Homeopathy is a medical system that uses a completely different treatment and diagnostic model than traditional allopathy or “western” medicine. Western medicine focusses on diagnosing an ailment, then providing a drug to either cure the problem or alleviate its symptoms. These drugs override the body’s natural immune responses. Homeopathic doctors believe that the body knows the right way to heal itself, and that a patient’s symptoms are merely the body’s way of dealing with imbalances. Homeopathic medicines do not fight the body’s symptoms, but assist the body in coming into balance more quickly. These remedies are extremely dilute amounts of substances that would, at full strength, actually cause the same symptoms that the remedy hopes to alleviate.

Thanks to the Earl of Shrewsbury’s work in bringing homeopathy to England, this revolutionary healing method thrived among queens, kings, dukes, duchesses, and innumerable other royals and noblemen. As a result, nineteenth and twentieth century Europe saw the science and art of homeopathy thrive. Royal patronage was one of the primary forces that enabled homeopathic physicians to continue to develop the preparations we still use today. Wealthy and educated patrons such as the Dukes of Beaufort and Cambridge; the Marquesses of Anglesey; the Earls of Essex, Donoughmore, Kintore, and Kinnaird; King Edward VII; and King George V helped to promote the benefits of homeopathy simply by employing homeopathic doctors and talking enthusiastically about their successful, and painless, healing experiences.

Today’s Prince Charles, Queen Mother, and the Queen of England herself still continue the traditional allegiance of British royalty with homeopathy that, for centuries, England’s royals sponsored. This support, over generations, is what truly enabled the founders of homeopathy to develop the healing philosophies, homeopathic preparations, and intake techniques they use today.

When homeopathy originated, in the fifteen hundreds, it became immediately popular with royal and aristocratic families. Unlike peasants, these classes of people had enough free time to be able to sit for an hour with a homeopathic physician, discussing their symptoms. They also appreciated the fact that one physician could address issues ranging from colds and flu to menstrual irregularities to anxiety attacks to migraine headaches. Because homeopathic remedies do treat the whole person, no additional trips to specialists is considered necessary.

Today, we often think of the old-world existence of royalty as a “life of leisure,” but in truth, without any modern appliances or conveniences, and with states and principalities to manage, these nobles were busy individuals. A more realistic assessment of their lives would be to say that in terms of free time and income, they compared to the lives of the middle class today. Although we do all different kinds of work now, it is not usually the sun-up to sun-down toil that characterized the days of the peasants, so many of us, like the royals and aristocrats of old, have a lifestyle that is also conducive to reaping the benefits of homeopathy.

Now everyone can enjoy the benefits of homeopathy. In many cities, there is even an extensive selection of doctors to choose from. This healing modality’s belief in treating the whole person has survived over the centuries, where other medical theories have gone by the wayside. Homeopathic practitioners and patients have the aristocratic and royal families of old to thank for remaining faithful to this highly effective, but often misunderstood, healing practice, and for supporting its early founders in their never ending experiments that resulted in so many thousands of homeopathic preparations existing for our use today.

www.backonyourfeet.com.au

“Wind is the Spear Head of a Thousand Diseases!”

Headaches, Upper back and Neck pains are more often than not due to an attack of wind.

At this time of year when we go outside into the cold, the westerly winds attack us like a knife in the back. If your body is weak the wind will get under the skin lodging itself into the muscles. The muscles will spasm to stop further penetration into the body. Once in spasm, the muscles will pull the vertebras out of alignment impinging on the nerves and give you neck pain.

With this neck pain you are most likely to experience headaches as well. If the headache is caused by wind it usually feels like a clamp or a wet towel tightly rapped around the head. You’ll feel dizzy, blurry and have heavy eyelids as if you need sleep. You’re likely to have a runny nose and tension at the back of your head, just below the skull. (This area is called the wind gate because it’s where the wind enters)

• If it was a stress related headache your eyes may also be sore and the headache would be sharp instead of dull. And you are mostly likely to be irritable and anxious with a stress headache.

