What if medicine is something that you live every day?

How we live our daily lives are directly linked to our wellbeing. What we eat, how me move and exercise, how we rest and sleep, and how we care for our emotions, are all aspects that determine the status of our health and well-being.

Chinese medicine nailed this thousands of years ago, being masters at observing human beings in relation to our inner and outer nature. It all matters in clinic when we need treatment for illness, and it all matters before illness. How well we adapt to nature around us, and how well we maintain our inner emotional life, are real causes of disease.

Our emotions can make us sick, and according to Chinese medicine most of our illnesses comes from within. Diet, lack of sleep and other factors contribute as well. But emotions are the major causes of disease. Grasp how big that is. And that it means that we hold the key to our own wellbeing in our own hands.

Yangsheng

Yangsheng can be translated as nourishment of life, and it´s a tradition of Chinese medicine that includes disease preventative living advice, by cultivating better health through four aspects. Diet, exercise, sleep, and emotional health.

Imagine a chair with four legs. That´s a balanced chair. Now, what happens if one, or more legs is out of balance? It becomes a chair we can´t lean on.

This is how we can view our health and the different parts of yangsheng, where each part of the nourishment of life tradition represents one leg of the chair, equally important for the chair to be balanced.

The four legs of yangsheng

Four aspects equally important for the overall balance of body, mind and soul:

Diet, sleep, exercise, and emotions.

How we eat is just as important as what we eat. Mindful eating is hugely important for our digestive system, since imbalances of your digestion will quickly affect all systems of the body.

Sleep is extremely important for good health and strong qi (energy), and how we use our qi during daytime will also affect the quality of our sleep.

Excessive emotions can be very harmful to our health. For example, excessive anger can lead to heart problems. Anxiety, fear or worry can deplete our qi and shorten our lives. Repression of emotions can be equally harmful.

Movement of the body should flow freely, like water, to prevent stagnation. If the body doesn’t move, qi will stagnate, and blood will not circulate. 

It´s the daily living that matters

Every single day we make choices. What to eat, what to think, who we spend time with, what we feed our minds with (music, tv, books, people), and what time we go to bed. It all matters. Health lies in the daily choices we make. Integrating acupressure, guasha, and other healing methods can make huge changes in how we feel. Headaches, period pain, joint pain, stressful emotions. We can change it.

Our bodies want to heal. We just need to provide the right circumstances for that to happen.

This website will become your guide on the way to health and well-being

Covering diet, sleep, emotions and movements in one article isn’t possible. Although, with many articles, as well as online and in person courses, taking charge of your own health is possible. Learning how to cultivate the four legs of yangsheng for a more balanced life, is possible. You don’t have to become an acupuncturist for that.

Welcome to @becomeyourowndoctor wellness website. Provider of tools for healthy living, according to Chinese medicine.