Balanced Natural Health with Dr. Maz

As AI becomes more and more prevalent, I’ve heard questions asked about its cost in terms of resources and energy (to power the machines). But what about the cost to our own life force energy, our Qi? We say that “where our attention goes, energy flows”, so where are we placing our power when we outsource our thinking, creation and communication to a non-living entity? And how does that impact our own vitality, which rests upon the cultivation of energy – Qi – within our body, mind and soul? As we will discuss, health is so much more than just the absence of disease. Rather, it manifests when we are living as the most glorious expression of ourselves, deeply embodied in body, mind and soul. In this episode, I share my thoughts as a doctor of Chinese and Taoist Medicine – and offer powerful ways to empower our connection within. (05:08) Heart, Soul, the organs of creation & our unique voice: Fire element (11:23) The Three Treasures and how they relate to our expression & integrity (16:51) Heaven, Human, Earth: we are conduits for cosmic & earthly Qi (19:43) What is health? (22:44) Outsourcing to AI, and loss of joy and inspiration (24:02) AI makes mistakes and provides incorrect information (28:26) The unexpected gift of generative AI (31:51) Content vs. connection (34:11) Rituals and habits to reclaim soul connection and inner empowerment Subscribe to the YouTube channel to be notified when I share my embodiment mediation https://www.youtube.com/@drmaz_qi You can access the whole collection of Qi rituals in the Radiant Energy Reset Transcript Welcome Hi everyone, welcome to the Balanced Natural Health podcast where we share insights from the ancient science and timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine. Information from the old natural ways of healing can support us in leading more beautiful, more vibrant and more vital lives today. In this podcast I share simple, natural and accessible tips that you can incorporate into your everyday life for more vibrant health and wellness. I’m so glad you’re here. Episode Intro Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Maz and welcome back to episode 50 of the podcast. In today’s episode, I will share some further musings on what we touched on briefly in the previous episode (episode 49). We talked about the Year of the Fire Horse, and all of the energies that are coming through – which some people are saying will go towards the growth of AI and the proliferation of AI… but there is another way that can go as well. So the question that I’ve been pondering – and having lots of really rich and beautiful conversations about – over the last few months, and even longer actually, is about: What does it mean to be human? What is the place of AI? What are we creating with our engagement with AI, ChatGPT, Claude and all of the generative AI models? What kind of world and reality are we contributing to? What is the true cost of AI? We hear about all of the environmental, or energy, costs from a fuel perspective of running the machines that generate all of this content that is flooding the world around us – but what about the cost to our own life force energy, to our Qi, and the cost to our health? Is there actually a cost to our health? Does it interfere with living our truest-most expression of body, mind and soul? What does Chinese Medicine, and Taoist Medicine, have to say on the topic? This is something that I’ve had a lot of thoughts about as I’ve watched the flood of AI in our mainstream society, and watched as things become more and more airbrushed, more and more unreal and more and more un-alive. The reality is that everything that we touch and create through our living beings is imbued with some of our life force energy – that living Qi that is in us, and in all living things and in the natural world around usa. And this is what is missing in the echo chamber of generated stuff, because it’s generated by non-living entities. In this episode, I’ll share with you some perspectives from Chinese Medicine, and from Taoist medicine, about what it means to be human, what true health is, what our definition of health is and what our unique role as humans is here on this realm. We will ponder the question of what are we empowering: where are we placing our power? We know that where attention and intention goes is where energy flows – where Qi flows. This is how we practice Qi Gong and many forms of energy healing: it’s about the impeccable nature of our focus and our attention, and so when we continue to keep placing that energy, that Qi, that living life force outside of us, are we taking power away from within ourselves? Are we disempowering ourselves and what are we empowering outside of ourselves? Are we outsourcing our life force energy and what is the cost? I’ll also share some rituals, habits and invitations of different things that we can practice in order to come more into deepre connection with that wellspring of life that is within us all: the life force energy that flows through us as living beings and that can guide us. The reality is that even though we’ve been maybe encouraged or invited to look at AI as some great bastion of intelligence and all-knowingness, that is simply not the case. It’s just a collector of information – and not all of that information is even true or even accurate. I’m going to share some interesting conversations that I’ve had with the AI overview in Google, where it was telling me blatantly incorrect information and then justifying why it was doing so. This was about things like times and dates of full moons, that were wildly inaccurate. And yet, we’re giving our power away to it, and taking its advice on how to make choices, or how to act in living our lives. I’ll share some different things that we might weave through our daily life in order to bring us more into connection with that current within – to bring us more into empowerment and embodiment, so that we can make choices from there. The Chinese Medicine perspective on health, and fulfilling our unique destiny in this life To begin, I’d like to share some concepts from Chinese Medicine thought, about what does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to live a rich, fulfilled and complete life, and to embody our existence here on this earth completely. And there are several concepts I’d like to talk about here, and one is about the Fire element and its connection to creation, to our Heart and to our Soul – or our Shen, as we call it in Chinese Medicine. Shen roughly equates to our soul or spirit, our consciousness, our present awareness. The Fire element s also connected to our sexual organs, and our tongue as well – organs of creation, and what we create or speak into the world. I will also share about the Three Treasures of Chinese Medicine: the Jing, Qi and Shen – or the Essence, the Qi (our life force energy) and the Shen (again, this is the spirit). And, I will share about the unique position that we see humans as holding between Heaven and Earth, and our role of being an integrated and capacitated conduit between Heaven and Earth energy – our role in grounding the cosmic and etheric energy here on Earth. In light of this, we will also talk about the importance of having internal coherence and integrity, in order to support that process. The Fire Element: creation, connection, expression, our unique voice and the spark of life Okay, so we begin with the Fire element. You may have heard me talk before about the Five Elements of Chinese Medicine: each are connected to an organ, and an organ system, and also to an aspect of our consciousness. And in the case of the Fire element, it rules the Heart, it rules the life force within, and it’s also connected to our Shen, which is loosely translated as our soul or spirit, our present awareness. It’s the spark of life that we respond to in someone’s eyes. We all carry that divine spark of life force energy within. And interestingly, in Chinese Medicine, the Heart is connected to the Womb and the testes (or, the “Room of Sperm”) and to the tongue, and it’s linked with the bitter flavour. And what is really curious -and I’ve talked about this on a beautiful podcast that I was invited to speak on recently – is that the bitter taste receptors are found not only on the tongue… but also in the heart and in the womb as well! Somehow the ancients understood this connection between those vital organs, which are considered to be organs of creation. So we’re birthing the divine in material form – through the form of a new human, a new soul here upon this Earth – and we’re birthing it through our words and our unique voice and our creations. And I think it’s interesting that in this Double Fire year that I’ve talked about (according to the 60 year Stems and Branches calendar of Chinese thought, we’re now in a Double Fre Year of the Fire Horse), many people are talking about this being a year that is really going to see the rise of AI. But I think that there’s also another invitation – and an opportunity – for us to bring more of this embodied divine creation through our beings, bringing this Fire energy through our beings, and creating with our words and our unique voice. And this is a big part of my concern, and why my spidey senses have always felt really ick about engaging in creating content or even modifying content with AI or ChatGPT, Claude, whatever – because in doing so, there is a certain frequency or tone of our unique voice that is modified, that is also censored, possibly – and it can happen so slowly that we don’t even notice it’s happening. The modification can be subtle, but it changes our unique voice, it changes our expression – and our connection to other living beings. Becuase this is how we connect – with our voice and our expression, with our deepest thoughts, our unique turns of phrase, and everything else that pours through us. Where are we investing our attention, intention, energy, focus and power? So there is an interesting thing to consider in relation to this thought: what are we empowering? Where are we placing our life force energy? Are we giving our power away to something that’s inert and dead? It’s not imbued with life force energy, it’s not connected to the Heavens and the Earth, the cosmos and Gaia – the living being beneath our feet – and the web of life that’s all around us, and that we depend on for life. We’re putting our attention, our power, our questioning. into something that’s external and not alive, and we are allowing our living life, our living beings, to be guided by that. Can we maybe turn back towards looking within, towards looking to the world around us for answers as well, towards aligning with the cycles of Mama Nature, the laws of Mama Nature. It is such a potent choice point now that we all face. And iit’s an individual choice. Everyone’s going to have different spots on the spectrum where they sit. But I think it’s an important thing to bring to awareness and to consider, so that we can make choices consciously. Because, and I’ll come back to this again later, like any tool, AI is a tool that can be used to our benefit – but it’s when we give our power away that that balance shifts. Are we using AI – or is it using us? I see many instances around me where I see that it is using us, it’s harvesting knowledge about our thinking patterns, about what it is that makes us human, about how humans react. And there’s that famous saying about “if you are not paying for the product, you are the product itself”. So I wonder, what are we participating in? Why are we giving so much of our power, focus, attention and time to something that is not of this living world. That’s my thoughts on the Fire element and how it relates to creation, and the world that we are creating with our expression and our connection to other living beings. The Three Treasures and how they govern health, longevity, radiant aging and resilience The other idea that I’d like to touch on is that of the Three Treasures in Chinese Medicine. In Chinese Medicine, everything that we do is about cultivating these Three Treasures, which are so called because they are the foundation of a vibrant, well-lived, long and abundant life. The state of our Three Treasures – and how well we cultivate and look after them – will dictate how quickly we bounce back from injury, how resilient we are, how joyfully and completely we experience this lifetime, and also how we move through each stage and season of life. They are at the root of our health. They are the Jing, or Essence; the Qi, our life force energy; and the Shen, or the soul, spirit, consciousness, present-awareness that I talked about earlier. You may have heard me talk quite a lot about our Qi, our life force energy, if you’ve listened to me before, but we also tend to our Jing – our Essence, and our Shen – our Soul-Spirit. Our Jing – Essence – can also be called our Pre-Heaven Endowment, or our genetic endowment. This is what we come into this worldly embodiment with. And it is our, in a way, our earthly connection. So it’s a connection to the Earth part of that Heaven-Human-Earth trilogy, or trinity. And then we have the Shen, or Spirit. This is our connection to the divine, to the great-all-that-is, to the zero-point field of all possibility, to maybe the Akashic Records or the Kordylewski clouds (the big plasma clouds in the sky), maybe to the consciousness of water all around us, and to the abundant wisdom and all knowingness of Mama Nature as well. So that is the Shen aspect, and it can be said to have some relationship to the Heavens, or cosmos, within that trinity of Heaven-Man-Earth. How nourishing our Qi each and every day supports our Essence and our Soul Everything that we do, through practices like nourishing our daily Qi, stops us from dipping into our genetic endowment, our Essence. And the more that we nourish our daily Qi, the less we dip into those deep reserves of energy that are intended to last us through this life. And also the more that we come into alignment with the expression of our Soul or Spirit here on this earthly realm – or plane, or whatever you want to call it, within this experience of reality – and the more that we can be a conduit for the divine, for that cosmic energy, that heavenly energy, then the more that we can create Heaven on Earth, and be that connection. And so everything that we do in Chinese Medicine is geared towards the cultivation and nourishment of these Three Treasures. For example, we nourish our daily Qi, our life force energy, with foods that are well digested, with making sure we have a balance of rest and activity, with processing our emotions so our Qi doesn’t get snagged or scattered. And in that way, we can avoid having to dip into our deep reserves of Jing or Essence, that Pre-Heaven energy. So I think of Jing as our long-term savings deposit – It’s like a term account that’s meant to last us for a whole lifetime – whereas our Qi or life force energy is like a daily spending account. And the more that we can make sure that we’re well resourced for every day, the less we dip into those deep reserves. And the Shen is our connection to the source, to all-that-is, to the greater universe, to Mama Nature. The clearer that our Spirit, Soul, awareness is – which we do through practices like emotional alchemy, like moving our emotions, like stream of consciousness journaling, cultivating our awareness with Qi Gong and meditation – so the clearer and brighter that Shen, then the more of that divine, cosmic, Heavenly energy we bring through into this embodiment