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The other day, while surfing the net for information about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), I stumbled upon a video of a ‘scraping’ procedure. In it, a female patient wearing a hospital gown that’s open at the top to expose her neck sits with her back to the camera. Then, a doctor explains the ‘scraping’ procedure while using an implement to ‘scrape’ the area briskly, causing an ‘angry’ looking redness to spread across the patient’s skin. When the doctor checks with the patient, however, she calmly confirms that she is ‘okay’.

‘Either that was one tough lady,’ I thought, ‘or there’s something I’m not ‘getting’ here’. So, I went searching for more information.

I was already vaguely familiar with some basic concepts of TCM, such as…

-         the belief that our bodies are ‘wired’ with ‘meridians’ or energy channels

-         the belief in ‘qi’ (‘Ch’i’/air) as a vital energy or active principal

-         the belief that blockages in the flow of qi cause illness or pain, while balancing qi promotes good health and well-being

-         that TCM practitioners correct the flow of qi through direct manipulation (acupuncture/cupping/massage/etc), meditation, physical exercise (martial arts/etc), and medications

What I learned was that…

-         while ‘scraping’ is often associated with TCM it predates it and is popular in a few different cultures

-         in Chinese it’s called ‘gua sha’ (roughly translated ‘gua’ is scraping and ‘sha’ is the redness it produces in the skin)

-         it’s believed that bad ‘wind’ (hot or cold) enters the body and causes illness and pain (stagnation or blockage of qi/blood along the meridians)

-         scraping is believed to diagnose and correct the flow of qi and draw blood/toxins to the surface to be released from the body

-         it’s believed scraping heals illness and eases pain

-         there are many different implements used in scraping such as water buffalo horn, porcelain spoons, and bottle tops

-         scraping or gua sha is a ‘folk medicine’ practiced by doctors and common folk alike

 After watching videos and reading about gua sha for days, I realized there was only one way to know whether it was painful or not, and that was to try it.

So, I followed the instructions I’d found online and started with my left arm. I oiled and massaged it and then, using a polished stone, I ‘scraped’ the left side of my forearm as I’d seen done online. The skin didn’t change colour even after 30 or so strokes but at least it didn’t hurt. Then, I repeated the procedure on the right side of the same arm. This time, after only a dozen strokes, a red blotchiness appeared in the skin.

Aha! I stopped scraping and asked a friend to watch so she could tell me whether she saw a difference as I repeated the experiment. Sure enough, when I scraped the outside of my forearm nothing happened, but when I scraped the inside, blotchy ‘sha’ was raised.

There was no doubt in either of our minds that we were seeing it clearly.

Encouraged, I asked her to help me with another experiment, and although she was worried about hurting me (and I was scared she would too) I oiled my neck and shoulder and asked her to scrape me in places I knew had ‘issues’.

Within seconds, she was gasping and hesitating because sha was spreading down my neck and in patches along my spine. I rushed into the washroom to use the mirror there and noted that one patch cantered over a scarred muscle my doctor had been treating with acupuncture and another was over a damaged nerve she’d been working on.

On the off chance that scraping over the acupuncture points the doctor had been using was affecting the results, I then scraped an ‘untreated’ area on my upper chest. Sure enough, sha appeared in a spot between my left breast and the inside end of my left collarbone. Because of it’s placement and concentration of pigmentation, I was fairly sure that it my body was trying to tell me there was a problem there, but I just didn’t know enough to know what. The important point was, though, that this proved that sha would appear in areas that hadn’t been treated with acupuncture.

Another intriguing observation I made was that the area we’d scraped on by neck, back, and shoulder tingled for some time afterward but this dissipated after half an hour or so and I believe that it felt better the next day (less painful than ‘normal’).

So, what have I learned from all of this?

I’ve learned that while conventional Western teaching instructs me    to believe that welts on the skin are ‘bad’, this perception isn’t always correct. In the case of gua sha, they may actually be helpful in diagnosing and treating illness. I’ve also learned that gua sha isn’t painful and that the redness it produces can disappear quite quickly. This experience also strengthened my belief that TCM is often useful and effective and it’s encouraged me to ask my acupuncturist to teach me more.

