Interview

This next section was derived from a series of interviews with Amy, a practicing traditional Chinese doctor- and it is basically her speaking for herself either through translation or in more recent years in her very clear, often blunt English. She has this unique way of making a very complicated subject clear and simple for her patients. She has subtle understanding of the body's inner workings that she combines with a simple easy- going wisdom. Amy always claims that she is "just a Chinese housewife" but she is truly an extraordinary person who has helped many people over the years to maximize their health and thereby maximize their potential also. So here she is talking about the basics.

 "Here is my simple analogy to help you understand the whole process better. There are two kinds of energy, yin and yang. The yin is fed by nutrition. The yang is the bioelectric energy in the channels. Think of a candle, the wax body of the candle is the yin and the flame is the yang. You want to balance the two. If the flame is too high then it burns up the wax so you have deficient yin. More high quality nutrition is required. If the wax is too much it can smother the flame, this is a case of too much nutrition, the fat blocks the circulation of the chi.

The channels are like an interconnecting series of roads and the chi is like a car that travels the roads. If the road is new and there are no obstructions then the car moves through easily. If the road is old or broken then traffic is stopped and the nutrition does not go to the right place, where it is needed. If the person has malnutrition then it is like the car needs fuel. If the person has a stress problem then they may have lots of fuel but the car is broken and it blocks the road. Acupuncture removes the disabled vehicles from the road; herbs repair the road. Ginger tea and cassia tea help to clear slush or gravel in the road. Peppermint tea cools the road down where it is too hot.

Cold energy is like a flood; it washes out roads and blocks traffic. Alcohol is like a crazy driver on the road. Drugs are like a bomb; they can damage the road beyond repair. Serous health problems occur when energy goes the wrong way. Cold or fire energy can go up a channel the wrong way and go in deep where it is difficult if not impossible to get out.

If someone eats the wrong thing once they can get over it in a week. If they eat the wrong food all the time then the nutrition is not getting to the body and it becomes very weak. The road is broken, when this person becomes sick it can take one month for them to get over it.

If there is war in an area of the body the roads are blocked out. Then there is no nutrition chi and the person becomes very sick, like cancer. The doctor makes peace and tries to repair the road. The doctor tries to find the right fuel and the right amounts to balance the patient's body. The doctor's job is to know what the patient needs, this is diagnosis.

 If the refrigerator is out of milk and you fill it with steak, then there is no room for milk. If the patient eats the wrong things then there is no room for the good energy so the doctor has to take that stuck energy out before the right things can go in. This is done with needles. You can give the patient herbs all day but if they don't go where they are needed then it is of no use. Herbs have to be used in the correct combinations so that they will go where they are needed. They are not used one at a time; they will not go to the right place by themselves. The Chinese have a 5,000-year tradition of using herbal medicine in which the herbs are used in combinations that increase their healing properties. Only the doctor can do this for you, do not try it yourself because many herbs have potentially harmful effects if given to the wrong person or in the wrong combinations.

Giving acupressure treatments is of no use if the patient will not regulate his own diet and exercise and cease harmful lifestyle choices. Opening the channels can actually be

 harmful to the patient who, for example, goes home and eats fire food or subjects themselves to cold energy or any extreme. The bad energy will go in deeper if the points have been opened. This can be serious. Once you have the right information there is no excuse for anyone hurting themselves.

The most important single factor in health maintenance is the daily diet of the individual. Many sources of stress in a person's life cannot be changed. The Chinese say you are responsible for what goes into your mouth and for what comes out. By complying with the basic dietary parameters, you discipline your behavior to reduce the stress on your body. To be more specific, eat no baked, grilled, or fried foods, such as potato chips, nuts, crackers, coffee, chocolate, and Bar B Que. These have the fire energy. No ice cream, no cold soda and juice, no raw fruits and vegetables, including salads, as these all have the cold energy. (Please see the interview with the Amy for more on this.)

When you take responsibility for what you say, (what comes out of your mouth), you reduce stress in your daily life by not gossiping or angering others. The energy you save can then be used for healing and meditation. Besides not eating extremes of fire or cold, there are other steps you can take to build healthy daily habits.

When you develop a routine in the morning, it helps your body to save some energy. Go to bed on time and then get up early enough to give yourself time to follow your routine calmly and quietly. Each time you get out of the routine, it is a small trauma for your body.

