Press Releases

Unconventional Look at Our Health Through the Eyes
of the (Traditional) Chinese Medicine

- is a series of edifying contributions that Ailee has published at the local news server www.turnovskovakci.cz

● January - on the topic "urinary bladder" (Jan 10, 2009)

Traditional Chinese medicine is several thousand years old and - in general - the symbol of good health is harmony in the body, the balance between energies (chi) yang and yin. This energy flows within invisible paths - meridians. If the energy balance is perturbed, the human being gets ill. Therefore, the energetic disharmony is often the very first cause of many diseases.
In JANUARY, the URINARY BLADDER is the most weakened and threatened part of the body. This organ needs more care those days. We can strengthen it by supplying enough liquids - the best is to drink pure water with lemon juice, tea made of elder blossoms with honey and lemon, tea made of horse-tail, ribwort, or birch. Furthermore, the supply of vitamin C is of importance, as it is needed for acidifying the urine. Also cranberries, no matter if in form of juice, capsules or dry berries, are very useful for prevention. Especially against the urinary bladder inflammation, which is expressed by pain when urinating and the need to pass urine frequently. It is a bacterial infection, under which women suffer more often then men. As a healing stone, nephrite is widely recommended, to be applied by placing it onto the body, or nephrite water by drinking it before meals. This helps releasing the sand and stones and generally to purge the body as well.
We may not forget the psyche. The Chinese people say: emotions are diseases. On the emotional level, the energy blockade of the urinary bladder is expressed by psychic irritation, anger and fear, especially in specific situations and relations.
In the physical body, problems may be observed from head to foot. Starting with head-ache, eye weakness, tension in necks, pain and rigidity along the all spine, pain in the small of the back, formation of varices, tension in surae and convulsions up to weakness in ankles and cutaneous mycosis. Apparently, the meridian of urinary bladder affects the all spine and nerves; along its paths we can effectively relieve blockades and tension by applying acupressure.
I wish beautiful January days to all readers and see you in February, when we talk about kidney.

"Recovery is just an outer sign of restoring inner harmony and balance." - Louis Proto

● February - on the topic "kidney" (Feb 08, 2009)

In February, we will draw our attention to KIDNEY. The energetic path (meridian) of kidneys is a source of energy for the whole human body. Kidneys are literally roots of life, i.a. they regulate the volume of liquids in the body. The liquids play a crucial role for life. Streaming of liquids enables accumulation of waste filtered out from blood and the consequent elimination off the organism in the form of urine.
Tremendous amount of blood is being streamed through kidneys and it is being purified there. If the blood does not stream as necessary, there may occur symptoms like high blood pressure (hypertension), pain in lumbar spine and in knees, sexual disorders (impotence), spontaneous urination (urinary incontinence), infertility and also phlebitis or ankle oedemas, mycosis and tetter on feet. Even hearing loss or fizzing in ears is by Chinese physicians referred to be caused due to insufficient kidney function. The Chinese add to exploration on kidney disfunction: "When chi (the energy) in the meridian does not circulate sufficiently, or the energy is weak, the meridian is empty. Then the human being is shy, timid and doubtful. It feels fear, anxiety, phobia and weakness (even up to faint). On the contrary, excessive chi in kidney causes irritation, hyper-sensibility and restlessness. Energetic balance in kidney feeds humans with courage and self-confidence."
Kidney is weakened - according to the Chinese medicine - by excessive salting, sweets, drugs, alcohol and too large volume of liquids. So let's go and spare our kidney. How then? Very easily! Let's protect against stress, let's learn how to think and live positively and loose. Let's get the difference between the important things and marginalia. Let's learn how to distinguish them.'
Concerning the meals, we should consider that human beings are doubtless integral part of the nature. Therefore, knowledge of other branches of nature may be applied on them. The optimal nutrient and mineral content means resistivity, solidity and tenacity. On the contrary, when too few water, sugars and fats are fed, sloppiness and instability are the characteristics. So, while finishing the talk on the Chinese medicine, we will say good-bye by means of purely Czech proverb, perhaps well known to you: "Eat till half-fed, drink till fully-wet."

