​If you go to the mountains or in a city in Switzerland and walk into a café with a bakery, you may get a warm drink and, order a zvieri, a snack like Apfelstrudel with cream or vanilla sauce. Or you may take home something from a mountain bakery, like a Birnenbrot, perhaps a Zimtschneken from a regular city bakery, or make Swiss traditional Christmas cookies like Zimtstern, never giving it a second thought. We may associate these with Switzerland but never really realized that one key ingredient which has become traditional food, does not have its roots here but in faraway places. I am referring to Cinnamon. It sits in the spice cupboard of most households in Switzerland and probably Europe but we don't give a second thought about where it comes from, what it actually is or what it does to our bodies. Europeans went in search of spices in the 15th century, which were previously lacking or expensive if they actually managed to get them. This led to colonization of lands, so that the supply of spices became commonplace, as it is today.
 
Cinnamomum has 2 varieties: Cinnamomum verum and Cinnamomum cassia. C. verum means "true cinnamon," which comes from Sri Lanka and is more expensive, as it is rarer. C. cassia or just Cassia is originally from China and has multiple varieties that is now grown in Indonesia, Vietnam and many other South-East Asian countries. Most of the Cinnamon that we get in our stores is actually Cassia, which has a stronger, pungent scent than true Cinnamon and is obviously cheaper, as more countries grow and produce it. If you look at the picture above, you will the see the 2 quills with many thin layers on the right, packed together to create 2 thick quills. This is Cinnamomum verum, true Cinnamon from Sri Lanka. The other 3, which are just one thick bark curled to form the 3 quills, are Cinnamomum cassia. In Malaysia, which also grows Cassia, we call Cinnamon Kayu Manis - Sweet Wood. It is often used in curries but seldom in sweet foods.
 
In Chinese Medicine, we use Cassia regularly. In fact, it has many classical formulae In the Chinese Materia Medica with Cassia as a base. In the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Disease) written in ca. 200 CE by Zhang Zhong Jing, Cassia-based formulae are some of the most important formulae to treat cold conditions. We have 2 forms of Cassia that we use: Guì Zhī, Saigon Cassia Twig and Roù Guì, Saigon Cassia Inner Bark. Both have spicy and sweet flavors, but their temperature differs; the twig is warm and the bark is hot. It makes sense that the younger twigs would be less hot than the inner bark of an older tree. Their organs and functions slightly differ too. Guì Zhī enters the organs of the Heart, Lung and Bladder, while Roù Guì enters the Heart, Kidney, Liver and Spleen. Both will warm and enter the Heart, as such a very important herb in treatment of issues that affect the chest, like chest colds, palpitations or even circulation issues. They can also be used for edema, swellings in the body, which is often an issue of the lack of circulation or Yang in the body. If you are experiencing any of these themes, talk to your practitioner about using Herbal Medicine.
 
There is a school of thought in Chinese Herbal Medicine called the Fire School. The basic precept of this school of thought is that humans come into the world with a strong Yang capacity, i.e. the capacity to self-heal. As we get older and/ or drain our Life Essence, this capacity to self-heal diminishes. One of the herbs that this school of thought favors in its treatments is Cinnamon, as it is seen as an herb that will replenish the Yang in the body.
 
Cinnamon is one of those underrated herb. We use it in so many dishes and desserts yet we barely give it our attention as a medicine. But we also know that as a spice, if we put too much of it in a dish, it can be unpleasant and even nauseate. As stated in previous blogposts - Food is Medicine. Use Cinnamon sparingly in a dish but use it regularly. Drink the Indian Chai Masala regularly on cold days; it contains Cinnamon and Ginger, as well as other herbs that warm the body. Put a dash of powdered Cinnamon in your oatmeal, or in your apple compote. It brings a little zing into an otherwise plain food, in terms of flavor, but supplements warmth that we are lacking at this present moment in winter.  
 
 
 
 
Image Cinnamon by Elaine

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​Between Christmas and New Year's, I had a few days off, during which I had planned to do nothing, meaning no appointments with anyone. On one of those days, I decided to go to the thermal baths with public transportation. I walked out to the tram station and just I as I was coming close to it, I saw the tram approaching. If I had really wanted to get this tram, I would have had to make a run for it. In this split-second moment, I had to make a decision and I resolved to let it pass. I didn't run and the tram passed on without me. I realized then, that I was feeling a sense of stress; my heart was beating faster and my breath was a little caught in my chest. My conscious-self had to remind my unconscious that I had no appointment anywhere or with anyone; that I was allowed to just follow my own rhythm and could take the tram whenever I wanted. 
 
