(Episode 42) 3 Strategies to Find Your Center in Trying Times

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what will you do to ground and recenter yourself in these transitional times?

Getting grounded is essential during periods of global and personal transition. While people often rely on deeper cultivational practices like meditation, it can turn into a way to escape reality rather than getting centered within the body. However, there are also ways to ground the self without drifting away from reality. 

In this episode, we explore three key strategies to find your center during transitional times, regardless of external circumstances. 

Tip #1: Improve your Gut Health

Getting grounded is related to the Earth element in Chinese Medicine, which rules over all transitions. As the central element in the Five Element system of Chinese Medicine, it is the core of your being and the center of your health. 

Your home is your Earth, the kitchen is the Earth of your home, and the digestive system is the Earth of your physical body.

Therefore, gut health is fundamental to centering yourself, achieving clarity of mind, and focusing on your life purpose. 

There is a bidirectional communication between the brain and the digestive system, meaning that digestive upset can disrupt and decenter the self and impact mental health. What you eat affects how you think, and what you think affects how you digest. 

In response to stress, it’s common for people to either lose their appetite or feel the urge to stress eat. In Chinese Medicine, loss of appetite during stressful times is related to Spleen deficiency. This results in weakened enzymatic activity, and those with a Spleen deficiency may have soft stools, indicating that they are not assimilating or absorbing what they’re eating. 

Eating smaller meals more frequently, as well as adding protein to your diet, can help stabilize blood sugar. Furthermore, those with a Spleen deficiency should consume soft foods that are more easily digestible, such as congee, soups, and stews. 

A raw food diet might be harmful to those with weakened enzymatic activity, as raw foods can be difficult to digest for those with weak Spleens. In Episode 10 of the podcast, we delve further into the reasons why smoothies and salads can actually impede weight loss and damage gut health.

For those who respond to anxiety by stress eating, the Liver creates heat in the Stomach that causes hunger to flare. A Cooling diet is recommended to balance out excess Stomach heat. Those with excess heat in the Stomach, Spleen, and Liver may experience high blood pressure, fat accumulation around the waist and hips, and high blood sugar. One way to treat this excess state is to try intermittent fasting, or fasting for longer periods of 12 to 16 hours. 

Nourishing the gut microbiome is also essential, and this can be achieved by getting adequate probiotics, which build up the microbiome, as well as prebiotics, which help the microbiome accumulate in the gut. Digestive enzymes help take care of the gut microbiome, and we recommend our prebiotic/probiotic combo, Ultra Pro SFO, and our digestive enzyme, Digestion Ease, which aid and improve gut health. Both are available for purchase here, and you can read more information about them here.

Tip #2: Anchor your Qi

If you have good gut health, energy can be drawn into the lower part of the body, the domain of the Kidneys. In Chinese Medicine, the Kidneys are related to the Water element, which can control and balance out the Fire element in the body. The Water of the Kidneys cools the Fire of Heart, which flares up when you experience anxiety and insomnia.

The Pericardium is the part of the body that holds past traumas, which can create chest constructions and Liver issues. It’s important to make sure the Liver is regulating Qi properly, and the diaphragm has to be relaxed and open so that the chest can communicate with the lower body and the Kidneys. 

In addition, the Water element starts to decline during menopause and andropause, which can cause an increase in Fire. This flaring results in sudden and severe states of anxiety, as well as a rush of Qi into the throat and chest. Opening up the Heart and chest by breathing deeply can anchor the chest and recenter the body. 

Nourishing the Heart-Kidney connection is also important for mental and physical health. By drawing the love from the Heart lower down in the body, love can be returned to the self. If you don’t love yourself, it’s difficult to extend love to the outside world. Establishing the Heart-Kidney connection cultivates a sense of purpose, fostering your desire to live out your destiny and potential.

Your sense of purpose is located in the Water of the Kidneys. If you are unsure of your purpose, it’s important to remember that everyone has a purpose. Everyone is brought into the world at this time for a purpose, and your mission is to connect the Heart and the Kidneys so that the Heart can help you express and foster that purpose. 

Our energy is mirrored by the world, whether it’s frenetic or placid. Remaining present in the moment is healing, along with simply being in your power and doing activities that you enjoy. 

Tip #3: Return to the Essence of Yin & Yang

When tension is held in the body, check for freedom of movement in the Three Rings. The First Ring is around the collar (neck, shoulders, scapula), the Second Ring is around the intercostal ribs, and the Third Ring is around the pelvis. 

Yoga and Qigong practices help open up these three rings, improving rotation and circulation between the Heart and Kidneys. Click here to access a Yin Yoga Integration to help you let go of stress and anxiety.

In addition, returning to the essence of Yin and Yang improves the circulation of energy throughout the entire body and its internal systems. Firstly, there is the Ren Meridian, also known as the conception vessel, which begins in the perineum and runs up the front of the body along the central channel. Secondly, there is the Du Meridian, also known as the governing vessel, which begins at the tip of the coccyx and runs up the spine through the back of the body. Touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth connects these two channels. 

