Anxiety, Sleep & Stress

Breathe your way to harmony, balance, health, and well-being. Practicing Qi Gong yourself and teaching it to your patients is one of the most beneficial aspects of Chinese medicine. It can be engaged anywhere and by anyone, including those who are bed-ridden or in a wheelchair. In Qi Gong breathing, the action is focused on the exhale by intentionally contracting the diaphragm and abdominal wall muscles, squeezing out the carbon dioxide until the lungs are empty.

Explore 10 formulas that calm the Shen and support healthy sleep and mental function. This list was compiled to help you as a practitioner quickly and easily compare formulas, their functions, indications, and ingredients.

A common archetype of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) is the aging, war-torn veteran, but in an era of constant and intimate exposure to tragic imagery and social injustice from across the globe, on top of the normal, daily stressors so many people experience, the signs of psychological wear-and-tear at the level of trauma are unfortunately frequent. Whereas we might expect the PTSD-sufferer to experience flashbacks, emotional outbursts, sleep issues, and extreme physical pain, these are just a few of the “re-experiencing” type symptoms of PTSD. Other symptoms of PTSD fall into three basic categories.

Depressed patients experience a range of symptoms in addition to the mood component, and it is helpful to think of depression as a disorder that interferes with the basic aspects of life: the energy for activity, appetite, sex drive and sleep.

In more than thirty years of clinical practice, I have never found any point to be more useful than Master Tung’s points called “Mu” or wood points. My teacher, Dr. Miriam Lee (1926-2009), fondly called them “The Wood Anger Points” because they have such a profound effect upon the nervous system and the liver.

The prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression has reached alarming levels. Isolation is a dangerous societal trend. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has highlighted the epidemic of loneliness and emphasized the significance of fostering social connections and building communities to enhance overall health and well-being. In response to this pressing crisis, Diana Fried, the founder of Acupuncturists Without Borders, has undertaken the creation of a pioneering pilot program.

Insomnia (bù mèi 不寐, shī mián 失眠) is difficulty sleeping. Insomnia includes inability to sleep, difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking, restlessness at night, a disordered sleep cycle and dream disturbed sleep. In Chinese medicine, insomnia is primarily associated with instability or agitation of the anima, the shén and hún.

The TCM concept of “form complementing form, organ complementing organ” (yi xing bu xing, yi zang bu zang 以形補形、以臟補臟 ) is well known throughout Asian culture and cooking. For example, eating walnuts for brain tonification and cashews for the health of the kidneys, or drinking red wine to tonify the blood is common folk wisdom. In this recipe, we are honoring this concept by using pig's heart (Zhu xin 豬心) to nourish the heart.

Fertility and women’s health is a very popular specialty for many acupuncturists and herbalists. Success stories permeate medical journals, mom groups and amongst the general public, giving hope to those who wish to become pregnant and have had difficulty in the past. The truth of the matter, however, is that not every patient has this success story, not every patient gets pregnant, not every IVF round is a success and not every pregnancy will carry to term. Support in the process of shock, loss and grief can be profound within the spectrum of Chinese medicine.

cPTSD is different from PTSD in that it is not so much associated with the trauma or reaction to outward events, but instead manifests inwardly - how we see and think about ourselves - and as a result, how we see the world. It may be caused by a single traumatic event, but more likely is the accumulation of smaller, more covert trauma that usually revolve around the core issue of not being seen or valued in a way that we needed to be or not being able to escape a situation or event that was a threat. As we look around at our communities of people hurting deeply, acting out in ways we would have never imagined, it seems easy to cast it aside as being an issue belonging only to that person, but truly this is a systemic community issue that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood.

From the view of traditional Chinese medicine, several emotions make up what we presently describe as anxiety. On close examination four emotions stand out as comprising what we call anxiety. According to TCM theory, the emotions of fear, pensiveness, grief and anger cause the Qi to sink, stagnate, dissipate, and rise respectively.

As practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, we understand the importance of balancing emotional and psychological health. Shen disharmony not only affects our emotional experience, but can also have a significant impact on our physical health. What follows is a discussion of four acupuncture treatments to harmonize the emotions and balance the Shen.

Mark Frost, Herbal Chair at American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) joins Mayway to highlight Huang Qi and Fang Feng. Mark discusses the similarities and differences of these important herbs including their TCM functions and how to select the best herbs for your patients.

No matter your type or time of travel, the family First-Aid kit is an essential item. Though the standard First-aid kit contains the usual emergency care items, traditional Chinese medicine has its own special list of medicines to address common health issues that can come up during many adventures. Over the decades of teaching traditional Chinese herbal medicine, countless students have asked me to share my list of recommended herbal formulations to always have on hand. The Plum Flower® Travel Kit includes covers the most common emergency needs.