I’ve always had a love affair with the 8 Limbs. To me it is the perfect guideline for a healthy balanced lifestyle. I’m going to talk a little about each of the 8 Limbs today and explain how they are applicable to a modern lifestyle.

1. 1.Meditation
   

2. 2.Exercise
   

3. 3.Diet
   

4. 4.Feng Shui
   

5. 5.Astrology
   

6. 6.Tui Na
   

7. 7.Herbology
   

8. 8.Acupuncture and Moxibustion
   

1. 1.Meditation : Very important in this day and age to have those moments of silence for yourself and your body. Stillness is an important thing to cultivate, it allows you to train your mind to work for you instead of against you. There are many proven health benefits to daily meditation, which I won’t go into here. Bottom line - everyone should meditate. There are many styles out there, and some may work better for you than others, but in my opinion, as long as you’re doing any activity that is contemplative and stress reducing in nature you are benefitting. Some ideas: meditation, walking on the beach, listening to peaceful music or sitting quietly and breathing deeply. The style I do is Medical Qi Gong that is taught by Hing Cheung here in Victoria. (see resources)
   

2. 2.Exercise: this is common sense. The benefits of daily physical activity - from preventing chronic health conditions to promoting weight loss and better sleep - are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Depending on your constitution you can choose higher impact or lower impact activities. Everyone in any state of health can do gentle exercises such as Tai Chi or Qi Gong. These help your energy to flow smoothly through every part of the body, deepen breathing, nourish tendons and joints and benefit circulation. Weight or resistance training is also incredibly important for maintaining strong bones and toned muscles well into your later years.
   

3. 3.Diet : The old adage “you are what you eat” is absolutely true here. Whole foods, quality local produce and meats cooked in healthful ways and without added sugars or refined foods is going to be the best way to feed your body. Proper diet also gets into the territory of appropriate eating for the seasons. I’ll get into this a bit more later, but the easiest “cheat sheet” for this is what is growing locally now. Go to a garden market or a local farmer and chances are, whatever they have is appropriate for the season. Grocery stores are a bad place to figure this out with so much produce from Mexico or other far away places, it gives a false sense of what is seasonally appropriate. If you are interested in learning more about Seasonal Eating. The books I recommend are “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford and “Staying Healthy with the Seasons” by Elson M. Haas, MD
   

4. 4.Feng Shui : Feng Shui is basically just the art of living in a harmonious environment. Clearing away clutter around the house and surrounding yourself with things that promote a positive environment can have phenomenal effects on your mental and physical health. There are many resources for more in depth study of Feng Shui, but ultimately it is living in an environment that works for you. This can be something as simple as moving out of a damp basement suite if you have arthritis. This goes for climate as well. Some climates do not suit an individual. Here on the west coast, we do get a lot more damp weather throughout the year so we must take steps to balance that.
   

5. 5.Cosmology/Astrology : This has a couple parts, the first isn’t so much Astrology as we think of it today, (“I’m a taurus!” type thing) but more so living in harmony with the rhythms around us, be it daily or seasonally. Seasonal living can mean the difference between dreading the oncoming winter (or summer in hot places) and really enjoying it, because you’ve prepared and made the right choices to make it a comfortable time. The best example is Seasonal Eating. It’s much more natural in the winter to eat heavier richer foods, more meats, root vegetables, spices, etc that will warm the body from the core. These all make the transition into the season much more of a pleasure. Eating something like tropical fruit or raw salads in the winter is going to have the opposite effect, cooling the body and bringing our energy away from the core. Keeping ourselves in harmony with the seasons also moves into other realms. I plan to have upcoming blog posts to go into more detail about exercises or foods that are fantastic to eat in each season. The second part is Chinese Astrology which can be fascinating. Each year and season has different qualities that we can use to our advantage is we are aware of them. For instance, this is the year of the Metal Tiger represented by the elements Metal and Wood. There’s a great article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-maoshing-ni/2010-year-of-the-tiger-ho_b_419053.html that explains why we will want to be on the lookout for disorders of the lung, skin, colon, and immune system, and the liver, gallbladder and nervous system this year. Check it out!
   

6. 6.Massage/Body work : This includes massage, cupping, gua sha and other physical modalities used to promote circulation of Qi and Blood, increase flexibility, break up stagnation and restrictions in the muscles, release tension, etc. Cupping (using suction to affix a glass cup to the skin) can be used for many things, but I love using it to break up fascial restriction in the back and shoulders and for releasing tense muscles. Gua Sha is a scraping technique using a piece jade or horn that helps to increase circulation to an area as well, remove stagnations, and also clears out toxins - making it quite effective for common cold. There are many other uses for these techniques, but even self massage on yourself at home is incredibly helpful to overall health. Massaging the shoulders, neck and head can be done daily. All of the 14 meridians (energy pathways) flow thru the shoulder area so tension in this area is particularly bad for overall Qi movement. Daily massage in this area is also great for preventing common cold.
   

7. 7.Herbology : Using herbal substances of plant, animal and mineral origin to achieve and then maintain balance in the body. Herbal formulas prevent disease, treat illness and promote longevity and can be tailored to suit the uniqueness of the individual. Generally herbs come in raw form to be cooked into a decoction or infused into a tea and drank, or else in tablet or powder form. They also can be made into liniments to use topically. You can also use herbs as food. Many herbs are quite tasty and can be eaten as food, a well known food herb these days is Go Qi Zi (Goji berries)
   

                        "Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.

                        Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favour compared with the products of nature,

                        the living cell of the plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life."
                                                                                                                                                           - T. A. Edison

8. 8.Acupuncture and Moxibustion : The style of acupuncture I do is very gentle and meridian based. You can picture it like a pond. When we decide what needs to be worked on, a needle is placed in the appropriate points. This is like dropping a stone in the pond, the ripples move out from that spot affecting the entire pond. But in this case, it’s the Qi flow we are affecting and the outcome is harmonious flow of energy. This brings the body back into balance if it is out of balance and maintains balance if you are healthy. If your Qi is flowing smoothly throughout the body, then the body automatically heals itself. It is only when there are blockages in flow, or the organ or meridian systems are out of balance with each other that disease happens. Moxibustion is another effective modality, the best way I can explain it is that we are using heat instead of a needle to affect the acupoint. It is effective for many ailments (any pain, skin disorders, digestion, the list goes on and on) and also amazing for the immune system and general energy level. Moxa can also be used as home care, and I often teach my patients how to do moxa on themselves or their partner for specific situations. A great example that many people know of is the use of moxa on the little toe for breech baby.
   

I hope this has been an informative post for you all, and I hope you are inspired to use some of these ideas in your daily life. You will be happier and healthier for it! I promise you :)

Yours, in Health

Kristy Garry R.TCMP R.Ac