Acne

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

It can be pimples, whiteheads, red blemishes, and skin cysts on your face or body (especially chest and back). Most of the time acne occurs in youth. In adolescence, acne is related to hormonal changes. Oil glands secrete too much sebum, which clogs the pores. Also genetics, stress, cosmetics, and some medications can cause the problem.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

If your skin is inflamed with cysts or nodules, or there is no response to your self-treatment, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• If the acne is not broken yet, wash your face with warm or hot water and baby soap two times a day.
  • Make soap bubbles with warm water as much as possible in a basin. Use both hands to wash your face with these soap bubbles for one minute.
  • Use hot water from a shower (as hot as you feel comfortable) to rinse your face for 20 seconds. Meanwhile use your palm gently to pat your face. Then use warm water to rinse for another 20 seconds. Repeat this cycle three times.
  • Using a towel, gently press your face to absorb the water.
• Keep your diet free of greasy, spicy, fatty, and fried foods. Chinese medicine thinks those kinds of foods cause internal heat or damp toxin, which lead to acne. Eat more vegetables such as raw cucumbers, bitter melon, mushrooms, diakon radish, winter melons, celery, tomatoes, tofu, lotus, watermelon, and pears to get rid of heat in the body.
• Acne may be caused by an allergic reaction to certain food such as milk, eggs, pineapple, bananas, or mangoes. Try to find out if this is the case for you.
• Have regular bowel movements and avoid constipation.
• Get plenty of sleep. The metabolic process that removes excess oil from your skin works best between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. during sleep.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Don't pick at your face or squeeze the pimples.
• If possible, don't wear makeup. Otherwise, only use water-based makeup and remove all cosmetics before bedtime.
• If sweating a lot, don't immediately wash your face with cold water or walk into a room with an air conditioner.
• Avoid alcohol and smoking. Don't eat desserts with a lot of sugar or cream. Try to cut out dairy products. These all can cause acne or make it worse.
• Avoid emotional upsets and get plenty of rest to reduce stress and tension.

Folk Remedies

• Wash your face with warm water mixed with three drops of honey every evening. Gently massage pimples for five minutes. Let the skin absorb the honey. Wash again with clear, warm water.
• Apply one of the following options as mask. Do a skin test first. If you have an allergic reaction, stop using the mask.
  • Grind 1/2 oz. orange seeds (available in Chinese herb stores). Mix with an egg white to make a paste. Apply for 40 minutes. Wash mask off.
  • Smash a ripe tomato. Add 1 tsp. of oak powder and make a paste. Apply to the pimples. Wash off when the mask is dry.
  • Grind several Vitamin B6 tablets. Mix Vitamin B6 powder with water to make a paste. Apply to the acne for 40 minutes, once a day.
  • Slice fresh aloe vera. Use it to rub and knead the acne twice a day. If you have an allergic reaction stop using the mask. You can also try lemon instead of aloe vera.

Food Therapy

• Drink pearl barley soup:

  Ingredients: 2 oz. Chinese pearl barley, 1 tsp. sugar.

  Procedure: Add 3 cups of water to ingredients to make barley soup. Make and drink one batch a day for two weeks.

• Drink vegetable juice:

  Ingredients: 3 oz. celery, 1 tomato, 1 Asian pear, 1/4 lemon.

  Procedure: Remove the center from the pear. Put the rest of the pear and other ingredients in a juicer. Make and drink this juice once a day for two weeks.

• Eat mung bean and lily soup:

  Ingredients: 1 oz. mung beans, 1 oz. lily bulb (available in Chinese grocery stores), 1/4 oz. sugar.

  Procedure: Soak the mung beans in water overnight. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are soft. Add sugar for flavor and drink once a day for two weeks.

Chinese Massage

• Dry wash your face: Sitting with your eyes closed, rub two hands against each other until they are warm. Use four fingers to wipe your face from your forehead downward, to the lips, to the lower jaw, to underneath the ears, then circle back, upward to the temples. Do this 10 times, then repeat in the opposite direction.
• Choose the following and massage each point for one minute once a day.

  

• Gently press and knead the point located above the bridge of your nose halfway between the inner edges of each eyebrow (Ex).
• Gently press and knead the points on the cheek directly under the eye pupil and level with the low edge of the nostril (St3).
• Gently press and knead the points under the cheek-bone in line with the outer corner of the eye (Si18).
• Gently press and knead the point in the depression at the bottom of the skull, outside of the two big muscles on the neck, which you can feel by bending your neck forward, head down (Gb20).
• Gently press and knead the depression that is four finger-widths below the kneecap edge and one thumb-width outside of the shinbone (St36).