"The one, who knows people, is experienced. The one, who knows himself, is illuminated."
- Tao Te King (book of wisdom)

● March - on the topic "gallbladder" (Mar 15.2009)

In March, the Chinese medicine advises to take more care of the GALLBLADDER, which is especially sensitive during this month. The gallbladder appears to be a small bag about 8 cm (3") long and it accumulates bile formed by the liver. The bile is a yellowish-brown or yellow-green liquid helping the digestion of fats in duodenum, so that the fats could be absorbed for the needs of the body. We can say that the gallbladder is a kind of link element between the liver and the intestine.
The meridian (energetic path) of the gallbladder goes through almost entire body, starting from the outer eye's tail going zig-zag over head and descending on the rear side of the neck. Further it goes through a spot on trapezium muscle, which the Asians called "the weather spot", because it affects the human sensitivity on atmospheric pressure changes. The meridian of the gallbladder continues on the front side of chest and belly, intersects the coxae and descends on the outer part of legs down to the fourth toe of our feet.
Problems in gallbladder function may be pronounced by pain in the outer part of knees, pain in hips, in ribcage or headache. Some of you maybe know the feeling, when the headache is the strongest on the outer sides of the head surface, so that you feel like the hair hurts actually. This is in fact the headache raised from the gallbladder. The headache ascending from kidney, from stomach and from liver - are each one exhibited in a different way.
The gallbladder is not only usual source of headaches, but the are cases where pain shoots from the upper-right side of the abdomen towards the right collar-bone. This is even strenghthened when breathing deep or bending forward. It is accompanied by belching, flatulence, sweating or nausea, sometimes even vomiting. This is, however, a clear sign of having gallstones/bilestones (cholelithiasis). This acute gallstone-attack is sometimes evoked by fatty or badly-digestible meals, as the gallstones suddenly obstruct in the gall-pipe.
To keep the gallbladder healthy, I suggest to avoid fatty meals, alcohol consumption and very spicy meals. It is suitable to drink herbal tea, made of dandelion (nowadays also commercially available in capsules), cantaury tea or absinthe tea. These tea varieties contain valuable bitter substances. On the emotional level, the risk factors are wrath, anger and rage. These emotions also may cause the gallstone attack. (Who do you want to shoot your collected gallstones on?!)
Also in April, when the liver is going to be the most threatened organum, we shall take care of what we eat. Liver is a very dense organum. Some meals cause appearance of fibrous tissues in the liver, its hardening and loss of its function. The risky ingredients are namely eggs, salt, fatty meat and other fatty products, e.g. cheese. Some other meals may, on the contrary, heal our liver - green braird, cereal germs, sour fermented vegetables
So come on, don't be angry. Just be happy and you body will be happy with you!

"Human has to turn his sight towards himself, in order to start the most wonderful journey of the world." - Brumtin

● April - on the topic "liver" (Apr 14, 2009)

In April, LIVER is the most endangered part of the human body. It becomes sensitive on physical loading and effort. It is the largest organum essential to our lives, its weight is about 1.8 kg (4 lbs). It serves as a reservoir of blood and a primary metabolic centre. It forms and excretes the gall, it cracks the proteins, neutralises toxins, regulates sugar level in blood, also creates glycogen (starch) depot and transforms this into glucose (sugar), which is secreted in case of need into the body. Apart of that, the Chinese people supposed liver to be an important organum for conscious and subconscious thinking processes.
The meridian of liver helps to control the functionalities of nervous system. Negative emotions, like depression and anger, tend to block the flow in the energy paths (meridians). The emotion of strong anger hurts our liver a lot. A lot of adrenaline is being secreted while being angry, thus the function of blood storage in liver is interrupted. On the other side, a psychical state of angry irritation is typical for liver diseases.
In case of energy overload for our liver we can feel headache, pain on the inner part of legs, for women the monthly cycle might be disrupted. On the emotional level, the signs are dissatisfaction, anger, wrathfulness and depressing feelings. In case of lack of energy for our liver the typical signs are weakness of legs, muscle weakness and myasthenia, disposition to tetters, asthma, neuralgic pains and exanthemas. Emotionally, we can feel fear, apathy, easy disposition to tiredness, irritation and a feeling of wanting to run away of everything.
We can help ourselves in several ways. We may clean up our liver by drinking dandelion roots tea, or even milk thistle may help, or capsules made of both herbs. Drinking water mineralised by gemstones helps as well. For that, water of aquamarine, crystal, opal, succinite, beryl, lapis lazuli should be consumed - these minerals are made for liver diseases. If our liver is healthy and we just want to support it for prevention by drinking mineralised water, then I suggest to drink water of rubies, tiger's-eye, garnet, chrysoprase, jasper, black opal, peridot and turquoise. And how to do this?
Just fill a glass jar (1-1,5 l / 0.25-0.4 gal) up to 1/3 of the volume by the gemstones (might be crude, inwrought), pour clean water over and put it to the window or as close to window as possible and leave the stones to "infuse" 24 hours long. In the morning before breakfast drink one glass of this water and in the evening before going to sleep as well. Don't pour additional water in. When finished, wash the stones under running water and leave them charging by sun energy on napkins by the window for about three days. Then repeat the process for three weeks. If you have have a necklace or wristlet made of these gemstones, you can wear it to support your liver, too.