Oh, and I also learned that my sister’s right… sometimes you shouldn’t let fear and common sense hold you back ; )

Okay, I’ve got a ton to do today and can’t be mucking about at the computer but I’m thinking about some things that might be worth a moment…

Inflammation – Don’t remember where I herd it, but someone mentioned recently that inflammation is vitally important – i.e. that chronic inflammation not only signals a problem in the body/imbalance, but that it opens the door for other issues and illness

Sensitivity – whether I’ve got an allergy or sensitivity doesn’t matter to me so much as the fact that certain foods (breads, cakes, flour products) are causing inflammation, and thus deserve attention. (I’ve found that whole grain bagels and some grain products have only mild affect, but generally the more ‘processed’ the more severe)

Process of elimination – I’m finding that, if I eliminate bread/flour products, I feel great! But, when I do eat small amounts now (like A cookie) I get a very definite reaction. Thinking I might cut them all out for a period of a week or so and then see if I reintroduce them selectively, whether I can narrow down which ones are worst offenders (?) and the causes.

Causes – prior to the summer of ’08, I’d never noticed a sensitivity to foods like this other than the ‘feeling’ some gave me. Eating veggies felt good. Eating junk food felt bad. But, it was all so generalized as to make me only vaguely aware of the feelings. When it got bad/highly noticeable, I started wondering whether it was a) related to the med I’m on for blood pressure? b) related to parasites or a biological compromise? or c) related to dietary changes?

Attitude – part of me is pissy about the probability that I won’t be able to eat wheat products in future. I love bread, etc! The other part of me is thinking ‘and the down side of losing weight and getting healthier is…?’ Ok! So losing the wheat might make a huge difference, so I guess I should suck it up and go with the flow, right?

Will have to do more learning about vitamin D and will continue to work on recipes. Will post what I find as I go in case anyone else finds it useful or is willing to share input…

They say there’s a fine line between madness and genius and my sister likes to ride it. That’s why I never know when to listen to her and not. 
Take what she said about milk, for example…
One day – about fifteen years ago – she caught me giving her daughter a glass and snapped. ‘Don’t feed that crap to my kid!’
‘But they need it for their bones,’ I argued. Everyone knows it ‘does a body good’.
‘Good?’she laughed. ‘They mess with cow genes with shots and breeding, feed them genetically engineered grain soaked in pesticides, pasturize their milk ’till they’ve got to add chemicals to claim it’s got ‘nutrients’, and you call that ‘good’?’
‘Well…’ I hesitated.
‘Name one other animal that consumes milk after infancy…?’ she challenged, but I couldn’t.
Of course, I still kept milk in the house and made half hearted attempts to get people to drink it because doctors said we should. ‘Doctors follow the money,’ my sister would scoff, while I told myself it was ‘crazy talk’.
But, the more I paid attention, the more I had to wonder. Why were do many kids getting alergies and ADHD? Why were so many of our kid’s friends maturing so quickly (physically) and becoming obese? And why, when we were suposedly making ‘advances’, were so many dying so young of cancers and ‘adult’ diseases?
My sister said it was diet, that we should eat more like the Chinese do with less meat and processed foods and more fruits, veggies, and rice. ‘You ever see a fat Chinese kid?’ she asked, and when I said there were ’some’ she pointed out that they were ‘Americanized’ and ‘modernized’. ‘It all comes down to diet,’ she’d say. ‘You ever hear of ‘macrobiotics’?’
I hadn’t, but listening listening to her long enough eventually got me thinking and changing the way we ate. Unfortunately, the change came to late to keep my kids from eating ‘junk food’ and I too often fell victim to doubt and continued to listen to doctors that told me to drink milk and eat meat. ‘But I eat a high protien, low carb diet, and don’t eat half the junk my friends do!’ I complained when my health hit the skids. I honestly thought I was doing the best thing for my health and any time I searched for better, more natural ways, I ran into warnings and controversy.
Then, I hear about ‘The China Study’ through a friend, and realized where I’d gone wrong.
‘The China Study’ is based on ‘The China Project’ – a survey of death and diseases in China – but includes a plethora of other examples to support the argument that a plant based whole foods diet is the healthiest choice and that the meat based North American diet is dangerous to our health.
From the moment I picked it up, I found myeself gasping in shock and dismay… not because what it said was new, but because it supported what my sister had been saying for years with scientific and stastistical evidence. So, it wasn’t all ‘crazy talk’! My sister had been right all along! That meant that all my efforts to eat ‘right’ were missguided because the very things I’d been told would ‘help’ me were actually hurting me.
Now, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to my sister earlier, but I take heart in what the authors of the book say about using diet to turn cancer on and off like a light switch. If they could do that, perhaps there’s still the chance that I can bennefit my body by making changes even this late in the game?
Well, there’s only one way to find out.
I’d started making changes through the hollidays because I was sick of being ’sick’ – and now, as I read the ‘China Study’ – I’m making more every day. Honestly, I don’t know if I will ever get to the point of being totally vegitarian, but I figure that every step I take is better for my health than none.
Mean time, I’m planning on calling my sister and thanking her again for showing me there was another choice and apologizing for douting her. Yah, I still say she’s ‘crazy’… but in this particular case she’s crazy like a fox and I think I want to be too!

