Secrets of Self-Healing :: Holistic Healing :: Acupressure and Acupuncture

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Secrets of Self-Healing
by author HÃ©lÃ¨ne Meurer

by Dr. Maoshing Ni

Author Dr. Maoshing Ni is better known online and elsewhere simply as Dr. Mao. Together with his brother (heirs to a long lineage of Taoist masters in healing), Mao has several books to his credit and currently practises medicine at California’s Tao of Wellness.

This is a well-rounded book that everyone should have at hand. Secrets of Self-Healing is divided into two parts. Part one is an overview of the philosophies of health and natural healing and how these integrate to form a new paradigm of multidisciplinary care. Mao presents a wellness approach of time-tested and evidence-based scientific knowledge. While he is quick to point out that self-healing should always involve working with a medical doctor, he is equally quick to note that medical doctors “don’t have all the answers.” A partnership with both Eastern and Western medically oriented practitioners is optimal.

Thought-provoking questions aid self-assessment for the purpose of taking one’s own health inventory. Such exercises should increase readers’ awareness about all stages of wellness, regardless of their existing conditions and treatment regimes. The body-mind connection is fully explored, and Mao guides readers to find their own optimal exercise zones and to live in harmony at home, at work, and with the environment. This hefty first section, at almost 200 pages, is a book within a book and lays significant groundwork for the practical sections that follow.

Part two is comprised of an alphabetized listing of 65 common conditions and their self-healing remedies. These include carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes, gum disease, high blood pressure, memory loss, menopause, and many more. Comprehensive home remedies for each entry include recommended daily supplements, herbal therapies, dietary guidelines, exercises, and acupressure guidelines. Mao himself is a testament to self-healing. His comprehensive book is simply structured yet rich with insights about the relationships between Eastern and Western modalities that we can use to improve our individual powers of self-healing. Much more can be found at askdrmao.com.

HÃ©lÃ¨ne Meurer is a writer and reviewer in Victoria, BC, who sometimes gets lost in the books she reviews and cannot be found for weeks at a time.

Source: alive #311, September 2008

Herbal Medicine in the New Millennium
As we embark upon the new millennium, herbal medicines are everywhere. Herbs one could rarely find in health food stores 10 years ago now line their shelves. It's a sign of the times.

Beauty Supplements That May Surprise You!
Beauty is linked to health. And while everything you take into your body will have an effect on your outward appearance, some foods and supplements have more influence than others.

Herbs
So you take your vitamins daily, exercise regularly and eat well. You drink lots of water and get enough slee.

Reviving the Art of Poulticing
To our fast world of instant fixes, herbal poulticing may seem outdated and hardly worth the trouble required for preparation, but it can save time in the long run.

An Aboriginal Approach to Fighting Cancer
Cancer is like a prairie grass fire--it often spreads quickly and consumes all in its path. Buffalo medicine teaches us that those who survive the prairie fires keep a level head, knowing where to go to stay alive..

Find Infusions Confusin'?
Infusions, decoctions, tinctures, extracts, poultices. It's incredible how many ways the plant kingdom is used to ease human (and animal) suffering and discomfort, even in this modern world.

Stinging Nettle: A Golden Oldie
Masan was once golden with shimmering leaves and a bright aura. The human beings did not pay their respect to this plant medicine, taking it for granted, passing it by without offering tobacco.

Acupuncture: A Practical and Proven Chinese Treatment
A Practical and Proven Chinese Treatment Just as some of us take our cars into the shop before parts break down, so can we go to an acupuncturist or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner for regular health maintenance.

Herbs for Hectic Times
Famous author and personality Deepak Chopra likes to tell a story about a medical doctor who had not had a check-up for 25 years. When the doctor finally was compelled to get a physical for life insurance requirements, a large dark spot was found on his lung. It was diagnosed as inoperable cancer. A couple of months later, the doctor was dead.

Herbs 101
I first started to study herbal medicine in 1975 when I was 20 years old.

Happy in Herb Heaven
When I was growing up, my mother would send me into our herb garden to gather chives, parsley and lovage. I'll never forget being surrounded by the distinctive aromas and how she used these herbs to enhance the flavour of our soups, salads and more. Herbs are nature's special gift to us.

Acupuncture for Pets
Pets are an important part of our families, and it's heart-wrenching to see any member of the family in pain.

Libido-Enhancing Products
, also called "potency wood, has been used historically to treat sexual debility.

The Spirit of the Nature Doctor
The workers use only organic farming metho.

New Roots Herbal
Peter Wilkes, founder and president of New Roots Herbal, is no newcomer to the natural health industry. In 1977, Wilkes founded Community Natural Foods; two years later, he launched a second company, Christmas Natural Foods, in Richmond, British Columbia..

