Scoliosis is a condition where there is an abnormal curvature of the spine which causes chronic discomfort and pain There is no cure for this ailment and the search for ways to reduce the negative symptoms and maladies that accompany this condition continue. Massage therapy is a common way that patients can reduce pressure and pain in the spinal column, relax its surrounding areas in the affected areas of the back, and generally reduce the high levels of stress  that accompany scoliosis.

So why does massage therapy improve the physical and psychological condition of a person suffering from scoliosis? When the body is massaged, muscles relax and lose their tension, blood flows more readily to various areas, and the mind also reduces its activity, immediately allowing the patient's body to begin the healing process.

In a case study conducted by the Katharina Schroth Hospital, they attempted to find out the impact of massage therapy in the treatment of scoliosis, costovertebral dysfunction, and thoracic outlet syndrome. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with the patients numbering 813 out of the 1000 in total, all of which suffering from scoliosis, immediately showing improvements in certain aspects of their physical and mental health. The study, which took place over a period of three years, brought many strong arguments to the case of massage therapy being used as a serious form of treatment for scoliosis. The declaration then made was that massage therapy is an appropriate tool for the relief of symptoms and conditions related to scoliosis, concluding that further research should take place with focus on the ability of massage to address pathologies normally acknowledged as separate entities.

According to study done by the Mayo Clinic, massage therapy is beneficial for those who have recently undergone heart surgery. Heart surgery recovery is one of the most crucial times a heart patient must endure and through massage, pain can be alleviated.

During a 5-month period, the Mayo Clinic studied 58 patients who participated in the study and the results were overwhelmingly positive in alleviating the pain during recovery. Due to the results of this 2005 study, the Mayo Clinic now has a full-time therapist for patients who underwent heart surgery. Heart patients usually do not recover as quickly because of pain, anxiety, stress and tension. It then takes much time before they can go back to their daily routines. With massage therapy however, the road to recovery becomes an easier journey.

ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This condition, found in children and adolescents, affects their impulse control, over-activity and attention problems. When children and adolescents have ADHD, they normally go to their family pediatricians, physicians, child psychiatrists, psychologists and pediatric neurologists. The attention-deficit class has become progressively more popular amongst clinicians, and the analytic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders imply that just 3% to 7% of all school-age children and adolescents are exaggerated by this disorder, at least 10% of behavioral problems are seen in universal pediatric settings due to ADHD, and in some of the children and adolescents psychiatric samples are up to 50%. As per the clinical samples, ADHD is found in nine males from every female, but the rate of ADHD is promptly increasing amongst girls too. ADHD girls are clinically referred to as prejudice due to their male complement in inattentiveness, peer aggression and internalizing behavior.

For treating ADHD, a non-medication therapy such as massage therapy has been found effective. In a most recent study, ADHD adolescents who took ten massage treatment classes for two weeks rated themselves as more content than those in comparison who participated in recreation therapy. Spectators rated the massage therapy effects as less squirmy, and teachers noticed more on-task behavior, when compared with the recreation therapy group.
One can also see the same effects on adolescent and child psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with modification and depressive disorders. The patient has been seen with considerably less depression and nervousness following the massage therapy. The massage groups urinary cortical and salivary levels were reduced. The behavior of the staff nurses seemed to be more helpful with the inpatients that come to get massage therapy. It has been noticed that they have been less nervous and more helpful when evaluating a manage group, which is displayed in the relaxing videotapes. Moreover, night walking reduces and more time is spent in having a relaxed sleep with the help of massage therapy.     
The fundamental instrument by which massage therapy reduces hyperactivity and amplify attention is not apparent, even though the biochemical and physiological data collected for these suggest some potential, where the waves in the brain are distorted in the direction of sensitive attentiveness. In addition, amplified vagal tones (and therefore, amplified parasympathetic activity) have been eminent throughout massage therapy, and this intensification is frequently linked with improved attentiveness and an extra relaxed state.

Massage therapy can improve vagal control of the heart by calming a missing physiological inhibitory system. In return, it may help disturbed or knowledge disordered children to sort out and slow down impulsive activity and thus amplify their stage of attentiveness. People amid each subtype of ADHD are likely to gain from massage therapy. As we can see that the attention deficit is the main symptom of hyperactivity-impulsivity. The impatience is understood to be minor and deep disperse from sensory discharge in the brain.