● May - on the topic "heart" (May 10, 2009)

May is supposed to the "month of love" in poems. Love is usually depicted by a heart intersected by the Cupid's dart. After the traditional Chinese medicine is thus the HEART the organum of which we will take care better. The heart controls blood and veins. It regulates blood circulation, so if the heart works correctly, the blood flows fluently. The Chinese people say that the heart controls the soul and emotions.
The energetic path of heart (the heart meridian) is on the contrary to other paths quite short. It begins in the arm-pit and follows along the inner side of the arm towards the small finger. Lack of energy in heart meridian is expressed by emotional anxiety, fear, sadness, feeling of lack of luck and loss of life enthusiasm. Possibly one has often dreams about fires and fume at night. In the physical body, diseases of heart and liver may appear. The symptoms might be strong heart beating, getting out of breath upon physical load, pale face and giddiness.
On the contrary, energy excess in the heart meridian is expressed by mild euphoria, abnormal and inadequate laughing, excitement. Dreams at night may mirror own courage and laughing about being face to face to danger. In the physical body, the person feels pain in heart region, pain in shoulders down to forearm, sensations of heat in wrists, dryness in mouth and reddened face.
One could say that if the heart is healthy, the person is happy and optimistic. Heart imbalance can be adjusted using acupressure by means of pressing on points that lie on the heart meridian, leading to relaxation of heart and entire improvement of the psychic state.
Furthermore, for strengthening the heart, I recommend drinking herbal teas made of hawthorn, tutsan, lemon balm or mistletoe. Adapt your meals so that cholesterol level decreases, do not smoke but go often for a walk, at least 20 min every day. Do not forget that the heart is a muscle and thus it needs enough oxygen for its proper functionality (be in movement) and enough other substances (vitamins, especially magnesium).
Avoid stress, which disrupts the immune system and may cause illnesses. Feel love and be happy about you lives!

● June - on the topic "small intestine" (June 17, 2009)

According to the traditional Chinese medicine, the most endangered part of the human body in June is the SMALL INTESTINE. Let's remind that the traditional Chinese medicine is several thousand years old. The founder was philosopher Lao-c‘ (6th - 5th b. C.). He was concerned with old Chinese philosophy - the Taoism. TAO means path and it is the basic idea of the old Chinese philosophy, which liberates humans and drives them back to nature. The essence of the world and life is an energy flow - qi (or chi), which is to be found in everything around us...
It consists of two contrary principles that are supplementary to each other. Thus arises a harmony in contradiction. Yin and yang. These form an mutually equilibrated unit, in which there is no beginning and no end, one force has inside the concept of another one. It is usually depicted by a black-and-white symbol called "monad".
The traditional Chinese medicine supposes good health in a harmony of yin and yang, in the balanced body energy - chi. This energy flows through energetic paths called meridians, which are connecting all organs in the human body. Any disbalance causes physical and psychical diseases.
The small intestine accepts the half-digested food from the stomach and starts the absorption of the nutrition and liquids. If the energy of the meridian in the small intestine is disbalanced or blocked, these health problems are possible: on the energy excess, pain appears in the rear part of shoulders, the shoulders tend to maintain rigidity. Belly and abdomen pain, congestion appears. For the lack of energy in this meridian, the Crohn's disease (chronic inflammation of the small intestine) may be observed, as well as decreased appetite, diarrhoea, weakness and feeling of cold in limbs, throat-ache, ear problems like buzzing or squeaking. Right for the reason that the acupressure point on the small intestine meridian ends on the front part of the ear, the Chinese call it "the listening palace"
What can we do for our small intestine? Above all, I recommend to drink enough liquids, to eat fruits and vegetables daily, as well as pulses (peas, lentils, beans), to swallow every morning a full spoon of olive oil with few drops of lemon juice, to eat whole meal bread and to be have physical movement regularly - going for walks, exercising, swimming. To keep fasting on the full moon and new moon. This doesn't mean being hungry all the day (starvation has different rules), but rather drinking herbal tea is recommended, as well as fruit or vegetable juices and eat only light meals that don't reside long neither in stomach nor in intestine (vegetable risotto, vegetable salads etc.). Thus the digestion organs have less work and the body can get rid of accumulated toxic compounds easier and better.

