Maintaining & Preventing

In my clinical work, I often work with people who have reached the end of their rope.

This is very common, as I have learned over months of conversations with other practitioners. Many people come to herbal medicine, and Chinese medicine more generally, as a last resort - once they have exhausted all conventional methods they are aware of.

It’s ok to do this - my practice is always open to you, regardless of where you are along your health path (and I am also happy to refer you to specialists if your condition is not within the scope of my practice), but I want to remind you that there is another way to think about this medicine.

You can learn about and incorporate Chinese medicine into your day-to-day life as a way to maintain wellness and support your current health, even if you’re not sick.

As you build blood, nourish your yin, generate fluids, clear dampness, and tonify qi, you can become more vital.

Historically, Chinese medicine has a strong focus on preventative care - how we keep well and how we do whatever we can to help our bodies respond to any pathogens we may encounter. Many of these practices take the form of small, helpful daily habits that move the qi, alongside the regular inclusion of nourishing foods and herbs.

Other systems of medicine, as you may have experienced, have a heavier focus on putting out fires - the use of very strong, intense methods to eschew pathology once it has already taken hold in the body.

It is possible to embrace both, and I think this can be freeing. We don’t have to wait until things get really bad in order to take action. We have agency in our health.

When I was younger, the general approach to feeling ill was to wait it out to see how bad the symptoms would get, often not reaching for some sort of supportive intervention until the pathology was raging. Maybe you can relate. This seemed like the norm among my high school and college friends. For example, I was a competitive swimmer as a kid, and just before my senior-year swim season, I found out I had mono. My coach encouraged me to swim even though I was very sick, and I was excited to not have to sit out that season. I didn’t swim so well that year. And it took me soo long to get better.

Throughout young adulthood, I continued with this pattern. In college, I raced bikes competitively, and I would often push through even when I felt ill (who else who went to college got sick a lot?). When I would start to get a sore throat, I would focus even harder on my work, hopeful that I could just “ignore away” the illness.

In short, my approach was to keep going until I just couldn’t anymore.

Nowadays, I almost never do this. I am much more careful about nourishment, aware of depletion, and gentle. I’m definitely not perfect when it comes to this (sometimes the temptation to “push through” is so strong), but I have learned so much from Chinese medicine about how to take care of myself, how to take pathology seriously, and how to respond thoughtfully.

With clients, I try to help each person develop a more acute, deeper awareness within themselves as well. After all, we can respond more effectively when we are in tune with what is happening in our bodies.

Consider, for example, a disease that is hot and drying. Perhaps you have sore throat and a fever that is burning up your fluids. You’re restless and very thirsty. The detrimental effects of this illness - and the pathway to overcoming it - will be so much more difficult if you were already deficient in fluids when the pathogen entered your body.

We can become fluid deficient in many ways, but the most common dehydrators are in the diet: coffee, alcohol, sugar, wheat, chocolate, hot/spicy foods, and fried foods.

By taking small steps each day to support the fluids in our bodies, we can be better prepared to face pathogens.

• Eating wet-cooked foods, like soups, stews, congees

• Decreasing the dehydrators listed above

• Move gently (yoga, qigong, etc.) to move the liver qi

• Do whatever you can to get plenty of sleep (yes, 8+ hours)

The are plenty of herbal formulas that also can be worked with every day to help maintain overall health. These kinds of formulas are often called “tonics”, but it’s important to work towards clearing some of our pathology before working too closely/consistently with tonics, as tonics will strengthen was is already there, which could make it harder to get rid of something you’re struggling with. For example, if you have an accumulation of dampness, we may want to clear some of that dampness before working with a formula that emphasizes tonification.

What kind of everyday habits or routines do you do to maintain your wellness? You can reply directly to this email if you have questions or want to share an idea. I always like to read your responses. 🙂 🌷 🫖

Warmly,

Artemisia

Clinical Herbalist | Chinese Medicine

innervillagehealth.com