Orientalis Chinese Medicine Daylesford - Ballarat

10/01/2023

A return to running - not as a new year resolution (they never last !) but as a 2 week curiosity. Working on my free diving breathing technique: running with mouth closed and awareness of spinal undulation and stamina without distress in the nature elements of Cornish Hill.

These are Vivobarefoot Primus Trail from the Functional Joint in Mildura. It feels amazing to spread the toes and feel the feet in a shoe - as close to barefoot as a shoe can get. Fully recycled materials a bonus and the home compostable bag. Their colour is serendipitously fiery coral because that’s where these shoes are taking me…. back to the reef and the coral.

22/10/2022

Hey Siri! She lives in Bangkok. Now you know.

21/10/2022

Favourite novice Monks from Dharmakaya Temple outside Bangkok. Check out the young Monk checking out Venerable Lekdron.

18/10/2022

A hell realm of dishes.

17/11/2020

Ba Xie Extra Points to treat the tingling and swelling from interior cold with exterior stagnation - some call it Raynaud’s syndrome.

It’s not painful to insert needles into the webbing of the interossei between the metacarpals.
The relaxing part of the treatment was returning the blood to Chong and Ren - a deep warming hug-like relax.
That’s the part we love about acupuncture 😊

05/04/2020

Sunday Read: all about Autumn 🍂

http://orientalis.com.au/wellness-2/seasonal-living-2/autumn-seasonal-living/

Chinese Medicine has many practices and lifestyle tips that create a holistic awareness approach to your healthy life. Particularly our approach to seasonal change and immunity is a powerful tool.
Pop over to my website for a succinct primer on the Autumn and its impact on our health.

We are in the season of Autumn, ruled by the Lungs and Large Intestine, so we are all about protecting and strengthening the Lungs and keeping the Large Intestine moving and eliminating.
If you’re serious about vitality and resilience, then adjust your kitchen cooking practices to reflect the season - this will balance and strengthen your seasonal immunity.
Key tip: reduce fresh and raw foods and move to poaching fruits and lightly steaming veggies (to ease the load on the digestion). And ditch the dairy load in your eating, just for this season - as it tends to build phlegm and mucous in the lungs - and we can all do without this!

If you need support, book an online appointment on my web page or if it’s a quick question - give me a complimentary call.
We are all required to be on the wellness journey this month it seems!
💛 Dr Andrea.

Autumn Seasonal Living Autumn… the Awesome During the late summer season ruled by the earth element, energy is poised as it prepares to withdraw and contract in readiness for the condensing of late Autumn. Autumn contracts this gathered energy from the periphery and brings it into the centre ready...

23/03/2020

Abiding in Home
Retreat ~ A Meditation Opportunity

In our home confinement, our sense gateway opportunities are being reduced with less sensory gratification present in our day, and the mind begins to show itself to us.
We are at home with fewer distractions and the monkey mind can begin to arise.

The Buddha taught about the 5 hinderances and their antidotes, to attaining calm abiding meditation.

~ Worry & Restlessness ~

“When I find myself worrying with a mind like churning water, I return my concentration to the breath and tether it here for 10 breaths.”

I can also tether my mind with simple rituals such as washing my hands with loving kindness.

As my concentration becomes stronger I can set and hold my intention on a single point of concentration for longer and longer periods.

Throughout the day we can use mindfulness on the breath to antidote the worry and restlessness that is our natural habit.

We will emerge from Home Retreat with a stronger, calmer habits of mind.

21/03/2020

7. Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings.
Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you.
Plant seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh,
14 Precepts for Engaged Buddhism

19/03/2020

Rethinking Virus containment:

Hmmm... Thailand has triple the population of Australia confined into the space of NSW with the COVID-19 confirmed cases of Victoria and only 1 death..... everywhere most people are wearing masks and hand sanitiser stations at every transaction counter, lifts and banisters cleaned every hour... I’m guessing the Australian government did not advise us to do the same because there were no masks to be had.
Next best thing has become public health policy!

05/09/2019

Balance in Spring

Spring is characterised by the wood element and is governed by the Liver.
It is a time to get the Qi moving and decongest our liver and clean up the blood after the warming comforts of winter.

1. Eat your greens
Plenty of warmed green salads and sprouts that are in harmony with the vital energy of the Spring.
Choose Kale, Watercress, Asparagus, Asian greens and young greens.
Less oily and long cooked foods that belong to the winter - save them for a cold snap.
Choose pungent foods like dill, fennel, garlic, onions, peppermint, early basil and rosemary to support the upward and outward energy of spring and unblocking stuck energy.
Start the day with 2 glasses of warm water with a squeeze of lemon. The sour flavour nourishes the liver and discharges toxins.

2. Move your Qi
Time to put the slow and sleepy winter behind and move the body out into the sunshine.
Get back into the habit of walking with some short cardio bursts or sign up for a yoga class series.
Begin something new that nourishes your self is a skilful way of aligning our energy with the Spring growth and renewal.

3. Get acupuncture
Nothing can support your efforts to cleanse and release the Liver like a springtime acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture clears stagnation to smooth the flow of Qi and stimulates the body meridians.
Liver qi stagnation (expressed as irritability, depression, PMS…) responds well to acupuncture and allows the Liver to regain its balance in the body system.

12/07/2019

WINTER MINERALISATION
The winter seasonal Qi is guided by the Kidney. The Kidney meridian system is the body’s powerhouse and can share its reservoir of Qi with the other organs when they are running low on energy.
During winter we are wise to nourish our Kidney Qi so that it can continue to share its Qi while it leads the body through the season.

Nourish the Kidney by using the salty flavour in cooking.
Include seaweed sushi, add a small amount of kelp into your slow cooking stews, or you can use the salty Japanese Umeboshi vinegar or Umeboshi plums in your cooking. Olives are also a salty kidney tonic.
You can also flow this tonification into the body via the skin by taking the mineralised water baths that we have in Daylesford, or you can draw a magnesium bath to directly benefit your muscle health and sleeping patterns.

In clinic I am setting small salt piles on the abdomen and leg acupoints and burning moxa cones to tonify the body Yang Qi and disperse the cold.
As I am handling the salt each day I remember that my hands are absorbing the salt into my blood stream to find its way to my Kidney system. 🌿