Healing Traditions of Latin America
. It's the ancient Mayan herb that has strengthened men's sexual potency in the forests of Central America for centuries.

Shopping List for a Healthy Heart

Vitamin E (100 percent natural source mixed toco.

Happy 30th anniversary, alive!
This month marks the beginning of alive magazine's fourth decade. Over the years, millions of readers have benefited from the information, advocacy, and guidance provided through the pages of alive.

Natural Digestive Aids
Peter Rabbit's mother knew the therapeutic value of natural digestive aids. She dosed Peter with a cup of strong camomile tea after his overeating escapades in Mr. McGregor's garden gave him a bad case of indigestio.

Report from a Hot Flush Queen
If you're a Hot Flush Queen like me, stress reduction and bio-identical hormone therapy may bring relief from menopausal symptoms, as I reported in the September issue of alive.

Working Well
You're sitting at your desk, slouching at the end of a tiring day, stressed about deadlines and staring at a computer screen, but focusing instead on your headache, stiff neck, sore hands, or aching back.

Why Herbs Work

The Art of Wild Harvesting
Individually, many of us have little ongoing direct experience with plant life. However, big business is quickly recognizing the huge profit potential in selling herbal medicine. At the very least we may say that herbal medicine is re-emerging as people discover its many positive qualities.

Learning about Herbs

Can Medicinal Plants Beat Cancer?

Go Wild for Garlic

Nature Doctor Revisited
Dr Alfred Vogel was the ultimate herbal pioneer. This Swiss naturopath spent his youth on safari: he tracked native botanical remedies in tropical jungles, South American deserts and American plains. It was, in fact, Vogel who brought echinacea to the attention of the western world.

Doctrine of Signatures

Cosmetic Acupuncture
Our culture thrives on beauty, so it's no wonder many people are going to great lengths in a quest to look younger. Canadians spend an increasing number of dollars every year on invasive and unsafe procedures such as cosmetic surgery, collagen injections, and botox.

Energy Medicine
When we suffer from any kind of pain-physical, emotional, or spiritual, including a painful relationship-our emotions send messages to the body and mind about the need to return to balance. Responding to this call in a positive way can help us find energy and a sense of happiness, vitality, and joy.

Interest in Herbal Healing Increases
In North America most medical doctors prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to treat their patients' symptoms. While drugs effectively suppress symptoms, they can produce side effects and imbalances in the body that may worsen the condition or result in additional ailments or illness.

Jolt Without the Jitters
We may love the aroma and initial effects of our morning coffee, but the potential for headaches, nervousness, and insomnia leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Natural Immune-Health Products
All diseases, from colds to cancer, have one thing in common. They can all be defeated by our body's own powerful immune response. There is much we can do to ensure this self-healing system functions optimally. Eating an organic, natural foods diet fortified by taking immune-supporting nutritional and herbal supplements, drinking purified water, exercising daily, and being mindful and positive creates the best self-healing environment.

Essential Oils for Meditation
Meditation is an ancient art that spans many centuries and cultures. In today's high-tech, busy world, meditation is practised to help turn off the mind, rest the body, and feed the spirit. Breathing is at the very core of meditation and also at the core of aromatherapy.

Acupuncture for Migraine
If you suffer from migraine headaches, you know how debilitating the pain and discomfort can be. According to Statistics Canada, one in every 12 Canadians-more than two million people-regularly get migraines. These throbbing headaches, which can affect every aspect of life, may be prevented and treated with acupuncture.

Soak up the Relaxation
Long-term emotional or environmental stresses can be hard on the body, mind, and emotions. Quality essential oils have powerful yet subtle effects on emotions and can help relieve stress and anxiety when used in baths, massages, or in aromatherapy diffusers.

Better Than Chocolate
Centuries ago, when indigenous people in the South American rainforest discovered the good energy provided by the leaves of the yerba maté tree (Ilex paraguariensis), it became the base of their herbal medicine. Now, scientific review is substantiating their reverence for "maté (pronounced in two syllables as ma-tae).

Workplace Wellness
You come home sore and aching after a day at the office. Do you wonder why-since your work involves nothing more physical than opening and closing your desk drawers and pushing yourself from your workstation at the end of the day?

The Healing Power of Botanical Medicine
Dear Medical Advisor: I am the mother of a 19-year-old female athlete who does not have a monthly cycle. Her diet has been poor (her choice).

Acupuncture for cancer patients

Flora
Flora Health has been manufacturing and distributing organic health products since 1965 and is a recognized pioneer in its fiel.

