FROM GIRLHOOD TO MENOPAUSE AND BEYOND
Qigong Healing at Every Stage of Life
What is female, or yin, energy? To me, it means the natural hormones that all women share that enable them to become pregnant and give birth. Through every stage of her life, from her first menstrual period to the cessation of menses signaling a slowing down of the reproductive organs, a woman’s body is complex and remarkable. In this chapter, we will explore the three major phases of a woman’s life from a qigong perspective:
STAGE 1: Puberty and Menstruation—breast tenderness, cramps, missed periods, eating disorders, concentration, diet, and herbal remedies
STAGE 2: Pregnancy and Raising Children—fertility, birth control, healthy pregnancy, morning sickness, postpartum health, nurturing healthy infants, and early childhood diet
STAGE 3: Perimenopause and Menopause—pre-menopause, menopause, balancing hormones naturally, hot flashes, insomnia, aches and pains, and diet
Stage 1: Puberty and Menstruation
Adolescence, when a woman’s body begins producing hormones, is the best time for her to learn and begin to practice the life-enhancing habits of qigong. At this momentous, sometimes tumultuous stage in her life, she is beginning the transition to womanhood, and developing hormones and sex organs. Her breasts and buttocks are growing, and her emotions can be extreme.
The steps a woman takes and the healthful routines she establishes at this crucial time are likely to influence her health for the future. As my father and other ancestors who were healers of women have always believed, the key to a lifetime of comfortable, healthy menstrual cycles is following the qigong way. For young women, that means mastering the breathing exercises on this page to help relieve symptoms, and enjoying a varied diet of whole foods selected for their healing and nourishing properties.
What Is a Healthy Period?
Thirteen used to be the average age for a girl to experience her first menstrual period, but now it’s not unheard of for girls to begin experiencing menarche at age nine, and it’s becoming common to hear of ten- or eleven-year-olds beginning to menstruate. Girls who are vegetarian or who get most of their protein from beans tend to get their periods later than girls who eat meat.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, healthy menstruation is related to the quality and energy of a woman’s blood. That in turn is affected by the health of her liver and kidneys. In China, young girls are taught to balance their qi through exercise and diet, and to consume the traditional tonic herbs for their blood, because the knowledge has been passed down through generations: When a young woman’s hormones and qi are in balance thanks to eating the right foods and getting regular exercise, her menstrual cycles will be healthy and she will be free of cramps. In the future she is more likely to experience healthier childbirth and, as she ages, a smoother and more satisfying transition into menopause, the time of life when aches and chronic pains often start to afflict older women. Western people may not realize that many midlife woes are related to the health of a woman’s menstrual history, but my knowledge and experience assure me that all these things are connected.
Menstruation is a time when a young women’s yin energy is often blocked. When there is a blockage, blood circulation is stalled and the uterus may grow cold. Stagnant blood may cause painful menstruation and a host of related complaints including PMS, breast tenderness, headaches, cysts, and other disorders of the reproductive organs. If the stagnant blood becomes hot, she will have clots in her menstrual blood.
Traditional Chinese medicine tells us that the kidneys and liver play a significant role in overall menstrual health. In particular, strong emotions can weaken the liver and create a blockage of yang or heat. That heat slows down blood flow, producing stagnation, often with scant periods and then clots, and prevents the liver from effectively cleaning toxins that are released into the blood during menstruation.
My first line of treatment for PMS, irregular periods, and painful cramps is to help balance a young woman’s qi through diet, because certain foods can make her better able to take these changes to her body more easily in stride. For example, it’s important for her to have calcium-rich bone broth made with chicken, pork, beef, or lamb. It is also very helpful for her to begin the practice of Lower Stomach Breathing (this page), which quickly relieves even severe cramping. These purposeful movements massage the internal organs from the inside, circulating blood/qi and air to dissipate and dispel the blocked qi, which is cold, thus restoring the qi balance of the body to healthful harmony.
Menstruation, Cramps, and the Moon
In Chinese culture, the full moon is yin. Women are yin. The oceans are yin. Women’s blood is yin. The moon, of course, has a primal connection to women’s bodies. During the full moon, all universal energy and the energy of womens’ bodies grows even more strongly yin. The moon exerts its power on the oceans, and waves swell bigger as women’s yin energy becomes very vigorous at this time of the month.
Menstrual periods are as natural as the sun, moon, and stars. The moon stimulates menstrual cramps and creates a moody energy in many people. This increase in universal energy affects all human beings, not just women. In general, people tend to be more depressed during a full moon; it can make women feel unwell, but men may also be affected by its extreme yin energy. Many women’s cycles regularly follow, or are tuned into, the moon. That is normal. Hospital patients tend to lose more blood from wounds during the full moon. And women who go into labor during the full moon tend to deliver their babies more quickly because of that yin energy. Chinese calendars always note the monthly full moon because we have a cultural awareness of the effect that stages of the moon exert on the general environment each month; it is something we learn as children, and we take note of how our personal qi, as well as that of the world around us, may be affected.
When earth yin energy pushes up, it’s like an earthquake: the yin energy of the whole earth is too strong. Women’s blood may have clots. They can feel more emotional than usual, or feel like they cannot concentrate. Some women cry a lot. They may be angry or bitter, indicating that their internal yin energy is especially strong. Some want to argue, or always say that one thing or another is a problem.
Cramps, like the women they affect, are also cold, or yin. They indicate a problem with the body’s circulation, telling me that the woman’s yin and yang energy are not matched, and there is an imbalance in her qi. In traditional Chinese medicine, trapped or stagnant air is viewed as the root cause of pain. Women who experience bad cramps can change their internal energy by using food as medicine, as the Chinese have done for centuries, and eating yang foods such as ginger, brown sugar, and Chinese dates to bring yang warmth to the system.
Premenstrual syndrome and menstrual complaints can take many forms. It’s natural to gain a little weight and feel a bit different at that time of the month, but it should not be painful or interfere with life. Qi moves blood. When young women experience a condition of extreme yang energy, the yin can’t go through to balance it because their kidney qi is too weak. In addition to the strength of her qi, the state of a woman’s blood exerts an influence on her overall menstrual health and comfort. During her period, she loses blood, depleting qi energy. When qi is disrupted, cramps are the result. For a very emotional young woman, it may be that there is too much heat in her blood and her qi has been blocked. She may have premenstrual discomfort including breast tenderness, bloating, clotting, and mood swings, as well as cravings for yang foods like chocolate. Her uterus is too yin, or cold, with an energy blockage preventing yang energy from rising and providing balance.
At this time, she needs the traditional Chinese remedy of a soothing and delicious hot ginger and brown sugar tea. This tonic beverage is a time-honored example, according to Chinese medicine, of the way dark brown sugar in small amounts acts as a powerful lubricant in the body. It is effective in quickly bringing down the excessive yin of cramps and restoring a young woman’s yang energy. After a few sips, she will feel the cramps begin to lift away as her internal qi moves closer to the ideal healthful balance. It tastes delicious, but I must stress that this tea is a medicine, to be consumed twice or three times a day until a woman’s period is over, and then not again until the next cycle.