All of this happens because your “wei Qi” pronounced (whey chee) has been compromised by the wind. Your Wei Qi works just like the earth’s ozone layer protecting us from external pathogens but when your Wei Qi is weak the opening and closing of your pores becomes slow. So instead of your pores closing as you leave the warmth of your home or office they stay open for a while longer giving the speedy wind a chance to dive straight in and give you all the above symptoms.

How to avoid this from happening?

• If you know you are run down be sure to cover your neck and shoulders when ever moving from a warm area into a cold area and this includes bed to the bathroom!
• Avoid working out at the gym under an aircon. When you are sweating, your pores are open, a perfect opportunity for that wind (from the aircon) to dive straight in there.
• Going from the shower to another room cover your shoulders before leaving the bathroom.
• Also cold and wind can even penetrate the body if your back is exposed to the glass of a window when sleeping.
• But the number one way to prevent it is strengthen your body’s Qi and keep it strong.

How to Strengthen Your Qi

• Be sure you get plenty of sleep and eat well.
• Eat root vegetables more often – they have qi strengthening properties
• Be sure to do some type of exercise at least 3 times a week – Yoga , Tai Chi and Qi gong are all ideal for strengthening Qi.
• Have acupuncture and herbs before your body is run down, that way you are building on the strength of your Qi instead of recovering from an illness and then have to build up after the illness has gone.

If you have the above symptoms can it be treated?

Yes, absolutely! You will need cupping, acupuncture and maybe some herbs, all this will depend on what level the wind is at. It can dive 6 levels into the body, all the way to the bone marrow. If it gets there, you will be in a lot of pain and no matter what you do to get warm it won’t work. At this stage you will need herbs for sure. So don’t let it get there!

I hope you found this [boyf News Letter] interesting?
If you have not been to my website for a while please visit, there are new things added all the time and there is also a whole bunch of other articles in there as well.

If you have any questions or you would like me to write on a particular health problem please just email me at info@backonyourfeet.com.au and for treatment please call 9233-3800

Feel free to pass this on to a friend or love one. And if your friend wants to receive these articles please ask them to submit their details on the right hand side of this website www.backonyourfeet.com.au

Take care

Sincerely,
Scott

Osvaldo will take you through his case study on how Ovarian cysts were treated successfully with homeopathy

Ovarian Cysts

On this occasion I am going to talk about a young woman. She was 25 years old when she first came to see me, single woman without children and living with her parents. Her first visit was due to various physical symptoms, she complained of recurrent sore throat with anginas inflammation, which often made it difficult for her to swallow saliva. Her anginas were always inflamed and red, and covered the whole throat. At least once a month she suffered from very intense fevers which put her in bed for the whole day, accompanied by intense headaches.

Talking to her, I came to know she suffered from menstrual pains with generally late, heavy, and irregular periods with abdominal distension. During her menstruations she was very sensitive to smells and noises.

Regarding the mental aspects, the patient said she was very irritable, even about the most insignificant things; if she was contradicted, she reacted violently and experienced the desire of throwing things whenever she got angry. She was always in a very bad temper since the beginning of the day. She was very anxious when it came to her work and said she was a perfectionist; she was not satisfied until her current project was finished. She was very tired physically because she was not sleeping well. Whenever she went to bed, she kept thinking about all the things she had done during the day and this kept her from falling asleep.

During her visit, she refused to talk about her family, saying that everything was just fine and that nothing bothered her about them.

Symptoms:

Anger, ailments after anger

Anger, violent

Morose

Sleeplessness, mental strain

I took the case and, according to her symptoms, I decided to give her 200 c Nux vomica in one dose.

A week after her first visit, the patient called me, saying she was worried because she had intermenstrual flow, which she had never had before; the discharge was coffee-coloured, thick and had bad smell; it wasn’t accompanied by blood or any other symptom, like inflammation or pain. She said her mood had improved, she was not so irritable, and that week, for the first time in months, she had been able to sleep through the night without problems, so I decided to maintain the same instructions and ordered an ultrasound.

