CBD parking sucks. We know that. But we’ll lessen the grievance by reimbursing your parking cost at the next appointment. The map below should help, and there is a City of Perth Parking app that tells you where there are empty bays. There is no street parking on the Terrace between Barrack and William, but there are sometimes 1 hour bays on The Esplanade that would be fine for a standard consultation.
Look after your health in spring. In short:
That’s right. While we prefer people to cook their herbs so they become involved in their own healing, we don’t want to create a barrier that is too high for busy people. So the clinic has welcomed a new bit of kit. It looks like something from the Tardis, but it will cook your herbs for you if you just can’t do it yourself.
There will be a small fee to discourage wanton use of the service.
Herb cooking: $25
The three months of winter,
they denote securing and storing.
The water is frozen and the earth breaks open.
Do not disturb the yang [qi].
Go to rest early and rise late.
you must wait for the sun to shine.
Let the mind enter a state as if hidden,
as if shut in
as if you had secret intentions;
as if you already had made gains.
Avoid cold and seek warmth and
do not [allow sweat] to flow away through the skin.
This would cause the qi to be carried away quickly.
This is correspondence with the qi of winter and
it is the Way of nourishing storage.
Opposing it harms the kidneys.
In spring this causes limpness with receding [qi],
there is little to support generation.
– Huang di Nei Jing Su Wen trans. Paul Unschuald
Chinese winters are cold, particularly in the North. So Chinese Medicine texts talk of cold, dry winters. Perth’s winter months are the coldest of the year, but are relatively mild and quite wet, typically with cold fronts bringing south-westerly winds and days of heavy rain. By the local Nyoongar calendar, we are moving from Makuru, the coldest and wettest season to Djilba or first spring, with some wet days, and more clear, cold nights and pleasantly warm days.
Despite this difference with the cosmic flow of yin and yang in the Middle Kingdom, Chinese Medicine still has good tips for winter health.
As the Su Wen outlines above, we should stay indoors and avoid the cold. Most of us will welcome the advice that we shouldn’t get out of bed until the sun comes up. Winter is a time to reserve and store and some have interpreted the rather cryptic third stanza above as applying this to sexual activity, but the ninth century commentator and editor Wang Bing commented ‘All this to say one does not wish to go out needlessly lest one is struck by cold’ (Unschuld p. 49). Those that like to snuggle up in winter would prefer this interpretation. Notably Makuru is the season of fertility, and many indigenous plants flower in winter.
We should be particularly careful about not getting chilled after exercise. Young people have abundant warm energy or yang so it is ok for them to perspire at footy training in the evening, but even they should be sure to have a hot shower afterwards and change out of sweat-damped clothes. The rest of us should be even more cautious about exercising late, or outdoors.
Winter is the time to eat warming, full-flavoured foods and to nourish the Shen organ-meridian system linked to the kidneys. Wong’s ‘Four Seasons’ suggests: anchovies, bay leafs, capers, chestnuts, chicken, coriander, dill, fennel, leek, mussels, mutton, nutmeg, pine nuts, rosemary, spring onions, prawns, sweet potatoes, and walnuts. Trout and salmon are warm-natured fish. Eat stews, soups and curries, particularly of flavoursome foods with plentiful qi such as mutton or brisket. As well as eating warming foods we should moderate our consumption of cooling foods. Winter is not the best time to eat a lot of raw foods, salads, sushi or icecream, tofu should be cooked or even fried.
Winter is also time when it’s thought to be healthy to enjoy a little alcohol. Chinese will drink rice wine that has had warming herbs steeped in it, but regular wine is warm enough to help us through winter. Wong says that it ‘enlivens the spleen, warms the digestive system, expels wind and cold, promotes circulation of the qi and blood, improves appetite and dispels fatigue.’ But alcohol would kindle any fire in the body, and red wine seems particularly unhelpful to people who overheat at night. The alcohol in beer is warming, but beer can bring dampness. Dark beers warm the yang more than light ones, and some beers are brewed with orange peel, cardamon, and other spices that can warm the digestive system and reduce dampness.
Be careful though, while the seasonal qi is cool, we have the adverse qi of even winters being warmer than usual. And western diet and stress tend to generate pathogenic warmth, particularly when alcohol is added.
At the first signs of having caught a cold simmer two slices of ginger with three spring onion stalks for twenty minutes and drink the broth.
A warming nourishing dish from Professor Wong’s Food for the Seasons that doesn’t use meat:
stir-fried daikon radish with carrot
Stir-fry finely diced daikon radish with carrot until al dente and slightly browned. Add a handful of chopped shallots and cook for another minute. Add soy sauce and black pepper to taste.