Those unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine may be surprised to learn that sweeteners such as Chinese black sugar or dark turbinado or muscovado sugar are regularly used as a remedy, especially for colds and menstrual issues. These dark sugars bring down yin, or cold. White sugar also has a role in Chinese medicine as a cooling remedy to bring down heat.
Breast Tenderness
There are two reasons that women experience breast tenderness. First is the most obvious: that their period is imminent. That’s a normal sign your body gives you. The other reason is stress, which can wreak havoc on the physical body in so many ways. Stress can cause acne, headaches, cramps, and many other conditions.
If stress is to blame, eating the right food can help make the pain—which is air that has traveled and become blocked—begin to subside. One excellent food is pearl barley (also known as Job’s tears, not to be confused with “pearled” or hulled barley), a satisfying gluten-free whole grain that is yin and cooling. It can help reduce swelling and inflammation. Try cooking a batch and freezing some. Have a small bowl with a little bit of lentils or red kidney beans, which also help to reduce breast tenderness. That is really good for growing girls. Those who are not vegetarian will get many benefits from a small amount of pork or lamb. They should stay away from chicken or other poultry, as these meats are yang, and what they need in case of stress is more yin energy.
Missed Periods and Flow
Why do some women miss periods? They may be overusing their body energy through exercise and in turn losing female hormones. When a woman’s hormones are off balance during her period, her reproductive system is too yin, or cold. Her qi is stagnant and her energy cannot circulate properly. A missed period indicates a blockage of qi.
It’s okay if young women who are extremely athletic occasionally miss a period, but going too long without menstruating is not good because it will cause them to begin developing male hormones. The body simply begins producing different hormones after losing its female hormones by overusing and depleting their energy through exercise.
Blood clots while menstruating are often related to stress and fatigue. Occasionally, these women may experience one month with a really late, really heavy period. That is not uncommon. Some women have too much blood flow, indicating that their kidney energy is low—most likely they also experience longer periods and lose more blood. They should avoid eating mango, which makes blood flow heavier. When women bleed too much, their immune system weakens.
Stress, Love, and Hormones
These days it’s common knowledge that preadolescent women are physically maturing at an increasingly earlier age than they did in previous generations, due to widespread use of hormones in meat, milk, and other foods. Girls have always tended to mature two to three years ahead of boys, but puberty is now arriving much closer on the heels of childhood than in the past. In addition, with everything they see on television and social media, many twelve-year-old girls already have fifteen-year-old minds. Combined with their active hormones, this can lead to increased stress and anxiety.
Every young woman is different, and some have a qi that is more easily affected by the hormones produced in their bodies than others. Stress directly impacts girls’ hormones and thus their emotions. I have seen some girls who are completely stressed at age thirteen or fourteen because of wild emotions, or because their minds become stuck on the idea that romantic love or infatuation is more important than anything. These girls commonly experience more PMS, late periods, and breast tenderness than those whose qi is closer to being in balance.
It’s not only unrequited love that impacts menstrual cycles. When a woman of any age become unusually excited and happy, those emotions can change her hormone levels and make her period come earlier than expected. Stress, on the other hand, can diminish the period or cause a missed period.
How Diet Can Help Puberty and Menstrual Issues
When young women eat foods to enhance their qi, their bodies are balanced and free of blockages. In fact, they may not even be aware that their period is coming because they don’t experience premenstrual symptoms such as unbalanced emotions, breast tenderness, and bloating.
Food plays a crucial role in the development of girls as they grow into women. In my qigong office practice, I have observed that the way parents feed their children can contribute to severe imbalances of qi in the child. A balanced diet is crucial at this time of life. Most important, any food—especially fast food—that contains preservatives or other chemicals must be avoided. The chemicals in popular fast foods and mass-market packaged foods contribute to emotional issues, as well as to acne and infections. Teenagers in general should not eat foods with too much yang, or hot energy, because they are already very yang, and adding more yang puts their qi severely out of balance. At the very least, they should eat fewer processed foods. I am also concerned that, given the widespread use of synthetic growth substances in treating animals destined for human consumption, the soil itself must now be full of hormones.
We can’t change the way conventional agriculture may have impacted the reproductive functioning of young women, but we can learn and follow a few simple guidelines from qigong and traditional Chinese medicine. We can choose seasonal, organic, local (if possible) food, and remember: organic milk is always worth the price. We can try to drink the purest water possible, which includes filtering even the tap water used to make tea and soup. I assure you that all these factors have an effect on menstrual cycle health.
As in every stage of a woman’s life, I believe that eating whole foods, including plenty of fresh, organic vegetables and fruit, is essential. Adolescent girls should be eating light and varied meals with an emphasis on fresh vegetables. Most important, parents should make sure their daughters eat a lightly cooked, high-fiber green vegetable—bok choy, kale, chard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans, or Chinese cabbage—every single day. That is a habit that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. I am not necessarily suggesting a vegetarian diet, which might contain lots of cheese and other dairy foods that can contribute to qi imbalance because they are yang, or hot. For best menstrual health, young women are advised to eat plenty of beans, including a little soy, and plenty of grains and vegetables.
Beyond that, an awareness of seasonal eating according to Chinese tradition can provide another potential advantage. In fall, the season of the lungs, it’s good to eat more white beans and white rice. In winter, red beans and black beans nourish the heart.
Spring is the season to eat yellow lentils and brown rice. Girls who are not gluten-intolerant will benefit from wheat, while those who are can eat pearl barley and oats but not too much rice, and some milk if they like it, as well as eggs, seeds, nuts, buckwheat, and cornmeal. Chinese yams, papaya, and dried or fresh apricots are good, as they tend to be more yang. Girls can benefit from lamb or beef bone broth made with tendons and cartilage. Ginger can be added to balance qi with a yang element when necessary.
Other foods especially good for women in this age group include congees of black rice, white rice, yellow rice, or millet. Congee is a simple porridge of a small amount of whole grains simmered in stock or water until it forms a nourishing soup (find a recipe on this page). In China, congee is ubiquitous, on every table in every home. One of the reasons women there may not experience as much menstrual distress is that all month long they regularly eat such simple, easy-to-digest preparations to help balance their qi.
Although congee is a humble bowl of soupy rice, it’s important not to view this new meal as a form of deprivation simply because it is different from what you may currently be eating. Congee is comfort food at its simplest, and you can vary it endlessly by adding bits and pieces of vegetables. My suggestion is to enjoy the great variety of whole foods available to you, and to try something different every week. Expand your mind as you expand your palate. For example, you can cook a pot of lentils, red beans, or mung beans and add some to your morning congee a few times a week, then freeze some to make for lunch or quickly defrost for dinner.
I say this often because I feel strongly about it: Americans feed their children too much chicken. Although it is a yang food, it is not right at this stage of a young woman’s life. Eating too much bird—including turkey—causes children and adolescents (and often, I have observed, their mothers as well) to behave like birds, always flying around in a hyperactive way. Plus, any fast-food or frozen chicken meal, unless it is strictly organic, will contain preservatives and chemicals that have a negative effect on the organs of an adolescent. Bone broth is good for women of this age, but they shouldn’t eat too much broth made with chicken.