As I sat there on the bench at the tram station waiting for the next one to come, I remembered how I used to get the bus to school every weekday morning, never knowing when the bus would come; as buses in Malaysia didn't follow schedules and sometimes they came at a regular time or they didn't. I then recalled this certain kind of anxiety that would reverberate through my body, and realized that this has not really changed, since I often times walk fast to the tram station in order that I don't miss the tram to get somewhere on time. I have gotten older and the landscape has changed, but I still feel this anxiety that I could miss appointments, especially here in Switzerland, where time defines so much of our daily lives. How I cope with this is to walk faster or come out earlier. But on this day that I had no one to meet, I could have walked slower but I did not. 
 
This got me thinking of daily rhythms, routines and assumptions. How we humans, living in a society, take many things for granted as "normal" and often times do not bother to question how or why we do things. The neuroscientist, Beau Lotto explains:
 
"What your perceptual history of reality gives your brain are reflexive assumptions manifest in the functional architecture of the brain with which you perceive the here and now. These assumptions determine what we think and do, and help us to predict what to do next. It is also important to note the opposite: they also determine what we don't think and do[...] We are very lucky that our brain evolved to have assumptions [...] A set of baseline mechanical assumptions that our species developed over many, many millennia to right this very moment. This goes not just for breathing, but for sight as well. We - like other animals - are born with many assumptions (such as physical laws) already "bred" into us."   (Lotto 2017: 149-150)
 
We evolved as a species with certain traits and reflexes, as it helped us survive to the present moment. So my being, physical, mental and possibly spiritual, wasn't just some chance occurrence, but a very experienced-defined collection of attributes shaped by millions of years of life on earth.
 
Before this day-off-from-my-routine that I had, I had not really bothered to become aware of my bodily sensations of stress about catching the tram on time; maybe I hadn't had the time to ponder on it, as most times I was running for the tram. What is also interesting of that moment sitting at the tram stop is the physiological response that came out of a mental state; me thinking of running for the tram had produced the same symptoms as me actually running for the tram. How remarkable is the power of my thoughts and the unconscious in shaping my reality? If I had not had time off from work, I would not have sat down on that bench to reflect on my physical body. I would have just continued on, never really becoming aware of how I have the possibility to change my experience of life.
 
"Seeing differently - to deviate - begins with awareness...with seeing yourself see (by no means end there). It begins with knowing that some of those invisible assumptions that maintain your survival in the past may no longer be useful. It begins with understanding that they may in fact be (or become) bad for you (and others), and if not changed would curtail living."    (Lotto 2017: 185)
 
This practice of running-for-the-tram is not finished for me, as I believe the "trait" of punctuality is so deeply ingrained in Switzerland, that as long as I live here, I will be obliged to play along with and adapt to it. What I will do is to be aware and sometimes choose to not play along, to give myself more time and more space; to linger and sit on the tram station bench, watching the trams go by. To allow myself to experience calm in my body, even when the tram passes by without me in it.   
 
 
 
 
 
Reference
 
Lotto, Beau (2017): Deviate: The Creative Power of Transforming Your Perception. London: Orion Publishing
 
 
 
Image by Elaine  

Many years ago, I watched a movie with my husband; it was a Chinese movie involving a student with his Daoist master. The student asks his master for some wise life lessons and the master replies, "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep."
 
Not long later, I was writing a letter to my university administration, to express my dissatisfaction with how certain class dates were changed at short notice that it had affected my travel plans, which involved flights that had already been booked. In the middle of my constructing this letter, my husband invited me to eat the hot meal that he had prepared and I decided to leave the letter aside to have the meal. However, my mind was still rummaging through the discontent I was experiencing with the school. Later, I had to spend time in the bathroom, dealing with my digestion that was reacting to my emotional state. In this moment, I became very aware how the Daoist master was right - "Eat when you eat." 
 
How often does this happen to so many of us? Many times we try to reflect on what we had eaten to find the "culprit" to blame for the indigestion and diarrhea we are experiencing, but actually it may have been how we were eating, with too many thoughts, among other things, and not what we were eating. Just as when we couldn't fall asleep, worrying about the events of tomorrow. Often times it was our minds being too busy with what was or will be, while expecting that our bodies calm down - "Sleep when you sleep."
 