Chinese Herbs

• Use the patented herb Acne Getaway 101E. Follow the instructions.

Addiction

WHAT IS IT?

A bodily dependency on a substance of a bad habit such as nicotine or alcohol.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

• When you decide to quit your habit, if you feel you are strong enough, you can just stop the cigarettes or alcohol right away. Otherwise, you may go slowly to cut down the amount gradually.
• Tell your family and friends that you are quitting your bad habit. Let people keep an eye on you.
• You should first stay away from everything related to your bad habit.
• Keep yourself busy so your mind won't stray to thoughts of temptation.
• Practice Tai Chi. Let your mind follow the movement of your hands—let your mind follow your Qi (vital energy).

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Don't keep cigarettes or liquor at home. Don't go to a bar before you can control yourself.
• Refrain from talking to people when they are smoking or accompanying people on their cigarette breaks.

Folk Remedies

• Prepare a small piece of ginseng. When you are getting an urge to smoke, keep the ginseng between your lips and suck on it, telling yourself that this is good for your health. This may give you a sense of contentment.
• If you have an urge to have a cigarette, slowly sip a cup of warm water.

Food Therapy

• Eat radish to quit smoking: Shred 2 oz. of diakon radish into small pieces. Squeeze the excessive juice. Mix in 1 tsp. of sugar and let stand overnight. Eat them in the morning.
• Eat tofu with sugar to quit smoking: Get half box of tofu. Punch several holes in tofu and fill in with some brown sugar. Steam them until well done. Take 3 Tbs. when you have an urge to have a cigarette.
• Drink black sesame seed, mulberry, and rice soup to quit alcohol:

  Ingredients: 1 oz. black sesame seeds, 1 oz. mulberry, 1/4 oz. sugar, 1 oz. rice

  Procedure: Grind sesame seeds, mulberry, and rice into a fine powder. Add 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add sugar and divide into two portions. Eat twice daily.

Chinese Massage

When an urge strikes, use index fingers to massage your ears. First, start with the front area of ears, then the behind of ears, finally the interior folds. Repeat until the urge subsides.

Chinese Herbs

• Take zizyphus jujube granule, which is the kernel of a kind of wild date. Take 1 tsp. mixed with 1 cup of warm water and sip slowly three times a day. It relieves the anxiety of cigarette cravings. If you are trying to quit alcohol, take 1 tsp. of the powder three times a day or whenever the craving starts.
• Take pueraria root to quit alcohol. Mix 2 oz. of pueraria root powder with 1 cup of water. Simmer it on low heat to make a paste. Divide the paste into three portions. Take it three times a day.
• Drink herb tea to quit alcohol:

  Ingredients: 1/8 oz. hawthorn fruit, 1/8 oz. chrysanthemum flower, 1/8 oz. honeysuckle flower.

  Procedure: Add boiling water and cover with lid to steep for five minutes. Drink as tea.

Age Spots

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

They are flat, freckle-like patches that mostly show up on your face and back of your hands. They may be caused by too much exposure to sunlight and poor liver function.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CALL A DOCTOR?

To avoid skin cancer, if the freckle-like patches change size or color, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Wear a hat when outside. The hat should have a large brim to shield your face against the UV rays.
• Eat more vegetables and fruits, particularly onion. When cooking, use vegetable oil only.
• Drink plenty of water daily.
• Exercise regularly.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Reduce the intake of fat in your diet.

Folk Remedies

• Take rice vinegar: Every morning on an empty stomach, drink a mixture of 1 Tbs. of vinegar and 1 Tbs. of honey in 1 oz. of warm water.
• Cut lemon into very small chunks and rub the spots three times a day. The acid in the lemon can remove the superficial layer of skin.
• Apply aloe vera gel twice a day.
• Break a Vitamin E soft gel and apply it on your age spots once a day.

Food Therapy

• Eat white fungus with quail egg:

  Ingredients: 1 oz. Chinese white fungus, 1 quail egg, 30 ml Chinese cooking wine.