The Microcosmic Orbit meditation, and the more advanced Macrocosmic Orbit meditation, are Daoist meditations that improve energy circulation through both of these channels. As you practice them, your capacity to visualize will expand, your physical tension will be released, and your Third Eye will begin to open, enhancing focus, intuition, and clarity. These two audio guides are introductions to the meditations, providing a safe way to explore and integrate them into your life. They are available for purchase here. 

Another way to ground the self is to lay on the earth or sit on the ground, drawing impurities out of the system through connection with the earth. One simple way to do this is to step outside wherever there’s grass or dirt, creating a direct connection.

Stones can also provide the longest lasting and deepest form of healing. One example of a stone that can help anchor the self is hematite, which can be worn as a necklace or a bracelet to help with high blood pressure and to warm up the Qi. Hematite has an affinity with the pericardium, which is the storage center for built-up negative energy. Therefore, in times of anxiety and stress, it can ground and settle your energy. 

Fluorite is another stone that dissipates negative energy. It can be placed at the front of the home or inside a room, allowing the energy of the home to feel more safe and settled. It also helps calm chaotic Qi and scattered thoughts. Different colors of fluorite have different uses and target different areas. If you’re not sure which color of fluorite to use, it may be most useful to buy a multicolored fluorite. We encourage you to experiment with stones, as well as with the three tips above, as you explore and find your path toward groundedness and healing. 

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From Surviving to Thriving (FSTT) is a 6-week online program designed to increase focus, clarity and calm so you can thrive — even in the most challenging and turbulent times. You’ll learn tools and practices rooted in the ancient wisdom of Classical Chinese Medicine, Yoga and Daoism integrated with modern, cutting-edge research in biology, psychology and neuroscience.

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The Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbit Meditations help to circulate energy throughout your body through the primary source channels of Yin and Yang, known as the Du and Ren Meridians, which are also the Fire and Water pathways of the body. In this way, these meditations also connect the Fire and Water energies, cultivating Heart-Kidney communication, which helps you realize and live out your life purpose. To access these meditations, click the button below:

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(Episode 20) What is Qi? Interview with Ann Cecil-Sterman (Part 1 of 2)

by Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. & Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what does Qi mean to you? 

Our guest today is Ann Cecil-Sterman — a dear friend, colleague and mentor. Cecil-Sterman is a pioneer in the field of Classical Chinese Medicine and the author of the highly acclaimed books The Art of Pulse Diagnosis and Advanced Acupuncture: A Clinic Manual — a required textbook in most acupuncture schools in the United States and the first and only text with a complete and unique protocols for the complement channels.

Ann Cecil-Sterman has also taught the application and methodology of the complement channels, The Art of Pulse Diagnosis, Use of Food as Medicine throughout the world. A longtime student of  Dr. Jeffrey Yuen, Cecil-Sterman was also the director of the Classical Wellness Center in Manhattan, New York where she practiced and taught Classical Chinese Medicine. 

Ann Cecil-Sterman earned her Bachelor and Masters degree in Music from the University of Melbourne. As a professionally trained flautist, Cecil-Sterman has recorded and performed music for over a decade. In addition to a career in music, Cecil-Sterman has also performed in many broadways across the world. She credits her success in music to her master teachers, who have been a guiding force in her career. 

Cecil-Sterman was introduced to Acupuncture at a young age since her parents were proponents of alternative medicine. After moving to the United States with a desire to start a family, Cecil-Sterman experienced the power of acupuncture during a difficult miscarriage that left her wanting to learn more about the practice.

She soon joined Swedish Institute Acupuncture School (closed in 2011) where she had extensive training beyond the primary channels of acupuncture. She has since worked toward expanding the field of acupuncture by training and teaching practitioners and help widen their scope of practice. 

Acupuncture & the Concept of Qi 

In Chinese philosophy, Qi translates to “air” or “atmosphere” to emphasize the fact that Qi cannot be measured. Cecil-Sterman believes that since Qi is primarily what acupuncturists work with, it’s impossible to gather empirical evidence in acupuncture. 

Although Qi is often used in conjunction with organs or entities i.e., liver Qi or mind Qi, it simply stems from our human tendency to organize and label ideas and things around us. 

Qi is so embedded into our existence that it’s being theorized as the guiding force of life. In other words, the force that directs DNA to essentially synthesize proteins necessary to develop an organism such as a human being. 

In Western medicine, similar theories have been introduced such as the concept of morphic resonance, or morphogenetic field, by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake.

The concept of morphogenetic field mirrors the concept of Qi because it accounts for and explains behavior that could only be transmitted through a network of consciousness. For instance, an experiment by scientists tested whether the practice of washing potatoes by Japanese macaques before consumption could be transmitted to future generations or to other groups of monkeys in nearby islands. To their surprise, the practice of washing potatoes was observed in nearby islands of monkeys even though the two groups did not have any contact. This behavior could be explained by the morphogenetic field or Qi as the network of consciousness that connected the two groups to learn the behavior without initiating contact. 

Stay tuned for part two of our interview with Ann Cecil-Sterman where you’ll learn how Qi applies to the cultivation of wellness within the context of digestion, immunity and nutrition. 

References

Ann Cecil-Sterman’s website: https://anncecilsterman.com/

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