In addition, conventionally raised chickens are fed artificial hormones that make their way into our bodies and affect us in ways we still do not entirely comprehend. This is related to my feeling about the hormones we all ingest through our food these days. Too many hormones are used to raise the meat and milk we eat. Make sure you know where your meat comes from and how it was raised.
While expanding their diet during adolescence, young women would do well to explore the foods that centuries of traditional Chinese medicine have taught us are capable of providing relief from symptoms of menstruation. It’s a good time for them to begin learning that every food means something for the body. They should understand that it’s never good to eat too much food, and that it’s best to stop eating while they’re still a bit hungry.
Of course, finicky eaters can be a problem, but that situation can be easily resolved with food, too. I often see children with qi disorders such as food allergies who, it turns out when I ask them and their parents a few questions, eat an extremely narrow diet. I am never surprised to learn that these children eat only the same few things all the time. The resulting lack of nutrients causes some of their organs to become lazy and their bodies to subsequently not absorb sufficient nutrition.
In adolescent girls, this qi deficiency manifests as menstrual cramps, PMS, breast tenderness, headaches, and emotional issues. But exercising regularly and eating a vegetable-focused whole-foods diet are powerful resources for young women to keep themselves strong when entering their reproductive years and sustain them throughout their lives.
I generally discourage sweets, but for young women, a little bit of chocolate when they have their period is fine, because it provides yang heat to warm the heart and help push cold energy away during menstruation. It’s normal for a woman to crave sugar and—especially for Western women—chocolate during her period, but otherwise it’s not a habit you should regularly succumb to. A much better sweet food for women is dried Chinese red dates, or jujubes (see this page). They’re pleasantly chewy and moist, provide energy, and help prevent menstrual distress.
Because traditional Chinese medicine teaches us that many menstruation symptoms in young girls are relieved by dark sugar, in some extreme cases I have actually suggested that an adolescent girl who is really suffering should consume a tablespoon every morning, perhaps with a congee of rice in different colors (red, black, and/or brown) and a few walnuts. Eating this delicious hot cereal on a regular basis does work out to about ½ pound of dark brown sugar a month, which may sound extreme, but if it is the only regular source of sugar these girls consume—meaning they avoid sweets made with high-fructose corn syrup as well as presweetened foods such as breakfast cereals, fruit-filled yogurt, and energy bars—they will not gain weight and it will not negatively affect their health. However, the sugar should only be eaten with this strict regularity until their menstrual issues have been resolved.
Eating Disorders and Other Emotional Issues
In my qigong healing practice, I have seen many adolescent girls with anorexia, bulimia, and obesity. There is only one solution, and that is that they must learn to heal themselves and face up to their relationship with food. Inevitably, these young women suffer from anxiety, and their qi is strongly out of balance. They need understanding and empathy, and someone to talk to about their fears, but they also need to eat only the healthiest whole foods, including lots of vegetables and lean protein.
For overweight girls, a vegan diet is best. The thought of it may be daunting for parents, but trust me that only by completely changing an overweight child’s relationship with food, as well as her expectations about what she eats, can you hope to help her eliminate weight issues in a healthful and lasting way. When a girl is really overweight, it’s time to change her diet to one that is full of vegetables and low in fat with healthful carbohydrates, which provide a feeling of satisfaction from a meal, and some lean protein, as you would do for an anorexic or bulimic child. It is important to make sure that these girls’ meals always include some cooked food, such as simple congees and vegetable soups. A diet of raw salads and other cold dishes is not nourishing, nor will it help her lose weight. Some kids gain weight from carbohydrates, others from meat, so use vegetables to balance their diets and observe to see the impacts of different foods.
Young women who are suicidal or who hurt themselves through self-mutilation are also suffering severe blockages in the heart, kidneys, and liver. Those organs are depressed, meaning energy, or qi, is stuck and they are not functioning properly for best health. In addition to therapy, these young women would greatly benefit from having acupressure treatments by a skilled practitioner of qigong. In the language of qigong healing, we would say that these young women’s dysfunction is that their hearts are acting like brains, and telling the true brain to do destructive, hurtful things.
Acne
Teenagers get acne because of their hormones, but also because their colons are not clean. Despite what you may have heard elsewhere, food is absolutely crucial where acne is concerned. Pimples and irritation indicate that there is too much heat in the blood, and that makes it easy to get infections in the skin and elsewhere. These kids need to eliminate chocolate (except a tiny bit during girls’ periods, when its yang qualities can help bring down the cold yin that causes cramps), onions, ginger, hot peppers, and other very yang seasonings from their diets. Dairy foods should also be avoided; despite being cold, dairy actually has a yang, or hot, energy. Chicken makes acne worse, because it is yang. Obviously teenagers should not drink alcohol, and they might be even less inclined to do so if they knew that it makes bad skin even more irritated.
The chemical preservatives in fast food are the worst for acne. Most people who have acne are also constipated—their internal waste is blocked, preventing good bacteria from growing. It may be a hard sell, but they could really benefit from an enema of water boiled with mint and then cooled. Failing that, teenage girls with acne will benefit from introducing more neutral and yin foods into their diet to cool down the heat in their blood. The classic Mung Bean Cooler on this page is a good choice.
Ultimately, as in other stages of life, the right food takes care of everything, including the emotional issues and stress that affect so many adolescent girls whose hormones are just beginning to come alive. Sometimes, in conjunction with diet, exercise, and adjustment of a teenager’s qi through acupressure and energy work, an herbal remedy may be called for in addressing these issues. Women younger than twenty-five normally do not need to take herbal remedies, but when they are suffering menstrual issues, herbs such as dong quai (see this page) can be very helpful.
Birth Control
It’s realistic to expect that, by the time they’re sixteen or seventeen years old, some young women will be having sex, especially if they have developed a close relationship with a particular friend or partner. It’s important to communicate with kids about birth control, and to be realistic in teaching them about safe and clean sex rather than avoiding the issue. Condoms, assuming they’re used correctly, remain the best form of protecting against sexually transmitted diseases, and are most effective when used in conjunction with another type of birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control pills, despite possible serious side effects, remain popular because they’re easy and dependable, and some teenage girls take them for noncontraceptive purposes such as severe menstrual cramps. The body needs to produce its own natural hormones, however, and oral contraceptives interfere with that process in younger teens, so I wouldn’t recommend them for girls younger than eighteen.
Stage 2: Pregnancy and Raising Children
Whether they choose to have children or not, by age twenty to twenty-five, women should begin to be aware of the health of their kidneys and liver, and to make any necessary lifestyle changes. That includes being aware of the number and frequency of cocktails they drink and any other factors such as eating late at night or eating unbalanced meals at odd hours.
The kidneys, liver, and spleen meridians run through the pelvic area, and all play a role in female reproductive health. The liver maintains free and healthy flow of qi, and it is greatly affected by emotional stress. If women are able to maintain their kidney energy levels, they will provide their bodies with maintenance tools for the future and the ability to balance cold with heat. At this age, women whose qi is out of balance may feel moody or annoyed, or have no patience, and they may experience changes in sleeping and difficulty waking up, as well as aches and pains in the neck and lower back.