A month later, I saw her again. She told me the menstrual flow had lasted 4 days and that this time her menstruation was on time, not as heavy as other times, and that she hadn’t been too bloated. She felt sad and anxious because her ultrasound showed a cyst of approximately 10 cm in her right ovary. Scared about this result, she had visited her Ob/Gyn, who told her she would need surgery to remove the ovary, due to her symptoms and to the cyst’s size; she told her to wait around 3 months to see how it developed.

On this occasion, she decided to talk about her family, especially her mother. She said her mother had always been very cold towards her, never encouraged her to do anything but criticized her constantly and embarrassed her in front of other people. She told me this with tears in her eyes, but she refused to cry openly; she told me she did not want to cry in front of others because she did not want them to feel sorry for her. With her father and brothers she had no problems. When I asked her if she had ever tried to talk with her Mom about how she felt, her reply was, “What for? She never listens.” During the whole visit she continued blaming her mother for everything that was happening to her.

After checking her, I decided to administer Natrum muriaticum 0/6 in water once a day for three days.

The following month I saw her again; her mood was much better. She wasn’t irritated. She still resented her mother, but she was not as bitter; in fact, she said she had tried to solve things with her Mom, but that she was very difficult. Her ovary was still a sensitive subject, and she told me she had cried a lot during the past month and that crying had relieved her a lot. I asked her if she cried when she was alone, and she said she had cried in front of her boyfriend and brothers, and that this was comforting and didn’t bother her as before.

This time I gave her only one dose of Pulsatilla 0/6.

The visits continued and I could see a great improvement in her mood. Three months after her ovarian cyst was detected, she had another ultrasound. The cyst was still approximately 9.5cm big, so her Ob/Gyn told her that since it had not become smaller, he would have to operate, even though her symptoms were much better: her menstruations had been regular during the past three months, they were not as heavy or painful and she didn’t present abdominal distension anymore.

She decided not to undergo surgery and continued visiting me. I maintained the Natrum muriaticum 0/7 in only one dose per month, and for two months she didn’t need any other medication. Six months later I ordered another ultrasound: her cyst had reduced from 10 cm to just 2 cm.

Ovarian cyst

An ovarian cyst is any collection of fluid, surrounded by a very thin wall, within an ovary. Any ovarian follicle that is larger than about two centimeters is termed an ovarian cyst. An ovarian cyst can be as small as a pea, or larger than an orange.

Most ovarian cysts are functional in nature, and harmless (benign). In the US, ovarian cysts are found in nearly all premenopausal women, and in up to 14.8% of postmenopausal women.

Ovarian cysts affect women of all ages. They occur most often, however, during a woman’s childbearing years.

Some ovarian cysts cause problems, such as bleeding and pain. Surgery may be required to remove cysts larger than 5 centimeters in diameter.

What I have learned from this case is how the supression of emotions can also lead to the supression of other symptoms. This young woman had decided to suppress her feelings towards her mother, she didn’t talk about it and kept all her feelings to herself. This made her ovary to also keep fluids instead of draining them. A dosis of Nux vomica drained the fluids and the emotions also started to come out. Both body and emotions behaved in the same way the whole time, and started healing from the inside out, according to Hering’s law. Once the emotional aspect was better, by improving her relationship and communication with her mother and learning to forgive, her body was capable of letting go of the physical pathology.

According to medical literature, ovarian cysts are benign and many times do not require treatment, but in this case surgery was required, due to the cyst’s size and show evolution; this could have been devastating for a 25 years old patient with no children.

This case proves once again that not everything can be solved using a scalpel; as Hahnemann suggested, there is always a gentler, faster and more subtle way of curing diseases. A patient is much more than a diagnosis. Each patient must be taken as a whole, and one cannot dismiss emotions and mental symptoms, even in acute cases. One must allow the body the time to respond by itself and apply the healing law; in some cases, one must be prepared for the medication to worsen the symptoms initially, be patient and observe the patient’s evolution instead of immediately changing the medication.