Editor’s Note: Part of getting healthy is trying to find foods that are good for you but taste like they aren’t so periodically, I’ll post recipes and food ideas I like…

Rice Sallad

Lately, I’ve been finding I have issues with glutin so I wanted to come up with a glutin-free sallad to take in my lunches. This weekend, I came up with one.

- 3 handfulls brown rice (precooked until firm, not soft, and drained)

- 2 handfulls chick peas (precooked and drained)

- 1 handfull pumpkin seeds

- 1/2 handdull flax seed (whole)

- 1 diced apple

- 1 sliced banana

Sallad Dressing: 2 parts vanilla yogurt to one part coconut milk

Chill cooked rice and chick peas, then mix rice, chick peas, seeds, and fruit – toss – and pour a little dressing over it. I plan to use this as a breakfast or lunch item. Considering adding a little lime zest. Will let you know how it turns out and any varriations I come up with.

That’s it!

I’ve had enough.

It’s been almost two years since I’ve exercised with any dedication or eaten properly and I need to get back on track. Excuses – the house, kids, work, money – are just that, ‘excuses’, and I know it.

The facts, on the other hand, are that I now have to take medication for my blood pressure and I’ve gained 16lbs. A good chunk of my wardrobe doesn’t fit any more and while I still look fairly ‘average’, I don’t like what I see in the mirror or how I feel in my body.

So, I’ve taken the plunge and gotten a gym membership.

This is a huge step for me because I’ve never had the luxury of using a gym before. I’ve always had to do it on my own working out to videos in my living room or biking or what have you as best I was able. The thing was, though, that in doing it that way I wasn’t getting the most out of my efforts and sometimes hurt myself.

By joining the gym, I’m hoping to gain the help of knowledgeable staff, access programs I’ve never used before, and to force myself to prioritize my health again.

Since joining, I’ve walked the track a few times, taken an ‘aquafit’ and a yoga class, and I’ve started changing my diet. I’ve also started reading about nutrition and health again and am trying out some new recipes.

Tonight, I figured I’d share some of this in the hope that it will make me feel accountable to something or someone else and that maybe this will help me get back on track. I also want to set some goals and make note of a few things in case I need to remember them for later.

So, here goes…

According to Dictionary.com, a miracle is an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

Well, that’s what I need ‘cause I’m hooped.

You see, when I bought my house a year ago I was just a shave off ‘desperate’. The economy was teetering on the verge of collapse, banks were tightening their purse strings, my daughter was pregnant and wouldn’t be able to work to keep herself and her baby, and my nerves and checkbook couldn’t take waiting any longer. So, when I found this house, I knew it had ‘issues’ but I grabbed it.

In time, I figured I’d be able to get my finances back into order and find a way to pay for repairs. Then, my employer froze our wages and jobs disappeared and I found myself having to go deeper and deeper into debt to keep myself and help my daughter. ‘At least we’ve got a roof over our heads and we’re getting by,’ I thought, but each time I looked around the house I saw the structural damage worsening. ‘Later,’ I’d tell myself, and pray that it could hold out a little longer.

Then, my daughter moved out and I was forced to get a roommate to get by, but with all of our things in the house I’m seeing more and more damage around me. Just the other day when I tapped a nail into a wall I herd a weird noise and turned back to find a big crack had appeared in that wall. Sigh.

That’s why I need a miracle. I don’t have the funds to fix things myself and I know that I can’t get a loan when I’m already struggling to get by. There’s no one else to help me and the stress of dealing with life’s forced my blood pressure off the scales so getting another job would probably push me over the edge.

I need the Gods to grant me a miracle. I need them to help me find a way to get this place structurally sound and to repair the damage done by the previous owner’s DIY reno and my neglect.