The Reality of Birth Control
For many women, contraception is an inevitable choice. They need to avoid getting pregnant, and birth control can help prevent challenging, life-changing situations and give women more control over their bodies. Oral contraceptives—one of the more common types of birth control—are affordable and effective when used properly. Depending on the type of pill prescribed, combinations of the hormones estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy by halting ovulation—the release of eggs from the ovaries—and, in addition to averting pregnancy, they are sometimes prescribed for noncontraceptive reasons, such as to provide relief from severe menstrual cramps, migraine headaches, and fibroid tumor pain. When used toward a specific goal for a limited amount of time, pharmaceutical estrogen is a necessary part of life for many women. But the bottom line is that any chemical taken for too long creates an imbalance of qi that can lead to other issues, which may not initially seem to be related. The key is to be on oral contraceptives for as short a period as possible—preferably no longer than two years, three at the most—because the chemicals in these pills eventually cause hormone levels to drop below normal. And if it is necessary to use this form of hormonal contraceptive for longer, it is important to know the qi blockages that could result.
The tradeoff with taking pharmaceutical hormones via convenient and reliable birth control pills is that they allow your body to become unaccustomed to producing the amount of hormones required for normal functioning, and the endocrine system stops working properly, causing a blockage in the qi. Think of it this way: if parents always spoiled their children and gave them whatever they asked for, and they never wanted for anything, most young people would not want to get a job and go to work. With birth control pills, you’re giving your body so many hormones that over time, the body comes to rely on the hormones from the pill; your body depends on you providing hormones so it no longer needs to do as much work. The endocrine system shuts down and qi is blocked.
But there are many other ways to prevent pregnancy. As long as they’re used responsibly, condoms are less invasive than pills, with the additional benefit of protecting against sexually transmitted diseases. I believe that intrauterine devices (IUDs) are also better than pills. IUDs are small Y-shaped birth control devices, which are inserted into the uterus by a doctor. There are two types of IUD—hormonal and non-hormonal. Hormonal IUDs release hormones that thicken the cervical mucus—forming a plug—to prevent sperm from reaching or fertilizing an egg. Non-hormonal, or copper, IUDs work by repelling sperm. The failure rate is low on both, 1 or 2 percent, and they can last for years before needing to be replaced.
Regardless of the type of birth control a woman is using, if she experiences spotting between periods, it may indicate an infection in the ovaries, bladder, or kidneys. Women who see even a little bit of blood after having sexual intercourse should be checked for an ovarian infection.
Qigong and Fertility
Yin balances yang energy. Together, women (yin) and men (yang) harmonize each other’s energies. A man’s chest produces hormones that balance the hormones of the woman, and the result of this harmony is often a pregnancy.
Some women get pregnant quickly. Others do not. I have treated many women who are trying to conceive a child. Sometimes they come to me in conjunction with conventional medical treatments such as fertility drugs or in vitro treatments. I think the science of in vitro fertilization is a great boon to women, especially older women, hoping to conceive a child. For my clients over the age of thirty-seven, the combination of Eastern and Western medicine has yielded many positive results. It makes me happy to think that I have been able to help these women achieve their goal of having a child.
First, women hoping to become pregnant should be examined to ensure that they do not have fibroid tumors or endometriosis—a painful uterine disorder—both of which can negatively affect fertility. Then they should focus on taking the best possible care of themselves through meditation, breathing exercises, and, most of all, diet.
My most important advice for any healthy woman hoping to become pregnant is that she make her body pure and clean so it can welcome a baby. For at least three months—and preferably six months—prior to conception, she should eliminate all toxins from alcohol and any kind of drug—including over-the-counter pain medications. Clearly, this is a challenging commitment for those who enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine, or who reach for ibuprofen whenever something hurts. I generally advise women to stop taking prescription medicines, too, in order to allow the body to detoxify itself of all chemicals, but of course that decision is different for each person and should be discussed with their doctor. I advise the male partner to stay away from alcohol for at least two months as well, because, like marijuana and other drugs, it can negatively affect the quality and movement of his sperm.
In terms of physical advice, following sexual intercourse, a woman who is trying to get pregnant should remain quietly in bed for at least 40 minutes, with a pillow beneath her buttocks to help angle her pelvis back. That is longer than fertility doctors generally recommend, but every woman’s body is unique, and depending on her anatomy, one of her ovaries may be slightly farther back than is typical, so it may take more time for the sperm to reach it.
Sometimes, when women have been on birth control pills for a long time, they become concerned about their ability to conceive. Ideally, after stopping oral contraceptives or having an IUD removed, they should wait six months before trying to become pregnant. In the meantime, they should follow the same advice to immediately stop drinking alcohol and taking all medications.
I tell these women to change their diet to one based on whole foods with an emphasis on organic vegetables, grains, and high-quality protein. They should avoid refined sweeteners, excessive salt, and any food that contains preservatives, and drink pure, filtered water. While you’re trying to get pregnant is not the time to be running long distances or pushing your body in extreme sports. Years of high-impact exercise or intense training can alter a woman’s hormones; instead, I recommend plenty of moderate exercise. It would be a good time to begin practice of the simple qigong exercises beginning on this page, in particular the stomach breathing exercises that are so helpful in massaging the reproductive organs from the inside. In addition, this regular, gentle-to-moderate exercise helps you better cope with stress, as does meditation.
In my decades of using medical qigong to treat people, I have seen many women who initially had difficulty conceiving become pregnant, and I am confident that these simple suggestions will work if there are no other physical circumstances preventing conception. Once this program is followed, after the fourth menstrual period—around 100 days—and six months after stopping birth control, a woman should find herself happily pregnant.
Balancing Qi During Pregnancy
A time of anticipation and excitement, pregnancy also brings radical changes to a woman’s body. In terms of qi, it is a time when her female energy, which is already yin, increases. To maintain her best health, she can learn to stabilize her qi by meditating, performing mild qigong breathing exercises, which are very beneficial for the unborn child, and adjusting her diet to become more nourishing.
Stress is an issue many women face during pregnancy as well, as the changes their bodies undergo begin to interrupt their regular schedules and routines, making the future changes a new child will bring all the more real. Meditation can help relieve this stress and is also beneficial for the liver and heart—the organs most closely related to pregnancy. When women learn to relax, their energy comes down and changes concentration in the lower dantian, or energy point. When people tell me they have trouble meditating, I tell them to start by concentrating on their nose.
Some women have strong immune systems, while others’ are weaker, making them vulnerable to colds. It’s also very easy for women to get high blood pressure during pregnancy, indicating blocked heat and stagnant blood. Still, if you’re pregnant, you just have to power through these complaints and avoid taking any medication if possible.
Acupuncture is a good way to treat morning sickness and edema, or swelling of the feet, ankles, and hands, which is a common complaint among pregnant women. Another good way to counteract the nausea of morning sickness is to practice all three qigong breathing exercises: Chest Breathing, Upper Stomach Breathing, and Lower Stomach Breathing (this page). These women should also eat soothing millet congee seasoned with fresh ginger.
