As the media megawashes us with messages about diet, “new year, new you” and other “self-help” propaganda, this message is fully grounded in tried-and-true TCM principles.
See how I navigate gut health through the whole year, not just January.
My own journey to TCM started with digestion. I was a mess. Couldn’t keep food down, didn’t understand why one day I looked like I was nine months pregnant and by morning I’d be rocking my (back then) flat tummy. I was 22 and living in South Korea when I found out about TCM.
Like many people who walk into my clinic, I turned to TCM as a last resort, desperate for help. I’d seen every doctor for my digestive issues and all the tests came back free and clear. Then I found myself in a very traditional clinic in South Korea (not unlike the Village) where I was lying on a table in a big room full of other acu-nappers. The TCM practitioner asked me three questions and started placing needles on my limbs. As his pièce de résistance, he set a large heated rock on my abdomen. Wow. Then he sent me home with herbs.
I saw him every day for two weeks and witnessed my digestive AND mental health improve (funny how they go together, no?). The sun got sunnier, the days felt easier — a literal Christmas miracle!
Or so I believed until I started studying TCM and came to understand the power of acupuncture and herbs.
After my incredible recovery, I had to know everything about TCM. Today, after years of study and clinical experience, I know exactly what that practitioner was doing. He was warming my digestion, relighting my digestive fire and recirculating the energy my body had been misdirecting.
Sometimes it’s as simple as avoiding cold, raw foods and eating with the seasons, using TCM principles to build out your meals.
It’s so simple, in fact, that I’ve gone ahead and written a book about it. Stay tuned, we’ll be launching Yin Yang Reset in the new year. Until then, stay strong against the tsunami of “new year, new you” messages.
I like you just the way you are.