Wong says that the carrot supports digestion and the radish clears damp that hinders digestion.
Many elite runners get acupuncture. Here’s an article in ‘Runner’s World’ in which the author describes first getting acupuncture after competing in a marathon in Japan, where it was made available to every participant in the race. He says that he used acupuncture to recover from an injury and as regular part of his training regimen. The article says that acupuncture is as widely used as massage by Asian athletes, and while some elite American runners use it to for existing ailments, it “may prove most beneficial as preventative medicine”.
I posted before about acupuncture for sports performance and recovery, and there are links to some research that show that it’s a good idea there.
The oldest Chinese medicine text covers autumn health.
The three months of autumn,
they denote taking in and balance,
The qi of heaven becomes tense.
The qi of the earth becomes bright.
Go to rest early and rise early,
get up together with the chicken.
Let the mind be peaceful and tranquil, so as
to temper the punishment carried out in autumn.
Collect the spirit qi and
cause the autumn qi to be balanced.
Do not direct your mind to the outside and cause the lung qi to be clear.
This is correspondence with the qi of autumn and
it is the Way to nourish gathering.
opposing it harms the lung.
In winter this causes outflow of [undigested] food and
there is little to support storage.
– Huang di Neijing Suwen trans. Paul Unschauld
Winter is cold in much of China, bitterly so in parts. While summer is the season of growth, winter is one of repose, and autumn is the time to prepare for winter as nature’s energy contracts. Chinese autumns are dry after hot, wet summers, and it is the organ-meridian system linked to the lungs that is most susceptible to dryness. There may also be strong winds and violent storms – this is one meaning of the ‘punishment’ mentioned above.i To counter the dryness moistening foods such as pear and sesame are eaten. Lung qi is also a part of our defence against wind, cold, and storms, so one translator of the Neijing advises avoiding smoking and grief, both of which damage the lung qi. Autumn is a good time to strengthen the body against ailments such as asthma and arthritis that some people find get worse in winter
And while the qi of autumn is dry, it is important to avoid damp as this can lodge in the body and cause coughing, shoulder and back pain, and even weakness in winter.ii So change out of damp sweaty clothes from exercise as soon as you can. Avoid wind chill as well, as getting struck by this can also affect health in winter. So even though the days are still mild, stay wrapped up and keep extra layers handy.
Winter is comparatively mild in most of Australia, and autumn is not always dry. Perth autumns are historically wetter than summer with the rains starting in May and getting heaviest in June and July. Rain tends to be intermittent but heavy as cold fronts cross the coast. But Perth autumns are getting dryer:iii March and April are hot and dry with temperature records being broken this year, and there were bushfires around Perth this week and most gardeners are still watering. So it could be that dryness should be associated with our autumns, as there is now an extended dry period from spring to autumn, and things keep getting dryer.
This long, hot, dry period withers us. Autumn is a good time to clear any residual heat and to moisten dryness. Clearing the heat would be best done in early Autumn, so now it is the time to eat nourishing and moistening foods:
Wong’s ‘Food For the Seasons’iv has great advice and recipes, it even recommends lamb’s fry and bacon as a seasonally appropriate dish as a little fat nourishes yin and moistens dryness. Here’s the recipe:
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
4 rashers streaky bacon
8 thin slices lamb’s liver
flour to dust liver
4 tablespoons lamb stock*
Fry bacon until crisp, remove and keep warm. Skin and trim liver pieces, coat with flour, season, and briefly fry both sides until browned. It shouldn’t be overcooked but be pink in the middle. Warm stock in the pan, pour over bacon and liver. This could be served with a leafy green vegetable such as bok choy. Spinach, and silverbeet are in season too.
Any stock or broth could be used. In fact just quietly, lamb expresses the qi of spring, so wouldn’t really be appropriate.
i The other is that executions were carried out in autumn
ii Dampness describes pathological fluid that tends to congeal, rather than to moisten dryness. Just as there are inappropriate ways to warm up a hypothermic person, there are plenty of ways that wetness does not moisten pathological dryness – bathing, getting caught in the rain, wearing damp clothes, living or sleeping in a damp environment.
iii See the Water Corporations table comparing mean rainfall 1994-2017, with 1876 – 2016, 2019, and 2020 to date
iv Available from Wild Dog Books
The ukiyo-e is Daitokuji Takagiri-in by Kantatsu Yoshizawa and is from the “Thoughts from a Takayama Rooftop” blog.