Remember that having a healthy baby is the result of more than just healthy parents. Women must carefully protect the developing child throughout pregnancy by eating well, exercising, and maintaining other healthy habits, and the genetics of both parents’ families must also be taken into consideration.
Safeguarding the Pregnancy
Extreme stress during the early days of pregnancy can be an issue for women and a potential cause of miscarriage. This may be because when a woman became pregnant, her body’s immune system was already compromised in some way. Regardless of the cause, treatment for miscarriage should be on three levels: medical, exercise, and diet. The combination of food and exercise is always my first choice. Women should begin to eat more mindfully and practice qigong movements to help prevent problems in the future.
The body has memory. When a woman loses one baby to miscarriage, she may be susceptible to losing another unless her qi is restored and any lingering toxins eliminated. In addition to seeing a medical doctor, she should try to visit a qigong practitioner who is able to move her stagnant energy. In terms of diet, she should eat simple, nourishing soups and congees and do her best to avoid ginger, onions, cilantro, basil, and other very yang foods, as well as the herb dong quai.
One way to help prevent miscarriage is to practice the quick, effective Lower Stomach Breathing techniques on this page. When a woman is two months pregnant, she can begin doing this breathing movement, which isolates the lower abdominal area. This exercise is also helpful against breech births, where the baby is not in the proper head-down birth position. If an ultrasound reveals that the fetus is in a breech position, this type of mindful, directed breathing can be useful in turning the fetus around. It can take eight to twelve days to gradually turn a fetus back into position.
Giving Birth
By the time she’s six months pregnant, it’s best if a woman stops having sexual intercourse in order to protect her amniotic fluid, because when childbirth is imminent, the quality of her labor depends on the health and vitality of the amniotic fluid to act as a lubricant.
Women often ask me for advice about natural birth versus Caesarean section. I tell them that it is entirely their decision, because only they know what their priorities, plans, and expectations are. There are so many different circumstances: On one hand, natural birth is very good for the mother because that hard push of her internal energy relieves many toxins. On the other hand, scheduling a C-section allows for advance planning of delivery, and also allows the woman to make a decision about maintaining the integrity of her vaginal tissue, which is an issue for some. And sometimes the decision is out of your hands—emergency C-sections happen all the time.
According to Chinese medical tradition, remedies made from a healthy human placenta have great healing benefits for people who are weak from surgery, or who suffer from chronic fatigue. If a new mother chooses to eat a piece of placenta, it will help restore the energy she lost during childbirth. In rural China, no parents of a newborn would waste a healthy placenta—they’d sell it to the pharmacist to be made into a remedy.
Postpartum Health
In traditional Chinese medicine, maintaining the health of the mother for four months following delivery is crucial to her well-being for the rest of her life. She should protect her health with tonic soups, and stay out of cold temperatures including air conditioning and any wind that blows directly on her. It is very important that she cover her head to prevent heat loss when she goes outdoors in cold weather. Cold can go to her bones, and she may begin to suffer headaches and pains that she will not recover from until she has another child.
Traditionally, in China, after women give birth they eat dark sugar and sweet Chinese dates to relieve toxins and get rid of discharge. This small amount of sugar won’t cause weight gain, but simply helps the body heal. Ginger also helps release toxins by opening up the pores.
Dry brushing of the arms, legs, and torso using a dried loofah—Luffa aegyptiaca, a Chinese vegetable in the squash family, easily grown in your garden—or a firm but nonabrasive natural-bristle brush, stimulates detoxification of the lymph system, which in turn improves blood circulation. Before your morning shower, a quick, vigorous full-body brushing—in long strokes toward the heart, not scrubbing—restores energy and bolsters the immune system. It helps the hair as well as the lungs, skin, and liver.
Some women become depressed after giving birth because the liver, which may have too much dampness, is out of balance. That excess of damp energy is a major cause of depression. Postpartum depression can be very intense and even debilitating. Changes in diet can make a real difference. Pearl barley (or Job’s tears; see this page) is a beneficial yin grain to relieve dampness. Lentils and other beans are also recommended because they benefit the liver, kidneys, and heart. In addition, new mothers can protect their health with tonic soups; they should try to eat pork bone broth (this page) and soup made with free-range chicken. Bamboo shoots and tofu are also good to eat.
Diet is extremely important in helping women produce sufficient milk for breast-feeding. Feeding an infant this way reduces the mother’s chance of later getting breast cysts and cancer. In Chinese medical tradition, dietary recommendations for breast-feeding mothers are quite specific: they should eat “Seven Stars” broth—a restorative pork bone broth named for the constellation depicting the pattern on the underside of a pig’s hoof. It is also traditional to eat a broth made from white fish with bones, vinegar, bean sprouts, and lotus root. Papaya is a nutritious fruit believed to increase milk production in lactating women, as well as soothe indigestion and lubricate the lungs. Tofu is recommended for nursing mothers, as it stimulates the production of milk. It also improves the circulation of other bodily fluids and helps to reduce swelling.
Nurturing Healthy Babies
If a baby cries more than is normal, this is a signal to the nursing mother that she needs to change her diet. There are many reasons that a baby might cry on and on, but to me they all mean the infant is sick or uncomfortable in some way. The child could be too hot or too cold, or the mother might be eating too much salt or too much sugar. Mom may need to scale back and eat a more simplified, balanced diet.
If a child sleeps more during the day and not enough at night, the mother needs to eat more yang food, such as beef bone broth and ginger, and to avoid caffeine and chocolate. Sixteen to eighteen months of breast-feeding is generally enough for the baby, and also for Mom, because women don’t menstruate when they are lactating. After that much time without a menstrual period, a woman’s blood may stagnate since its toxins are not being released, which could result in further health problems.
Parents encounter many mysteries when they bring home a new baby. When they set up the child’s crib, they should try to situate it so the child sleeps facing east. Common complaints like cradle cap and diaper rash are easily addressed with natural products containing such soothing ingredients as coconut oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil.
To understand what’s going on with your baby’s qi, follow the time-honored method of diagnosis: look inside the diaper. Healthy babies will poop yellow. Dark orange means their qi is too hot and the mother needs to eat more yin food such as Chinese yam, lotus root and seeds, Chinese red dates, and cranberries, all of which are good for digestion. If the baby’s waste is green or black, they have a cold stomach, indicating digestion problems. This is often accompanied by high fever and stomach pain, and the mother needs more yang food such as dark brown sugar, chile pepper, and ginger to relieve those issues.
When a baby drools excessively, it may be that her kidneys are weak. When a child has a fever, unless it goes very high, it’s better to let them release the heat naturally: if parents give the child medicine, she is likely to stay sick longer.
It is culturally acceptable in many families I see to kiss an infant on the lips. Adults balance yin and yang energy by kissing others of the opposite sex, and we have strong enough immune systems to be able to do that safely, but it’s different with a baby. With infants’ new immune systems, a kiss on the lips exposes them to all sorts of foreign bacteria and viruses and can make them sick. In addition, adults who have recently drunk alcohol should never kiss a baby. Alcohol can make the baby sick—her liver cannot tolerate this first exposure to what may well become a familiar toxin in the future.
