Spring is here now in full swing, with Nature coming alive after her winter sleep. Tree buds and blossoms on display, green seedlings poking their way up out of the garden soil, birds and other animals scurrying around tending to their nests – springtime is a period of vigorous growth and activity.
In a previous article, we looked at an Eastern Medicine health condition known as “Blood Deficiency”. Somewhat similar to the Western diagnosis of anemia, Blood Deficiency is a weakness and inability of the Blood to properly perform its job of bringing nourishment to the rest of the body.
A strong blood circulatory system, in both Western and Eastern Medicine, is vital to maintaining our good health.
“Blood Deficiency” is a concept unique to Traditional Chinese Medicine and can be thought of as a decreased ability of the Blood to provide the proper nourishment to the rest of the body.
Although stress seems to be just an accepted part of everyday living in our modern society, it certainly is nothing new. In fact, one of the oldest Chinese medical textbooks, written over 2,000 years ago, was advising people on how to lower their stress levels so that they could live healthier and better lives.
In Eastern medicine, stress can be roughly categorized into 2 types – physical and emotional – although there is quite a bit of overlap between them because Traditional Oriental Medicine views the body, mind, and spirit as being inter-related to each other.
Traditional Oriental Medicine always views the physical organs, along with their corresponding energy meridian pathways, as an integrated whole. Because of this, when Eastern medicine talks about an organ, it is referring to the entire system which often includes other associated parts of the body, not just the local area of the physical organ.