on Earth. Somatic work and embodiment practices are everywhere, but are we truly embodied in our beings? We’re hearing a lot now about somatic practices, about embodiment, about getting grounded, about being embodied in our body and souls, and rebalancing that over-reliance on the mind and the rational aspect. But again, I think when we see how much many are relying on the external mind through AI, we can see that we are moving in fact, further and further away from embodiment – away from deep grounding, from deep connection. Humans as conduits between Heaven and Earth: embodying the cosmic in our reality Because (and this will bring me to my next point about Heaven, Human and Earth) when we are deeply embodied in our bodies, in our flesh and blood living bodies – when our mind is connected to our body and our soul, when we have integrity and coherence and alignment with every aspect of our being, when we know our mind, when we know who we are, when we know our Heart, when we know our Soul, when we are connected to the whispers of our beautiful beings, to all the messages that they are letting us know all the time – then we are a beautiful conduit between Heaven and Earth. And that is something that we talk about in Chinese Medicine – we understand that humans have a place here connecting the heavenly upon the earth. I mean, I believe personally that all living beings – whether it’s animals or trees, flowers or rocks – play that same role. I don’t actually place humans above other living beings. However, traditionally in Chinese Medicine, all life here on Earth – but especially humans – is that connection between Heaven and Earth. In a way, we have a responsibility – or maybe an invitation – to be that conduit, that hollow bone, that capacitated vessel to allow information from Heaven and Earth to flow through us. And that is where inspiration, intuition, divine guidance, inner knowing, new ideas, insight, and yes, intelligence as well, spring from. They’re informed from the integrity and coherence of all aspects of our being. “Intelligence” is only one aspect of knowledge, understanding and responsible decision-making And this brings me to another concern that I have- that in placing our power in AI, in giving up our reasoning, or the sorting-through of information to see if it has the ring of truth about it, then we are placing all of our power in something that focuses only on one aspect of knowing, of understanding, of perceiving the world. And that is, intelligence. AI being artificial intelligence, is using only one aspect of the whole spectrum of thinking. And in fact, there are many others – and really learned and amazing scientists, for example, like Einstein, who many see as the bastion of intelligence and intellectual brilliance – who acknowledge that intelligence is only a servant to intuition and insight. There are many stories of great leaps of understanding, and great leaps in our view of the world, that came not from intelligence as such, but from divine inspiration, from following instinct, from following intuition. And my concern is this: what are we doing with placing so much attention and intention in this model of artificial intelligence that’s external to us? Are we then missing out on our own divine inspiration, on those new leaps of thinking and understanding? And how can we cultivate that quality within ourselves, that inner connection, to allow more of that power to empower us from within? How can we cultivate that inner connection to light us up from within, and to inform our expression in the world, and our contribution to the world around us? This is vital, because this has an impact on how we live our lives – and on how healthy and vibrant we are. Living our destiny, becoming who we truly are, who we embodied here to be I see health as being so much more than merely the absence of disease or symptoms. Rather, I see health – and a life beautifully lived – as us being the most gloriously-expressed versions of our true selves. Carl Jung put this beautifully as well: he said that the “privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” And this is what we talk about in Chinese Medicine too. The question to ask is, how do we live our destiny here? How do we express our genetic endowment, our Jing or Essence that we have come into this world with, through our Qi and through our Shen, which is our connection to the source to the zero point field of consciousness? How do we bring our unique perspective, our unique fragment of the whole to that? We do this through being completely ourselves – and through completely expressing ourselves as well. Health is about connection – both without and within And also, I believe that being human is about connection. It’s about recognising our place in the great web of life around us. And this is at the heart of Chinese Medicine: we understand that health comes from alignment with Mama Nature’s cycles, and observing her wisdom and her natural laws. And health is about connection with other humans as well. So, how do we connect? We connect with our voices, our ideas, our unique expression. And what I’m seeing in the world now is a dilution or a “beige-ing” or “vanilla-making” of those ideas. Expression is being sanitised and airbrushed: the potency and the life force energy behind it is being diluted. Everything that we touch, everything that we labour on, that we pour through us is imbued with our life force energy. And you can really feel it, like, I’m sure I’m not the only one -in fact, I know I’m not the only one, because I’ve had many conversations with people about this! These days, I actually can’t be bothered with social media, because it’s a wasteland and an echo chamber of the same reiterated beige slop of AI, and the same kind of AI-speak. So much content has lost its heart, it doesn’t speak to my heart anymore. There’s no connection there. It’s content overwhelm, which is, in my opinion, as a Chinese Medicine doctor, further contributing to our disembodiment. What happens to our health and vitality with information overwhelm? I’ve talked before about the Spleen, and how our ability to digest our food and our nutrition here on this Earth – and our ability also to direct our intention, and look after our own intent and rational thought – comes also from the Spleen. And the Spleen is also tasked with digesting mental information and content. And right now we are existing in a flood of data, most of it heartless, meaningless, and it’s just filling up space. There’s no connection there. It’s just an overwhelm that is depleting our Spleen energy, depleting the Qi that we need to fuel a beautiful, vibrant life. Where did the joy go? And how to rekindle it through Fire And I also think this goes some way to answering a question that I get often, which is people asking me, how can I get more joy in my life?? How can I feel more motivated, more focused? And I think that this is also part of connecting to that Fire element within – the Heart and the Shen, the spirit – because the Fire element rules joy. If we are not allowing that Fire element to express through us, if we’re not flexing our expression – or flexing the muscle of expression, connection, communication – then our joy can go by the wayside as well. And if we’re not within ourselves – if we’re not at home in our bodies, but we’re externally somewhere else – then it becomes harder to connect with that joy and inspiration. So I think a big part of reclaiming more joy, more radiance, more connection, more inspiration, more motivation, more focus is coming back home to ourselves. As you can probably tell, I’m quite fired up about this topic and what it means for us as humans, and what it means for the world that we’re creating! But in the interest of not flooding the world with more content and overwhelm, I will start to wrap this up. And there’s a few more ideas I’d like to talk about before I do. AI is not perfect, nor is it an all-knowing bastion of intelligence and wisdom The first is that because I’m a scientist, I have tested working with ChatGPT, AI Overview in Google, and a few others, because in order to pass my opinion or judgment on something, I like to be informed about it. And what I found, as I touched on earlier, was the mistakes that it was serving up in the information it was presenting me with. For example, I wanted to find out what time of day the most recent full moon was. And with great confidence and assurance, the AI Overview in Google informed me that it was on the 19th of March, and then told me a whole other little story about the particular name of this moon. And I was like, “hello, I think it’s actually on the 3rd of March, isn’t that right?” And it was like, “oh, yes, it is. Yes, oh, you are correct. I saw your query about a full moon, and I just jumped straight to the new moon phase”. I asked it – why are there so often so many errors, because this is not the first, it’s only the last, or most recent, in a long line of errors that I’ve seen when I’ve asked questions. And it said, “I’m just designed to provide answers with assurance and confidence in a conversational way”. Hmmm. And yet, I see and hear people tell me that they often ask AI Overview for information about things. But, the information is not correct! The other query that I had with AI was about me (because the one thing that I know, with certainty, I know more about than AI does is myself!). So I asked it, “tell me about Dr. Maz”. And it went on to tell me a lovely story about how I offer three hour deep dives (which is not true!) It came up with names for protocols that I offer (I don’t offer any protocols!). It didn’t mention the Qi programs that I do actually offer, but it made up other protocols. And when I questioned it on that, it admitted, “oh, yes, yeah, no, you’re right. She doesn’t do that”. So it was just telling me a story based on what it thought I wanted to hear. So, again, I’m curious – what kind of world are we creating when we’re living in an echo chamber of this machine reflecting to us what it thinks we want to hear? And what are we training it to provide us with more of? Like, is it true? Is it honest? Is it authentic? These are the thoughts that run through my mind. And it’s something I wonder about with this continued reliance, and complacency, on what AI Overview tells us. Are we losing our ability to think critically, to search out information for ourselves – to test for that ring of truth in regard to the information that we’re being served up? And I’ll say once again, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this. AI exists on a spectrum of machine assistance, of technological assistance. And I think when we use it with consciousness and with awareness, and we weigh up the cost and the benefit, then it’s a different thing to just being lulled into a sense of complacency – of relying on it to feed us what it wants to feed us. How is AI shaping (and censoring) our reality, our way thinking, our way of being The reality is that even if there are no nefarious or dark intents behind it, the information that it feeds us is still filtered through the lens, or the prism, of the creators of it. And who knows what it’s generating behind the scenes? There’s now that platform for AI agents only to connect with each other. My question is, for those who use AI as prompts or as a conversational partner, how is our thinking and our own process being shaped by the queries and prompts that are provided by AI? Who is providing that? And to what end? And is it a benefit to us? Are we missing an important piece of the puzzle? Because again, we’re engaging with artificial intelligence – and not artificial embodiment, groundedness, insight, intuition, artificial wisdom. These aren’t part of the equation. It’s just intelligence. And what these models like ChatGPT and Claude rely on is an aggregation of information only, of data – some of which is incorrect, incomplete, biased – and it’s missing that essential spark of inspiration, that spark of life, that thing that animates our leaps of faith and insights. The unexpected gift of AI proliferation I will say that the one unexpected gift of the AI boom, and the generative content boom, has been that for myself – as a recovering perfectionist – it’s given me the space to embrace my errors and my imperfections. And when a spelling mistake makes its way through, or I miss a word somewhere, or my grammar is not perfect, I’m now in a place where I can celebrate it because it’s a stamp of authenticity. And I see the same in those posts that I do read on socials, and the content elsewhere that I do read. When there is a mistake, it just actually strengthens that connection that I have with the content creator – because I can see that it’s a real person behind the words when I’m reading and connecting to them. And aside from that, you can feel the difference between something that is imbued with soul and life force energy, and something that isn’t – it’s very obvious. That human touch is either there, or it isn’t. But it does put a little warm glow in my heart just to affirm that this is a real human writing it. And that leads me to another point. The goal is not perfection, but being real Detractors to my opinion might say, well, what about people who aren’t naturally gifted writers? To which I would answer that there’s always ways around that, right? Ways beyond asking a machine to generate your content. To give an example, recently I read a book, and I’m pretty sure the writer said that she was dyslexic, or had trouble writing. So she would dictate her thoughts to a machine, it would get transcribed, and she would then re-read it and edit it accordingly. It was her unique voice pouring through, with machine assistance, but still her voice. And it was a very different read to reading a book, say, by someone who is a naturally gifted or trained writer. However, even though there were many things I would have edited differently, or that didn’t completely make sense, I could feel her essence – I could feel her spirit, her soul, her life force energy coming through that book. And becuase of that, it was engaging. Iit wasn’t perfect, it was a bit clunky, but it was vital and alive – and I loved connecting with it. And again, perhaps that’s the silver lining here: releasing that grip on perfectionism and polished-ness. The trith is that where we find ourselves now is just one point along a long path. I mean, this is a whole other conversation, but we have been airbrushing and photoshopping and polishing up and making-perfect many aspects of our life. Look at fashion magazines! I mean, my life before Chinese medicine was as a designer. So I spent many hours photoshopping models faces and making them look more perfect. So this, you know, AI and generative art, generative content hasn’t sprung out of nowhere, it’s been a slow decline, perhaps, I mean, in my personal opinion, into this dilution of what is real, what is alive, what is imbued with life force. And I guess the invitation is just to consider where we all sit on that. Again, this is going to be personal – it’s going to be unique, but I think so long as we come at it with consciousness and with intention, then it changes the nature of our interaction with it. And then perhaps we become not the tool, but it becomes the tool in our hands, and we can use it in ways that are beneficial. Yes, AI can save time – but what is the cost? What are we paying with? Now, one point or one objection that’s come up in conversations is, well, it saves time to use AI to repurpose my content, or to generate