Body Basics Part 1: The Language of Medicine
One of our primary missions is to connect you with your body in increasingly deeper ways. We want your body’s needs and requirements to be increasingly self-evident to you. We want to help you clear away the mist, to help you clarify its messages.
With that as our mission, we’re careful with the words we choose. Whether we’re speaking in Western or Eastern jargon, too much medicalized language can create a barrier separating someones “health” from their “being.” It can falsely promote “health” or “disease” as something distinct from the person— where in truth, neither health nor disease can ever be distinct from the full expanse of mind-body-spirit experiencing them.
It can too easily sound something like this: “I (the person) have this thing (something separate from me) that’s wrong with me and that needs to be fixed.”
When what is more useful is something like this: “My whole human container of mind-body-spirit is experiencing x and I’d like to be experiencing something different. I wonder how I might do that. I wonder how I can make that happen.”
So we’re careful with language, but within that context we also find that focused, intentional use of the language of Chinese Medicine actually helps clients understand what’s going on in their bodies, better. It paints a picture for them. It beautifully connects the dots between causes (emotion, spirit, diet, lifestyle, external environmental factors, even soul path) and effects (symptoms). It really helps people see where and to what degree they have agency in their own health. How does it do this? Because Chinese medicine physiology and its understanding of the intersection of mind-body-spirit make so. much. sense.
This is the first in a little a primer on Chinese medicine terms like Blood, Yin, Yang, Qi, Heat, Cold, Damp, Jing, Stagnation, why you might care about these factors in terms of your health and fertility, how to start thinking about them, and what you can do about them at home, on your own.
In your journal today, try chewing on these questions:
What parts of your health have you externalized as something “separate” from the rest of the so-called “you?” Why do you think you’ve done that? What would it look like to integrate and welcome back the parts of you that feel external to you, or that you think of as “out of balance” or “out of whack” or even “diseased.” What is it that makes you feel like that must be something outside of “you”?
If you embraced your symptoms or your diagnosis as something that is deeply part of you, as opposed to something that is “other,” what would that feel like? Does it feel easy to do that? Or do you feel not so welcoming?
What happens if you think about your health in terms of integration rather than eradication? What if you orient to your symptoms as signs of something that’s not working within you that’s asking to be changed, or as something that’s ultimately happening because it’s in your best interest?
What would it look like to reclaim all parts of your health as a gift, as a message, as yours to own and tenderly, graciously integrate, manage, and most importantly learn from?
These are not easy questions to engage with. But what if you move forward on the belief that your body is *always* on your side, no matter the state of your health? What if your body is always your ally? (Spoiler alert: it is.)
Ready for some help on your health and fertility journey?
Your initial consultation is always free — come meet us in person and learn more.