Homeopathy Sydney with Osvaldo

References:

“Ovarian Cysts Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment”. eMedicineHealth.com. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/ovarian_cysts/article_em.htm.

us a call, it’s what we do www.backonyourfeet.com.au

Everybody will get to a point in their life where if you don’t keep your body and mind in a state of peace that your body will go down hill and age rapidly. A man and woman’s body does not need to age it’s just a concept that us as human beings use to justify why all our ancestors dropped off in their 60’s & 80’s. We actually have a brand new body every two years, so if it is new why does it date so quickly? STRESS!

I once visited a Buddhist monastery in Thailand where there was a monk who at the age of approx 83 died. He new he was going to die and instructed his family not to bury or burn his body and instead leave it on display to show the world what peace of mind can achieve.

So what this monk did was he went into a deep state of meditation and from there he passed away. His body is fully intact and has been for 20 years the only thing missing is his eye balls so they put sunnies on him, (Cool dead monk!)

Ok he did not live into his hundreds but he offered the world something else, he has shown that the body can preserve its self if it’s free of stress. It is said that when we die we see our lives before our eyes like a movie show and due to the stress of our past life is the reason why our body rapidly breaks down and decays. The monks body was not injected with preservatives and was not prepared in any other preserving way, the body simply sits there with his hair and fingernails still intact. The body is in-cased in a glass box to stop the animals from eating him but otherwise nothing, nudda, 0, just a peaceful dead monk.

If you are thinking, what has this got to do with you living today? Well if you are constantly complaining, over weight, have a sore back, have re-curing headaches, sleep and wake up as if you haven’t slept, don’t have a bowel movement for days and yes some people weeks, if you are in a job and you don’t know why, you are in a non supportive relationship or you have period pain these are all signs of stress in your body causing you to age much faster than you should.

Stress is the cause of disease, whether it’s from environmental pollutants, emotions, or even side effects from medicines stress will have our body’s break down and die. To free ourselves of stress we must keep check of our health, emotions and the way we think. What is Stress exactly? It’s when a situation arises either mentally or physically that we have trouble dealing with and then react in a negative way to rid that discomfort. A way to deal with stress is to learn about the situation at hand and this will take away the anxiety. Understanding the truth, the laws of cause and effect will free you from stress.

In the old texts its states that to live a long healthy life the key is to keep the heart calm in all activities including exercise. The analogy was that of a turtle, they travel hundreds of miles yearly, live into their hundreds and they have one of the slowest heart beats of all animals.

Over exerting the heart will have you age faster than one who doesn’t. My Kung Fu teacher who was in his 80’s would have us feel his heart rate and then he would do 5 minutes of very physical kung fu exercise and when he finished he would quickly have us feel his heart beat again, it was the same. He laughed and then walked away. Why do you see top athletes age rapidly from the age of around 40? It’s because of their intense training! Don’t get me wrong we all need a bit of competition in our lives it keeps the spirit strong and reflexes sharp but if you plan on living a long healthy life consider keeping the heart calm.

Always balance out activity with stillness this will keep you balanced. Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong are all slow exercises but what they do is stress the bones and muscles without over exerting the heart and this is an ideal way to stay young.

If you have any questions please feel free to email or come in for a treatment. My focus for you is preserving your health and age. All future studies I take on will be devoted to keeping you young.

Some clients I see are often surprised to know that I do more than just treat muscular problems. Chinese Medicine is a very well rounded discipline and incorporates all sorts of tools. Below are some things I do and treat if you didn’t know already.

•  Massage – Chinese, remedial, facial

•  Stretching – based on Kung fu and a history of physical education

•  Acupuncture – body, face, ear

•  Reflective Listening – life coaching based on NLP techniques and Buddhist psychology

•  Acupuncture Face Lift

•  Moxa

•  Cupping

•  Electro stimulation

•  Herbal pills

•  Meditation

•  Qi gong training & Kung Fu body strengthening exercises

Some uncommon conditions I treat;

Sore teeth, migraine, period pain, insomnia, constipation, heart burn, nervous twitches, depression, breeched baby, infertility for men and women, preparation and post pregnancy, asthma, plus many others. If you think your condition or a friends condition is unusual and not sure if I treat that please ask. It saddens me to see people suffer for years for no reason. Many conditions that western medicine cannot treat Chinese Medicine can. The reason is because of 3000 years of trial and error, that’s a long time.