content for me. And yes, it does. But a question to ask is: what is the goal? Is the goal just stuffing a content hole? Or is it creating meaningful communication that comes from your unique voice – not something that’s been being sanitized through the lens or the filter of AI before it gets pumped out and disseminated? I think that the time, effort and life force energy – the Qi – that we put into something, makes it glow from within, it makes it somehow weightier, more valuable, more able to be connected to – as opposed to something that’s pumped out in a fraction of a second, by a soulless machine. An enitity that’s not alive, and that’s not imbued with that energy. I do hear also from some of my lovely friends who were saying that there’s pressure to pump out content all the time, and they acknowledge that that content being churned out is probably only read by other machines. So again, the invitation is to consider: how are we contributing to the flood of information out there? And what is that doing to our own body, mind and souls? Is it aiding our vitality, our health, our integrity, our coherence? Or is it overwhelming? We can choose to unplug from that overwhelm as well. I’m definitely seeing that more and more in the community around me – that there’s less interaction with social media, people are spending less time on there, because they’re saying it feels like an echo chamber of repetitive beige slop. Now before I finish up and move into some rituals that can help us to embody and ground, I’d love to share this quote from the book, The AI Con by Bender and Hanna. I’m about to read this book, but this quote jumped out at me straight away. It is, “if you can’t be bothered to write it, why would I be bothered to read it?” And that’s ultimately the question, isn’t it? The truth is that I can’t be bothered reading stuff that has been generated by AI: it’s not worth my life force energy and my time. And it makes me turn away from those creators who use AI to try to connect with me – that’s not real for me. Maybe others have a different position -and that’s great, because we’re all different. But I’m just sharing my own thoughts on that. I know this has been quite the download! And the invitation is there for all of us to contemplate (whether with respect to AI, orsoemthig else): Where are we putting our energy? What are we empowering? Where are we putting our life force? Qi rituals to cultivate inner connection, intuition, inspiration and insight Now, I’d like to share with you some simple ways that we can call back that power within, ways that we can empower ourselves, so that we can become more embodied, more grounded, more full of our own life force. Ways to support us in being a capacitated and vital vessel for that infinite cosmic and earthly Qii that is wanting to connect with us and pour through us at all times. Connect to Mama Nature – we are only alive thanks to her The first of these is connecting to Mama Nature. This doesn’t have to be necessarily going on a big nature hike, but it can be something as simple as getting your feet on the Earth, as taking time to study a leaf and the beautiful intricacy of it. Or maybe it’s a butterfly, a dragonfly or a bird. Maybe it’s the way that the light is hitting a flower or even a tree trunk, or maybe even your own eyelashes! This has been something I’ve been doing for decades – laying in the sun and feeling the sun’s goodness and warmth on my skin, and also watching how the light refracts around my eyelashes, and the beautiful rainbows that come from that. This is something that I could contemplate for hours. Likewise, watching the play of light on a droplet, or on a spiderweb, or on my dog’s beautiful coat. She’s beautiful, shiny and black, and when the light hits, you can see all of the refractions of the whole spectrum of the rainbow in her fur as well. It can simply be feeling the breeze on our skin. Move and express your unique thoughts and feelings It can also be as simple as stream of consciousness journaling. I’m such a fan of this practice,because it’s a beautiful way to work that Fire portal of the Shen – the Soul – the Heart, our tongue, and our unique voice. Whether it’s speaking our truth to each other, or writing all of our thoughts as they pour through us in stream of consciousness (not needing to be perfect, but just for the sake of allowing expressioncan), both can be a really beautiful way to come into clarity with our body, mind and soul. To allow more and more of that insight and inspiration, intuition to come through. Honour the messages and desires of your unique being Another practice is in listening to the whispers of our body, getting curoius about what our body is speaking to us, and honoring those impulses. Am I hungry? Do I need to have a drink right now? Do I need to stop, actually step away from the computer and do some really deep, beautiful belly breathing? Do I need to lie down for five minutes? Do I need to close my eyes? Do I need to pee? There are so many different impulses – and beautiful vital messages – that we’re receiving at all times. The more that we listen to and honour those, the more they are available to us – the more and more they pour through and the more specific and powerful they can be. Cultivate your Qi, Jing, Shen with Qi Gong and meditation Another way, unsurprisingly, is Qi Gong and also meditation. This doesn’t need to be seated or formal meditation. It can be walking meditation, for example. I’ve shared this on my socials before: just walking slowly, slowing down our steps and feeling the touch of our skin upon the Earth as our feet make contact, and as we move through each step of that walk. It could be contemplation on a candle flame. or on the clouds in the sky. or leaves blowing in the breeze. Whatever it is, just allowing time for that stillness and slowness, and allowing time for the busy-ness to settle so that those messages become clearer as they pour through us once again. Look within for the answers. You already know. And one other practice that I might offer is rather than asking AI or chatbots for guidance, is to ask yourself for guidance – because you know, your soul knows, your whole being knows. Sometimes this can come through more clearly after we have been still – after we practice meditation or stream of consciousness journaling – once we bring that coherence to our conduit, to our vessel. And the fact remains that the same questions that people ask AI, we can ask of our own soul. We can ask our own inner wisdom, and the divine, = source, = all-that-is, Mother Nature, God – whatever you want to call it. We can write tehse questions down, or we can ask them in our heart and wait for the answers. Again, the more that we practice that and we flex that skill, the clearer those messages become. I’m actually going to share one of the beautiful, guided seated meditations from my Radiant Energy Reset Qi program. I will share that on my YouTube channel, so you can find that by going to the show notes. It will be up in a few days time. And if you would like some guidance on how to meditate, that can be a gentle way to begin that process and then to see what pours through. I know for me, sometimes when I meditate, there’s insights and answers that are pouring through even while I’m trying to keep my mind still – but it can take time. Some days it’s more than others. So I would invite you just to practice that – to commit to practicing it for a certain period of time – and see what comes through for you. I hope that has been interesting, insightful, thought-provoking. If there’s someone that you feel might benefit from this, I’d love for you to share – and let’s keep talking about this. Let’s have conversations about this. Let’s have conversations with ourselves about what our intentions are, what we’re hoping to achieve with what we’re doing, what kind of world we’re creating, because we’re all learning. We’re all discovering as we go. We’re all expanding as we co-create this world together. Thank you so much for listening and wishing you all the very best. See you next time!

We continue our exploration from the previous episode, and consider: how does the human body self-heal? How are symptoms actually an indication of the body’s infinite wisdom & self-healing power, and how can we support these processes to move to completion and healing (rather than suppressing them)? What happens if we do suppress them?? How does the human body self-heal then? Unlike modern medicine, Chinese Medicine supports the body’s self-healing processes, helping them to move towards their completion. In this episode, I share perspectives on health through the lens of the oldest science in the world, Chinese Medicine. A science that has persisted for over 5,000 years (some say 8,000… and it may be older still!) and is all about living in harmony, both within and without. Listen for simple ways that we can cultivate these vital aspects of ourselves, for radiant health and self-healing. (00:00) Welcome to the podcast (00:32) Episode into, recap of why we get sick & how does the human body self-heal? (04:11) what do symptoms like phlegmy lungs, sinus congestion & fever indicate? (05:08) We humans have more microbial cells than “human” cells! (07:05) How does the human body self-heal? Bacteria & other microbes help us (10:35) How Chinese Medicine supports the body’s self-healing, rather than suppressing it (11:22) The Eight Strategies, or Ba Fa, of Chinese Herbal Medicine (17:41) Our bodies are infinitely wise & always move towards healing (18:16) Case study: how a Candida “infection” benefitted the greater whole (24:35) Mould sickness & our inner terrain, Dampness, low Yang And if you’d like my guidance in building daily rituals and habits for radiantly robust health, I have created something simple yet powerful for you. As we know, our daily habits are the foundation for our health and “immunity”. Every moment, meal, drink, thought, habit, etc. can bring us into greater alignment and can charge up our Qi – the life force energy that fuels every aspect of health. This is why I created the Radiant Energy Reset. A gentle, self-guided path of ancient health rituals to cultivate Qi, Yin, Yang and connection – guided by the wisdom of your own body. A real solution for those ready to ditch the fads & feel clear, energised and in control again. Backed by ancient wisdom, not wellness trends. Instant access for you here. And, as we learned in episode 47, “when the Qi and Shen are present and sound, no pathogen can invade a person, even when the cycles of nature are disruptive, and plagues are near”. I show you how to cultivate and boost your Qi and your Shen – your spirit, soul, consciousness. Just 10 minutes a day of Qi Gong & Emotional Alchemy to connect to YOUR innate wisdom & guidance – and feel grounded in YOU. You already have all you need within. A gentle embodiment journey – Coming Home to You. Instant access. Transcript Introduction (00:00) Hi everyone, welcome to the Balanced Natural Health podcast where we share insights from the ancient science and timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine. Information from the old natural ways of healing can support us in leading more beautiful, more vibrant and more vital lives today. In this podcast I share simple, natural and accessible tips that you can incorporate into your everyday life for more vibrant health and wellness. I’m so glad you’re here. Episode Welcome, and how does the human body self-heal? (00:32) Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Maz and welcome back to episode 48 of the podcast. In today’s episode, we are continuing on from our exploration in the last episode about what it is that makes us sick, from a Chinese Medicine perspective, and does the human body self-heal. And it is not invisible baddies, or germs / bacteria / microbes / viruses that we “catch” from other people that make us sick. From a Chinese Medicine perspective, the main causes of disease are a loss of harmony and balance, both with our world within – our inner world of emotions – and the world without – the environment, the climate and conditions around us. So in Chinese Medicine, staying balanced and in harmony with our inner world and our outer world is what maintains health, and allows our brilliant system to heal itself. Health blooms both from harmony within… (01:25)We understand that emotions can be a major contributor to disease because we are energetic beings, and emotions are simply energy in motion. And when they’re not in motion – when our emotions aren’t moving, when they’re stuck or repressed or ignored – they can snag our energy body, our biofield, our aura. And when our energy field and our Qi meridians are not flowing smoothly, and they’re not communicating as ideally as they should be, then we can start to see disease: this is because things aren’t moving where they need to be moving, and information isn’t being passed in a timely manner. …and harmony with the external environment (02:05) And we learned that another contributor to disease is an imbalance of our bodies in relation to the external environment. So for example, in Chinese Medicine, we say that Wind is the “spearhead of 1000 diseases”. This is why we bundle up against winds, we protect against drafts, we don’t sleep under fans, and we wear scarves in windy weather, because the neck is where Wind can get in. And when Wind and Cold get into the meridians that traverse our neck (and also our lower back, we like to keep that covered and toasty as well), we get frozen and flow is trapped on the surface. So, how does the human body self-heal? “Symptoms” are one of the body’s wise responses to restore balance And that is when an early stage “Cold” can arise. So, we might get tightness in the muscles of the neck, we might get that achy feeling that might indicate that a cold or flu is brewing, we might feel lightly flushed, and we might have some light sweating or fever. And all of this is, in fact, the body’s wise response to that Cold, and the resultant freezing of the surface: the body is trying to bring warmth to the surface to push that cold back out. A very different (yet very ancient!) view on what it means to be healthy (03:18) So we can see that these disruptions to internal harmony and outer harmony provide a very different view of health than the militaristic mindset of being constantly on edge against invisible baddies and “germs” that we need to defend against. I love that the focus is on harmony and balance, rather than waging war. And I think that that shift alone really benefits our nervous systems in the long run, too – that focus on what we’re creating, rather than what we’re fighting against, especially when it’s not the true cause of disease. And I think it’s also interesting that this microbe idea or germ theory of disease is relatively recent, whereas Chinese Medicine has held its view of health for millennia, at least 5000 years, if not longer. And it has stood the test of time, so there is so much we can learn from it! (04:12) In this episode, we’re going to look at a Chinese Medicine perspective on what happens when we do manifest symptoms. What does it mean, for example, when we get phlegm on the lungs or in the sinuses, or when we have a fever, or diarrhoea? How do we explain that from a Chinese Medicine perspective – and how does the human body self-heal? We will also look at the Eight methods or the Eight Strategies of herbal medicine, and they describe different ways that we use herbs – and tastes and flavours – to support the body’s processes