Being involved in contact sports such as football, boxing, wrestling, martial arts and the like, requires extra care from the players. Prevention is still the best way to keep us healthy. Still, many things can happen with contact sports and one of the most common is having a concussion. When the head is forcefully hit against the skull, the brain is disturbed. It swells and at times, one can faint depending on the severity of the blow to the head. A concussion creates an increased intracranial pressure that may be fatal if not relieved immediately. This can make a person remain unconscious sometimes. This certainly is an emergency and health providers must be called immediately. Concussions can occur with most of the players as researched according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They report that approximately 300,000 people get mild to moderate sports-related brain injuries each year and most of them young men between 16 and 25. That is why a helmet is definitely needed to safeguard one from a concussion or any brain injury at that. In addition, complete gear is advised for whole body protection.

There are healing methods in Oriental Medicine that can help such as acupuncture, but massage therapy can also help patients deal with concussions. Massage therapy dates back to around 400 BC.  Even Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, has writings that recommend the use of rubbing and friction for joint and circulatory problems. There are many conditions that attest to the use of massage, including low back pain, arthritis, fatigue, high blood pressure, diabetes, immunity suppression, infertility, smoking cessation, depression, and many more.

Now, using massage on patients who has concussions are currently being proven to be effective. The relaxing effect of massage helps the body produce endorphins, which causes the body to naturally have the sense of relaxation. This stops the swelling and thereby decreasing the intracranial pressure. Therapeutic massage has also been accounted to aid in faster recovery with certain ailments, as well as soothing and relieving tension.

Tui Na is a therapeutic form of massage and has been used in China for more than 2,000 years. Tui Na massage therapy has been considered the external form of massage and is used for giving special treatments to people of all ages, from infancy to old age. This Chinese therapy makes use of rhythmic compression techniques along different energy channels of the body to establish harmonious flow of Qi throughout the body and bringing it back to balance. It works deeply with the positive energy of the body.

Tui Na makes use of various hand techniques in combination with acupuncture and other manipulation techniques. To enhance the healing process, the practitioner may recommend the use of Chinese herbs. Many of the techniques used in this massage resemble that of a western massage like gliding, kneading, vibration, tapping, friction, pulling, rolling, pressing and shaking. In Tui Na massage, the muscles and tendons are massaged with the help of hands, and an acupressure technique is applied to directly affect the flow of Qi at different acupressure points of the body, thus facilitating the healing process. It removes the blockages and keeps the energy moving through the meridians as well as the muscles.

A typical session of Tui Na massage may vary from thirty minutes to an hour. The session timings may vary depending on the patient's needs and condition. The best part of the therapy is that it relaxes as well as energizes the person. The main benefit of Tui Na massage is that it focuses on the specific problem, whether it is an acute or a chronic pain associated with the joints, muscles or a skeletal system. This technique is very beneficial in reducing the pain of neck, shoulders, hips, back, arms, highs, legs and ankle disorders. It is a very effective therapy for arthritis, pain, sciatica and muscle spasms. Other benefits of this massage therapy include alleviation of the stress related disorders like insomnia, constipation, headaches and other disorders related to digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems.

The greatest advantage of Tui Na is that it focuses on maintaining overall balance with both physical and mental health. Any one who wants to avoid the side effects of drugs or a chemical based treatment can adopt this effective massage technique to alleviate their pain. Tui Na massage therapy is now becoming a more common therapy method due to its focus on specific problems rather than providing a general treatment.

Sports injuries are injuries that typically occur while participating in organized sports, competitions, training sessions, or organized fitness activities. These injuries may occur for a variety of reasons, including improper training, lack of appropriate footwear or safety equipment.
The injuries are of two general types. The first type is called an acute traumatic injury. These injuries usually involve a single blow from a single application of force, like getting a cross-body block in football. The second type of sports injury is called an overuse or chronic injury. Chronic injuries are those that happen over a period of time. Chronic injuries are usually the result of repetitive training, such as running, overhand throwing, or serving a ball in tennis.

Sprain and strain of the joint and surrounded tissue are one of the most common sports related injuries (sprain involves the ligament and strain involves muscle or tendon). Besides pain, the typical inflammatory response may include swelling of the injured area, redness or purple skin discoloration, and reduced range of motion of the joint. In addition to conventional R.I.C.E (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) treatment, many athletes have found acupuncture treatment to be very helpful in quickly suppressing inflammation and swelling.