● July - on the topic "blood circulation" (July 21,2009)

The traditional Chinese medicine claims the BLOOD CIRCULATION to be the most endangered system of the human body in July. The blood circulation is closely related to the heart function, as thanks to its activity the blood is pumped within the whole body. We cane measure the load of this pumping on the body by measuring the blood pressure. The values are stored as 2 number (a fraction). The first number is the systolic and the second the diastolic pressure. For healthy adults, these values are typically 100-140 and 60-90, respectively. The values are lower for kids. People with hyper-tension are suffering by headaches, dizziness, and buzzing in ears. Hypo-tension is manifested by cold hands and legs even in warm weather and by dizziness, or even by faintness when getting up rapidly from a chair or a bed.
Acupressure and acupuncture may stimulate the blood circulation. Since the actuation on the points on the path of the blood circulation also affects the brain and reproductions glands (ovaries and testicles), this meridian is also referred to as "the meridian of sex". In fact, any disbalance in the body can be related to the blood circulation. Furthermore, this meridian has a uniquely connected with the hypophysis, a part of brain regulating body functions. In other words, (from the hormonal point of view) also the brain contributes to the energy of this meridian.
Acting on this meridian may help in case of depressions, moodiness, sleep disorders or hormonal troubles.
As a prevention for keeping good blood circulation, I recommend you enough body movement - walking (faster pace), slow running - 20 min a day. Furthermore, you shall have healthy meals - wholemeal bread, lot of vegetables and fruits, avoid especially salty and fatty dishes. Don't smoke, don't get angry or stressed. Drink a cup of mint, lemon balm or camomile tea and say thanks for the past day.

● August - on the topic "body heat" (August 23, 2009)

In August, the body heat becomes endangered according to the traditional Chinese medicine. In fact it is a set of several subsystems, which rely to the body temperature. Affecting healh by this means can be reached by stimulation of acupressure and acupuncture points situated on the triple energizer (a.k.a. triple-warmer) meridian. This meridian does not belong to one single organus, it rather affects the whole corporal functional framework, which is divided into three regions (segments).
The first region concerns the respiratory and circulatory system (trunk and chest), the second region covers digestive system, stomach and spleen (from diaphragm to the bellybutton). The third region consists of kidney, urinary bladder and reproductive system (sub-abdominal area).
The whole meridian is coordinating and regulating processes in the inner organs. The triple energizer meridan influences spastic and pain syndroms, it helps (by acting on this meridian by means of acupressure) in cases of partial deafness, pain in eyes, toothache, pain in limbs, further in states of psychical irritation, extreme stress or it helps regulating the sympathic nervous system.
If the triple energizer meridian has insuffcient energy, it may be expressed by body weakening, fluctuating body temperature, pain in eyes, in ears or in gingivas, in shoulders, forearms and by increased sweating.
In August, I recommend to relax more, to drink detoxicative teas as to clean-up the liver, to supply vitamin A and zinc. Take care of corporal hygiene.
Men should drink a mixed tea consisting of nettle, horsetail, marjoram, St John's wort, celamus, knotgrass and ribwort. The mixture of 7 gram each is to be drunk 3 times a days before having meal. This tea helps in prostata problems, it cleans the blood, improves liver function, supports blood circulation, overall vitality and sexual function.
Women's tea is tranquilizing, refreshing, strengthening, it cleans the blood, removes vag. discharge, regulates the monthly cycle and suppresses the related pains. It is easily to be prepared like this: mix 20 gram milfoil, 14 gram of celamus, dandelion roots and alchemilla. Furthermore 7 gram of St John's wort, lemon balm, mint and fennel. A glass of the infusion is to be drunk before any meal in the morning, then after lunch and in the evening before going to bed.

"The natural power in each of us is the best healer of our illnesses." - Hippocrates