Of course, the Gods help those who help themselves, so I guess I’ll have to call around and get some quotes so I can set some realistic goals for myself. If I write off any hope of buying ‘extras’ and get brutal on my self-discipline, maybe I can find a way to save enough to get it done this year. Mean time, I’m praying for a miracle.

A while ago I wrote about starting a list – a ‘coping tool’ for crazy times AND a way of closing out the old year and getting a fresh start on the new one – and I’ve been working hard at it.
This past weekend alone I got a dental cleaning, did household chores and cleaning, fixed the shower faucet, rebuilt my couch, moved furniture, visited with my granddaughter, daughter, and friends, and still had time to watch a movie or two, so I’m busy but in a good way. Guess that’s the thing about doing this kind of list… if you look at it as ‘work’ it seems harder, but because I know it’s all for a purpose and that it’ll set me up for a good start to 2010, it doesn’t seem bad. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of fun and exciting.
Each time I’ve ticked off more items on the list I’ve felt like I’ve ‘accomplished’ something.
Anyways, I’m happy because yesterday after work I had a friend over and managed to get the last of the heavy moving done so now it’s down to sorting, cleaning, and decorating and the BS paperwork I know I’ve got to do for taxes and such.
At this point, though, after only a little more than 2 weeks, I’ve managed to go from a list that covered both sides of an 8 1/2 x 11″ sheet of paper down to maybe a dozen items that need doing.
Of course, more will be added as time goes by, but the whole idea of doing this is to keep a running list that will help me to keep on track and accomplish things in the Year of the Tiger. After all, this is a year for being on the move – being ready and able to strike when oportunity presents itself – and having a plan and being unencumbered by ‘old business’ should make success more likely.
So, here’s to ‘doing’ instead of ‘trying’… ‘risking’ instead of playing it safe… and to the Tiger, that I know will be a great year!

Congratulations to me! I’ve been in my house for a year!

You know, when I stop to think about it I’m still amazed it’s happened. Of course, this year’s little more than a blur of grass cutting and work and concerns for the future but I guess it’s important to take a minute once in a while and acknowledge some of the accomplishments we manage.

In fact, for weeks now I’ve been thinking that if you’d told me even a few years ago that one day I would be single again, that I’d buy my own house and keep it with a real ‘office type’ job, or that I’d manage to help my daughter through having my first grandchild… well, I’d have said ‘good luck with that’ and figure you’d lost it. And yet, here I am, a grandmother, a home owner, and someone with more than 6 years in at one of the largest companies in the area.

I guess the messages from the Universe are right when they remind you to look at your life and remember that what you are now is the result of wishes you had for yourself yesterday. Guess I was aiming higher than I realized AND that it’s up to me to dream even bigger dreams for the future because I’m obviously capable of making them come true. (With a little help from my friends, of course!)

Point is, though, that having seen what can be done with a little WILL and the WORD, I’m starting to believe that I can make things happen. With that in mind, I’m seeing a change in my attitude and my actions that I hope will bring bigger and better days to come.

Once again, for example, I’ve made myself a list of “old business” from 2009 that needs to be closed out and in the past 2 weeks have managed to knock about a dozen items off of it, and I’m attempting to finish it all by the (Chinese) New Year.

The intention is that if I clear out the old business this way, I can set myself up to take on the new year with a fresh attitude and energy and considering this one’s the Year of the Tiger… well, I’m hoping it’ll be a good one : )

The big thing here, I think, is learning to dream BIG and that’s something that’s been a challenge for me for a long time.

This year, as I look forward to the future, I’m trying really hard not to put limits and barriers up in front of myself and  to reach really high so that even if I don’t make my goals I’ll have accomplished something amazing. Some of the things I’d like to see happen are…

-         finding a way to repair and support the house/fix the basement

-         getting an ‘emergency’ savings fund in place

-         visiting my brother and sister

-         earning additional income/increasing earnings from my ‘day job’

-         taking risks and reaping benefits

-         falling in love/being in a relationship

Goodness knows I’m intimidated by the prospects but I’m not going to let that stop me from trying. As my sister says, ‘Never let fear and common sense slow you down.’

So, here’s to being fierce in the Year of the Tiger…

Now, I’m off to knock a few more items off my list. Cheers!

That’s it!

The time between the Western New Year and the Chinese New Year is supposed to be my ‘grace period’ when I tie up loose ends from the old year and prepare myself for the new one… and what have I been doing…?

Dogging it.