The athletes frequently report weakness at the injury site and describe the pain as "deep and dull" aching in nature. There may also be sensations of "pins and needles", tingling and numbness that accompanies the injury or referred sensations that travel away from the injury site. The athletes may have difficulty in locating the pain but can often reproduce the pain with particular movements. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture points are utilized to address the injury and can often help to alleviate the pain.
Acupuncture has a very successful record with sports injuries. Many professional sports teams have acupuncturists on staff to decrease healing times and resolve stubborn ailments. The use of acupuncture to treat acute injuries from intense or repetitive physical activity began centuries ago. It was, and still is, one of the primary means of quick healing for the martial arts. Specific acupuncture styles and techniques were developed to stop pain and dramatically increase recovery time. This tradition continues today and its use has expanded into competitive athletics that result in similar injuries. Pain is one of the most common complaints in sports injuries followed by reduced function. The whole approach of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture to the treatment of pain and reduced function is to see it as a disorder in the body's natural state. The treatment is geared toward rectifying the disorder and restoring internal harmony.
Recent studies show that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries such as strains, sprains, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle pain, swollen muscles and shin splints. In addition to treating the injury, Acupuncture can also improve performance and give athletes a competitive edge.

The largest clinical study of acupuncture ever conducted was published in the December 2004 Annuals of Internal Medicine and found acupuncture to significantly reduce and improve function in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. In recent years, acupuncture has become more popular in Western countries and is now recognized by the National Institute of Health as an acceptable form of treatment for pain.

By Nicole Sheldon

By Micah Arsham

This essay grew out of a series of online discussions that were part of Medical Chinese classes offered at PCOM. The discussion forums centered on translation issues facing contemporary scholars and were led by Robert Damone and Sonya Boynton-Pritzker.


At the Pacific Symposium 2008 in San Diego, publisher and translator Bob Flaws remarked that, ‘it has yet to be seen if Chinese medicine has a future in this country.’  As part of the first generation of Americans to practice and teach Chinese medicine, Flaws gave one piece of advice to today’s students—learn Chinese.  Specifically, one must know medical Chinese to access not only primary sources but also a specific way of conceptualizing the practice of medicine.  There is a glass ceiling to learning entirely from secondary sources, yet many students never read a primary text in their preparation for licensure.  Are students missing something critical?  If the unique nature of Chinese medicine is grounded in language, then our relationship to and understanding of Chinese medical terms has direct clinical importance.  The language of Chinese medicine draws upon poetic imagery and metaphor to form a technical jargon.  Is literary analysis, therefore, a tenable way to seek clinical truth? How much Chinese, if any, does one need to know to practice Chinese medicine well? Does it help the clinical decision-making process to have a deep knowledge of the etymology and history of terms?  Do better translations of Chinese and other East Asian texts yield better clinicians?

CONCEPT ACQUISITION
It is easy to have a perfunctory knowledge of Chinese medical terms, and it is also easy to misinterpret them.  As a student accumulates conceptual understanding, the process depends on the language used to define terms.  Some terms are more accessible than others.  For instance, “jumping-round phlegm” is actually tuberculosis of the hip joint, but without looking it up or realizing the connection with GB-30 (Jumping Circle), one might misconceive the meaning.  Often, we define terms only in English and do not reference the characters and/or pinyin.  Translator Eric Brand has written about this phenomenon and the misunderstandings that ensue from an inaccurate and incomplete grasp of Chinese medical concepts: “[a]fter a generation or two of Western practice, some translation errors have come to be accepted as normal, and this leads to poor concept acquisition in a new generation of students.”  Despite learning terms in translation and looking them up in A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, many concepts remain ambiguous or obscure.  Part of this problem is the lack of consistency in translation that is the basis for Nigel Wiseman and Paul Zmiewski’s call for term standardization, without which the student “will be completely at sea” (55).  However, it seems less important to standardize the terms than to engage with them.  In scholarly works, translators often put the original term in parenthesis after a translated term, especially if the term is unusual or technical.  In this way, the author’s original word is immediately clear to the reader, without the intervention of the translator.  Our textbooks should increase our knowledge of Chinese language, not assume that we have none.  We need familiarity with Chinese terms themselves, not merely consistent translations.  Standardization of terms, i.e. the codification of a technical language, is less about being dogmatic or overly academic than it is about raising the level at which we engage terminology.  