  Procedure: Soak white fungus in water for three hours. Boil the eggs until well done and peel. Place all ingredients in a pot with 1/2 cup water. Use low heat to simmer until they are very soft. Add salt and eat one batch once a day for two weeks.

• Drink ginger with honey:

  Ingredients: 3 slices ginger, 1 tsp. honey.

  Procedure: Shed ginger into thin pieces. Steep in boiled water for 10 minutes. Add honey. Drink once a day for three weeks.

Chinese Massage

• Pat the back of your hand: Use your right palm to gently pat the back of your left hand until it is slightly red. Change hands to pat the other hand. Do it twice a day for a prolonged period.
• Rub your palms against each other until they are warm and then rub the affected areas, massaging the afdfected areas until you feel warm. Do this twice a day.

Chinese Herbs

• Drink fleece flower root tea.

  Ingredients: 1/2 oz. processed fleece flower root, water.

  Procedure: Cut the fleece flower root into small pieces. Soak them in a coffee maker with boiled water for four to eight hours until the color becomes brownish red. Drink it as tea. When the water is depleted, add more boiled water into the coffee maker to continue drinking, until the color of the tea becomes lighter. Drink for a month.

Anxiety

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

Anxiety encompasses a broad field of emotional disorders such as panic attacks and phobias. Experts believe both underlying biological and psychological issues can cause the problem. The symptoms are insomnia, excessive tension, and nervousness. Here we will focus on treatments targeting the psychological roots, such as prolonged periods of stress.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CALL A DOCTOR?

If you experience persistent anxiety, or if you feel the symptoms are changing your life, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Exercise regularly, such as practicing Tai Chi.
• Eat calcium-rich and amino acid-rich foods such as milk, bean products, fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, bananas, or dates. Calcium and amino acid can help to calm you down.
• Be sure to sleep well.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Do not suppress or hide your worries and fears. Talk to family members or friends you can trust about your worries and the injustices you have suffered. Emotional release is a good, natural necessity in mental health. When you share them, the toxicity disappears.
• Don't eat spicy food such as onions, ginger, and peppers. In Chinese medical theory, anxiety is caused by internal fire. The spicy food could ignite the fire.

Folk Remedies

• When you are experiencing anxiousness, use “aroma therapy.”
  • Put freshly peeled skins of your favorite fruit in a bottle with a big opening. Breathe slowly and deeply into the bottle.
  • Buy enough dried white chrysanthemum from a Chinese herb store to fill a 4 × 6-inch cotton fabric bag. Breathe slowly and deeply into the bag. Use bag until the aroma disappears.
  • Rub two drops of lavender oil on the hair above your forehead. The aroma of lavender oil has calming effects on the nervous system.
• Use a wood comb gently to brush your head (hair) from the forehead to the back of your head, from the center to both sides. Use adequate force. Do this for three minutes once a day. The tip of the comb should not be sharp.
• Treating your feet can moderate your autonomic nerve, which plays a very important role in your anxiety.
  • Soak your feet in hot water (as hot as you feel comfortable) for 20 minutes every day. If the water reaches your calf, you can get a better result. After soaking, rotate your ankles 20 times, one after another. Use your hand to rotate each toe clockwise 20 times, then counter clockwise 20 times. Meanwhile repeatedly, silently talk to yourself “calm down, calm down.”
  • Use a soft brush to brush your soles for five minutes. Pay special attention to the point below the ball of the foot in the center, about a third of the distance between the toes and the heel. Before brushing, apply some cream to protect your skin.
  • Use an empty plastic soft drink bottle to pat your bare foot (the top, the sole, and both sides) for three minutes. Keep your knock rhythmically about three times per second. Tap each location about 30 times.
• Massage your ears: Sit on a chair. Use the thumb and the outside of the index finger to grab your ear and pull in different directions (upwards, downwards, horizontally) for 30 seconds. Grab another location and repeat the same procedure. Meanwhile deeply and slowly inhale and exhale.