Such simple advice, yet profound and sometimes feels unattainable. It is these very simple things in our everyday lives that make the difference, but we, unfortunately, seldom give recognition to the simple. We, as a society, love the complicated and the superheroes; hence, the overload of movies in the theatres about them, yet they are the flawed ones, who developed superhuman capabilities due to some deficiency or dis-ease that they experience. Take Batman for instance; his  "normal-life" character being Bruce Wayne. Mr. Wayne becomes a vigilante, crime-fighting superhero after witnessing the murder of his parents as a young child. Basically, he experienced Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) as a child and as an adult compensates for his inability to control the events that shaped his life, by having "super" toys as well as assumes a different identity, behind a mask, in order to shape the life of others. Therein lies the complicated.
 
Actually, it is the simple and the steady regularity that gets us through life in a wholesome manner. In the 20 years of being a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I have observed that those who find this regularity and consistency often also have habits that positively affect that lives. This begins already as children. When as children, we are served regular, homecooked meals, which we are maybe a part of the process of making, we become used to taking time to cook and eat with others. This then shapes the digestive system, in terms of rhythm and environment. I once treated a patient, who shared honestly with me how dietary changes that would require him to cook would not likely be successful. He realized that his growing up in a boarding school shaped his relationship to food; food was served to him and his fellow boarding schoolmates, of which they were not involved in its preparation process. He associated food with just going into a cafeteria, consuming enough so that he would have enough energy to go on with his day. I was thankful for his disclosure of his experience, as it helped me understand what he needed and my becoming aware of other realities of life. Many of us consume what is easy and fast, sometimes as we are moving to our next appointment, as we are trained as such. If we didn't give our digestive system the time or the space needed to digest what we just ingested, how can we expect that it will process it well. Just as when we humans were not given the time and space to do our work, how can we be expected to submit a successful, finished project. So maybe it is not just what is eaten, but also how we eat it, that shapes what we produce out of our bodies. But this does not mean we cannot change what we learned as children. This is where we have a choice, to be conscious of our habits.
 
Similarly with sleep; we drop into our beds after working on stressful projects or doing mind-stimulating activities, expecting that our body-mind would just calm down on its own, at a snap of a finger, enough to fall into regeneration mode. Maybe just like with our digestive systems, they will for a time, until they don't anymore. We are then confronted by our insomnia, tossing and turning in our bed, wondering why we can't fall asleep. Then, we imagine what it will be like when we have to work the next day with little sleep; thus, solidifying our inability to find the peace to sleep. The downward spiral continues on and on until we choose to stop it by becoming conscious.
 
Simple is not always easy, especially in our modern, complicated manner of doing things, which is often times neither efficient nor beneficial to us or our environment, even though we are told it should be. But if this is what we need, then it is time to become conscious of our everyday habits. Let go of the complicated that has not served us. Honour the simple, honour the everyday space and time! - "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image Sleeping Dog by Chris F on pexels.com
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In the year 1988, I turned 14 and I remember the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea very well. I was a rhythmic gymnast myself, so I was really excited to watch my sport but also all the other sports; this was my chance to see the world's best in any sport, the spectacle and pomp of the event. As an athlete, and I have heard from so many others who share this view, I felt like the Olympics would be the ultimate experience; to represent your country, in your sport and win. What I remember of that Olympics was the 100-meter race. The favorites to win were the American, Carl Lewis, who had won it in the last Olympics in 1984 and Ben Johnson, the Canadian who broke the world record the year before. The final race came and Ben Johnson won in world-record time, receiving the gold medal. The headline on every news broadcast and newspaper I read declared him a hero. Then almost overnight, he wasn't. He was stripped of his gold medal when he tested positive for Stanozonol, an anabolic steroid. He went from "Ben the Hero," to "Big Bad Ben;" this was literally the words they used, as in the Big Bad Wolf in the fairytales and it stuck in my memory. 
 
In that Olympics, rhythmic gymnastics was an official sport for the first time. I had been in the sport for 2 years already and watched every world championship video I could find like more than 20 times, sometimes in slow motion, to study how each move was performed. I knew most of the top gymnasts who would be competing in Seoul. The favorite was Bianka Panova of Bulgaria. She had won the world championships a year before, in every event - from individual all-round and the four apparatus, with the "perfect score," meaning 10.00 at that point in time. There were others who had 10.00 but not in all events like her or even with the grace she exhibited. So Bianka Panova was the favorite but that did not manifest in that Olympic games. She dropped her club in one of her routines and did not score a 10.00. This one mistake plagued her for the rest of her other routines, which were all perfect 10.00s. She ended up with no medal in 4th place. In the circle of my fellow gymnasts, we had discussions of how she didn't look so healthy; that maybe she had an eating disorder. The one who was so perfect and graceful suddenly seemed fallible, mortal even.
 