of restoring balance when it has been disrupted. So, for example, if we have constipation, we will use a certain treatment strategy, and if we have phlegm on the chest, we use a different treatment strategy. So we’ll learn more about that as well. Review of previous episode – we are more microbe than human! (05:03) Recapping on what we learned in the previous episode, staggeringly and amazingly, we humans actually have more microbial cells than human cells. So we have more bacteria and fungal (including yeast) cells than actual human cells. And together we live in a community which comes together in symbiosis that supports life (this also forms a big piece of the answer to “how does the human body self-heal?”) And while it might seem that bacteria or microbes are the “baddies” when we look at the fact that they might be present, for example, in phlegm or mucus cultures when there are symptoms of disease (when there is, say, bronchitis or a chest infection, we can see that there are certain bacteria that might be more prevalent) there is actually a different view that paints these little friends in a different light. And what if, in fact, they were not the problem, but they were the cleanup crew? And that is how I see it – that our friendly helpers come to the party and help us restore balance. (06:09) Let me explain a little bit more. But firstly, I’d like to bring to mind the image of a compost heap – and what happens in a compost heap. Those of us who’ve had a garden or a compost heap before, we know that we throw food scraps on a compost heap, and then there are worms and microbes that help to break down these discarded bits of food, and help to break them down into something that will nourish the earth, which then feeds into the next stage of the cycle of life. So it’s a way of digesting the remnants, the leftovers, into a form that is usable by the soil, and by the next generation of plants – and which then nourishes us in return. So we can see that life cycle is continuing. How does the human body self-heal? One key factor is microbes as a clean-up and recycling crew And this is how I see our microbial helpers. As I see things, our bacterial friends not only do important tasks – like synthesising vitamins, for example, which they can do for us in the gut – but they can also be on call to process and compost and recycle damaged cells and tissues. For example, imagine that we’ve been somewhere where we’ve been inhaling air that has something that’s challenging to the lining of the lungs. Maybe we’ve been by a busy road all day, and we’ve been inhaling a lot of diesel and petrol fumes. Or maybe we’ve been in a building in which there’s inadequate airflow, and maybe off-gassing from new plastic products, or carpet or paint or something. Or maybe we’ve been exposed to certain non-native frequencies that can upset the particular cell types or particular tissue types in the lungs. There can be many reasons for disruption to cells or tissues anywhere in the body. (08:04) So, assuming that people have been exposed to something that’s disrupted function, how does the human body self-heal? If the body is not well resourced to process that disruption, we may need to call on some extra help. Our bodies are amazing and so adaptive, and they help us adapt to so much and process so much. And that’s why I always talk about prioritising optimal nutrition with whole foods, getting adequate rest, drinking structured water, aligning with the cycles of nature, moving our Qi, limiting how much we have in our toxin bucket, and so on, so that we can be well resourced to adapt to and respond to these challenges. But, if for whatever reason our vitality is a bit low – maybe we’ve had some stress or snagged emotions that are stagnating our Qi, or maybe there’s been a little bit more toxins in general recently – then we can’t respond as robustly to that challenge. And perhaps, in the example I gave earlier, the lining of the lungs gets a little bit upset and damaged by that exposure to toxins or fumes. Then we have degraded cells, that ideally the body wants to replace with fresh cells that are functioning optimally. So how does the human body self-heal in this situation? Well, it’s with a little help from our microbial friends. Remove, remediate, reuse and recycle So what does our brilliant body do? It sends in the cleanup crew. As we’ve seen in a compost pile, that veggie scraps can get degraded into something that nourishes the life cycle. And in our case, when the cleanup crew, the microbes, the bacteria, arrive on the scene, say in the lining of the lungs, they start to digest that degraded tissue. And in the process of doing so, we might get phlegm and mucus because that is how that degraded tissue can get either recycled or expelled out of the body. So we can cough it up and get it out. And what can be reused will be reused. Are bacteria the problem? Or part of the solution? (09:55) If we were to do a culture of the mucus or phlegm at this time, we might notice that there are greater numbers of certain bacteria types. But what if they are not the cause of the problem? What if they are there because they are actually cleaning up the damage – because they are a part of the greater whole’s self-healing mechanism? And so then when we throw an antibiotic at them, then that process of cleanup, remediation and recycling is halted. And that compromised cell and tissue in the lungs doesn’t get a chance to be repaired completely. Shooting the messenger In such a case, we might have suboptimal repair of the tissue, and eventually, suboptimal function of the lungs. We’ve killed off our helpers – and some others probably have fallen by the wayside as collateral damage – and yet we haven’t solved the problem. So how does the human body self-heal then? Well, what if instead we took extra care to nourish the body at this time? What if we really doubled down on rest, on nutrition, on food that’s easy to digest? This means warm food, which is not adding to further Dampness. This is where nourishing the Spleen, which I talk about so often, is so important. Because if we’re eating in a way that we’re digesting completely, and we’re not adding to further phlegm and Dampness within the body, then the body can really focus its efforts on resolving the local inflammation in the damaged tissue and getting back to balance more quickly. How does the human body self-heal, and how herbal medicine supports it: the Eight Strategies, or Ba Fa (11:22) We can speed this process with herbs that can dry the area and help to expel that phlegm. So, rather than suppressing the helpers, in Chinese Herbal Medicine we’re actually supporting the body in completing the process of self-healing that it is attempting to do. And this expelling, or reducing, approach is one of the Eight Strategies that we use in herbal medicine. Reducing, or Xiao Fa It’s called the “reducing” strategy – Xiao Fa – wherein we support the body in eliminating what is obstructing flow and function. So it might be phlegm on the chest. It could also be stagnant Blood, in the case of really painful periods with dark blood and blood clots, and here we would give herbs that support the movement of Blood. For the chest phlegm situation, we would give herbs that dry out Dampness, that help to break it up and help it to leave the lungs. And we might also use this strategy in a situation that we call Food Stagnation, which is when we have eaten too much rich food and overloaded an unsupported digestive system. And then the food just sits there and ferments, and people might get stinky farts, maybe stinky burps, there can be reflux, bloating, or a yellow or thick tongue coating. How does the human body self-heal in this situation and how can we support it? One way is to give herbs that strongly move digestion, they stoke that digestive fire, so that the body can move through that backlog of stagnated food, and bring relief in that way. (12:48) So you can see that we’re not actually suppressing the symptoms. We’re not giving, say, antacids for indigestion, which would further dampen that digestive fire. The digestion is already overloaded, it is already dealing with stagnated food. But instead we support resolution – with our treatment methods and our herbs, we move in the same direction that the body is moving, and we support self-healing and balance in that way. Sweating, or Han Fa Another example of a treatment strategy that we use is “sweating”. As I touched on earlier, we say that Wind is the spearhead of a thousand diseases, and it is one of the most common triggers or causes of an early-stage Cold. And here, we might experience that tight neck, that flushed face, achy muscles, we get fatigued, there might be a light headache, there might be sneezing as well. The sneezing is just the body trying to expel the Wind and Cold through the nose, trying to get it out of the body. So how does the human body self-heal a Cold? The ways that the body will try to expel this “Cold contraction”, this freezing at the surface, is through a fever or breaking a sweat. So if you have ever woken up in the night with sweats, and especially if you’ve been exposed to cold or a draft during the day, then it’s very likely that this is your body doing its magic to restore balance. Because when we can sweat Cold out (or return warmth to our body surface), then order is restored, that Cold and / or Wind is pushed out, and then the muscles get to soften, flow is restored, headaches ease, that flushed feeling can go because now it’s done what it needs to do. (14:23) In the modern view, we might be tempted to throw some Panadol or Tylenol at this – something to reduce that flushed feeling, that headachy feeling. But what that actually does is that it stops that body wisdom response of heating up to push things out. And so then that process isn’t completed – it is suppressed instead – and the body’s attempts to self-heal are interrupted. And because the healing process has been interrupted, then the imbalance that has come from the surface gets to sink deeper into the body – this is because we have worked against the body, we’re not helping it in its process of pushing things up and out. Whereas in Chinese Medicine, we have a sweating method, where for these kind of Cold presentations, we take herbs that help to promote light sweating. We also take some really nourishing, easily digestible warm foods, and then we bundle up and rest, and allow the body to break a light sweat. So this is the directive given in our oldest medical text, and it still works to this day. (15:22) We often use a formula called Gui Zhi Tang, or Cinnamon Twig Decoction. This is cinnamon and ginger, licorice root, peony root, and jujubes or red dates, for a bit of gentle sweetness to help to support the energy so we can build that sweat, and have that fever. Those warm, spicy, pungent flavours of cinnamon and ginger push open the pores, they push out that Cold and Wind. And so. we might break a light fever – we’re already bundled up, we’ve had some easily digestible food. What happens if we get in the way of healing? How does the human body self-heal then? If we take this approach, then we can return to balance and harmony the next day. But If we don’t – if we don’t rest, if we don’t listen to our body’s messages, the messages that it’s telling us that Cold has come in – then what can happen is that the imbalance goes deeper into the body. And then we might start to get a sore throat, or phlegm in the sinuses or in the chest. (16:19) And this is another way that we can arrive at that phlegmy cough situation I gave as an example earlier. What’s happened here is that the circulation and the Qi mechanism – the Qi circuitry – has been compromised by Wind and Cold initially, and the body wasn’t able to “expel” it. This can be because we’re low on Qi because we haven’t stopped, or maybe we suppressed it with something else, or maybe the body was dealing with other things. And so then it’s gone another level deeper, and there’s been more tangling of (16:49) the energy networks. And so, lymphatic circulation is affected, fluids aren’t moving so much in the micro-circulation, and we can start to get water-logging and fluid retention in tissues within the body. So say, for example, the lungs aren’t draining as well as they normally would, and they can start to collect bits of phlegm and mucus. And so now we can see that if circulation and Qi – the energy mechanism – isn’t restored, then that phlegm is going to collect and sit there. When the bacterial friends come in to help digest and compost the damage that has been done to the tissues, if we throw antibiotics at them, then that phlegm doesn’t get to be resolved. And what I love about this perspective is that it reminds us just how wise and powerful and amazing our bodies are! Our bodies are infinitely wise and brilliant (17:48) They don’t do anything by mistake, they don’t get sick by accident, they don’t have symptoms by accident, they don’t do things to be annoying. Everything that they’re doing is an attempt to complete a process, and move towards health – they are always moving towards health. So my question is always, how can we support that movement towards health? How can we help, rather than obstruct or suppress? How a Candida “infection” benefitted the greater whole and supported self-healing (18:11) I’d like to share another story that I think illustrates this really beautifully. I’ve shared this before in my Candida episode. In that episode, I talked about a patient who had been erroneously given an iron transfusion, and it shot their iron levels way up high. And this is a real concern, because our bodies don’t have a pathway for excreting excess iron – because we’re not designed to receive iron by transfusion in such vast amounts. So when this excess iron is accumulated in the body, it can start to deposit in the organs, and one of the concerns is that it can cause cancer. So, it’s very important to get excess iron out of the body. And we were very keen, when this happened, to get that excess iron out of the body as soon as possible. There are herbs that we can use to support the process of chelation – getting metals out of the body. But what happened next just shows the amazing wisdom and power of the body. What happened was that this person developed a full body rash, which was a yeast or Candida rash. It smelled like a brewery, or fresh bread baking, and it was oozing this orange liquid, which incidentally was the same colour as the iron transfusion. It was incredibly uncomfortable – It was a whole body rash. It was very depleting, it came with a lot of brain fog and just general malaise and low energy. But what was happening was that our little Candida friends were doing what human cells are unable to do, or what human systems are unable to do without help from our little friends. Candida can process metals – heavy metals. And what these little helpers were doing was providing an exit strategy to exude that iron from the system in the most efficient way. And in fact, what happened was, we retested this person’s blood again, a few months into this process, and the iron had dropped dramatically. It was almost back to normal, and then it returned back to normal shortly afterwards. Now, this was very uncomfortable for the person. But we also knew that there was a body wisdom reason behind it. And if we’d been to see a Western medicine doctor at this time, we would have been given anti-fungals, and a whole host of possibly antimicrobials to shut down the processes that the microbes were carrying out, effectively shutting down their activity. (20:43) And, yes – that would have probably reduced the symptoms at the skin level. But it wouldn’t have supported the process of excreting that excess iron, which was much more damaging. And this brings me also to another point, which is that sometimes discomfort is part of the process, unfortunately. But, if we support the body in its process, and allow it to complete that process to its fullest expression, then we actually get to enjoy greater health at the end of it. So this person was very stoic – they stuck with it. Everything got pushed out, or excreted, from the body, balance was restored and the skin returned back to its beautiful original state. So again, we’re offered a different perspective here on what happens if we deeply trust the wisdom of the body and the processes that it’s going through. We see that the human body is infinitely capable of self-healing – if we don’t stifle its process. Purging or Draining Downwards, or Xia Fa This idea of occasional discomfort as sometimes being part of the healing process is something that we might see in another of our treatment strategies, which is the “purging” or “downward draining” treatment strategy, which is basically purging and expelling things through the intestines, like in the case of constipation. What can also happen sometimes if someone has, say, a lot of Damp or inflammation in their digestive system, then when we give certain formulas that move Damp, there can initially be diarrhoea, and it can be somewhat explosive and sudden. But then generally, what we feel afterwards is ease and relief, because that’s been a really efficient way of quickly moving a large lot of Dampness out of the body. It might not feel amazing for a short time, but sometimes it really is the quickest way of moving things out. Vomiting, or Tu Fa (22:29) Another way, which we don’t use much these days, because it’s much less appealing to modern humans, is vomiting. This was one way of getting things out that were sitting above the diaphragm. So, we’ve got the sweating method, we have the vomiting, the draining, we’ve talked about the reducing method. And then, we also have tonifying. Tonifying, or Bu Fa This is where we build up what is depleted. This is one of the more common strategies that we use. We can build up Yang – the spark of life – with warming herbs, we can build the Blood and nourish the Blood. We do this with our food as well, using specific foods for building both Blood and Yang. Much less so in Classical Medicine than in Traditional Chinese Medicine, we nourish the Yin. This is because we’re much more interested in nourishing the spark of life from a classical perspective, which is by restoring function and the Qi mechanism first.. Harmonising, or He Fa We might also look at harmonising. That’s another treatment strategy, and one that we very commonly use – in fact, it’s probably the most common method that I use in clinical practice. And this is one that I often use when we have flu-type symptoms or lingering unresolved inflammation and infections, for example, or even unresolved past instances of flu or glandular fever. These are often presentations that involve the lymphatic circulation, the glands, the interstitial fluids. When we’re harmonising, we bring harmony to the interior and exterior of the body, by regulating and harmonising all the spaces in between. Warming, or Wen Fa, and Clearing Heat, or Qing Fa And the final two treatment methods are “warming” what is Cold – and nourishing the Yang – and “clearing Heat” – the goal of which is actually to ultimately preserve the body’s Yang, even though we are clearing it in an acute situation. Clearing heat is not one that we use that often, because in Classical Chinese Medicine, we are very much about maintaining and preserving theYang – the heat, the spark of life. (24:13) But – if we have a extremely high fever, and the person is losing a lot of their Yang through sweating and fever, then we will use the clearing heat method for a short, acute situation. We do this to preserve their life force – to stop them losing too much life force – before we then go in and keep resolving things further. Is mould the problem? Now, before we finish up, I’d like to offer one more example. And this one is about mould. This is something that we’re hearing more and more about these days, where people are having mould sickness, or they’re thinking to attribute their symptoms of say, fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, pain, to living in a mouldy environment. And yes, absolutely, we want to live in a well-ventilated environment! We want sunlight, we want circulation -that’s absolutely part of it. But my question is – why can some people be unaffected in the same environment that other people are affected by? This points to something different in the internal environment of the people involved. If someone has a warm and sunny, and well-circulated and dry environment within, then they have more capacity to withstand Damp and mould externally. Whereas someone who’s already Damp, inflamed and wet inside – with compromised Yang or circulation – is going to be more easily overrun by external Dampness. One way that I like to explain this is this. If we have a wet towel and put it out in the sun, it’s going to dry and will be fine, no problem. But if we have a wet towel and throw it in a dark cupboard with no ventilation, then we’re going to get mould. (25:59) I had a person speak to me recently who had been diagnosed with mould issues, and they were being treated with some pretty intense protocols to kill off the mould. This person had been experiencing crushing fatigue, inflammation, not feeling like themselves, brain fog, a lot of weight gain as well, there was a disruption to hormones and metabolism, a whole host of things – and everything had been pinned back to mould that had been found in a diagnostic test. But to me, I see things differently,, because I think that the mould is only there because the internal environment was too Damp to begin with. It had gotten out of whack, perhaps from improper diet, like maybe there’d been a lot of cold foods or a lot of fruit that contribute to that state of internal Dampness, for maybe eating foods that don’t support the Spleen in maintaining a warm and toasty, dry environment internally. So then the mould comes in to remediate the situation. We know that moulds degrade, say, wet wood or wet organic substances – they help to break them down and compost them. And this is what I see was happening – waterlogged, Damp tissues were being worked on by mould to continue that process of recycling in order to keep the life cycle going. Viewed from the perspective, the mould is a self-healing or remediation process. To give another analogy, if we think of a house that has received water damage, and we see that the ceiling is starting to get mould spots on it, if we just paint over the mould or spray them with bleach – but don’t fix the root cause of that leak – that’s kind of like the Western medicine approach. They just spray the surface with things that are going to kill the mould, but they’re not looking at why has that mould occurred? And how can we restore balance at the root? Because we can kill off the mould in that one area, but there’s going to be imbalances down the track because we still have not resolved the root. (27:54) So for example, we could paint over that water stain on a ceiling, or we could even seal it with something that doesn’t allow further water to come through, but then that water is going to leak elsewhere – it’s going to have even less movement, there’s going to be more rot happening in the background, rather than if we just got in, dried everything out, patched up the leak, and restored balance and harmony. Instead, we could view that symptom of say a mould-damaged ceiling as a message from the house, that there is an imbalance somewhere internally, in the same way that we can look at a body with mould as sending us a message to say that there is an imbalance somewhere internally as well. Maybe fluids aren’t moving well, maybe toxins aren’t excreting as well as we’d like and therefore, more fluids are amassing to buffer those. What if instead we ask, how do we nourish the body to allow it to complete the process that it is moving towards doing already? How can we support our brilliant human body in self-healing? So we might, once again, nourish it with foods that build Qi, that build that spark of life. We take food and herbs that create a warm and dry ventilated environment, we promote circulation with gentle movements, we work with emotional alchemy to help the whole Qi mechanism work efficiently – so it can communicate and make sure that everything is functioning optimally as we move that process to completion. (29:24) So I hope this has been interesting and helped to open up a different perspective of how we can work with our bodies rather than against them. A perspective of how we can listen deeply to symptoms as the messages that they truly are; of how we can support our beautiful body-mind-souls in their processes of transmutation; of alchemising what’s happening and of supporting those processes, and of understanding that our bodies are always doing what is best for us. And if you’d like to learn more about how you can support your body in these processes of transmutation and moving towards ever-greater wholeness, this is the major topic of my Radiant Energy Reset. In this beautiful reset, I guide you through – at your own pace – self-paced modules that explain how to nourish your energy, how to choose foods that are warm and drying, and that promote a balanced internal environment; how we can choose herbs and foods when we get certain different “messages” from the body, we also talk about emotional alchemy, processing our emotions and moving our body with some basic Qi Gong. That is all on my website at drmaz.earth. If you have found this interesting, please share with someone who may benefit and I look forward to seeing you next time!

Imagine if simply choosing warm food and drink could help: • depression • anxiety • insomnia • gas • bloating • promote healthy gut bacteria (say bye-bye to expensive probiotics) • painful periods… All these benefits, without biohacking gadgets, expensive supplements and exotic superfoods! This powerful tweak is something that we all can access today – and something that Chinese Medicine has been talking about for several millennia. So simple, and so empowering: each mouthful can move us towards ever-greater health. A new study from the British Journal of Nutrition confirms what Chinese Medicine has known for well over 5,000 years. In this episode, we learn why this works, and how you can apply it for yourself. And if you’d like me to show you how to utilise the power of Chinese Medicine is other daily habits and tweaks, I have created the Radiant Energy Reset for you.   RESEARCH PAPERS Cold and hot consumption and health outcomes among US Asian and White populations Drinking water temperature affects cognitive function and progression of Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model Effect of cold stress on ovarian & uterine microcirculation in rats and the role of endothelin system Visceral hypersensitivity following cold water intake in subjects with irritable bowel syndrome Hot Water Swallows Improve Symptoms and Accelerate Esophageal Clearance in Esophageal Motility Disorders The Pressor Response to the Drinking of Cold Water and Cold Carbonated Water in Healthy Younger and Older Adults

What if perimenopause – our Second Spring – is not something to be suppressed, vilified or medicated away?? What if it is a portal into a more essential, more exquisitely-aligned version of ourselves?An invitation to re-examine how we do life, and to witness and heal parts of ourselves?An initiation into our wisdom and power? In Chinese Medicine, perimenopause is considered the “Second Spring”. A second puberty, a second metamorphosis. When we reflect on what a wild ride that first puberty was, we can begin to see the grace, space and compassion that we can offer ourselves in this transition. Patients have shared with me that they have felt gaslit by the mainstream system, where their various concerns were instantly dismissed as “just perimenopause”, and HRT was offered as the only solution. But it is no coincidence that symptoms like fatigue, low moods, irritability, low libido, poor sleep and weight gain can show up at this time of our life. These symptoms can also be a reflection of decades of caring for others at the cost of ourselves: of self-abandonment, people-pleasing, over-giving and under-receiving. In our medicine, we see “symptoms” as wise messages from the body. An insight into what desires to be balanced or healed. And I see common underlying patterns in women at this phase of life, which also explain the common “symptoms” of perimenopause. In this episode, I share what those patterns are, and simple ways that we can support ourselves to move most easefully through this powerful portal! For more info on the courses I mention in this episode, go to “OFFERINGS, or click here. More on Hormone Health Episode 2: Happy hormones naturally, for general health, easier periods and optimising fertility (Part 1 of 2) Episode 3: Happy hormones for all (not “just for the ladies!”), and the role of inflammation (Part 2 of 2) Transcript Hi everyone, welcome to the Balanced Natural Health podcast, where we share insights from the ancient science and timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine. Information from the old natural ways of healing can support us in leading more beautiful, more vibrant and more vital lives today. In this podcast, I share simple, natural and accessible tips that you can incorporate into your everyday life for more vibrant health and wellness. I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 44. In today’s episode, I would like to dive into something which feels particularly relevant to me personally, due to my age and demographic, I’m now 47 years old. And also in response to what I’m seeing a lot of on social media, in mainstream, in the world around me, and that is the perception of menopause as a pathology to be medicated. And the perception of perimenopause as the cause of all ills, and also the attribution of all of the different symptoms or vital body messages that women might be experiencing at this time, the attribution of these always to, oh, it’s just hormones and you need HRT. Whereas, as you probably know, if you’ve been listening to me for a while, I have long retired from the position of doing battle with my body. And I now see all symptoms as vital messages from the body, mind and soul as to what my system wants me to know and what is coming up for me for integration and harmonizing at that point in time. And so in today’s episode, I would like to talk about some of these, what I see as misconceptions about perimenopause and menopause. And I would like to dispel some myths. And I would also like to share a more empowering perspective on this powerful transition – traditionally called the Second Spring – and how I personally am choosing to navigate it and step through it. Perimenopause – a Second Spring In Chinese medicine, perimenopause and the whole process of moving through menopause is viewed as the second spring. So it’s viewed as a second puberty because we are literally in the process of metamorphosing ourselves into a different version of ourselves. We are moving from a period of our