Swiss Herbal
Swiss Herbal started out as a small home-based import business in the fifties, but has grown over the years to become the provider of Canada's largest selection of natural health remedies.

Flora
One reason for Flora's continued success is the on-going commitment to innovation.

Nu-Life
When the low-carb diet craze exploded, companies from nearly every food-related industry responded by rushing to develop low-carb products. As these companies scrambled to cash in on the dieting trend of the year, store shelves filled with low-carb cereals, low-carb ice cream, and even low-carb beer.

Puresource
If you have any doubt that public interest in natural health products has been on the rise for years, consider the fact that natural products distributor Puresource was named on Profit Magazine's list of the 100 fastest growing Canadian companies three times between 1997 and 2000.

Inno-Vite
Leaving a secure career to follow your dreams is a risky move-but for Cornelius and Donna Pasare, it was also the right move.

The Flora way: Do what can't be done
It's not every natural health company that can offer "products and services for the purification and upliftment of the body and spirit, but Flora isn't just any natural health company.

Make Your Own Lip Balm

After-sun Bronzing Oil

The Science Behind Meditation
The alarm goes off, and my mind automatically kicks in with its incessant ritual chatter.

Connecting with Your Chakras
"Where'd you get the candles? asked my seven-year-old daughter, Emily, as she eyed my brightly coloured chakra candles on the edge of a tall dresser. I thought I'd hidden them, but they were spotted by a little girl who misses nothing.

Licorice
The Romans called it Radix dulcis, meaning "sweet root. The Germans called it "sweet wood. The armies of Alexander carried it to allay thirst, the Sioux in North America chewed it for toothache, and medieval English governments taxed it. Licorice has been used in many ways by many cultures.

Yucca
Did you know that a substance found in fresh flowers from the yucca plant combats some strains of melanoma in test tube studies and in mice? Although the effectiveness of yucca with human melanoma has yet to be proven, this often overlooked ornamental shrub is medicinally useful in a number of ways.

White Willow
Most people who enjoy a leisurely stroll through lakeside parks are familiar with the willow tree. Its boughs weep gracefully toward the ground or dip languidly into nearby water. What people might not realize is that constituents found within willow bark have revolutionized pain management in modern medicine.

Hot and Cold
The idea that herbs can be heating or cooling is often connected with traditional Chinese or Ayurvedic medicine. Many people do not realize that this classification of herbal remedies was also a vital part of Western medicine for almost 2,000 years.

White Tea
There is nothing better than a hot cup of tea to relax the body and refresh the mind after a long, stressful day. Before indulging in your usual cuppa, consider the newest addition to the beverage market-white tea.

Meditation Bliss
I almost made the mistake of judging a book by its cover when this pretty little gem landed on my desk recently. Meditation Bliss has the appearance of well-marketed fluff targeted at the harried New Ageist seeking solace between two covers.

Commit to Sit
As modern life becomes increasingly stressful, it seems there is never enough time for all we need to do. So the idea of carving out more time for a commitment to sit-and meditate-may seem absurd.

Lemon Grass
Sitting in my favourite Thai restaurant, I am surrounded by exotic smells that engulf my senses. I dig into Thai Hot and Sour soup (Tom Yum Gai) with great anticipation. Ahh...the wonderful taste of lemon grass.

Eucalyptus
For some, the eucalyptus tree may conjure up images of koala bears frolicking in the Australian outback. Yet for the country's first settlers, the aromatic plant went far beyond providing a playground for furry marsupials; it was quickly dubbed "the fever tree for its many disease-fighting abilities.

Awakening Your Intuition
Intuition is knowing something instantly without reasoning. The word "intuition comes from the Latin word intueri, which means to look within. Your own answers are continuously being revealed to you from inside yourself. Are you hearing the wise guidance that is yours to receive?

Make Way for Marsh Mallow
The botanical name for marsh mallow, Althaea officinalis, is Greek for "to cure. Pliny the Elder (23 to 79 AD), naturalist and philosopher, said, "Whosoever shall take a spoonful of mallow shall be free from all diseases that may come.

Tune into Your body's Rhythm
What images come to mind when you hear or see the word meditation? How many of those images include movement? For the average person, not many.

Fertility
You've been trying and trying, but your dream of having a child just hasn't come true. Along with the longing to hold your own little one in your arms come some nagging questions.

Herbal Cleansing
Plants cleanse and revitalize our bodies from the inside. Our body systems are designed to utilize the benefits of plants, and we may suffer chronic illness and premature aging if we do not consume enough botanical bounties.

Hormonal Harmony
Irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, and nutritional deficiencies leading to heart issues and bone loss are only a few of the health concerns associated with hormonal imbalances due to menopause.