These are some of the stories that have stayed with me for over 30 years now. The images of these humans performing amazing feats, almost impossible at times. "Citius, Altius, Fortius"- "Faster, Higher, Stronger," the Olympic motto. We look up to them and put them on pedestals to make them heroes, so perfect and almost immortal. We make statues of them to admire and venerate, almost frozen for eternity in stone. Yet we know somewhere deep down in us that they are no more human than we are. We all wanted to love Ben Johnson, the fastest man alive in 1988 but he was toppled from this pedestal by a urine test, and he became then Big Bad Ben. Bianka Panova, who looked so perfect the year before when she was winning with perfect scores, looked skinnier and fragile. Over 20 years later she wrote an autobiography of her life training in the Bulgarian national training center, where she described mistreatment and disregard for her health by coaches. We never know what story lies behind a picture, or an athlete or a person, until we take the time to find out and even then, time may reveal more than we expect. What may seem like a blessing today, may be a curse tomorrow. Maybe a hero is only an illusion, another side of the coin that can so easily flip.
 
I am reminded by a story book I used to read to my kids almost every night for a while when they were younger. It's called Zen Shorts" by John J. Muth. He tells a story, "The Farmer's Luck," in this book, which is an old Daoist story and can also be found in Zen Buddhist teachings. It goes like this:
 
'There was once an old farmer who worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. 
"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. 
"Maybe," the farmer replied. 
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it two other wild horses. 
"Such good luck!" the neighbors exclaimed. 
"Maybe," replied the farmer. 
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown off, and broke his leg. Again, the neighbors came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. 
"Such bad luck," they said. 
"Maybe," answered the farmer. 
The day after that, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army to fight a war. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. 
"Such good luck!" cried the neighbors. 
"Maybe," said the farmer.'  
 
 
 
 
 
Reference
 
Muth, John J. (2005): Zen Shorts. New York, USA: Scholastic Press
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image Olympic Figure by Frans van Heerden on pexels.com
 

A few days ago, I looked into a book that was passed on to me and extremely invaluable as I attended university in the 1990s - an English dictionary. Since my last post about Sweet Potatoes and Roots, I have been contemplating this word "Root." So I looked in to find the definition of Root and I find 12 different possibilities as a noun and as a verb. Most of them have something to do with having a "base" or "core" or "source," whether referring to human, plant, language or mathematics, and even to encourage. Fascinating, isn't it? 
 
Many of the Herbal Medicines in the Chinese Materia Medica are Roots. One that particularly stands out is Ginger and is listed in a few different forms. They are fresh Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang), Ginger peel (Cortex Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜皮 Shēng Jīang Pí), dried Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Officinalis, 干姜 Gān Jīang) and quick-fried Ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Praeparata, 炮姜Páo Jīang).
 
In its fresh form, just like we get them here in the normal grocery store, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang, is a food-grade herb. As such, one can cook it with other ingredients to enhance the taste of that particular food, like fish, meat or vegetables. In some Asian supermarkets, you may find young ginger, that which is yellowish in color with a green stem protruding out of the rhizome. This form is a little less warming than the older brown version. Herbal decoctions regularly containing multiple Herbs, prescribed by a Chinese medical practitioner, often includes Ginger to harmonize the Herbal Formula combinations; aiding better absorption of the Herbs into the body and to prevent possible toxic side-effects from other potent Herbs. In fact, I have read that Ginger can be used as a remedy for food poisoning, and in fact is cooked with fish in order to neutralize toxins in many traditions. 
 
In the everyday, we can grate it, make an Herbal infusion out of it just by adding hot water and letting it steep for 10 minutes just as a beverage. This can be very helpful too if you had symptoms like chills and/or fever caused by the common cold virus. In fact, making a foot-bath or a whole-body-bath with this infusion till one gets warm and sweaty would also help expel what we call "Wind-Cold Invasion" in Chinese Medicine. If you wanted to enhance the digestive effect of Ginger, then you can throw in a couple of slices of Ginger into a pot with water and cook it for at least 15 minutes. This infusion would be less spicy but more warming for the Stomach, good for stopping nausea and vomiting in pregnancy or otherwise, help relieve bloating and digestive distress. Shēng Jīang enters the Lung, Spleen and Stomach, is spicy and warm. In contrast, Shēng Jīang Pí, Ginger Peel is spicy-cool and is good for edema and promoting urination. 
 