life where we are creative in the material realm, where we can create life, we can create humans, whole new human body, which is such a miracle. And we are moving into a stage of life where we create energetic gifts to the world at this time. So all of our resources, all the resources that were formerly distributed to the womb, now start to move towards the heart, which houses the Shen and our consciousness. And together, that portal of womb and heart can bring forth and birth so many powerful energies and ideas and so much wisdom into the world. In so many cultures and over eons of time, the crone or the wise grandmother was viewed as an archetype who had so much wisdom to impart. It was a really revered and respected archetype. How the prevailing mainstream view is disempowering And yet in our current iteration of society, we are being continually broadcast to that this is a burden, it’s a inconvenience, it’s the end of our relevance, that it’s all downhill from here, that we will put on weight, that we will have brain fog, that we will be fatigued, that we’ll have vaginal dryness, that we’ll lose our libido and our moods, and that we’ll go crazy and lash out those around us and a whole other litany of ills. And it doesn’t have to be that way. I do think that there is a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy when we keep being broadcast this message from so many angles, that it is something to be feared. And that adds another dimension to this process of transition because stress can very much influence how we move through this really powerful period of our lives. So while I always honour and celebrate the choice of women to take HRT, I think it’s amazing that people have choices to do what they want to with their body and their health. I also think that there are other ways to move through this transition and it’s definitely not the only way to move through it. Everything has a season – us too! And this is our Second Spring I don’t think that mama nature makes any mistakes. And we, when we look at the world around us, there are seasons and cycles to everything and our bodies, minds and souls are no different. So while it might be touted in the mainstream that it’s protective to the body, to your bones, to your cardiovascular system, to keep pumping your body full of these external hormones, which your body is no longer producing, I really question what the long-term effects of that are. Because as I said, mama nature doesn’t make mistakes. So if we’re meant to sustain this level of circulating hormones and hormone production, our body would be producing it, right? And when we look into the literature around the potential side effects of supplementation, external supplementation like this, we can see that there definitely are risks. So this is a conversation for another time. In this podcast, I just want to share a different perspective on how we might be able to view perimenopause and second spring and this second puberty. And I love this idea of this transition, this perimenopausal transition as a second puberty, because when we think about what a wild transition our first puberty was, then it gives us an inkling of how much grace and spaciousness and tenderness, compassion, patience, we might want to give ourselves as we move through this second transition. Like think how wild the ride was with fluctuating hormones back in our teens when we were going through that transition and all the different emotional landscapes that came up and how we responded to different things, how we were finding our own power and expression into the world. Perimenopause – Second Spring – as an invitation And this period is no different. I think it’s a really exciting invitation to look at how we’ve been living, what kind of beliefs and assumptions we’ve had about ourselves, what kind of life habits we’ve fallen into and how we might want to live our lives going forward. And one symptom that is a symptom that is often talked about with regards to perimenopause is the mood swings. And this is often attributed to the fluctuations of specifically estrogen, but also progesterone because estrogen is our buffering hormone. It is soft and juicy making, and it is what allows us to put up with shit basically, or put up with things that are maybe not in alignment with our highest good. It allows us to put up with self-sacrificing situations or enmeshment. And what I have found as my estrogen has dropped throughout this transition is that I have had to look at where I have been people pleasing, where I have been giving away my power. And also having less estrogen has made me less inclined to self-abandon and sacrifice my energy to compromise my boundaries. And just to say no to things that are leaking my energy or things that are no longer serving me. So whether that’s activities or relationships or certain types of emotional bonding, for example like bonding over drama, it’s just not available for that anymore because it’s such an energy drain. So to me this Second Spring has been a gift. To me having this drop in estrogen has shown me where I’ve been compromising my own energy, where there’s been leaks. If I was supplementing with that hormone then perhaps I wouldn’t have had that clear vision of seeing where I’ve been self-abandoning and what I can do to live my life differently and what I can do to call back that energy to myself. “Mood changes” or “swings” as a barometer of our energy I also think that these mood swings that are talked about or irritability and anger can be a sign of where our boundaries have been transgressed and whether now or in the past. And they offer an opportunity for witnessing, for feeling and ultimately for healing those experiences whether now or in the past. So when we look at mama nature and expressions of what seems like anger say in the animal kingdom, it’s only happening where the animal feels threatened or encroached upon or like their personal safety or boundaries are encroached upon. So us humans are no different and think about as women in this society, I know I can certainly attest to this and I wonder if many of you can relate as well, but how many times have we just swallowed back our words or just put up with poor behaviour, say sexualising us or inappropriate comments. It’s like oh well he didn’t really mean anything by it or maybe just ingrained patriarchy or judgment of women that I’ve even noticed within myself from my very repressive Polish religious upbringing. It’s like I found some things in deep dark corners there, so things that were unexamined because we didn’t have the capacity perhaps or the space or we weren’t resourced enough to have a look at those until now. So I think sometimes these life will present us with opportunities to heal those things that haven’t yet been healed. So we might feel flashes of sacred rage about how the divine feminine or how the feminine expression has been mistreated, how we’ve experienced that or how we’ve seen that in the world around us or we might feel grief about self-abandonment, about places maybe where we didn’t stand up for ourselves or about where we judged our own bodies harshly. How emotions can relate to hot flushes So all of these feelings might move through our bodies and sometimes even with the anger we might get things like hot flushes, but I see this as energy being metabolised and processed. Emotions are energy in motion, so being able to sit with these feelings and sensations and witness what they might be telling us can be a way to integrate them back into our system. And every woman’s experience of this will be different because we have all walked different paths, different journeys, we’ve had different responses and different life experiences. Some might not experience the rage or the irritability or the hot flushes at all or someone else might feel more grief or dissociation or low moods or low libido. So everyone’s experience is different and I think that the overarching takeaway of what I’m talking about here is that it’s an opportunity to get to know ourselves on a deeper level, to sit with the feelings, to be like a best friend to ourselves and listen to what our body, mind and soul is telling us. And I have a different perspective on many of the messages of perimenopause. Symptoms, and I’m using inverted commas here, like for example fatigue, brain fog, low energy, low libido, irritability, hot flushes, poor sleep, insomnia, dissatisfaction with life, weight gain, all of these things are a complex that are lumped under the umbrella of perimenopause and the menopausal transition. I have a different view that these are symptoms that pop up at a period of life when we have been living a certain way and our body resources are taxed, our spiritual and mental resources are taxed because we have been spreading ourselves too thin. So perhaps rather than laying the blame at the feet of perimenopause, maybe we can look at, as we do in Chinese medicine, at what things might be out of balance that are causing these symptoms. And then we can look at gently supporting the body, mind and soul to recreate balance and to ease our path through this transition of the Second Spring. Common patterns underlying menopausal “symptoms” What I have seen in clinic and in my own experience, but certainly in clinic, what I’ve seen is that a common thread with many of the messages of perimenopause is that there is low yang, low spleen. So yang deficiency and spleen deficiency, often the liver is backed up or stuck and liver is related to anger and expression and frustration, and there’s often dampness as well. What we might hear even in the Chinese medicine mainstream is that it is a yin deficiency time that we are deficient in yin and that’s why we are having those hot flushes. But I’ll just go on a quick little sidebar here that is absolutely not what I have seen. And there is another way of looking at it too, because in classical Chinese medicine, we don’t really believe that in this modern world where nutrition is abundant, that there is such a thing as yin deficiency. It’s really not all Yin deficiency It’s not possible. If you have a body, if you have substance to your body, then you are not yin deficient. And in fact, if we were to believe the mainstream, one of the common symptoms associated with perimenopause is weight gain. So where there is substance, there’s no yin deficiency, but what there is a deficiency of around this time is yang. So we can have substance, we can have fluids, we can have body flesh, but if we don’t have the spark of life, the yang to animate and metabolize and move those fluids and actually make that fluid useful and physiological, healthy to the body, then that fluid and that dampness just stagnates. And we do get weight gain, we do get heaviness, we do get low mood. It’s not the yin, it’s the yang that needs to be cultivated. Why does Yang need love at this time? When we look at how in our society, women have lived through the last few decades leading up to perimenopause, we see that there is often, you know, compromised sleep because they’re looking after kids. They’re often having a job and looking after the family as well. There’s, the women are always go, go, go. So they’re always in yang mode, using up that vital force, that spark of life and not having enough time to replenish it because of the demands of life. And when yang is deficient, when yang is low, it can, it isn’t anchored as it needs to be. When yang is floating and unanchored, we see things like night sweats, insomnia, restless sleep, vivid dreams. These are really common yang deficient presentations. And when we start to nourish the yang by cooked and warm foods, by yang tonifying herbs, by prioritizing rest and time to recharge the yang. So we’re not just spraying out yang all day. We’re not just being boss babes and just smashing it and going hard. This is also something where heavy exercise or sweating too much, going too hard in the gym can also drain our yang. And it is really important to nourish our yang as we go through this transition at all stages of life, but especially as we go through this transition of the Second Spring. So our yang is also burnt up by things like – famously – ice baths, as I love to talk about, but also stress. What else drains Yang? Stress squeezes our adrenals – that is our kidney yang energy. And when we are running often in a state of fight or flight, so when we’re multitasking, eating lunch at the desk, dealing with things on all fronts, dealing with stress at work at home, then this is draining our yang. And so this perimenopausal portal is an invitation to look at how we can nourish our yang a little bit more, how we can carve out a little bit of time, a little bit more time for ourselves to nourish our yang, to just rest and replenish. So it might even be bookending your day with five minutes of deep belly breathing. So I’ve talked about this before on my socials, but when we breathe and breathe deeply into the belly, into the whole abdomen, allowing the breath to just flow in, allowing our body to be breathed by that cosmic breath. And then we allow a long exhale that’s unhurried, allowing that longer exhale compared to the inhale is replenishing of our yang because it’s a yin type of breath. It’s not using up our yang to maintain. Whereas if we take short, sharp inhales, we’re not allowing sufficient time to exhale. That’s really putting us in that fight or flight, that stress yang mode. A soothing, Yang-nourishing breath Slow, deep breaths, yin breaths with a longer exhale can be a great way to replenish. We can even lie down while we’re doing this with our hands on our belly or our ribs to feel how we are expanding and releasing. You can pop also a pillow under your knees to support your lumbar spine, which is where the kidneys live. So then they’ll feel nestled and supported as well. So that is one aspect that I see commonly throughout this transition is that of that yang deficiency or kidney yang deficiency. And another one I see is of spleen deficiency. The role of the Spleen The spleen is our great nurturer. It’s our organ of nurturing, and it is affected by worry and affected by overgiving and over-caring as well, which is so many mums, right? We’re taking care as women as well of our families, of people at work, of our community. We naturally have that caring, I think, nourishing life impetus within us. And coupled with estrogen that accompanies that fertile period, I think it can sometimes lead to self-abandonment where we’re not nourishing ourselves as well. So interestingly, in the mainstream, if you listen to it, perimenopause is associated with weight gain around the belly and thighs. Now, this is a pattern that we see with spleen deficiency. When the spleen is deficient, this is where weight tends to deposit. And if we start to tend more carefully to the spleen at this time, then we don’t have to necessarily see that transition or that change in our bodies. So I have worked with a lot of people who have certainly not experienced that, and I haven’t either, because I have taken this time finally to look at my boundaries and look at where I was over-stretching, over-giving and prioritised caring for myself at this time. A question to ponder at perimenopause… Because that is another invitation of this perimenopausal transition is after decades of caring for others, how can we ourselves at this time? What do we need? How can we tune more and more deeply into the desires and whispers of our body, mind and soul and do what feeds ourselves and our souls at this time? So if we’re