Qi Gong

• In the evening when the moon has just risen, stand facing the moon in a quiet backyard. Place your feet shoulder width apart. Raise your hands to the moon with the palms up, as to hug the moon. Place your tongue against the palate. Breath naturally. Inhale and visualize the essence of the moon coming down to your palms. Place one hand on the top of the head. Overlap with the other palm. Close your eyes. Imagine the essence of the moon pouring into your body from the vertex. Exhale. Repeat this five times. In Chinese medicine the sun is Yang and the moon is Yin. Anxiety is the imbalance of Yin and Yang with hyperactivity of Yang. The Yin essence of the moon will help the balance in your body.
• River of harmonious spirit:
  • Lie down comfortably in a quiet room, and take several deep breaths. Close your eyes and breathe naturally.
  • Say to yourself “My head is relaxed, my face is relaxed, my neck is relaxed, my shoulders are relaxed, my arms are relaxed, my hands are relaxed, my fingers are relaxed, my chest is relaxed, my abdomen is relaxed, my legs are relaxed, my feet are relaxed, my toes are relaxed, my whole body is totally relaxed.”
  • Imagine a river flowing from the top center of your head down to your chest, stomach, and abdomen. Then the river divides into two streams that flow into each leg and come out from the soles of your feet. It flows away from you, flows on, becomes smaller and smaller, and finally disappears. Meanwhile, think of your worries and fear flowing along with this river, leaving you forever. Repeat this visualization once a day.

Chinese Massage

See Depression section.

Chinese Herbs

• Take the patent herb Dan Zhi Xiao Yao Wan. Follow the instructions.

Arthritis

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

It is a general term for inflammation of the joints resulting in pain, stiffness and swelling in joints. It is a symptom of various diseases. Here we only introduce two kinds of the most common arthritis.

• Osteoarthritis: an age-related degeneration of cartilage in the joints.
• Rheumatoid arthritis: inflammation of the synovial membrane, which consists of lubricating fluid that protects the joints.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

If you have newly developed joint stiffness, swelling, or redness, see your doctor for a diagnosis.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Eating a well-balanced diet and drinking enough water are essential. Eat more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, tuna, and sardines. From a Chinese medicine point of view, you need to eat more foods with tendons such as beef, chicken wing, or pig's feet.
• Exercise regularly: swimming, walking, dancing, and practicing Tai Chi.
• Take enough Vitamin C, D, E, omega-3s, fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for osteoarthritis.
• Control your weight.
• Take a mud bath, sand bath, or have hydrotherapy.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Avoid exposure to cold and damp conditions. Never sleep directly on the ground or sit on a rock for a long time. Avoid getting caught in the rain. If you do get caught, change your clothes immediately. Keep your home warm and dry.
• Avoid fatty or fried food. Avoid alcohol. Do not eat cold, raw food. Eat fewer lemons and oranges. Don't eat too many sweets.

Folk Remedies

• Wearing polyester underwear may provide some relief for joint pain, because of the static electricity effect.
• If your joint is not red and swollen, steam with vinegar:

  Ingredients: 300 ml rice vinegar, half a brick.

  Procedure: Place the brick in an oven or fireplace to warm it until it becomes hot. Dip a piece of gauze in vinegar and wrap it on the affected joint. Soak the brick in vinegar and place it about one foot beneath your joint. Steam for five minutes. Move your joint closer to the brick according to its temperature. Be careful with the hot brick.

• If your joint is not red and swollen, apply fennel with salt:

  Ingredients: 2 oz. fennel fruit, 8 oz. salt.

  Procedure: Stir-fry fennel and salt in a pan until very hot. Wrap them in a cotton-based fabric. Apply the fennel and salt pack to the painful spot for one hour, twice a day for five days. Make a new pack for each application. Be careful with the heated salt.

• If your joint is not red and swollen, apply cooked rice and salt:

  Ingredients: 4 portions cooked rice, 1 portion salt.

  Procedure: Mix rice with salt well. Place ingredients in a bowl and steam for two or three minutes. Wait until the temperature cools down to the point your skin feels comfortably warm. Wrap ingredients with cotton-based fabric. Apply it to the affected joint for one hour. Reheat if necessary. Do it once a day for five days.

• If your joint is not red and swollen, apply ginger: Place 1 oz. of ginger into a juicer. Add to 1/2 cup of hot water to make ginger juice. Dip a piece of gauze in it and squeeze to dry. Apply to your painful spot. Repeat it two or three times a day. If you have an allergic reaction stop.
• If your joint is not red and swollen, rub vinegar with green onion:

  Ingredients: 500 ml rice vinegar, 1 lb green onion.

  Procedure: Slice green onion into 1-inch long pieces and place in a pot with vinegar. Bring to a boil. Wait until as hot as you feel comfortable. Dip with gauze to rub and wash the painful spots for 10 to 30 minutes. Reheat vinegar if necessary. Do a skin test first, if you have an allergic reaction, discontinue use.

