In Sync With Nature, the Yin And Yan Ways.

We have frequently used Ying and Yan as a analytical tool describing a change and a way of seeing the rhythms of our life . The process of change is not just from yang to yin or yin to yang. It does not mean that we are helpless in a meaningless cirle of change. We can use Yin and Yang to descibe the individual lives in accordance to the changes in our living environment. We are continuously in sync with Nature, for we are also part of Nature! In my opinion, if we understand the fact of change, we will be able to accept the fact of such changes. Our life will be able to flow seamlessly and the journey will be smooth.

Teeguarden (1977), gave an analogy about the journey of life is like driving a car. She mentioned that if we jerked the wheel to the right, and then to the left, we were using to much effort to keep the car on the road. In relation to that, should we turn the steering wheel slightly to the right, and slightly to the left, we are able to get a smooth, pleasant, effortless and joyous ride.

Reference:

MM Lee (2006,Nov 4),Dialogue Session Between MM Lee And The Students On Government Takes Decisions That Benefit Majority. Singapore. Straits Times.

Teegauarden, I. M. (1977) Acupressure Way of Health: Jin Shin Do. Japan Publicatins, Inc.

Smacking Your Way To Fitness And Health

,Studies have shown that on average an adult spends watching about 3 hours of TV per day are twice likely to be obese. Those who watch 4 hours or more per day will be 4 times more likely to be obese.

In normal ageing process, our metabolic rate will reduce approximately 3% per year and our weight will slowly increase from my increase food intake. That also depending on your level of physical inactivity. Hence, in order to have a healthy relationship with food we need to increase my physical activity according to the amount of food intake. Of course, the cruity is that age also plays an important part too.

However, a combination of dieting and exercising are the most effective ways for losing weight and maintaining weight loss in the long term. A combination of different forms of exercises such as the aerobic, and the resistance and flexibility exercises.

Since I am a food lover, I have problems of keeping my stomach trimmed. I do not wish to see it growth that I could not see my toes when I look down. There must be a better way to keep my tummy trimmed.

I went through a whole piles of Chinese Medicine textbooks tha I bought from China to look for alternative solutions. Unfortunately, none of them talked about losing weight. Suddently I stumbled upon a video tape that I bought from a tui na master in Guang Zhou. I played the tape and it was about using a unique qi channels opening technique called the finger tapping technique.

While trying to recall why I bought this video, I could only able to remember the master told me that a student from the Western had once asked him for help to get ride of her big tummy. But he did not tell me how big the stomach was. He, however jumped straight to the point and explained that his effective technique is called the “Smacking your way to fitness and health” technique.

It was such a simple technique that anyone will know what to do after seeing the video. All, right I shall use this “Smacking your way to fitness and health” technique for a while to see if it is effective.

Pain Management

I saw this advertsiement about a basketball player who was selling some sort of heat releasing plasters for relieving pain. I found that the phase “When the heat is on the pain in gone!”, is very meaning and has a very insightful concept of the way how Traditional Chinese Medicine treats pain. This concept has been adopted by the Chinese for more than three thousands years and till now the fort still holds .

There are many ways of managing pain. You can take some pain killers which will numb your nerves so that your brain will not be able to sense the pain. You can also try other traditional treatments like acupuncture and acupressure. Both techniques were once considered as a unorthodox treatments until the use of the gate control theory of pain, which was put forward by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall (1962, 1965), which explained theory behind these treatments. Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall (1962, 1965), believed that pain was perceived by interaction between different neurons.

By rubbing the pain area or using some invasive methods, like acupuncture, will help to “distract” the interactions between the neurons and hence lessen the pain. This will also activate the nonnociceptive fibers that inhibit the firing of nociceptive fibers (Kandel et al., 2000).

The using transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS), which selectively stimulate the nonnociceptive fibers by using electrodes, will also help to lessen pain.Besides using the above scientific theories as the foundation for pain management, we can also use heat to relieve pain too. Heat will can stimulate the flow of blood and stimulate the nonnociceptive fibers in the affected area. Hence, when I treat my patient for pain, I will try to relax the muscles and then continuously stimulate the nonnociceptive fibers around the painful area. It is indeed has helped me to manage the pain effortlessly and cost effectively.

Using heat to manage pain. When the “Heat is on the Pain is gone” is what acupuncturists have also been adopting to treat chronic pain for about three thousands of years. The using of moxibustion together will acupuncture and acupressure are both essential techniques for relieving pains. Chronic pains that were caused by bad flow of qi or trauma require heat to go into the deeper tissue to increase the blood flow to nourish fibers. Heat will also help to stimulate the nonnociceptive fibers as well. A Chinese Medicine practitioner will and must try to find out the underlying causes of the chronic pain when the systematic problems have been addressed. He must then renders cost effective method to treat the underlying problems and take the miseries from the patients.

It is important to note that to be able to manage pain is very important. According to McGill University, those who is suffering from chronic pain will affect their choice of friends, activities, lifestyle and profession. They believes that failure to take up the challenges that their bodies faced can be seen as a mental illness (McGill University). So, the next time someone told you that he/she was in pain, please pay attention!


Reference:
1. P.D. Wall, R. Melzack, “On nature of cutaneous sensory mechanisms,” Brain, 85:331, 1962.
2. R. Melzack, P.D. Wall, “Pain mechanisms: A new theory,” Science, 150:171-9, 1965.3.
3. Kandel E.R., Schwartz, J.H., Jessell, T.M. 2000. Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed., pp.482-486. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Tag: Acupressure,Acupuncture,chinese medicine,gate theory, Kandel,nonnociceptive fibers,pain management,Patrick Wall,Ronald Melzack,unorthodox treatments

Acupressure: How Much Pressure To Apply?

I always believe that Acupressure is one of the most effective treatments for relieving pain and stress. In the Acupressure point therapy, it releases tension, increases the circulation of blood, and improves the body’s life energy to improve health.

Acupressure does not only help to maintain good health through self-care but also strengthens resistance to disease and promotes wellness through the relaxing of the body and relieving of stress.

When a muscle is chronically tense or in spasm, the muscle fibers will contract. This could be due to the imbalance of Yin and Yang in the body. The body will secret lactic acid which is the result from fatigue, chemical imbalances, stress, and qi stagnation. Tensions formed and tended to concentrate around the related acupressure points.

The pressure applied on these Acupressure points must be gradual, and steady with penetrating pressure for approximately a few minutes. A rule of thumb, it will be about three minutes. The ideal pressure to any points depend on how fit your clients are and their health conditions.

To elaborate on the penetrating pressure, it should be firm enough so that your clients are feeling the pleasant and firm pressure. If they feel extremely sensitive or pain, release the pressure gradually until your client verbalized a balance between pleasure and pain.

How to learn the proper Acupressure techniques and to give professional acupressure sessions for releasing stress effectively? There is no institution that will teach you the skills without you attending series of lessons and certifications.

Those who wish to learn the techniques for self-care purposes, and wish for a quick and easy to learn path, studying at home can be an ideal way to so. However, the lessons can be too demanding. You may want to consider to buy some books that are used by classroom students. Not knowing what are the textbooks to get? Well, I have explored some self study products and identified the following books that you can use Acupressure for Pain Management and Stress Management. Click here for the list of textbooks that get you started.