looking after our spleen yang and our kidney yang at this time, then that definitely supports a smoother transition through perimenopause. So the other two areas that I talked about were liver and damp. Damp and the Second Spring transition I’ll briefly touch on dampness. That’s often related to presentations like weight gain, brain fog, perhaps like depressed or low mood, low libido, low excitement about life, because damp can be like a heavy blanket or fog that just suppresses the spark of life. It suppresses the yang. It is the opposite to yang because it’s dense fluid. So it’s part and parcel. It’s usually linked to the generalised yang and spleen deficiency. But things that we can do to support both our spleen and metabolising damp at this time are absolutely cooked and warm food and drinks. Warm food & drinks are vital Every time you eat or drink something, it’s an opportunity to put warmth and yang inside your body. So when we have drinks that are warmer than our mouth, food that is warmer and well cooked and uses less energy to digest, it boosts our qi, boosts our energy and supports the spleen in doing its work and can stop the backup of dampness. And also at this time, we might want to take particular care with the foods that we do choose. Always leaning towards whole foods, minimally processed. I’ve talked about this a lot on socials, so you can look back through my posts, but avoiding things like seed oils, preservatives. So many grains these days are sprayed with glyphosate, which is Roundup, which has already had many lawsuits awarded against it as a carcinogen. And unfortunately, unless you’re eating completely organic or regeneratively farmed grains like wheat, corn, soy, they are sprayed with glyphosate. And this is not only a hormone disruptor, but it causes inflammation by interrupting digestion and overburdening our liver as well. So definitely looking at, personally, I’m gluten free. I see a lot of benefits for patients when they go gluten free because they avoid a lot of those grains that are sprayed with glyphosate and Roundup. On the nutrition front, I would also add having adequate time to eat. HOW you eat matters too So it’s not just what we eat, but how we eat. So taking time to eat away from stress, away from other distractions. The spleen also digests the life experiences. So if we’re eating at the desk, then our spleen isn’t really devoting all of its or not able to devote all of its attention to the task at hand. So how we eat is important and also ensuring that we have protein and fats with our meals as well. So we need that consistent energy. However, I’m not one for micromanaging macros. I’m not one who’s counting my protein at all costs or my fat intake or carbs. I don’t count any of that. I’ve come to a point now where I listen to my body and allow my body to tell me what it needs and take it from there. It changes day to day. So some days I want more protein, other days I want less. And this has been a journey for me because when I was in my twenties and thirties, I had such a poor relationship with my body that I was willingly starving myself and suppressed all connection to what hunger felt like or even ignoring my cues for what I felt like eating. I was a vegetarian and later raw vegan at the time I was having such cravings for protein, for animal protein, and I was suppressing and ignoring that as well. So again, it’s coming back into alignment with the whispers of our body, mind and soul, because our bodies are always talking to us about what we need and what would best serve us, but it’s an invitation to come into greater alignment with that. And that is something that I am covering in an upcoming course that’s coming out this year about getting into a deeper conversation with yourself, befriending yourself, coming home to you. Support for your Spleen and your Qi – your whole YOU And also while we’re talking about the spleen stuff, there’s another course coming on that topic as well. So all of that information is packaged up in one package, guiding you through how to construct your own meals, how you can customise meals to your needs day to day, what kind of foods might boost yang, which ones might be more damp causing, what herbs and spices we can use and so on. And there’s plenty of this also, this information in my old podcasts and on my socials and website as well. So feel free to have a look through there. Now, the final area that I see commonly out of balance is liver. The role of Liver in perimenopause Liver is the wood organ. It’s related to the emotion of anger and frustration. So when we think of wood, it likes to spread its wings or spread its branches and leaves and fully express its full potential. And when it is thwarted, then we have anger and frustration or resentment. These can all be emotions related to the liver. And there are emotions that commonly show up in perimenopause, irritability, restlessness as well. And the wood element and liver gallbladder also rules cyclical things – things that come and go. So at this time, the liver is managing fluctuating hormones, our cycles might change in length or duration. So the liver is really dealing with a lot. And at all stages of life, I suggest keeping our toxin bucket or our toxic load small so that our body can do what it knows how to do, which is heal and rebalance. But especially at this time when we are processing extra hormones, potentially hormone spikes, I think it’s really important to give the liver some love. We can do this with things like movement. The liver loves to move. Obviously it likes to spread its branches, but also things like because the associated gallbladder channel runs down the lateral aspects of the body. So even things like swinging our arms side to side, so rotating at the waist, sidebands, things that open up that side area of the body can be really wonderful to open up circulation to that area. Foods to benefit Liver – and hormone balance I also love leafy greens and the brassica family for supporting the liver. So lots of broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, mustard greens, bitter flavors. These are really important in supporting the liver, supporting its function, supporting bile production as well. Bile is such a powerful antioxidant. So we need to make sure that that is functioning in our body as well. So looking after the liver in that respect, I find also stream of consciousness journaling can be helpful for supporting the liver because it helps us to offload certain stored or repressed emotions that might be lingering or too many browser tabs that are open in our minds. So just dumping all of that can free up the liver. And the liver is also charged with coursing energy through the body and energy and emotions are linked. So the more that we can sit with emotions as they come up will also help to free any constrained liver chi or liver energy. Toxic load – it’s not just what we add in, but also what we leave out And the other big thing for liver with the toxic load is looking at what we put in and on our bodies. So I go into great detail in this in episodes two and three, but basically if you wouldn’t eat it, then I wouldn’t put it on my body. So that has very much changed what kind of body products I use like toothpaste, deodorant, moisturizer, hand soap, body soap, what we use in the home as well. Big culprits are synthetic fragrances. So these often pop up in like room sprays and perfumes. That’s another big culprit. Essential oil perfumes for the win every time and scented candles, car, scenty things, anything scented basically and in detergents and different like laundry liquids and so on. They often have a lot of synthetic fragrances, which are endocrine disruptors, their hormone disruptors. So they’re disrupting us at already potentially a bit of a wild rollercoaster time with our hormones. And also they overload the liver. So I recently did a post about low tox and no tox beauty products. There’s so many options. We’re so spoilt for choice these days and it doesn’t have to be all done in one fell swoop. So you can even just choose to replace old products with products that are no tox each time as you go forward. So it doesn’t have to be throwing everything out all at once, although it can be if you want as well. The alcohol piece and our Second Spring So definitely looking at the liver and how we can support in that way too. I will also add with liver, you might want to experiment with how it feels if you reduce or eliminate alcohol because the liver is obviously heavily involved in processing this. And also fructose. So this is the fruit sugar that’s in fruit. In Chinese medicine, we are not big fans of vast amounts of fruit. It’s a seasonal treat at best and fructose is metabolized differently to glucose, which is why in my spleen programs that I devise for patients, I advise sweeteners like rice malt syrup or pure glucose because they are glucose, not fructose. So it metabolizes through the body quite differently. That’s something we might want to play around with and see if we feel any differently. Personally, I stopped drinking alcohol and I have absolutely noticed a difference with my cycles and also just a few kilos of weight dropped off that I wasn’t even doing anything specific about. I think at the same time also as I stopped the alcohol, I have also been going on a deeper dive in somatically feeling. Somatic healing and emotional alchemy So on a body level feeling and releasing a lot of trapped emotions. So that has also allowed my energy to flow more freely and I think it’s metabolized some stuck things that were literally weighing me down. And to support all of these little lifestyle changes and diet changes, habit changes that we can make to support yang, to support spleen, to clear damp and support liver, I would also add the importance of elimination. A breath to support regular bowels I noticed at this time, sometimes elimination bowel movements can get a bit sluggish for some women and this is where the belly breathing can be really powerful. So in Chinese medicine, the lung and large intestine are linked as the metal element. So when we breathe deep belly breaths, when we breathe into the whole abdomen and we gently inquire about tight areas and we allow the breath to expand and release those tight areas, then we’re also supporting peristalsis and digestion. We’re supporting the function of the intestines. Just think like if you put your hands on your belly right now and take a deep breath right down, we’re actually massaging the intestines. So many patients find that just with some deep breathing or some really simple qigong movements that support large intestine and lung or that metal element, that that’s enough just to get their bowels moving regularly. It’s important that we’re eliminating regularly so that those toxins can get eliminated from the body so our liver isn’t backed up and pissed off. And I would also add the importance of joy and cultivating play and lightness and prioritizing those things that make us feel good, that give us pleasure, that light our hearts up. Heart and Womb – their deep relationship I’ve spoken before about how in Chinese medicine, the heart and womb are intimately linked They’re linked under the fire element. And interestingly, just a little sidebar, they’re linked to the fire element, which is ruled by the bitter flavor. And did you know that both the womb and the heart have bitter flavor receptors in them? It’s pretty wild, isn’t it? So when we cultivate joy, we are feeding the fire element, we’re feeding the heart, we’re nourishing it. And this can be such a wonderful remedy for low libido, low moods, fatigue, because if there’s nothing pleasurable or fun or joyful to focus on, then of course we’re going to feel less excited about life. So this can be as simple as a daily gratitude practice and picking, say, five things every day that you’re grateful for, but not just listing them, also somatically feeling them. So somatically just means in the body, actually cultivating the feeling of gratitude while you’re also thinking about those things. It might be a warm and fuzzy, glowing feeling in the chest or a softness in the body. So the more we can practice that, the more the body becomes accustomed to feeling that way. And it doesn’t have to be major things. Cultivating gratitude to nourish Heart and Womb It can be simple things that we’re grateful for, like the fact that we have fresh air coming into our lungs or that there’s sunshine outside, or we can reflect on, say, a beautiful interaction we had that day or the food on our plates. There’s so much to be grateful for in each moment. And we can also cultivate this in thinking about a favourite memory or someone that we love dearly and cultivating that love and that beautiful feeling of joy in our hearts. I hope this has been interesting, maybe thought-provoking, maybe a different perspective on how we can view this time, which I think is an exciting and empowering portal. I’m excited for it, and I’m excited for who I’m becoming and who we all get to be on the other side. And I will add to that, even if you’ve already moved through menopause or you’ve had a hysterectomy, or maybe you’ve had medically-induced menopause of whatever kind, that it’s still an invitation for you now, if it resonates, to incorporate perhaps some of these tweaks into your life, because this second spring transition isn’t only a material one concerning our physical reproductive organs, it’s a whole energetic metamorphosis. We are moving from creating on the material plane to creating on the energetic plane. We are stepping into our wisdom era. It’s really, really exciting. Coming home to ourselves So it’s never too late, we can incorporate some of these observances and things to get curious about at any stage of life, even if we’re younger than the perimenopausal transition. It’s never too early to come home to ourselves and develop that relationship with ourselves. And I hope that this has shone a different light on this transition where perimenopause is not the scapegoat for everything that is going on in a woman’s life. I’ve had so many patients share with me their stories of gaslighting within the mainstream system, where they’ve gone for help with things that have popped up around this time, and it’s all been lumped under the hormone umbrella, and oh well, just have to take HRT or get over it, rather than a deepening and a curiosity into that connection to self. So that is available to all of us. We can all come out of this transition more connected, more empowered, more ourselves than we were coming into it. So I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any on this, if you have any questions, please let me know over on socials, and please share this message with anyone who you feel might benefit from this perspective, or who might feel empowered or unburdened by a different perspective on this beautiful portal that we are walking through. It’s something that I feel so passionate about changing the narrative on, or at least offering a different voice, because I feel like as women, we are so often, so many of our natural processes that mama nature has wisely created within us are pathologized. So childbirth and periods are pathologized and suppressed and medicalized, and menopause is no different. I think it’s actually on a bigger scale, it’s an important way of reclaiming our feminine power, and stepping into that feminine power as well. So please share, and thank you so much for joining me, I look forward to seeing you next time.

