one must eat less of it during menstruation.

Mulberry
Mulberry

3) Black bean:
According to “Compendium of Materia Medica”: regular eating of black beans would dispel all diseases. So black bean is not only good for kidneys, but also overall wellness of the body.

Contraindication: black beans soaked in vinegar tastes well, but may not be suitable for those allergic to plant proteins or of poor digestion.

Black bean
Black bean