Feeding Healthy Children
When children are nine months old, they can begin to eat table food such as cooked carrots, broccoli, greens, and other vegetables. These nourishing vegetables help support babies’ growing immune systems. In a few years, when they’re old enough to feed themselves, these kids will be the ones who always want to eat vegetables.
At any age, it’s very important for parents to make sure their children’s meals are balanced, but very young children actually need more variety in their diet than adults do. Giving them fresh food of different colors with lots of different nutrients, what I call the 20 Ingredients a Day outlook on eating (see this page), is the best way to both strengthen their immune systems and also prepare them for a lifetime of understanding and enjoying a variety of foods. They benefit from a little salt, olive oil, garlic, seasonal vegetables, carrots and other root vegetables, daikon radish, beans, rice, bitter greens like kale and broccoli rabe with really strong fiber and calcium, a little bit of nuts, and protein-rich beans. For busy parents with fussy children, it’s easy to get into the rut of just serving them what they like. But children should eat the same healthy food their parents eat—if they’re hungry enough and no alternative is offered, eventually they’ll start eating the food you put before them.
In addition, I have observed that most kids who are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder eat a very limited diet and little or no high-fiber foods. I strongly believe overconsumption of poultry—chicken and/or turkey—is a possible explanation for hyperactivity in some children. Give them a little fish, tofu, or lamb instead. Unless it’s naturally raised, commercial chicken is full of growth hormones as well as antibiotics. At seven weeks, those chickens have outlandishly large bodies and their legs can barely support their massive bulk. Breaded chicken fingers are the food of choice for many finicky kids, and for busy parents it’s an easy option that they figure is at least a source of protein, but it’s not worth it in the end. In addition to the hormones and antibiotics, commercial fast food is usually loaded with preservatives, which are even worse.
Meditation really helps with behavior, but it can be challenging to get children to participate. One of the best ways to teach concentration and discipline to kids is to encourage them to study martial arts such as karate and kung fu.
For children, a varied whole foods–based diet is the foundation of lifelong health.
Stage 3: Perimenopause and Menopause
Forty-three is a good age to begin looking at how you can take the best care of your body for longevity. This is not an arbitrary number, but one based on the mid-eighties life expectancy of a woman in the Western world. That means eating a proper diet for your stage of life, and really moving your body several times a day through purposeful exercise that helps to balance qi and relieve toxic stress. This transition to a new phase of life is also a good time to consider making constructive changes in the routines you have followed for decades, and to examine and perhaps let go of habits that are not working so well for you anymore. The key is developing new healthful habits, and understanding why and how they will benefit you. When you are free of aches, pains, illness, and anxiety, life is good.
Optimum vitality for women of menopause age and beyond comes down, of course, to qi, that delicate balance of yin and yang. Chinese women are well aware that kidney yin deficiency will occur as they enter their forties. They learn from their mothers how to recognize the signals their bodies send, and what to eat to minimize these symptoms so they do not interfere with daily life. The quality of a woman’s menopause is greatly influenced by her earlier menstrual cycles. In general, it is true that if women experience an uncomfortable and difficult menopause, they probably experienced similarly disruptive periods during their reproductive years.
During menopause, women’s bodies begin to slow down the production of sufficient yin, or cold. The yang heat of menopause is trapped inside them and they need to bring it down, and learn how to balance it by following centuries of Chinese medical knowledge. Occasionally, some women at this stage of life can experience discomfort because they have the opposite problem: they are lacking in kidney yang energy. They are also in need of balance and must begin eating the right foods to nourish their bodies back to harmonic qi.
Women who thrive during menopause practice regular exercise. Whether they awaken and perform sun salutations or go for a brisk walk with their dog, those who start moving in the morning and continue to use their bodies throughout the day are the ones who experience easier menopause. Naturally, I tend to favor the qigong movements on this page for balancing and strengthening qi, but other forms of exercise are beneficial, too. Yoga, martial arts, tai chi, Pilates, or just working out at the gym—all of these contribute to longer life.
I must add that I have treated many women of this age who exercise too hard in a desperate effort to avoid aging. The truth is that women who exercise excessively might actually be doing themselves harm. They must trust their bodies to tell them how much physical movement is right for them at this age. You will know you are doing the right amount from the way it makes you feel. You should feel loose, energized, and balanced after exercise that gets your heart pumping. Exercise should not be painful, and you should not experience pain afterward except for some mild muscle soreness.
It’s essential for Western women to understand how to eat right for the healthiest qi. That includes becoming aware that at a certain age, you must try to match your body to your lifestyle and to the foods you can best digest. In addition to the essential cooked green vegetables every day, you need to be aware of how much of certain foods are best for you. Some thin women can eat lots of rice, bread, and other carbohydrates and stay healthy, while other women would gain weight from the same diet. It depends on your body type.
All human beings lose the ability to absorb protein as they get older. Their bodies require less of it, and as their kidneys weaken with age, they can no longer easily process protein. The kidney organ system, which influences both yin and yang, governs aging. It can weaken and become depleted of qi, or essential energy. The kidneys produce heat, and some women are always cold because the kidneys don’t have enough yang energy; their yin energy is too strong. In other women, their yang, or hot energy, may be too strong, and they always feel overheated.
Perimenopause
Western medicine distinguishes between pre-menopause (any time between a woman’s first and last period) and perimenopause, which usually begins when a woman is in her late thirties to early forties. When a woman begins to enter perimenopause, she can feel herself changing emotionally. It’s important to understand the mental shifts that may be taking place. For some, it is normal to experience a decrease in sexual interest. They may be experiencing irregular periods, or find intercourse less pleasurable or even painful because of vaginal dryness.
Night sweats, earaches, joint pain, and conditions like osteopenia may start as a result of deficient lymph liquid, weakening kidneys, and growing inability to process and absorb protein. In their early forties, many women experience eye floaters, often more than one, in their vision. These are a signal that the liver and kidneys have problems, but will disappear with time and when qi is properly balanced. Hair may get thinner and waistlines thicker. Emotions can flare. Age and stress take their toll on a woman’s kidney yin. She may begin to suffer from insomnia, or wake up in a nightgown soaked with sweat. In addition, the liver energy becomes stagnant.
With the kidneys naturally aging into weakness, the body is slowly losing its ability to produce hormones. This condition is known as kidney yin. The kidneys cannot process protein and cannot absorb nutrition. Fire rises up toward the heart. In traditional Chinese medicine, the kidneys are water. They balance your heart, which is fire. When the kidneys become weak, the rising fire makes you sweat at night. Night sweats indicate an irregular kidney condition: the organs cannot provide enough cold to balance internal qi. Yin, or cold, is the night. It is quiet. Yang is motion and daylight. In daytime, fire, or yang heat, starts, and if there is too much fire during the day, you cannot control it at night.
It is very easy for the kidneys to become weak. Drinking too much alcohol or taking prescription or illegal drugs further weakens the kidneys, leaving them unable to detoxify themselves. If your feet are swollen or you have dark circles under your eyes or puffy eyes in the morning, your liver and kidneys are trying to tell you they need help. There are some other complaints you may not think to associate with perimenopause, such as earaches, tenderness or pain in the knees, and other aches and pains. If you hear your joints cracking when you walk down a flight of stairs, that is a symptom of menopausal imbalance.
