Doesn’t it seem like the pharmacies have control over the doctors and the main way to cure any ailment is to take a prescription? It wasn’t always like that; Traditional Chinese Medicine was the way of health since the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, perhaps the oldest medical book in China. I’ve been reading The Body Clock Guide: Using Traditional Chinese Medicine for Prevention and Healthcare and I’m going to share a little of it with you.
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Tuttle Publishing sent me The Body Clock Guide a little while back, and it corresponded with me landing a new virtual assistant client and thus having much less time for reading ‘grown up’ books. However, this also meant that I needed this information more than ever as I found myself getting less sleep, having more worries, and spending more time in front of a screen that is not good for my eyes.
So it took me a while to read through it thoroughly and I didn’t want to write a post on it without reading the entire book, as that just isn’t me. And now I’m ready to share with you my thoughts on this book; keeping in mind that there is so much information contained in it, that I will have to go back through the particular sections that are most relevant to me and work on applying what I’ve learned.
Some of the things you’ll find in this book and out how to do them at home:
- get rid of those aweful headaches
- rid yourself of worries
- get better sleep
- prevent pimples
- ease that snoring
- gain energy
- improve eyesight
- and much more than I can’t fit in here!
Okay, so now you’re getting a little understanding of what I’m most concentrating on with my current life and needs. But how can this be done?
Traditional Chinese Medicine
The Body Clock Guide walks you through the seasons of the year, and then goes further down to dividing up each 24 hour daily cycle into 2-hour periods. Did you know that the the time of the day you eat, sleep, and use pressure points can have an effect on your health? I didn’t, but it does make sense. Mother Nature revolves around cycles of time and phases of the moon and the seasons, along with plants and animals, so why should our bodies be any different?
Each section of time is devoted to a particular meridian (you’ll see those on the book cover illustration at the top of this post). For each one, you’ll learn the path it takes through your body, the associated pressure points, what type of exercise, meals, and rest you should be doing during that meridian period.
How To Use This Book
Now, you will never be able to do everything in this book all at the same time as there just simply enough time; but you can use the information to make more informed decisions about your behaviours such as sleeping patterns and what you are eating, and then work specifically on one or two other problems you are concerned with, and do the exercises, tapping, and breathing that is suggested for that issue. Like me, you may even find that you have been instinctually combing your hands through your hair at certain times (this promotes energy and hair growth).
After my first read through, I can see why it seems like my hair has greyed a lot in the past year and why I’ve gained some weight although I haven’t changed my eating habits, amongst other things. So now that I have the knowledge, I am gaining a bigger understanding of how this can work for me.
I am going to go back through a few sections of this book again, and note down the little things I can do, most of the elements are very easy to do and don’t take equipment. But I will need to write it in one place, and then set my alarm as a reminder to “cut vegetables” with my hands against a table edge between 1 and 3pm to help my small instestine meridian and increase my energy; I definitely have more fatigue rolling in during this time of the day, and this should help!
A set time of the day for all of us to have some quiet time, and working on organising the house and rearranging our timetables so I can get a little blog work done during the daylight hours will mean that I won’t have to stay up until 1 or 2am on a regular basis after working for clients.
Yes, I have some work to do; and with the help and guidance The Body Clock Guide provides, I hope that by the end of the summer, I’ll be feeling better and be more productive while having more sleep, too!
The Western medical profession doesn’t have all of the answers, and life is ever-more becoming focused on artificial chemicals and ideas. There is definitely a place for modern medicine, but does it have to be all-encompassing? No, it doesn’t. We need to take control over our own health, and the best way to do that is through living a good life and preventing dis-ease. Let’s do our research, learn about what has been working for thousands of years, and apply what works for us. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
My mom is a reflexologist, and I know she’d find this book interesting, so I’ll have it nearby for the next time we see each other. I also have other friends and associates whom I think would enjoy this book. It was a departure from my usual evening reads, but sometimes it’s good to open our minds as we can be pleasantly surprised! I wonder what my next surprise will be?
If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Tuttle Publishing, you can connect with them through their website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest (and you can see our other Tuttle reviews here).
If you’re interested in purchasing this book or other Traditional Chinese Medicine books by Tuttle Publishing, here are some wonderful titles I’ve found:
