Using Yang Sheng Stay Healthy.
Say What? Yang Sheng is the idea of health perseveration and longevity.
‘Yang’ 養 means nourishing or nurturing. Sheng’ 生 means life, growth, or vitality, emphasizing the process of life developing and transforming over time. Put them together and it means ‘nourishing life.’
Yang sheng is a core component of traditional Chinese medicine that emphasizes disease prevention.
The COVID pandemic has no end in sight. And there is the concern of a resurgence as social distancing rules begin to ease.
I’m actively strategizing for the future health of all my patients.
How will we keep everyone healthy in the summer, the fall, and next winter? Not only are we working with our patients to manage and heal illness, but we always have an eye to the future. What steps do we need to take to support your health?
It starts with self-care: Small daily or weekly rituals to improve health: eating well, sleeping enough, exercising enough for your body, and breathing well.
These habits and rituals support your qi. What is qi?It’s a dynamic concept of energy, movement, and warmth. Everything living has qi. I usually avoid using a lot of Chinese terminologies when writing for patients. Still, this time, I’ll bring in a couple of concepts.
Yang Sheng is not about quick-fixes for health problems; it’s the small changes we make over a period of time to improve our health.
When we’re getting to know your medical history, we try to understand who you are, where you need to go, and what we need to work on with you to meet your health goals. There are several things that we consider:
The first part is inherited qi you. This is your constitution, which is based on your parents’ health, the environment they lived in when you were conceived, and how nourished your mother was during pregnancy. Some of us were born with robust health. Others have had life-long weak immunity or developmental delays. It also encompasses inherited trauma. This is also called epigenetics. Inherited qi can be preserved, but you get what you get. It can’t be added to through diet and lifestyle.
The second part is called Acquired qi. This is how well-nourished you were and are. I joke with my students that once the umbilical cord is cut, we eat and breathe our way through life. And it’s true! Eating well, having healthy self-care practices, we can improve our acquired qi and preserve our health. Eating well, but not overeating nourishes our digestive qi, which in turn, sends nourishment to the whole body.
We usually try to minimize the use of these concepts in practice; however, the heart center of everything we do is about balancing yin, yang, and the flow of qi and blood. This is what we are working with when we treat you.
Building your immunity has never been more important than right now.
How can you integrate these practices: Here are a few simple tips for everyone:
· Stand tall and breathe. Good posture makes all the difference.
· Eat a range of colorful veggies and fruits. Avoid processed foods
· Eat mindfully
· Express gratitude.
· Create ways to manage stress.
· Exercise appropriately for your constitution
· Stay curious: be a life-long learner
· Let yourself sleep. Go to bed an hour earlier.
Its time to till the earth and plant seeds for better health moving forward. To lay the foundation for better health. Reach out to us. We’d love to help you.