There is scientific evidence to back this up. For instance a 2018 systematic review of the biological properties of honeysuckle flower found that it has antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-pyretic effects.(2) It was part of a combination of herbs given to “first-line medical staff” treating SARS in Beijing and none off these contracted SARS.(3) in addition, 23 Chinese Provinces issued preventative programmes using herbal medicine against COVID-19, and a review of the history, research evidence, and current prevention programmes concluded that people at high risk of contagion “would probably benefit from taking CHM formulae for prevention”.(3) In China these formulae are readily available in hospitals and pharmacies.
Yes. China once had to deal with epidemic diseases from the West.
Please note that under Australian Healthcare Advertising regulations, there is not enough high standard evidence to state that jin yin hua or Chinese Herbal Medicine in general effectively prevents infection by COVID-19, and no claim is made here that it does.
(1) Chen JK ‘How COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) is Currently Treated in China with TCM’
Retrieved 31/3/20 here:
(2) Yan-Ran Tang et al. Digital Chinese Medicine 1, 2, June 2018, 173-188. ‘Lonicerae Flos: A Review of Chemical Constituents and Biological Activities.’
Retrieved 31/3/2020 here:
(3) Lou et al. Chin J Integr Med 2020 Apr;26(4):243-250. ‘Can Chinese Medicine Be Used for Prevention of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)? A Review of Historical Classics, Research Evidence and Current Prevention Programs’
Retrieved 1/4/20 here:
How does Chinese Medicine look after women’s health?
Firstly, it has always recognised that women are different, and that medicine for them should reflect this. The earliest Chinese medical texts discuss female anatomy and health, and many important texts have chapters devoted to women’s health. There were Chinese doctors who specialised in treating women as early as the 2nd century AD, and today there are doctors whose family have been doing so for as many as 37 generations. There are even acupuncture points that are used for complaints as specific as lower back pain during a period.
Conventional medicine is coming around to seeing the connection between mental and emotional states and health, but it’s fundamental to Eastern medicines. This is important for looking after everyone’s health, but maybe more so for women who are more likely to acknowledge their emotional state, than men who have been conditioned to ignore it. So women are often the ones who report an emotional factor to their doctor, and who used to run the risk of being labelled ‘neurotic’.
It’s notable that the Greek root of ‘hysteria’, is the word for uterus.
As Chinese Medicine doctors use emotional factors to understand your health, they have a physiology of emotions that explains or predicts health problems. So regulating emotions is often part of treating an illness, and this can be important for women’s health, as they are often quite aware of how their emotions change in tune with their physiology. We have powerful but subtle tools to look after women that we can use for a wide range of conditions that tend to be disregarded by conventional medicine, or treated with valium, the oral contraceptive pill, or surgery.
There’s a lot more we can do than suggest that a woman has a Bex, and a lie down.
A further strength of Chinese Medicine gynaecology is that it offers an understanding of a condition when there is no recognisable ‘organic’ pathology. This is what convention medicine looks for, either a diseased or damaged tissue, a microscopic pathogen, or a measurable imbalance in biomarkers. It then tends to treat gynaecological conditions with surgery, anti-biotics or anti-virals, or attempts to regulate hormone levels with the pill or an implant such as a Mirena.
Chinese medicine gynaecology offers solutions when there is no identifiable ‘organic’ disease. We use herbs and acupuncture to regulate periods that are too heavy or too light, come with debilitating pain, or are accompanied by back pain, headaches, or distressingly severe mood changes. We take particular care of women who have just had a child: we help them recover from the effort of growing a little human, help them with feeding, and give support during a time that is not always the filtered happiness of the Insta feed.
There’s a bit more about Chinese Medicine gynaecology here by my mentor, Steven Clavey. He also shows some research covering its treatment of infertility, gynaecological pain, endometriosis, and menopausal symptoms
Mr Clavey learned how to care for women’s health from one of those doctors whose family have been doing so for 37 generations. I spent seven years learning from him, and picked up a few things.
There’s a new name for my Perth acupuncture clinic: betterness acupuncture & herbs.
Someone has already coined the word, but if they hadn’t, I would have. I think it captures the idea that while good health and wellbeing can be the goal, the process of getting there is important. To be well we must first be better.
And “Wellness” is a douchy word used to flog vitamins and supplements at the discount chemist chain.
I’m looking for a location near the CBD, stay tuned for news.
It’s not all about long-cooked broths. While broths develop deep nutritional qualities from extended cooking, simple stocks are still nutritious. In the Chinese Medicine picture, anything edible made from bones is going to nourish bones, and the Qi of the Kidney organ-meridian system that is associated with them. [Read more…]