Elemental Health LLC

medicine for body, mind, and spirit

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Earth

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I’ve been reflecting recently on what it was like for me to learn Chinese Medicine in midlife years.  I recall wanting so desperately to understand the concepts, to make them fit in the scaffolding of my views of and beliefs about the world.  Some of them did, and many of them did not.  Chinese Medical philosophy has some…  Continue Reading →

Metal in this Moment

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I have been most engaged this past week in the work and challenge of the metal element. I’ve been reflecting on both the physical and spiritual manifestations of metal through the lens of Chinese Medicine and also through the language of Christian narrative which hearkens us to hear about the pearl of great price and…  Continue Reading →

Autumn Practice

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The letting go has begun. This is my take on autumn. When the chlorophyll that has washed over the bright and patina shades of red and gold and brown take their leave and the trees demonstrate a glorious dance and twirl of letting go. Autumn is the time of paying attention. It is the point…  Continue Reading →

Summer Loving

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Yesterday I went berry picking. It was a sunny breezy day after heavy rains and the berries were plump and relatively untouched by critters and bugs and summer’s dank heat. The flora and fauna were lush enough to give me pause as I trailed along in shorts and hiking boots vigilant for the poison ivy…  Continue Reading →

Easter Came Early at Haywood Street

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Easter worship this morning at First Presbyterian in Asheville was pretty spectacular. The music, the liturgy, the message and the visual pageantry combined to create an inspiring celebration of God’s love for all of us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But it was my second Easter Sunday worship…last Wednesday was the first….  Continue Reading →

The Search for Meaning

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In a recent interview in The Sun Magazine*, Jacob Needleman tells the story of his 1957 encounter with Zen Master D.T. Suzuki. Needleman was just finishing his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Harvard and had become interested in Zen Buddhism. He heard that Suzuki was visiting New York and he managed to arrange a visit…  Continue Reading →

Yin Time

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  A foundational principle of Chinese Medicine is balance. Specifically balance between yin and yang. Yang is life force, movement, action, activity. It is light, ephemeral, intangible. Yang is what moves the leaves in a breeze, it is the spark that awakens us from slumber.   Yang is summer, hot, bright, open. Yang reaches to…  Continue Reading →

What it is…

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In my current field of study, the Holy Spirit’s work and evidence might be termed Qi. In Daoist thinking, all is qi. It is as if Creation itself and what creates it is all qi. Everything is qi, has qi, contains qi, gives qi. Qi is energy, flow, force.

She told stories of various things that had happened to her in years of practice. Giggles, tears, breathing, chattering, silence, even the occasional whoo! of a patient.

“It’s all qi” she said. Everything is qi. Just remember that.

Heart

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My nephew picks up his shoes and ceremonially takes them to the kitchen sink, in which he drops them with wild giggles.  He is a full on heart song at times like this.  He is a kid with that kind of spirit that can crack one’s heart open. I’m vaguely aware that this week is…  Continue Reading →

water- wood- moon moments

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I last left these pages in October, writing about Fire.  This afternoon we saw one, blazing across the seagrasses toward our view, lapping its orange flames against our boardwalk, encroaching with gusts of wind and black smoke.  We moved our car. We called the fire department.  We waited.  We watched.  We smelled the scorched scent…  Continue Reading →

Fire

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In Chinese Medicine, the way the life source courses through our body is divided into a circuit through five ‘elements’:  earth, fire, water, metal, and wood.  Each of these elements has some responsibility for specific internal workings of the body, a part of the spirit we contain, and has a special relationship with actual organs…  Continue Reading →

Changing

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I am coming off of a full weekend of seminars by Jeffery Yuen.  Jeffery Yuen is the guru of sorts for my school.  I don’t mean guru in the mascot sense, but in the foundational sense.  He is an 88th generation Doaist monk who is also a clinician of medicine.  He lectures for hours without…  Continue Reading →

First Things First

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I have completed my first week of Chinese Medicine.  I am reflecting on some of the points of parallel and the points of divergence to my first Masters degree which was boldly called ‘Divinity’. There is room for what I call magical thinking in Chinese Medical school when studied from the Classical tradition.  As we…  Continue Reading →

Changes

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This is my final blog post for my Desert Adventures.  Here is the promised photo of me, a ‘Certified Massage Therapist intending to be Licensed’ (we practiced announcing this in our final class time together in the room with the green carpet and the anatomy charts curling on the wall) I was surprised on this…  Continue Reading →

fast backward

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I have let this wait far too long.  So, readers, I must bounce about a bit.  In one hour, I will drive the Senator Highway to Goldwater Lake to receive the evidence that I am a certified massage therapist.  This will take place at a picnic and will be much photographed by Allen and I…  Continue Reading →

Be Still and Know….

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This is the work of what I am currently learning in school.  I might more accurately say this is what I am currently learning in life, which is nothing new.  It happens to also be a quotation from the Psalms and the words my biodynamic cranial sacral therapy teacher said in class yesterday. Being still…  Continue Reading →

Elegance

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I am sitting on our sofa in the midst of backpacks, changes of clothes, sleeping bags, thermarests.  Allen is an elegant packer.  He has plotted out a menu of that includes eggs, bacon, chicken with peppers, dried mango with figs.  We are going to feast on this after our backpacking hike to the basin of…  Continue Reading →

Rocking Utah

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This holy week I am pondering a new understanding of witness.  We have been studying Ayurvedic practice and massage all week.  It is a messy business.  Lots of oil (specifically sesame oil) and cooking it with rose petals and indian powders with medicinal qualities.  In ayurvedic tradition, all food is medicine.  Meat is eaten, but…  Continue Reading →

Considering Landscapes

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This morning we woke to rain and then watched snow waft from the heavens in big full fluffy flakes.  It was the occasion for laundering bed linens and reading the New York Times (paper version) and considering going to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Prescott (until seeing it was a Requiem and we were in too…  Continue Reading →

Hoops to Cage

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I set high aspirations each weekend to update this blog.  I find that weekends take on a life of their own, rather like novelists report about their characters.  The writer may introduce the character and imagine their inception, but at some point the writer can only sit back and watch what happens.  So it is…  Continue Reading →

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