Issues in perimenopause may include heavy, frequent periods or late, less frequent periods. Women may find themselves getting upset and impatient. Their sleep quality may deteriorate and they may experience insomnia—either being unable to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep. They may begin having difficulties with personal relationships.
When a woman’s kidneys are really weak, she may feel as emotionally sensitive as she did when she was a young woman just starting puberty. To remedy this, she needs to maintain hormone production. By about age fifty-two, a woman’s ovaries begin to get dry, and they stop producing hormones. However, if the kidneys are strong, the ovaries will be strong. The ovaries totally stop working when the liver gets weak, digestion is weak, and the pancreas is weak. It is always my preference to use natural methods to cope with the symptoms of this time of life, so I may suggest acupuncture, specific herbal remedies, and exercise. It especially important for women to listen carefully to what their bodies are telling them. Perimenopause and menopause are natural and inevitable in a woman’s late forties and fifties, but early menopause can require treatment and cause issues with hormone production. If your ovaries become dry and stop producing hormones, the liver and spleen are severely out of balance.
It’s no myth that men in the same age group experience their own “change of life,” and the term “midlife crisis” evolved to describe the unease, both physical and emotional, that can affect men at this age. In my observation, this is a time when many marriages break up. Male “menopause” manifests itself from about age fifty and up. Men’s symptoms are generally less intense than women’s, but they are annoying nonetheless, and may include lack of patience, earaches, and profuse sweating in the pubic area, chest, and back of the neck. At the same time, men may find that their erection is diminished or that they cannot maintain it.
When I am asked about hormone replacement therapy by women who clearly need relief, I consider that they can’t sleep, sweat their way through frequent hot flashes, and have a tough time functioning mentally. They may be really suffering and need to give their bodies a break from the symptoms. If someone feels they need synthetic hormones, I tell them the most important thing is that they take these pills for as short a time as possible, ideally for less than a year, as there are other, more natural ways to restore balance, such as eating the right food and practicing qigong exercise.
Balance is not usually achieved by one thing, but is best attained through a combination of food, exercise—especially Lower Stomach Breathing (this page), done slowly and methodically—and, if necessary, some simple combinations of herbs and plant roots (see this page) that have been used to treat menopause symptoms for more than 2,000 years. In particular, women going through menopause should change their diet, and use this time of transition and change as an opportunity to balance their qi. As in other times of life, when you eat balanced food, you will feel better.
How Diet Can Help During Menopause
In China, the age at which women experience menopause has been getting later. The symptoms that typically started at age forty-three or forty-four now begin at forty-six or forty-seven. Some women there are still getting their periods at fifty-five. The foods most common in the average Asian diet, which is quite different from the standard Western diet, could be the reason for this disparity. Early and uncomfortable menopause is less of a concern for women who regularly eat cooked beans and tofu, foods that help reduce cholesterol and benefit the heart. In addition to including tofu in their meals, Asians also tend to eat more fermented foods and cooked green vegetables. As a result, their bodies are generally better able to absorb nutrients.
Women in this age group can get valuable protein from tofu and beans, which are cool and yin. There is such a great variety of dried beans available to us, including lentils, mung beans, black beans, red beans, and soybeans. They make a nourishing congee or rice bowl when combined with cooling whole grains such as pearl barley and millet and a few fresh vegetables. Soybeans contain a plant form of estrogen that can help balance hormones; soybean sprouts, in particular, contain many nutrients and are delicious in a stir-fry. However, you may be surprised to learn that soy milk should be avoided by women during menopause because the process used to make it changes the beans from yin to very yang.
I have noticed that many of the African American women I have treated tend to suffer fewer menopausal complaints due to weak kidney yin, because the traditional “soul food” way of eating regularly includes dried beans, cooked collards, and other dark leafy greens, as well as off-cuts of meat: animal tendons, bones, and organs. All these foods contain different substances that work in concert to help enhance women’s hormones and balance their qi.
If you’ve ever been to a dim sum restaurant, you’ve either tasted or strenuously avoided the ubiquitous dish of chicken feet. There is a reason that Chinese people eat them, and it’s not just because they’re inexpensive: there is great nutritional value in consuming the collagen and tissue found in animal tendons. People from Asian countries eat many soups made with tendons, chicken feet, and pig’s feet, as they believe that the collagen in a full-bodied broth—Vietnamese pho is a good example—acts as a kind of glue to maintain physical strength and support the bones. Right now in China, these “variety meats” cost more at the butcher shop than tender white meat because of their acknowledged nutritional value.
Many women are inclined to eat less meat during and after menopause, and that makes sense, since they do not need as much protein as they did previously. Meat, especially beef and chicken, is generally yang, or hot. Pork and seafood such as oysters, shrimp, and fresh fish are better, somewhat more yin and cooling choices for menopausal women, and they are also beneficial for kidney health. Bone broths can be made with pork or duck, and I also recommend a simple broth made by boiling clamshells or oyster shells in water to cover for 1 hour.
Plain foods are best at this time of life, but that doesn’t mean your choices have to be boring. Bitter vegetables such as eggplant and bitter melon, and the great variety of spring greens, including kale, mizuna, and mustard greens, have a cooling yin effect on the body and are fun to cook with. Daikon, celery, kale, mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables are other good choices, as is raw or cooked Chinese cabbage, especially for relieving hot flashes. Breakfast might be a porridge of sticky rice—a versatile, delicious variety of sweet rice—or the black rice sometimes marketed as “Forbidden” rice, but not jasmine rice nor brown rice, because they are yang and hot.
Lunch or dinner can be a delicious stir-fry made with lotus root, carrots, and daikon (this page) with peanuts added for protein and texture. Replace packaged snacks with little bags of crunchy dried fava beans, available at stores that specialize in Italian or Chinese food. They’re a good source of protein and are excellent for digestion. Chinese red dates make a great snack, too.
Women prone to night sweats and hot flashes would do well to avoid yang fruits like apricots, oranges, and lychee, which increase internal heat, in favor of pomegranate and grapefruit, which are yin (for other yin foods, see this page). As for dairy, so many women make a yogurt their breakfast or lunch. On the face of it, yogurt seems like a cooling food because it’s refrigerated, bland, and creamy, but don’t let that fool you: dairy products are yang and make interior heat worse.
Peanuts are good, as are walnuts, which are more yin and therefore more tonic for the kidneys. But soy foods, in particular yellow soybeans, are good for the spleen and stomach. Other dried legumes have particular benefits: White beans benefit the lungs, and black beans are good for the kidneys.
Chinese women who know how to take care of themselves according to ancient wisdom know that the kind of natural sugar found in fruits is not bad when eaten in small amounts because it allows them to keep a younger energy. (When women in their forties and fifties get acne, it can be caused by an imbalance in the lungs, spleen, or liver. Many older women have dry skin with no elasticity, indicating that their lungs and kidneys are weak.)
I always advise women to stay away from sweet snacks, desserts, ice cream, and candy, although small amounts of white sugar, which is yin, have a cooling effect on nervous menopause symptoms. Try occasionally stirring ½ teaspoon of white sugar into a cup of Darjeeling or other good black tea.