Oh, I’ve half started – half finished jobs and I’ve gotten some things done, but I’ve also been lazing around, feeling sorry for myself, and ‘lonely’… and that’s just not cutting it.

If I don’t get something happening soon the New Year will be rolling by and I’ll have gotten nowhere or I’ll have to hurt myself just to keep up.

So, today I made a list of everything I could think of that needs doing in the next few weeks and I’m going to keep it with me and start ticking things off as I go. I’ve set a tentative deadline for February 1^st and will amend that as I go but something is going to get done!

One of the first things I’m going to do is to get the kitchen straightened out. Can’t cook right otherwise… which means you can’t eat right… which means you can’t live right. So, everything needs to be in order there.

The other is that I need to get back to exercising. The last straw was when I quit doing my yoga regularly for the first time in more than 7 years. I’m disgusted and ashamed of me but I’m just going to have to figure it out and do it!

If I can get the eating and exercise right and build my feeling of accomplishment by attending to my ‘to do’ list, then surely to goodness I can start the new year better.

Finally, I think I need to get something visual happening – even a sign on my desk or a wall – that says ‘I’m a YES girl’!

I made myself the promise that I’m going to quit holding myself back in life and start experiencing more. To do that, I have to get over my habit of always saying ‘no’… and if the past few years have taught me nothing, it’s that changing your language changes your life. So, I need to say ‘YES’ more ‘till it rolls off my tongue naturally.

Okay, enough ranting at myself. I’m off to finish some chores and convince myself that what I’ve said here is FACT.

In January of 2009 I bought a house and moved into it with my daughter, in February she had her first child (my 1st grandchild!), and by March I was dealing with baby showers and utility hook ups. April and May were all about utility hook ups, household chores, and car troubles. June, July, and August were a blur of ‘work, home, sleep… work, home, sleep’… passed faster than a bad burrito, and were about as much fun. September, October, and November were eaten up by doctor’s appointments and dealing with my daughter wanting to move out, and in December that happenned, so I was left to face the holidays and the need for a roommate alone.
When I look back on this year, I’ll probably remember…
- being terrified about owning a house and discovering that I could do it
- feeling much the same about having a baby here, but enjoying her immensely
- working, literally, until I dropped
- challenging myself to be around people I couldn’t stand and learning from it
- getting screwed over, once again, by my employers
- watching the 3 horsemen… Economic Upheaval, (supposedly) ‘Pandemic’ Disease, and impending Ecological Disaster ride roughshod over everyone and despising the media for using them to whip everyone into a frenzy
- hating reality t.v., ‘chip’ technology, commercials for gold buyers
- loving squash, beets, and sweet potatoes
- watching friends lose their jobs and being glad to have mine
- learning that I could watch my investments drop like a rock and not lose sleep over it
- deciding that maybe… just maybe… I’d be willing to date someone if I could just find the right time and someone
Some of the lessons I’ll take from this year are…
- I can’t do it all on my own
- I have the best friends ever
- that it’s the people we like least that teach us the lessons we most need
- my health has to come first
- remember… you can’t take it personally!
- I can deal with a lot more than I thought I could
- ballancing life – finding time for work, rest, and play – is an difficult but vital task
- I am not willing to be ’second’ on any guy’s list
- a big part of my ‘pickiness’ with men stems from how strong my female role models are
- gratitude is a way of life
- I am not the ’stress puppy’ I thought I was
- your brain lies to you, your body doesn’t, and listening to the latter eliminates stress
- not letting your ego get in the way clears the path to a happier life
- miracles do happen
Looking back on this year in the future, I also hope I’ll remember that there were some good times.
This year, we snuck my granddaughter into her first musical event, took her to her first bonfire, and I truly enjoyed suppers and walks with her. I spent a lot of time with my daughter and learned more about her as a ‘person’. I continued to put effort into getting closer to my son. I tried roller blading and assisted with a photo-shoot, built a path and planted flowers, tried acupuncture and hypnosis, and I started making my house my ‘home’.
I’d expected the Year of the Ox to be slow moving, laborious, and productive – to be a year for family and to struggle with ‘temper’ – and I expected to fail at a lot of things. In retrospect, it was a wickedly fast and eventful year, it wasn’t visibly productive but maintaining the status quo in it was an accomplishment in itself. And, I dealt with my temper and my family as best I could. I also think I ’succeeded’… especially in ‘learning’.
I think I’ll be glad to put 2009 behind me but it wasn’t without it’s blessings <|: )