Take care and see you soon.

Ps. If you have a friend who may like my news letters please pass this on to them and ask them to send me their details.

Kind regards,

Scott Cansdell

]]> http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au/blog/53/age-one-day-at-a-time-and-stop-stressing/feed/ 0 http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au/blog/38/feng-shui-for-pregnancy/ http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au/blog/38/feng-shui-for-pregnancy/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:01:00 +0000 admin http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au/blog/?p=38 The miracle of life really is a miracle. There are many medical reasons why women and men can find it challenging to conceive. Once factors causing infertility have been ascertained, the process couples go through to make changes to improve their chances of conception and successful pregnancy can often lead to further stress, frustration and blaming each other. The act of love making to conceive a baby becomes routine and pressured and it can lead to distance between the couple at a time when they need to be relaxed, intimate and loving.

Sometimes in just knowing where you stand and what is going on can help a couple relax about the time it may take to conceive or have greater acceptance of the trials they are experiencing along the way. Traditional Chinese Feng Shui and other branches of Chinese metaphysics including Ba Tze, Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine is one avenue gaining popularity and used by couples to improve intimacy and chances for pregnancy. These Eastern sciences are based on fundamental laws of nature that highlight how your body is interacting within your immediate surrounds and coping with the pressures of life.

Reproducing is in itself a fundamental part of nature. In this fast paced, fast food society the capacity for our bodies to reproduce can sometimes become out of sync with our natural and most basic reason for being. It therefore makes sense that to get back in sync we need to examine our environment and ensure its energy is supporting our harmony and health. In China, they have termed the study of the influences our environment has on all things ‘Feng Shui’.

Ba Tze – an ancient branch of Chinese Astrology also called the Four Pillars of Destiny can be used as an important profiling and forecasting tool in understanding the opportunities you have for children in your life. Chinese Astrology can reveal underlying susceptibility to certain health issues that affect fertility; highlight good timing for you and your partner to conceive and uncover any specific life lessons relating to your children over the course of your life. To maximise your Chinese Astrology reading for children it is important to know your birth date including your birth hour and place of birth. Chinese Astrology reveals much more than just family and children and you will find it a fascinating tool to help you balance your life and make the most of good fortune when it arrives.

Depending on your chart, and focusing on Feng Shui for pregnancy, recommendations you can expect from Chinese Astrology reading can include:
• Ensuring good Feng Shui in your home to encourage positive harmonious energies that will improve your relationships and nurture your body to conceive
• Use of Acupuncture to remedy problematic body organs and functions and to stimulate reproductive organs
• Stabilising the route cause of health issues with nutritional supplements suitable for imbalances in the body impeding fertility. This may also include visiting a naturopath or Chinese herbalist for advice on specific teas to consume
• If your chart reveals obstacles with having children, then Ba Tze can help you make personal decisions about proceeding down paths like medical fertility treatments and IVF.
Like most things, the sum of the whole will produce desired outcomes. The recommendations should be implemented in a holistic fashion –fortifying the influence of each practice.

Feng Shui is an important controllable factor in your life that will assist you in conceiving a child. Good Feng Shui in your bedroom and proper use of rooms within your home can enhance fertility and improve intimacy with your partner. Using rooms in your home correctly and positioning your bedroom furniture using Feng Shui principles is paramount to making the most of your environment for a successful result. Good Feng Shui for the bedroom and home is one part of the equation, ensuring any health related obstacles are being treated follows simultaneously. Your Acupuncture specialist and Chinese herbalist will assess your health from the route cause and then treat you. Alternatively, being treated by a Western medical professional can also be effective.