If your body has cold energy, or you are "cold-natured," drink 4 ounces of very warm water first thing in the morning and then move continuously for ten minutes. T'ai-Chi is probably ideal for this early morning movement, but simply walking around the house or stretching is ok too. Dress warmly and stay inside for this practice. After this go to the bathroom. If you have problems with constipation, spend a few minutes at this time pushing Barong (St. 19) and the points around the navel.

Go to sleep before midnight. The human body's energy is derived from the sun and its cycles are based on the sun. An old Chinese saying is, "Don't let the yin energy (i.e., the moon) see your face." The most effective routine for most people is to go to sleep at 11 p.m. and arise at 5 a.m.

Eat green leafy vegetables every day. These are an important source of Chi that the body must have and it can't get it from anything else.

Drink more water: not juice, not tea, but pure water. Americans in particular do not drink enough water. Water is what the body needs when it is thirsty; it tames the fire and promotes healing and balance. Drinking enough water is the key to looking and feeling young.

Eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Good things to eat in the morning are oatmeal, steamed apples and pears, sweet potatoes, rice, noodles, bread, and eggs (not more than twice per week). If a person is weak or must do a great deal of physical work, a small amount of low fat meat can be eaten in the morning. People at risk for stroke and heart attack must avoid fried food and should eat only fish for protein.

Drink ginger tea after breakfast. Have another one or two cups during the day but never after 6 p.m. Do not drink coffee, which is fire, nor cold liquids in the morning as these can damage your stomach. (Please see the interview with the Chinese Doctor for more about this.)

Take 25 milligrams of Vitamin B2 in the morning. This rids the body of liver fire. Take a Vitamin C supplement also. For stomach fire, indicated by mouth ulcers and stomach or intestinal upset, take B2, 50 mg., Vit. C, 500  mg.; and L-lysine, 500  mg. together every six hours. This quickly helps eliminate the stomach and liver fire.

Eat a small amount of raw garlic, but never on an empty stomach. This helps purify your blood and prevents illness.

Use no alcohol or drugs. These block and damage your channels and create negative fire.

Exercise every day until you break a light sweat. Dress warmly in several layers and walk, do slow motion squatting exercises, or Pa Kua until you sweat. This helps eliminate toxins and raise the Basal Metabolic Rate so that you more efficiently metabolize the food you eat.

Do fifteen minutes of seated meditation in the morning and in the afternoon.

Be sensitive to your body and do not pile stress on top of stress. As a preemptive move, take a nap for 30 minutes in the afternoon if you are tired. Do not let the negative fire build up, de-stress your body before this happens. You will know when negative fire is accumulating because you begin to stay up later, skip meals or crave fire food, and usually have negative thoughts and irritability. This is a negative cycle that only creates more fire.

Drink Cassia Seed and American Ginseng teas at separate times during the day. Cassia Seed tea helps to open the channels and is mild enough for anyone to use. It helps to relax the person before bedtime. American Ginseng tea helps to balance the whole system and reduce stress. Drink Peppermint tea with Licorice root before bed.

Amy did not speak English for the following interview. The translation was provided by her husband Bruce.

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Wilson: Given the fact that most people in the West don't have access to Chinese medicine, what can they do to help themselves?

Amy: The first question you need to ask yourself is, "Are you satisfied with your current state of health?" If you are not satisfied with your current state of health  then write down a list of your favorite foods. Make your favorite foods forbidden for a period of time. Especially these items if they are on your list: coffee, alcohol, tobacco, any roasted or fried food, all raw food, raw salad, and raw fruits.

The next step is to make a list of what you eat each day for a week. If you are really enthusiastic about improving your health, then ideally you should do this for a month or two. Note what your physical condition is in relation to your diet. Sometimes you don't get the cause and effect relationship in one day. Write your feelings for the two weeks that you record your diet and then eliminate the previously mentioned items and record your diet and feelings for another two weeks. After this introspection you begin to see what agrees with you and what doesn't. But it is true that after your body changes and becomes better, you may be able to eat some of these things again. I don't believe in a lot of these food allergies that people talk about. Once the body gets better, you eliminate many food allergies.

Wilson: Can you talk about the basic parameters of fire and cold imbalance in fundamental terms so that a person can learn to tell where they are in relation to the middle?

Amy: The quality of fire or cold in Chinese Medicine doesn't refer to temperature but refers to an unbalanced state of the body. Some of the clues to having fire are: burning in the eyes before you go to bed, ulcers in the mouth, a pasty taste in your mouth, even after you brush your teeth, dry cracked lips.

People with a lot of fire imbalance appear to have a lot of energy. They are busying about, doing many things. But actually they are borrowing money from the bank. They are using that  borrowed or "fake" energy and one day they will find the balance is past due. That makes them very nervous people.

Now to talk about the cold imbalance: Some of the clues to having a cold imbalance are:

•           The person is afraid of or sensitive to cold temperatures.

•           It is hard for them to get out of bed in the morning.

•           They have a lack of energy to do things.

•           They are more timid, they are not as gutsy as someone with a lot of fire.

•           They think about all sorts of things in the mind all day long, but they lack the courage to act them out.

Sometimes people with a cold imbalance will have manifestations of fire. But this is empty fire, not full fire, true fire. There is a different treatment for empty fire than for full fire. People with the full fire are easy to see because they have the red face and they have a lot of energy and very strong personality.

The people with empty fire are thin and weak. They may have some manifestation of fire that we talked about, but they are a different type of person, much weaker. People with empty fire often stay up late at night. Staying up late can give you more fire and make you nervous and unable to fall asleep.

The people with empty fire will think about a lot of things, think and think, but they won't go and do it whereas the people with full fire will decide on something and do it without giving it enough thought.

Wilson: In general terms, what has your research shown to be the predominant imbalance in America?

Amy: The population that we have seen has been mostly people with empty fire. People who are thinking, using their minds and thinking too much have a tendency toward empty fire and this is the population we have seen.

Wilson: Do you think it is the lifestyle that has an effect on the body?

Amy: Exactly. People who get empty fire often have the following habits. They like to stay up past eleven o'clock at night. They like to smoke and drink coffee. They drink alcohol. They smoke marijuana or take other drugs. Most of them are a nervous type. Another important personality trait of a person with empty fire is a tendency toward perfectionism. It's impossible for a human to attain perfection, so pursuing it creates a lot of stress.

Wilson: Can you compare the lifestyle in the U.S. to China and how these different lifestyles manifest different energy?

Amy: The Chinese have a long tradition of knowing what's best to eat. They are less likely to eat the diet that is full of fire like the normal diet in the U.S. They don't drink as much coffee as Americans and they don't eat big steaks or broiled foods. They eat more simmered and steamed foods and stew and drink tea. However, the Chinese world is changing and in the larger cities they are now getting the habits of the west.

The Chinese have a philosophy of taking things as they come. They are not as hurried as people in the west. Good things take time. So that's less stress when you take that attitude. For example: as we have talked about before, if you eat something with a lot of stress when you are eating it, then the digestion will be different than if you eat with a calm mind.

Wilson: What steps can the average person take beyond the basic dietary considerations mentioned, to help themselves?

Amy: One of the main things that someone can do in their life is to decrease the importance of material things in their life. Then the stress associated with trying to get these things will decrease and one will have more time to advance their health and cultivate their spiritual energy.

Wilson: What foods can you recommend that would be good for most people to eat?

Amy: Steamed foods and soups are good. Most Americans are not suited to eating raw salad. It may be ok for some people. Construction workers, people working all day by the sweat of their brow, may be more suited to eating steak and salad. People who sit in front of a computer or desk all day, it's not really a good thing for them. Raw vegetables may be pure before they get in your stomach. In Chinese Medicine raw vegetables have the cold energy and when they get into the stomach, they make the stomach have a cold quality, not a cold temperature. This cold quality decreases the absorption of the food in a functional sort of way, so you don't get the benefit of that raw food. It adds a stress to your system also.

Wilson: In attempting to listen to your body it seems that you have to first recognize where you are now.

Amy: Yes, this is why I said to write it all down, study your present situation.

Wilson: If you choose to look closely and listen to your body and can recognize a state of imbalance, then it seems that on the face of things the imbalanced body tells you exactly the wrong thing to do or eat.

Amy: It's true that the body may give you the wrong signals. You may have a craving for chocolate all the time because you are weak and need the energy. But that's just the wrong sort of energy that won't help you. It will make your fire worse and worse. That's why it is important to write down what you eat and discern the energy response you have to what you eat. It's only in the state of imbalance that the body will give you incorrect information. Once balance is restored it should give you accurate information.

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