As with anything, too much of a good thing transforms it to a hindrance. If you tend to heat in your system, then too much Ginger will overheat you. A spicy flavor will circulate Qi and too much circulation will dry out the body. Use moderately or speak with your practitioner, if Ginger is appropriate for you. I find that this is one of the many simple Herbal foods that I almost always have at home or with me when I travel. One of our favorite meals is rice with chicken, cooked with Ginger, soya sauce and Sesame oil; a simple but scrumptious recipe passed down to me from my mother. Like so much around the world, people have used food as medicine since time in memorial. It is only us modern urban-dwelling, city-folk, who are often times disconnected from nature, who question the validity of food as being able to affect our health or never really realizing that what we put into our bodies might affect who we are. Just because something doesn't come in a form of a pill, doesn't make it less potent. In fact, it is this that I challenge; something in its purest form, like the Ginger Root, may be the strongest medicine as it is whole. In its wholeness, it helps us to find unity in ourselves, to reconnect us to our source, to our core. 
 

 
 
Image Ginger Root by Engin Akyurt on pexels.com
 

There is a theory in Chinese Medicine that the Qi flow in Meridians/ Channels are already in existence when we are born into the world as babies. However, only through nourishment - by way of (mother's) milk and care, life experience and movement, do these Channels get stronger as well as more distinct. As I have explained in a previous post, only when these conditions are fulfilled and with the time through childhood, can these Qi 'Rivers' fill up and the access points develop. Thus, the Acupuncture-Points also come to maturity sometime around puberty, if all the criteria of nourishment are fulfilled. 
 
With this in mind, we realize that Movement is a key ingredient in the growth and development of a human being. In childhood, we get to know the world and our bodies through Movement. The child touches its face and realizes for the first time that it has a face, when it feels it in its hand and the corresponding sense of its hand on its face. It swings its arms, kicks its legs and finds its center, to finally turn sideways; this is when it finds its true potential of its mobility. Then the process begins, to crawling, standing and walking; all this in the span of about 8 to 18 months. Children need to move with their bodies and in the environment throughout their childhood in order to develop muscles, fasciae, organs, bones, experience and understanding of self within space. When I say, "understanding," I am referring not just to the intellectual but also to the physical, emotional, spatial and energetic understanding. Due to fact that our mainstream "conventional" world very seldom speaks of energetics or the existence of an energetic world, many of us are energetic "toddlers." We may sense something of an energy as children, but we are seldom given impulses or feedback or much less schooling to develop ourselves from this perspective.
 
Many of us experience Movement through our childhood in the form of sport, especially for males, as our society frequently views Movement forms, such as dance often times ballet, mostly for females. Thus, Movement has become gender-defined. Look at our mainstream school system in Switzerland, the only Movement subject on the schedule is "sport."  In many sports, one is often not focused on developing the internal environment of the being but more so learning the rules of the game, sport-specific skills such as eye-limb-ball coordination, maybe tactical strategy or team cohesion, most prominently competition and winning. Any other forms of Movement outside of the "sanctioned" sports are considered odd. Yoga or I must mention Yoga Asanas - the posture practice of Yoga, since Yoga encompasses far more than physical practice, has become more conventional but again more dominant in the female population. Some Yoga Asanas resemble acrobatics, which is also considered a sport; therefore, something that looks like sport is more acceptable to our society. I hear of so many "traumatized" by school sports; many at a young and tender age were forced to participate in Movement based on competition, failed to meet this standard and were scarred from being branded "uncoordinated" or even "failures". If we as a society concentrate on Movement for competition, then what we will reap is a small number of winners, since there is often only 1 winner in most sport forms, and a large population of casualties, broken from the battle. They, or we, are left to pick up the pieces of their broken beings. How can this be sustainable or even logical for the wellbeing of our society?
 
What drew me, and still draws me, to Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong and Yoga is the internal focus to Movement; the internal environment of my being and the work I put into developing it can be manifested as/ in external Movements of my body. This is not to say that there are no Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong or Yoga practitioners who are externally-focused; some are, that is where they place their intention and therefore they stay on the exterior. For me, it is about what is inside us that matters and not how good it looks in front of a mirror or on some social media platform. If the focus is only on the outside or in competition with others, then we become nothing more than a vacant shell, hollow and empty on the inside but having shiny adornments to cover up the emptiness inside. I was lucky, I found joy in Movement, even if just physical and external, early on in life. Then, even the distress of injury later could not extinguish my desire to find Movement. In fact, when my external body could not manifest Movement, I found internal Movement. For this I am grateful to my bodymind. This is what I am trying to share with others, the joy of connection to our own bodies, external and internal, the joy of Moving. Because Movement is life, so let's live!   
 
 

 
Photo by Amanda Napitu on Pixabay