There is tension today in how we speak about Chinese medicine among ourselves.  This tension is ultimately a good thing, for it raises questions and urges us to be careful with language.  More of a question is how best to speak about Chinese medicine with Western medical professionals and layperson audiences, such as our patients. The push for standardization is really a way to say, ‘wake up, understand these terms, it’s not as easy as you think….’  For this reason, Wiseman deliberately selects anachronistic and unusual terms to draw attention to the fact that Chinese medical language is a technical language.  Wiseman elaborates that “[i]nsistence on the use of familiar expression as far as possible creates the impression that Chinese medicine is conceptually more familiar than it actually is” (“Not Just Words,” 8).  An accurate, detailed, and habitual way to talk about Chinese medicine is needed.  It is about getting the concepts right and knowing what words mean, in a technical and historical context.  Is not Chinese medical terminology farther outside our ken than Western medical terminology?

Indeed, our conceptual understanding of terms often overlooks historical associations, ideological resonances, and affinities with certain doctors.  This is the danger of textbooks that summarize and generalize information (let alone the study guides to which many students resort as a quick source of information).  When we learn entirely from English sources, we often do not know when a concept or phrase is meant to evoke a specific author or school of thought.  Thus, Wiseman and Zmiewski note that when a Chinese student reads, “han4 chu1 ji2 ji2 ran2” (“a constant stream of sweat”), this refers to a particular section of the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) (60).  American students miss the allusion, for even if they think ‘big sweat, part of the four bigs,’ it is fundamentally different from knowing a line from the Shang Han Lun.  

Similarly, the verbs used to explain physiological and pathological dynamics, as well as language describing treatment methods, are poorly and inconsistently translated.  This leaves the student unsure of what words to use to talk about certain things.  The language of pathomechanism relies on specific ways of expression for its authenticity.  Without getting the vocabulary right, students may feel like they are making it up as they go along.  Wiseman and Zmiewski call this category of words “conditionally stipulated terms,” and quantifies it as about two hundred ideograms (60).  For instance, Wiseman and Feng differentiate various words to describe the effect of heat in the body; each has a distinct meaning.  ‘Deflagrate’ (fen2) means to “burn fiercely; describes heat in the exuberant heat stage of warm disease” (121).  ‘Deflagrate’ should be contrasted against kindred terms that describe the actions of heat in the body: ‘blaze’ (fan2), indicates the qi and construction levels are ‘both ablaze;’ ‘effulgent’ (wang4), refers to burning brightly (as in yin-vacuity fire);  ‘stream’ (zheng1), is a gentle rising, as in steaming bone disease; ‘flame upward’ (shang4 yan2), produces upper body signs, as in liver fire flaming upward; ‘scorch’ (zhuo2), means to damage slightly by burning, as in the network vessels of the lung; and ‘condense’ (lian4), in which heat reduces fluids and produces phlegm.  The non-Chinese student may not grasp these conceptual differences and so has less knowledge as a result.  However, differentiating these terms is not merely an academic luxury.  How much linguistic carelessness can we afford when prescribing Chinese pharmaceuticals? What we do in the clinic follows from our understanding of concepts, an understanding that is rooted in language.

Although A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine is a good start, much more scholarship is needed to trace the changes in medical concepts over time and through different regions of East Asia.  Many times, historical usage lends nuance and connotation to language.  Accordingly, language is the entry into understanding the thought process of another culture; the Chinese view of health and disease is inseparable from its description in language.  Thus ethnographer Yanhua Zhang points out that understanding emotional disease (qingzhi) in contemporary Chinese medicine “is not ‘culturally bound,’ but certainly is ‘permeated with culture’” (1).  What constitutes disease is tied to our cultural perceptions of disease, as they are expressed in language.  In the West, we need to unfold terms and concepts as they are written about in primary sources.  This is how we deepen our understanding of terms and bring this insight into a clinical setting.  If we do not engage with these texts, we are creating something new—something that is not Chinese medicine but rather our interpretation of it.  

