My fave! TCM is a system of health & wellness that’s been used for 1000s of years. TCM focuses on a person’s entire well being-physical, emotional & mental through balance & harmony of energy: Qi & Yin/Yang. May sound airy fairy, it’s anything but. My friend @christianheals says “It’s Chinese Medicine, not Chinese magic.”
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There are different modalities used in TCM: acupuncture, acupressure, cupping, gua sha (skin scraping-sounds terrible, feels amazing), tui na, herbal therapy, diet, physical movement & meditation.
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There are 12 major yin/yang paired meridians that correspond w. organs in the body, elements, time of day, seasons & emotions. Yin is feminine, dark & cool energy on the left side of the body. Yang is masculine, sun & light on the right side of the body. Think of this like front/back or black/white. Understanding this allows us to know ourselves (good old fashioned self awareness!), treat imbalances & pinpoint deficiencies.
Meridians are energy “superhighways” that run superficially along the body & transport energy (qi) from point A to point B w. several points or “rest stops” along the way. 350 to be exact! This is where energy can get stuck. Kinda like traffic in LA.
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Stagnation around these points, is the result of stress, anxiety, injury, trauma, bad habits (diet, lack of exercise) & can be traced to the root of health issues (mental and physical). If 💩 gets stuck, imbalances will result. This shows up physically and/or emotionally. This is essentially the constipation of energy. Yoga, acupressure, acupuncture, cupping & good diet are the laxatives, if you will.
Think of a garden hose, when it gets kinked, H2O can’t flow through. Once you unkink, H2O flows. The same is true for the energy in the body. We need to unblock the stagnation, through some modality of TCM. It’s through this balance that we can sustain life. Things like, breathing (kinda important), digesting food, mental health & how we look & feel.
Lung (Yin)/Large Intestine (Yang)
Spleen (Yin)/Stomach (Yang)
Heart (Yin)/Small Intestine (Yang)
Kidney (Yin)/Bladder (Yang)
Pericardium (Yin)/Triple Heater (Yang)
Liver (Yin)/Galbladder (Yang)
Shana Robinson 