life transitions

Dec

2013

Post-Menopause

A woman, post-menopause, has great potential to realize within herself the wise woman and the mother of her greater community. With her inherent embodiment of female wisdom, post-menopausally she may cultivate the spiritual power of the Sage.

From the progression of blood sent from the Heart down to the Bao Mai [uterus] in preparation for potential growth of a human addition to the world, in menopause, this direction of flow ceases. Rather than blood nourishing the uterus, blood instead remains focused in the Heart to nourish a woman’s own spirit.

Women routinely ask how one keeps their sanity during this transition?

My response is ever-the same:

Nature, Art, Diet, Meditation, Kindness, Chinese Medicine, Movement

Jan

2013

☯ PSYCHO-SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT VIA STOMACH AND SPLEEN

The Role of Stomach and Spleen in Creation of The Self

Through the process of metabolism we are continually recreating ourselves. The food we ingest, after undergoing a transformative process, becomes part of us. Protein becomes flesh, carbohydrates become energy, the chlorophyll of plants becomes our blood. This is a necessary, almost magical, alchemical process occurring every day. Like transforming lead into gold, our digestive ‘Fire’ transforms foreign substance into something that is precious to Us; QI and Blood. Internal alchemy utilizes the unconscious, natural digestive capacity, consciously, to sustain life.

This is the basic notion of QI representing all phenomenon; Immaterial, creating material. Between these two states is the realm of the mental and emotional – The expression of interaction between Jing and Shen; Essence and Spirit, respectively. Basic metabolic theory explains food & air as raw materials. Food that we put into our stomachs, stoked by ‘alchemical Fire,’ generates ‘separating of the turbid from pure,’ and thus, refinement into usable essence.

The stomach is the basis of post-natal life force. Psychologically, the stomach is the origin of feeling. Our emotions are a mode by which our Shen expresses itself. Worry and unproductive thought [aspects attributed to stomach and spleen at their detriment] can disturb the physiology of conversion and assimilation in the digestive process. Psychologically, through thought, the Spleen provides context to situations. It writes the tone of the story we tell ourselves about our place in society, how we reflect upon ourselves, our families, our bodies and beliefs. [The Stomach pertains to the emotional aspects of the Earth energy, and the Spleen to the mental.] Spleen ‘banks’ the blood. Banking of blood creates the boundaries of our lives; The borders within which we live, creating social context and the beginning of our definition of ourselves and our place in the world. The Tao is the way of nature. Nature comprehends balance and harmony, as we too inherently possess this wisdom. Our primary channels flow by the ways of the Tao. By learning how our social psyche develops, we begin to consciously change aspects which make us unwell. May we flow with our powerful capacity to understand ourselves and find our way in balance.

☯

This is a significantly extrapolated version of the insightful article by Nicholas Sieben, Lic.Ac., derived from teachings by Jeffrey Yuen.

Apr

2012

Earth Element and its Role in Acceptance

We can not receive nourishment without acceptance of our task at hand. Partaking with some sense of openness, we may transform our duty into something of personal, or even greater, value. This ability to transform is a central focus of the earth element in oriental medicine. Sometimes the foreign experience we must digest does not resemble something conferring nourishment, but rather a pile of something indigestible; something difficult and unwanted that we are faced with. The spirit of sharing sympathetic kindness, an emotional attribute of the earth element, can be very helpful to one in the process of facing a daunting experience, both to offer as well as to receive.

The sweetness of sympathetic kindness can serve to remind us of what our transformation is ultimately for, so that we have a little more ‘stomach’ to digest and make good from the challenge that has been presented to us.

Well-Wishes to You