We are lucky in today’s society to be well informed and have access to a wide range of practices and choice. Chinese metaphysical sciences like Feng Shui are non invasive and backed by thousands of years of evidence from people and families that have been successful in using it as a tool to empower and improve their lives. Using Feng Shui for pregnancy is not to be taken lightly and your Feng Shui consultant should be able to use both Ba Tze and Flying Star Feng Shui to make accurate recommendations for your situation and home. Due to the personal nature of pregnancy you should select a Feng Shui practitioner that you feel comfortable with and one that can adequately answer all your questions.

On a personal note, I had difficulty conceiving my first child. After many years in a highly stressful corporate position and keeping fit by running 5 times a week, my body was unable to give what a new life required to grow. My husband and I had tried in earnest for 12 months and even though my destiny chart revealed I was able to have many children (albeit a tad later than I was aiming) we were spiralling into frustration and despair. Finally I spent time in my home rearranging my bedroom and implementing Feng Shui bedroom decor. At the same time decided to couple Chinese Acupuncture with my good Feng Shui. To my surprise, my qualified Acupuncturist did not treat me to get pregnant straight away but insisted on treating my extremely high blood pressure (for which I was medicated) and poorly functioning organs to start with. Only after these were treated (approximately 8 visits) was my reproductive system stimulated and voila! I conceived the following month. I realised during my visits that to carry a healthy baby to full term, my underlying health issues needed to be addressed first. During pregnancy I continued to use Acupuncture for my morning sickness which left me feeling wonderful and lasted for around 4 weeks before nausea returned and I found myself getting another treatment. The most amazing benefit was that after treatment I came off my blood pressure medication and have not had to resume medication. Needless to say with my body functioning and back in sync, we conceived by surprise our second child as my Ba Tze chart predicted (when my hour of birth clashed with the year of the Dog). Oops – even in knowing you can’t help surprises.

What is good bedroom Feng Shui?
Knowing and manipulating the energy and Feng Shui in your bedroom can help in many areas including couples trying to fall pregnant and simply improving your connection with each other.
Good bedroom Feng Shui will depend on the layout of your home, the front facing orientation and the age of your home. A professional Feng Shui consultant will not only look at the physical aspects of your home and bedroom but be able to draw up an energy grid showing the real influences your environment is having on your life.

Recommendations you can expect from a Feng Shui consultation may vary from simplistic and subtle changes of colour and decor to more physical suggestions for furniture placement and then to the extreme recommendations where the bedroom may not be useful to use at all and if practical, alternate rooms will be recommended until your achieve your goals.

While there are many practical and common sense Feng Shui tips to set up the physical room and placement of furniture within your room, these recommendations will only penetrate the surface of the issues you may be experiencing be they ill health, depression, marital distance, conflict with your partner, difficulty getting pregnant. You may feel an instant change, but that change may not be lasting. What will get to the route cause are the recommendations that derive from analysing the unseen Flying Star Feng Shui energy circulating your bedroom and around your home.

For good Feng Shui in your home to promote fertility and encourage lasting loving relationships, you can take positive action and make changes to your life through altering your environment. If you are a DIY person then books and courses are ideal, however, it is important to do your homework and select a course or book that follows traditional Chinese Feng Shui. A qualified and experienced Feng Shui professional will be able to tell you where the cause of your challenges are stemming from and make useful and practical recommendations to minimise the severity or totally turn the situation around. Below are some free Bedroom Feng Shui tips that you can assess immediately to create a shift in energy. For lasting results, consult a professional who can assess the Flying Star Feng Shui of your home and make genuine recommendations.