METAPHOR AND SYMBOLISM: CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF LITERARY CRITICISM
Chinese medical texts can be viewed as literary works: there are poems and songs to describe pulse images; many herbs have folk legends surrounding them; the body is viewed variously as a kingdom, a natural landscape, a society.  How we speak of Chinese medicine really does matter: will we learn point names, not just their number? The Chinese view of anatomy traditionally describes body parts and relationships among them in an especially poetic way.  Thus, the lung is a “florid canopy” and the intestinal tract contains the “dark gate” and “screen gate.”  Structures like the gao huang, san jiao (triple burner), and mo yuan (membrane source) have no Western biomedical equivalent, and where we do draw strict parallels between Western anatomy and the Chinese view of the body, we lose part of the Chinese concept.  Viewing the body in terms of yin and yang is finally a literary conceit.  In this way, the raw power of Chinese medicine comes from a poetic view of the body and of disease processes.

In Chinese medicine, the basis of clinical application depends not only on empirical knowledge but also on conceptual deduction. Theory forms the basis of diagnosis and treatment.  The examples of using the conceptual framework of Chinese medical theory to justify clinical decisions are manifold.  For instance, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies cites the Convenient Reader of Established Formulas (1904), in which Zhang Bin-Cheng posits a Song-dynasty physician’s opinion that Ding Zhi Wan (Settle the Emotions Pill) treats near-sightedness:

“[The eyes] ability to see [what is] distant depends on their having fire.  If one cannot see [what is] distant, this is due to lack of fire.  The appropriate strategy is to tonify the Heart….  Even though the eyes are the orifices of the Liver, the Heart, too, attaches itself to the eyes.  How is this? When the eyes perceive the characteristic quality [of something] and judge it to be good or bad, this [type of] complete knowing comes from the heart.  Therefore, when the Heart lack the power to perceive distant [things], how can one cure this by way of a strategy [aimed at] enriching water and softening the Liver?” (467)

According to the above passage, the sovereign fire of the heart is finally responsible for vision, and to improve eyesight Ding Zhi Wan (Settle the Emotions Pill) may be given.  In this way, the correct interpretation of a text justifies a formula’s clinical application. If we don’t get the words right due to translation errors or poor conceptual understanding, how can we explain certain applications of formulas? If literary theory is a way to approach clinical fact, being sensitive to language is absolutely necessary.  Translators must take care to preserve what Wiseman calls the ‘cognitive aesthetic’ of a given text by staying close to the source.

WHAT IS GOOD TRANSLATION?
Translation is an act, a force—it is matching one’s creativity against a text and trying to convey the essence of the original in another language.  Cultural theorist Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) observes that there is always distance between the original and the translation: “While content and language form a certain unity in the original, like a fruit and its skin, the language of the translation envelops its content like a royal robe with ample folds” (Illuminations, 75).  While translation is always a difficult project, the ‘royal robe’ of which Benjamin writes need not fit quite so loosely, to the point of unknowingly sacrificing our own conceptual understanding of Chinese medical terms.  Translating Chinese medical literature is especially challenging, and many primary sources, both historical and modern, remain un-translated.  Translations should be more widely funded, and we should value the position of Chinese medicine halfway between literature and science.  It is not only through scientific inquiry but also through literary explication that the future of Chinese medicine can develop.  Only then will we recognize and benefit from the unique value of Chinese medicine—a value that comes from a conceptual framework inextricable from the words used to describe it.


Works Cited
Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.”  Illuminations.  Schocken: NY, 1969.

Brand, Eric.  “Clinical Implications of Accurate Translation: Will (Zhi) and the Kidney, Sinews and the Liver.”  Blue Poppy Blog, June 18th, 2009. http://www.bluepoppy.com/blog/blogs/blog1.php/2009/06/18/clinical-implications-of-accurate-transl#more167

Scheid, Volker, et al., comp. and trans.  Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies.  2nd ed. Eastland: Seattle, 2009.

Wiseman, Nigel and Paul Zmiewski.  “Rectifying the Names: Suggestions for Standardizing Chinese Medical Terminology.”  Approaches to Traditional Chinese Medical Literature: Proceeding of an International Symposium on Translation Methodologies and Terminologies.  Ed. Paul Unschuld.  Kuwer: Dordrecht, 1989.  

Wiseman, Nigel and Feng Ye.  A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. 2nd ed.  Paradigm: Brookline, 1998.   

