WHY THIS OBSESSION WITH CHINESE MEDICINE?
Blog post description.
5/8/20255 min read
WHY THIS OBSESSION WITH TCM?
Long story short (a short synopsis in the long story hehe): A year ago, I was suffering from Dengue fever, let me just say this was rough! Throughout the summer, I was suffering from severe fatigue. I have, as long as I can remember, struggled with fatigue, but now it was even worse. I was exhausted midday, all day, every day. I pushed through the summer, I started to lose a shitload of hair a few months after my recovery, trying to work it out with workouts and way too much moving around to new accommodations all of the summer.
I eventually got some blood work done in the UK, which all came back within the normal range. I took the bloodwork with me to a naturopath in Norway, who said to get off gluten and try to seek help in one of the other countries I spend more time in. While going gluten-free helped a lot, I still felt recovery took forever and I felt quite out of balance. So in September, while I was in Macau, I thought “let me try this random Chinese medicine place” that someone on the street had said 6 months earlier did acupuncture.
I came in and asked to do a random acupuncture for my facial glow (hahahaha don’t ask), they looked at me with weird eyes, and then I said I was severely fatigued. They then took me into the doc's office, and for the first time, I felt truly seen. He took my fatigue very seriously and asked so many questions, from my menstrual cycle, past health history, diet, lifestyle, I have never had so many questions asked about my health. He then looked at my hands, my tongue, and felt my pulse - he said to me: “Well, your hands are yellow, you're not supposed to be yellow, you’re not taking up any nutrition, your gut and immune system is very weak and your blood is not flowing optimally. He said quite frankly, “You are weak, no power”.
At first, I was taken aback because I take all the supplements in the world, sleep 7-9 hours every night, and work out four times a week on average. Who is he to tell me I’m so out of whack with checking this only with looking and feeling!? But then again, I fell back on my never-ending fatigue and the past year of learning, growth and reflection. Then he followed up by saying: “You can take all the supplements you want, and work out all you want, but if your body isn’t in balance, you won’t take up nutrition, and if your body is severely fatigued, the workout won’t have the benefit you are seeking.”
Before I start this blogpost, I just wanna emphasise this: Chinese Medicine reaches back over 2000 years in time. This is my personal story with my own opinions. I’m not a doctor, nor do I have any formal education in this field! I’ve only touched the surface level of knowledge - and I will have to self-study for a very looooong time. But what I can say is that I am starting to connect the dots. I can now look at root causes in my own life, see where I need support. Here is my story
Within 6 weeks of doing herbs, acupuncture and qi massage, I was starting to feel like my life was given back to me as a gift. I wasn’t fatigued anymore. I'm from Scandinavia, Norway. We are not taught to care for ourselves after illness, we are “supposed” to carry on because now you have “recovered”. In all the jobs I’ve had, the more you could push through, the more respect and recognition you would get. And I have definitely not grown up thinking any herbs could cure anything
I feel every time I’m at the TCM office, I'm going on a spa day. What is interesting here is the language barrier, in the office, it’s the doctor and the translator - she is so sweet. I’ve been trying to ask about the herbs and what it is doing all the time, but they just laugh and say "only in Chinese". I’ve been so curious and super fascinated about how this treatment actually affects me and how it works. One thing my doctor said that resonated truly with me: In TCM, our goal is so that people can feel good and balanced, from birth to death.
Since finishing my Reiki level 2, I’ve been looking for something to combine with my practice, so that I could potentially set up some group healings. While I was visiting Alchemy in Uluwatu, Bali, back in January, I saw that they ran Soma Chandra - Yin yoga training with emphasis on Chinese medicine. I just knew instantly that this was it - my whole body was bubbling- like WOAH.
Everything I’ve learned during our training has made me wanna study more- it has also helped me understand the essence of balance in life, what mood affects what body part and what can bring us back to ourselves. Soma Chandra has helped me understand my Reiki practice even more - I now connect the dots where clients need extra support, and now I can incorporate this in classes and 1:1 work.
So, to answer the question: why this obsession? By learning more, I can help people to help themself and help people hold space for everything that they are. It helps me to understand my own balances and imbalances in life. And wouldn’t it be nice if we could self-regulate before things become so bad that we have to see a Western doctor for lifestyle illnesses?
I have to emphasise: we need western medicine, it is crucial, it saves lives! But lifestyle illnesses are higher than ever, and I truly believe that if we get to know ourselves and have tools for balance and support, we would maybe be happier.
With this new knowledge, I don't feel guilty if I wanna rest at a random time, I’m personally going through my second major hair shed this year as we speak, and now I can better support myself, because through the eyes of the 5 element wheel and I know what body part that has been effected and what has caused it - and I can by that give the body what it needs in terms of prenatal qi - self massage - nutrition - yin and yang yoga!
I will write more posts about different aspects of CM, but first I wanna study some more. Who knows, in some time I'll learn, unlearn and relearn again.