Food Therapy

• If your joint is red and swollen, eat more tofu, pears, and mung beans. But do not eat pepper, cinnamon, ginger, or wine.
• If you have a painful and cold joint and an aversion to cold, eat lamb, ginger, papaya, or herb wine. Do not eat watermelon, kelp, pears, or mung beans.
• If you have a deformed joint and atrophic muscles, eat more chicken, neck bones, turtle, walnuts, or black sesame seeds.

Chinese Massage

Choose any combination of the following you feel comfortable with and do it once a day. If your joint is still hot and swollen, don't massage it.

• Gently press, knead, rub, and pat your painful spot for two minutes. According to the location of the pain, choose corresponding points to massage.

  

• If your finger or wrist is in pain, gently press and knead the point right in the depression where the wrist line meets the line from the ring finger, when the wrist is flexed slightly upward, for two minutes (Te4). Use your index finger to gently press the point on the forearm that is two thumb-widths below the crease of the elbow, in line with the thumb, for two minutes (Li10).
• If your elbow is in pain, gently press and knead Li10 (as previously) and the point at the end of the crease on the top of the elbow joint, with the arm folded across the chest, for two minutes (Li11).
• If your ankle is in pain, use your thumb to gently press the point in the middle of the front ankle crease, level with the anklebone, for two minutes (St41). Gently press the point on the inside of the ankle, one thumb-width below the tip of the anklebone, for two minutes (Ki6).
• If your knee is in pain, use your thumb to gently press the point on the outside of the leg, under the kneecap edge in the depression below the two lower leg bones' meeting point (Gb34). Gently press and knead both dents right below the kneecap at the inner and outside of the ligament with the knee bent for two minutes. Use both palms to rub the knee joint until it becomes warm.
• If your shoulders are in pain, knead and grasp the point on the top of the shoulder in the front depression (formed when you raise your arm parallel to the ground) for two minutes (Li15). Gently press and knead the point in the depression at the bottom of the skull, outside of the two big muscles on the neck, which you can feel by bending your neck forward, for two minutes (Gb20).
• If your hip joint is in pain, ask someone else to gently press and knead the back of the leg from the midpoint of the crease right below the buttock of the painful side (Bl36) down to the middle of the calf for two minutes (Bl57).

Chinese Herbs

• Take the patent herb Du Huo Ji Sheng Wan. Follow the instructions.
• If your joint is not red and swollen, apply a heating patch with herb, called Chinese Moxibustion. Follow the instructions.

Asthma

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

It is a chronic lung disease that occurs when the bronchial tubes, which bring air into your lungs, become inflamed. Typical symptoms are shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing with phlegm, a suffocated feeling, and tightness in the chest.

Most asthma attacks are an over-reactive response to certain external triggers such as pollen, chemical, mold, smoke, viral respiratory infections, and activity. Asthma can also be caused by intrinsic conditions such as bronchitis or stressful emotion.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

If you have any kind of breathing problem for the first time, or you are taking prescription medication for asthma but the symptoms are getting worse, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Keep a diary to find the triggers and then avoid them.
• Drink coffee or warm water, which may widen your air channel.
• Eat Vitamin C-rich and calcium-rich food such as pumpkin, dates, oranges, tomatoes, green peppers, and tofu. From Chinese medicine's point of view, eat lotus seeds, chestnuts, Chinese yam, black beans, walnuts, pears, lily bulb, lamb, and Chinese white fungus.
• Control your emotions. Research shows 30 percent of asthma is caused by psychological factors such as anger, depression, or anxiety.
• Exercising every day is very important. Swimming is the best exercise for asthma. Qi Gong can make bronchus more relaxed. Walking one mile a day is good for your heart and lungs. Take 20 minutes to walk a half mile first. Rest five minutes. Then walk another 20 minutes back to your home. Gradually increase the distance.
• Singing can help to relieve asthma because you have to use abdominal breathing instead of thoracic breathing. Abdominal breathing can increase vital capacity and reduce the pressure of lung.
• Beginning in the summer, use cold water to wash your face. Gradually advance to taking a short cold shower, if you can.
• If the doctor prescribed an inhaler for you, keep it with you all the time.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Do not smoke or drink alcohol.
• Reduce intake of salty food. Eliminate shrimp, crab, clams, and fish. For some people, seafood triggers an attack.