Form School Feng Shui Tips for the bedroom include:
• It is best not to have mirrors in the bedroom, especially not reflecting the bed—if nothing else, it’s a little scary when you wake up to find you’re staring back at yourself in the middle of the night! Mirrors can also create a feeling that someone else is intruding or watching you in a place you would prefer to be a private retreat
• To encourage a good night’s rest, the bed-head should be against a solid wall. If there is no other space than under a window, ensure block out curtains or blinds and a tall and solid bedhead that will reduce the chill from the window and provide support while sleeping
• Place the bed adjacent to the door to avoid active energy entering the room and disturbing your peaceful rest
• If your home has exposed beams, avoid placing beds or seats underneath them as it can cause a feeling of restriction
• Allow sunlight through during the day, but have window coverings for night time to induce a good night’s rest
• Avoid air conditioners directly above the bed or placing a Television in the bedroom that will make the room active and detract from the peacefulness of the room
• Avoid placing the bed head directly in line with the door especially if at the end of a long corridor, this will provide too much yang energy coming at your head disturbing your sleep
• While LCD Clocks won’t disturb heavy sleeper, light sleepers will find it useful to cover the clock before going to bed.

Feng Shui is not mystical it is simply a practice that taps into how human beings interrelate with nature and our natural environment. Traditional Chinese Feng Shui is methodical, systematic and based on a database of patterns and outcomes given certain situations. After thousands of years of practice the Chinese have developed this social science into something that can truly assist people with their health, well being and prosperity.

For more information on how Feng Shui can assist you to make positive changes to your environment, contact mariko@backonyourfeet.com.au - Mariko Fisher is principal of FengShui by Sakura in Sydney and offers a range of Feng Shui services including residential and commercial Feng Shui consultations, Chinese Astrology Course, Feng Shui Courses and specialty Feng Shui products and gifts.  Please visit www.backonyourfeet.com.au

When the spleen and stomach become impaired you’ll become sluggish, bloated and even irritable, because the body can’t function properly. Tiredness sets in and further eating just accumulates creating dampness or indigestion sets in.

Bloating is very common and has various causes. If you have not heard this term before, it’s when after eating, you not only feel full and ready to explode but you look like it also. You will temporarily look as if you have put on a few pounds/ Kilograms around the waist.

To understand how bloating occurs; you will first need to know the organs involved.

- Stomach: Job is the rotting and ripening of food to break it down for the spleen.

- Spleen: Job is to separate the food essence, food Qi and spread it throughout the body to sustain life.

- Liver: Job is to make sure that there is a smooth flow of Qi around the body but if the liver is not happy for what ever reason the Qi will stagnate (not move smoothly) and the digestive function will be impaired.

- Mingmen: Job is to provide heat to the body. It is know as the gate of vitality and its place of residence is between your 2 kidneys. Mingmen will supply the spleen with warmth so it can transform and move the essence and it also assists the stomach in the rotting and ripening process.

The most common cause of bloating is a weak spleen and its inability to do its job. Each organ of the body supports the next like a parent caring for their child. In Chinese Medicine we call it Mother Child relationship but sometimes the parent is too tired so the child is neglected or the child behaves like a spoilt brat and it retaliates. Either way our organs are always in a constant flux of change.

When the mingmen energy is weak, (the mingmen being the parent at this point) the spleen will become cold and sluggish so the food instead of being transported throughout the body will instead sit around creating a mould like substance which in Traditional Chinese Medicine we call dampness. Dampness over time will produce a toxic heat and gas which will blow you out like a balloon and this is bloating.

Another cause will be an unhappy liver. You may have been told not to talk about stressful matters while eating at the dinner table otherwise you will get indigestion. Well, that is the start of the bloating process when the liver is involved. The liver is always getting the blame but so it should, it is so temperamental and it needs to get its stuff sorted out. J The liver is always becoming hot and bothered and this affects the smooth flow of Qi around the body. By the liver Qi stagnating food and energy become stuck and then the whole digestive system goes into spasm and eventually the bottle neck needs to blow out somewhere and what better place than your stomach.

Now, there is one other case of bloating that is rare but still worth considering! Worms, yes, slimy gross worms! Worms will have you bloat, probably because they are eating all your food!!!! But seriously, if you have signs of worms like bloating, itchy rectum, belching, changeable bowel movements, intestinal tract burning and cramping, mucus in the stools, malabsorption of nutrients, inability to digest fats, lactose or gluten intolerant please have your self tested for parasites.

www.backonyourfeet.com.au

Alkaline Cook Book – Great way to improve digestive problems