In Chinese Medicine, we are adherents of “The Middle Way” or “The Middle Path” – a path of moderation. Rather than opting for extreme or dramatic health practices, we opt for a gentle, daily nourishing of Life. Each moment is an opportunity to nurture health. Our amazing bodies already know how to heal, how to detox, how to repair – sometimes, we just need to get out of the way. When I was asked my thoughts on fasting, the answer, while tending to alignment with The Middle Way, had some nuances that I share with you in this episode. We touch on: • the view of our ancient medical texts on fasting (scroll down for a quote) • eating close to nature and the seasons vs. processed foods, preservatives, seed oils and, frankly, non-foods that pop up in the modern “diet” • intermittent fasting, the Chinese Medicine Organ / Meridian Clock and circadian rhythms • the “hollow” organs – what even are they, their relationship to health (and consciousness) • how fasting can cause our systems to dip into our Jing – the vital “Essence” that we come into this world with, and that nourishes us throughout our lifespan. “The source of vitality is the diet. If one stops eating or drinking, one will die. Without food or liquid, Stomach Qi will not be evident in the pulses. Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine), Chapter 18: Pulse Analysis; circa 200CE

With the health and wellness industry exploding as it is, the following is a conversation I find myself having more and more frequently. What I have observed over the years – both in my own health journey and in my many years in clinic – is that simple & natural is most often best. While extreme or heroic practices, and expensive biohacks & supplements, may seem glamorous and exciting and may promise the world, I see that we can achieve the same benefits with the simple – often free! – consistent things that we do each day (grounding, sunlight, movement, emotional expression) and by living as closely to Mama Nature as we can (wholefoods, clean & coherent water, natural light & frequencies, aligning with daily / seasonal rhythms). I also have witnessed that while it may be tempting to ADD more to our lives in an attempt to gain more vitality, it is very often what we REMOVE that frees up our vital force to go about its job of healing, repair and restoration. Reducing the load in our “toxin bucket” by limiting what we throw in there (food additives, chemicals, synthetic fragrances, toxin in personal care & home products, non-native electromagnetic fields, artificial lighting, etc.) can be just as – if not more – profound as what we add to our lives. I can also add to this the witnessing & releasing of limiting beliefs, “congestive” emotional habits and stored trauma is another important piece of the puzzle – letting go of these liberates vast amounts of our innate healing powers. In this episode I share the simple, daily practices that I include to nourish my health, and easy ways you can apply them yourself. CAVEAT: the practices discussed are suitable for most of us who are in at least a reasonable state of health. There are times when systems may be so depleted, overloaded with toxins or in such an pronounced state of compensation (“disease”) that more extreme measures – practices, supplements, devices – may be temporarily necessary in order to restore a baseline level of vital energy to the system, which can then take it from there. CLEAN 15 & DIRTY DOZEN WATER FILTERS I USE EPISODE 2: Happy hormones naturally, for better health (“detox”) EPISODE 3: Happy hormones naturally, for better health (“detox”)

In this episode, we look to the millennia-old science and wisdom of Chinese Medicine to ask: are ice baths harmful to health?? From a Chinese Medicine perspective – which honours, stokes and cultivates the “spark of life” at all costs, and protects the Yang (vital warmth) of the body – the answer is a resounding YES! We address many of the common objections to my statement, looking more closely at claims of historical use of ice baths, as well as the effect on the stress hormones and nervous system. The Kidneys – a vital foundation for health and vitality at all life stages – are very much affected by sitting static in cold water. Ruled by the Water element, the Kidneys are easily overwhelmed by cold, water and shock/fear – a common trifecta of ice baths! The Kidneys are also responsible for the health of bones, teeth and cognitive function, and healthy Kidneys mean that we get to feel vibrant at all life stages (or, “age well”). As always, we also look to Mama Nature and our own inner messages for guidance. Our body-mind-souls are infinitely wise, and will guide us towards whatever it is that we need (or don’t need!) in order to move towards the most vibrant expression of ourselves. In Chinese Medicine, we aspire to balance – “The Middle Way”. We don’t glorify extreme practices, instead choosing to “nourish life” in the myriad actions of everyday life: what and how we eat, how we move / breathe / rest / sleep, how we express and feel, to name a few. This, from our perspective, is the path to lasting health. Join our community! Sign up to the newsletter (scroll down) – you will also receive a free eBook on Nourishing Life with Ancient Wisdom.

What makes up a human body? Did you know that the number of microbial (bacteria, fungi, etc) cells that live in and on our bodies can outnumber “human” cells by up to 10 to 1? This suggests that we are a microbial-human community, and that these microbes have a vital role to play in maintaining balance and health in the human. And in this episode, we dive in a deeper discussion of Chinese Medicine & Candida What if Candida (and other microbes) are actually working to support our human bodies to detoxify or eliminate non-beneficial substances that our human cells can’t metabolise? Is killing off Candida overgrowth just killing the messenger (or clean-up crew, as it were)? Is the presence of Candida sending us a message – and how can we respond in order to support balance? Chinese Medicine generally views Candida as result of excessive Damp in the body. Like the soil that sprouts mushrooms after damp, rainy periods, our bodies too can sprout an overgrowth of fungi if the internal environment is too Damp. Luckily, Chinese Medicine offers many simple lifestyle and diet tweaks that can clear Damp and restore vital health! SHOW NOTES EMFs and Heavy Metals Effect of Clove and Thyme Essential Oils on Candida Biofilm Formation and the Oil Distribution in Yeast Cells More Chinese Medicine wisdom on nourishing and bolstering the Earth / Spleen, for healthy microbial balance Episode 2: Happy hormones naturally, for general health, easier periods and optimising fertility (Part 1 of 2) Episode 3: Happy hormones for all (not “just for the ladies!”), and the role of inflammation (Part 2 of 2) Episode 5: Beat the Bloat – Chinese Medicine digestion secrets! Episode 14: Late Summer Diet & Lifestyle Tips Candida & electromagnetic health Episode 16: We are light beings – on biophotons and our electromagnetic health Episode 17: Cultivating our light bodies – on biophotons and our electromagnetic health Topical Wash Ku Shen / Sophora / Yellow Pagoda tree She Chuang Zi / Cnidium Bring to boil, simmer 20 minutes, strain and apply to skin. Promptly relieves itch due to Damp and overgrowth. ST36: Zu San Li 足三里 Image source: Deadman, P., Al-Khafaji, M. & Baker, K; A Manual of Acupuncture

In recent years, modern science has finally arrived at technologies that are sensitive enough to measure biophotons, bioelectricity, conductivity, resistance and energetic flow pathways in living beings, and the resultant findings have (unsurprisingly!) aligned with the meridian pathways codified by the ancient sages many millennia earlier. How did the ancients KNOW where to map these pathways? In this episode, I share my perspectives: • there are other ways of “knowing” and “measuring” that are beyond the external (to us) technologies and tools that we have available today; • the present focus on materialism has been to the detriment and neglect of our subtler senses and ways of knowing; • the ancients had an advanced somatic-knowledge, through practices such as Qi Gong (energy work), Nei Gong (inner work), Nei Dan (inner alchemy), Dao Yin (somewhat like yoga), yoga, pranayama (breathwork) and meditation; • this knowledge was potentiated by living in alignment with Nature, and in observation of her cycles; • we all have access to subtle ways of knowing and sensing – it is an inherent ability; • simple ways to cultivate this awareness with Qi Gong and energetic practices you can do at home. Reading List & Shoutout https://thecrdchallenge.com/ The Invisible Rainbow, by Changling Zhang Heavenly Streams: Meridian Theory in Nei Gong, by Damo Mitchell Qi Gong Reels Calming Qi Gong – Gathering the Sky Qi Gong Warm Up Sequence Wise Owl Qi Gong Guided Qi Gong & Emotional Alchemy Nourish your Qi – your life force energy – in just 10 minutes a day. Because your life force energy – your Qi – is everything. When your Qi is abundant and flowing, your life battery is full and all of your systems function optimally – body, mind and soul. And it doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Just 10 minutes a day can charge up your Qi and usher you into deep self-trust and self-connection. Backed by ancient wisdom, not wellness trends. Coming Home to You shows you how – learn more here. From the Huang Di Nei Jing, circa 220 BCEChapter 1: The Universal Truth In the past, people practiced the Tao, the Way of Life. They understood the principle of balance, of Yin and Yang, as represented by the transformation of the energies of the universe. Thus, they formulated practices such as Dao-Yin, an exercise combining stretching, massaging, and breathing to promote energy flow, and meditation to help maintain and harmonize themselves with the universe. They ate a balanced diet at regular times, arose and retired at regular hours, avoided overstressing their bodies and minds, and refrained from overindulgence of all kinds.

Yang Sheng (養生) literally means “Nourishing Life”, and refers to the body of nutritional and lifestyle therapies that is one of the pillars of Chinese Medicine. We view Yang Sheng as the highest form of medicine, as nourishing body-mind-soul can prevent imbalance, and stop disease before it takes hold. There is an old Chinese saying that perfectly captures this ideal: “Waiting to treat illness after they manifest is like waiting to dig a well after one is thirsty” We consider that the more resourced and resilient we are, the more smoothly we can flow with and adapt to life and its various inputs. Looking after our foundation, and ensuring that our Qi is flowing and able to clearly receive essential information, helps us to regenerate tissues in their most optimal expression. This is why the seemingly little things that we can do each day, like connecting to the earth, soaking up sunlight, drinking structured water, eating close to nature, feeling and releasing our emotions, moving our bodies, feeling connection, love, joy and gratitude, add up to make a profound difference to our health and vitality. Another way that the concept of Yang Sheng, or Nourishing Life, can be expressed is as that of KNOWING YOURSELF. Ultimately, you are the expert on YOU, and while health professionals can offer help and guidance, they are not having your experience 24/7. We are all unique, and listening to yourself allows you to collect data on what best nourishes YOU. As we get curious about, and tune into, the subtle cues of the body-mind-soul, we become ever more fluent in the messages we are constantly receiving from ourselves. We also get to deepen our knowledge about what works for us, and what doesn’t: or perhaps even the same response may “work” at some times and not others. It can also mean observing our habits, reactions, perceptions, programs, coping mechanisms and addictions (this is not limited to substance addiction – it can encompass addiction to work, busy-ness, emotional states, etc.), and choosing to unwind from those that don’t serve us. It can mean looking at what foods, activities, environments and relationships leave us feeling balanced and vibrant, and which ones don’t. One of the many aspects of Yang Sheng that excites me is that in deepening our relationship with our body-mind-souls, we (re)discover and remember that the power to heal is within each and every one of us. Let me guide you in Nourishing Life Let me show you a simpler way – one that has been tried & tested for more than 5,000 years. A way that I have witnessed transform the lives of hundreds of people. And, a way that gave me my own life & health back. Gentle, sustainable changes and simple, daily rituals, grounded in the ancient wisdom of Chinese Medicine. No harsh protocols, diets or dramatic hacks – just simple, natural, body-honouring foods and habits. At your own pace and in your own time. Because your body already knows how to heal. Sometimes we just need a little guidance to put the pieces together. And this framework is what I am so excited to share with you – it’s the missing piece of the wellness puzzle. The Radiant Energy Reset guides the way – learn more here. Qi Gong Reels Calming Qi Gong – Gathering the Sky Qi Gong Warm Up Sequence Wise Owl Qi Gong Guided Qi Gong & Emotional Alchemy Nourish your Qi – your life force energy – in just 10 minutes a day. Because your life force energy – your Qi – is everything. When your Qi is abundant and flowing, your life battery is full and all of your systems function optimally – body, mind and soul. And it doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Just 10 minutes a day can charge up your Qi and usher you into deep self-trust and self-connection. Backed by ancient wisdom, not wellness trends. Coming Home to You shows you how – learn more here.

In Chinese Medicine, healthy digestion and assimilation of nutrients belongs to the Earth element. It is the foundation for vibrant health and wellness, and so our medicine has many practices and lifestyle tips that support this essential function. “Symptoms” (or body messages!) like gastritis, indigestion, stomach pain & bloating, ulcers and acid reflux are common in our modern society, reflecting a departure from health practices that have withstood millennia. Luckily, our age-old medicine has many simple dietary tweaks and lifestyle guidelines to help restore balance to the digestion, in turn resolving the conditions mentioned above. In this episode, I share easy ways that you can support your body to ease stomach pain, burn, bloat and discomfort, and help restore vitality! If you’d like more support and guidance… I have created the Radiant Energy Reset: a gut-loving program that heals at the root. Grounded in ancient wellness principles, I show you how to create a firm foundation for health and radiance. I have distilled years of my clinical experience into this beautiful program, so that you have all you need to nourish yourself from the root. At your own pace, in your own time. Learn more here.

Have you ever felt scattered or ungrounded after a shocking, frightening or distressing event? Or felt so stressed that it changed your breathing pattern? So angry that your chest and head felt hot? So worried that your stomach was twisted up in knots? So sad that your chest felt heavy and dull? In Chinese Medicine we understand that, aside from environmental effects or traumatic causes, emotions are the main cause for dis-ease in our systems. The ancient doctors and sages observed the specific effects of each emotional state on the sum total of an individual’s Qi, or the totality of their unique energetic field. Even modern science concurs that we are predominantly “empty” space – not as solid as we might think, and rather composed of a multidimensional symphony of frequencies. If not processed and allowed to move out of the field, emotions can inhibit the flow, harmony and coherence of our energy. Luckily, the ancients also codified many simple and accessible ways that we can move through these emotions and restore balance to the body-mind-soul. In this episode, I share some basic balances for common emotional experiences that many can relate to.