Folk Remedies

• Garlic helps you to fight asthma:
  • Eat garlic with sugar: Peel 1 lb. of garlic. Place bulbs in a pot with 1/2 lb. of crystal sugar. Add water to cover all. Bring to a boil and simmer until it looks like thick soup. Store in a jar. Drink 1 Tbs. twice a day. Stop if the garlic makes your stomach uncomfortable.
  • Smell garlic: Pound two cloves of garlic to paste and store in a small bottle. Smell it three times a day. Change the garlic every day.

Food Therapy

• Eat sugar with vinegar:

  Ingredients: 1 lb. sugar, 500 ml rice vinegar.

  Procedure: Place the sugar in a pot, add vinegar, and boil until sugar is dissolved. Store in a bottle. Take 10 ml two times a day. Follow by brushing your teeth.

• Eat pear with brown sugar: Remove the center of the pear and fill in with brown sugar. Steam until the sugar becomes sticky. Eat all while still warm.
• Take egg with green tea:

  Ingredients: 1/2 oz. green tea leaves, 2 eggs.

  Procedure: Place whole eggs and tea leaves in a pot with 2 cups of water. Cook until egg is well done. Peel shell off. Return eggs back to pot and continue to cook on low heat until all water is gone. Eat one egg a day.

• Eat black sesame seeds and walnuts with honey:

  Ingredients: 3 oz. black sesame seeds, 8 oz. walnuts, 100 ml honey.

  Procedure: Stir-fry walnuts and sesame seeds lightly on low heat. Smash walnuts into small pieces. Put walnuts, sesame seeds, and honey into a bowl with one cup of water. Stir well. Steam for 20 minutes. Eat 1 Tbs. at a time twice a day.

Chinese Massage

Choose the following and massage once a day:

• Use one thumb to gently press and knead the point on the pad of the thumb two finger-widths from the wrist, on the borderline between the dark and light skin, until you have a sensation of soreness and distention (Lu10). Change hands to do other side.
• Use your middle finger to gently press the dip between the collarbones above the breastbone for two minutes (Cv22). Meanwhile, use another middle finger to gently press the point right in the middle of the nipples for men, and between fourth and fifth ribs on the midline for women (Cv17).
• Use your middle fingers to gently press and knead the points on either side of the big bone at the base of the neck on the back for two minutes (Asthma point).
• If you have a lot of phlegm, gently press and knead the point on the outside edge of the leg bone, halfway between the tip of the anklebone and the middle of the kneecap for one minute (St40).

  

• If you feel suffocated and short of breath, gently press the point right in the middle between the nipples for men, and between fourth and fifth ribs on the midline for women (Cv17). Do this for one minute.
• With your thumb against the index finger, use your other thumb to gently press the webbing where it bulges up the highest for one minute (Li4).
• Gently press the point located two finger-widths up from the wrist crease, on the inside of the forearm, in line with the thumb for one minute (Lu7).
• Use your thumb and fingers to gently, rhythmically, slowly grasp and release the front muscles of the neck along the trachea for one minute.

Qi Gong

• Stand in a quiet room, relax, and breathe naturally. Tap the upper and lower teeth together 36 times, stir the saliva inside the mouth with the tongue, and swallow the saliva.
• Imagine warm white air flowing into your lungs as you inhale deeply. Send the air slowly through the lungs down to the area two finger-widths below the belly button. Repeat this nine times.
• Place both palms on your chest. Inhale slowly. When you exhale, pronounce “sch.” Meanwhile rub your chest with both palms from top to bottom. Repeat this six times.
• Sit on the ground with the legs naturally crossed. With your hands, press the ground on either side of your body, throw out your chest to inhale, pause awhile, then arc your back forward and draw in the chest to exhale. Repeat this six times.
• Sit in the lotus position. Place your palms on the knees. First twist to the left four times, then twist to the right four times. Inhale when you are turning to the left or right; exhale when you turn back.

Chinese Herbs

• Take 1/8 oz. of earthworm powder at a time, twice a day.
• Take herb with honey:

  Ingredients: 1/4 oz. tendrilled fritillary bulb, 15 ml honey.

  Procedure: Smash herb into small pieces. Add 2 cups of water and herbs to pot and cook for 30 minutes on low heat. Mix the decoction with honey. Drink once a day.