Herbal Relief During Menopause
Starting in perimenopause, I often recommend ba zhen wan tea pills (see this page). This classic blend of traditional herbs also goes by the name Women’s Eight Treasure or Female Treasure. These pills make the body feel younger by balancing different organs to help women better absorb nutrients from food, cool down heat, cut down on hot flashes, and produce more lubrication for sex.
Another formula known as Six Flavor Rehmanni, or liu wei di huang wan, is a tonic for the adrenal glands and kidneys. It helps prevent arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. I suggest it for women experiencing hot flashes during menopause. Women should consult a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine before they begin taking an herbal formula such as ba zhen wan or Six Flavor to address a particular issue. These blends are made from commonly used Chinese herbs, combined for centuries in tonics to treat women’s particular health concerns.
Symptoms and Solutions
As women grow older, many begin to experience aches, pains, and chronic conditions. Often they have no idea that their qi is out of balance and that that is contributing to their symptoms. Here are a few of the chronic conditions I frequently see in my mature female patients.
Migraines and Vertigo
There are all types of headaches, and they can be caused by a number of factors, from coffee to sugar to stress. Then there are migraines, which can be the bane of a woman’s existence at any age. Even those who have not experienced migraine probably know someone who suffers from occasional debilitating headaches and whose only relief from pain and nausea is a darkened room, complete quiet, and bed rest. Migraine sufferers cannot handle noise or light. This condition is not just an issue of the immune system but is often caused by an autoimmune deficiency, pointing to a qi imbalance in all the organs. There is already a problem somewhere else in the body, and stress makes it worse, producing the migraine.
The head is nourished by all the organs. In particular, from a qigong point of view, migraine can point to an imbalance in the liver. Some people are sensitive in that they eat something and get a headache right away because they cannot properly absorb nutrients and their hormones are already off balance. The worst things for migraine are chocolate, alcohol, hemp seeds, and soy foods. Sugar is a stimulant food: people get headaches and get sick from sugar because we can really only eat a little of it. The best things to eat to dispel the migraine chemical are black or red beans.
As with migraine, each woman’s vertigo can manifest itself differently. When I treat women suffering from chronic dizziness and nausea, I know my job is to balance all the organs because they are all dysfunctional. Seven to nine qigong acupressure treatments will usually remedy the condition. In addition, I suggest exercise and dietary changes for this condition.
Insomnia
Overwork, stress, and poor diet contribute to a woman’s inability to fall asleep or likelihood of regularly awakening after a few hours and being unable to fall back asleep. It is a common and frustrating complaint of pre-menopause and menopause caused by women’s diminishing yin energy and resulting irregular kidney.
Our Chinese ancestors found that yin/yang energy is universal energy: the sun is yang and up all day, while night is yin and darkness. In menopause, women’s kidneys are so weak that they cannot push up cool air at night to diminish their internal heat. That’s why they wake up in the middle of the night.
Insomnia is not a condition of menopause, but a symptom indicating that some organ is out of balance in your body. The woman who sleeps badly needs to tonify her kidneys by changing her diet and taking an herbal blend such as ba zhen wan. Introducing a daily bitter green to her diet can make a great difference. So can eating pearl barley congee or dried lychees, or drinking hot milk or clamshell broth. My qigong breathing exercises can also provide relief from insomnia. She may be surprised at how effectively this works once other sleep aids have been eliminated. Taking pharmaceutical pills to fall asleep quickly takes its toll on qi. Women who feel they need sleeping aids, or who depend on even natural ones like melatonin or valerian to fall asleep on a regular basis, can clear their systems of these medications in just 72 hours and then begin to enjoy sounder and more strengthening sleep.
Aches and Pains
Inflammation may be a side effect of menopause. Women in middle age may suffer from osteoporosis, kidney infection, and other conditions. For example, when they come to me with carpal tunnel syndrome, upon examination I usually receive information from their necks. They come to me with knee pain and heel spurs, and I know their blood is not circulating because their kidneys are weak, and their bodies are not absorbing nutrition, which slows down circulation.
Fluid from the lymphatic system feeds the blood, helping to detoxify the body. It helps sustain skin, joints, and muscles as it feeds ligaments and cartilage. Women around the age of menopause, whether they’re athletes or not, often become aware of their knees being sore, and perhaps making noise, when they walk down stairs. That cracking sound is an indication that the joints don’t have enough fluid, specifically lymphatic liquid. They need to do qigong exercises, eat raw vegetables, and drink a great deal of water, sometimes with lemon juice, which has alkalizing properties.
Bladder Issues
So often when women come to me complaining of lower back pain, their bladder and kidney qi is out of balance. A healthy bladder is connected to healthy kidneys. According to traditional Chinese medicine, the kidneys are yin and the bladder is yang. When women experience weak bladders, they are prone to urinary tract infections, which originate from kidney infections. My patients are often surprised when I explain how easy it is for them to contract bladder infections from a sex partner, and then the two of them just keep giving the infection back and forth to each other. So many chemicals can make it worse, too. Especially for older women, incontinence and bladder leaks indicate a weakness in the kidneys. Women should never douche—it can cause cystitis and completely disrupt their balanced bladder qi.
Hysterectomy and Tumors
I have treated many women of menopause age and beyond who tell me their gynecologists have recommended a full or partial hysterectomy to remove the uterus, perhaps because an abnormal Pap smear led to a further diagnosis of cervical cancer. While I always try to look for an alternative to surgery, I believe there are situations when it is important for women to undergo a hysterectomy. If, at age forty-five or fifty, they have a sizable fibroid tumor that’s causing bleeding or discomfort, it is not going to get better by itself, and I tell them it’s best to have the surgery.
Achieving Longevity
The best way to grow old is to be agile and vital, with balanced qi. When you see a group of elderly Chinese people in a park practicing fluid tai chi movements together, take a minute to observe how they move with ease as they balance their collective qi. This practice involves a profound awareness of their physical bodies. When women are unaware of what is happening in their bodies, their reactions of stress, fear, and dissatisfaction can further impact their health. When treating older women who have passed menopause, I often find that their liver energy is out of balance, and they have feelings of anger. I explain to them that anger comes from a damaged liver, and that anger, in turn, damages the liver—a vicious cycle. In extreme cases of liver qi imbalance, I occasionally see elderly women who are still experiencing hot flashes years after menopause. They need to change their diets and start eating dark green vegetables on a daily basis.
My advice for women’s health and happiness is really so simple: eat right, move your body, and develop a deeper awareness of what’s going on inside it, where your blockages are, and how you can work to put your qi in harmony. Regardless of how old they are, I advise all women that if they change their diets and eat only natural, whole foods, good health will follow. Nourishing food plays a crucial role in the development of girls, the well-being of women of childbearing age, and the vitality and resilience of women during and after menopause.
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Healthy menstruation is related to the quality and energy of a woman’s blood. That, in turn, is affected by the health of her liver and kidneys.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, coffee is extremely yang and makes the internal heat of menopause feel even more intense.
I say it over and over: if you eat only natural, whole foods and change your diet, your health will follow.