Wiseman, Nigel.  “The Transmission and Reception of Chinese Medicine: Language, the Neglected Key.”  Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine 2: 29-36. http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/WisemanWork

Wiseman, Nigel.  “Translation of Chinese Medical Terms: Not Just a Matter of Words.”  Paradigm: 2001.  Accessed online: http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/WisemanWork

Zhang, Yanhua.  Transforming Emotions with Chinese Medicine: An Ethnographic Account from Contemporary China.  SUNY: NY, 2007.


Micah Arsham attends the M.S.T.O.M. program at the San Diego campus.  She holds a B.A. in dance from Columbia University and has studied German literature at Princeton University and the Freie Universität Berlin.

By Vicky Lee

The assignment was to relate our nascent understanding of Yin/Yang principles to the following passage of the I Ching:
In winter the life energy, symbolized by thunder, the Arousing, is still underground. Movement is just at its beginning; therefore it must be strengthened by rest so that it will not be dissipated by being used prematurely. This principle, i.e., of allowing energy that is renewing itself to be reinforced by rest, applies to all similar situations. The return of health after illness, the return of understanding after an estrangement: everything must be treated tenderly and with care at the beginning, so that the return may lead to a flowering.
_________________________________________________
“Today I spent 4 hours chipping ice off the roof. Took a long walk with Blue in the woods where we found coyote scat.
It’s February – time to order seeds.”
My friend Sam’s Facebook entry offered a perfect platform for this exercise. Frankly, I was not
really feeling the assigned passage until I read Sam’s post and realized that only eight months
removed from Colorado, I had already become disengaged from nature and its cycles. Being in the
urban environment and being in school doesn’t allow a period of dormancy, rest or renewal.
However, my friend Sam, who lives in the Western Catskills, spent the weekend being a part of the
natural cycle. I will imagine myself there with him.
It is February, winter and yin. The garden is buried beneath snow piles, hiding the dormant yang of
growth to come. February can be the cruelest month – because we’re getting restless (a sign that
yang is stirring within though the cold still inhibits us). Nearing the end of a long, shady, cold yin
season, it’s not so much that we see definitive signs of spring arriving, but little indications that
winter is doing its laundry, so to speak, before packing up to move on. So the temperatures are still
cold, but more temperate. Precipitation is getting wetter and softer. Patches of ground are
beginning to reveal in flat open fields. There is no life yet in the grass, but the lengthening days of
sun will soon remedy that. The solstice having passed, the days are growing longer, so yang politely
adds minutes of light each day as yin just as politely yields.
We can be ungenerous about yin. We can begrudge the cold and the dark and enforced retreat, but
we know that it is only playing its part in the dance of interdependence. Yang cannot arise without
having rested. It is always moving until yin puts it to bed for a needed nap. If winter never came,
plants and soil would become sickly from overgrowth and nutritional depletion. They would lose
their ability to know when to reproduce and when to conserve themselves. Animals would also
overproduce and soon outnumber available resources.
Despite the time of enforced rest, there are still things that must be counterbalanced. Although ice
(a yin expression) is expected in winter, it can overwhelm when there is too much in one place. On
the roof, it can crack gutters and send daggers down to cause damage. Elsewhere, it can cause pipes
to burst. The weight of snow on the roof can also cause it to collapse and must be pushed off. So, as
homeowners, we must raise up a little yang and with our own hands, help to counterbalance the
yin, which might grow too replete and overwhelming. Should the pipes burst, or the roof collapse,
it will be as if yin intertransforms into yang and we must contain the damage of it bursting out or
collapsing in. So we chip at the ice, we shovel the snow; we run warm water or insulate the pipes.
We take walks in the woods. Studies have shown that light exercise in winter like walking outdoors
even for as little as 10 minutes a day can boost the immune system. So it is not okay to allow
oneself to go completely dormant. If so, we lose the ability to ward off external evils. We should
not overexert ourselves and tax our systems, but we exercise a little activity in the external world
to keep our bodies warm and moving and defended (yang functions). In the woods we see coyote
scat but no coyote. Evidence that life is still happening. Predators and scavengers still hunt and
scavenge, but they spend more time out of sight and resting. They are probably dreaming of
summer, when rabbits will be abundant and picnic areas littered with food.
After our walk, we warm ourselves by the fire, fortifying ourselves with soup. Our favorite nonactive
activity is ordering seeds, so that we will be ready for spring when yang will burst out of its
long winter’s sleep, and “the return may lead to a flowering.”

By Brent Garcia