Dear readers,

Today let’s talk a bit about breastfeeding and some consequences the women might suffer during such a special period.

In Chinese Medicine, we say that mother milk isn’t just a food for the physical body, but also for the psychic and spiritual body of the baby. That is because the mother milk, from Oriental point of view, is made from Body Fluids, Blood and mother’s Essence.

Fluids are those that give the milk viscosity and allow it to circulate. Blood is the vital fluid which carries spirits that really give life encouragement and life to a new being, it is said that blood possesses celestial energy. The essences however, are the energy that rule the base, we can compare them to human genetics, being transmitted from parents to child.

With this in mind, we can observe the nobility in mother milk composition, according to Chinese Medicine. But, does such nobility and care on production consume the mother’s energy? Leading to energetic and lately physical unbalances?

The answer: Yes.

When the mother is on breastfeeding period, the bigger amount of energy absorbed from food, will be designated to blood and mother milk formation. As well as, mother’s essences and the fluids consumed, which are still being used. Thus, the mother will feel more hungry, and will need high quality aliments, many times in more quantity due to the fact that she is nourishing not only her body but the baby’s too.

If there is not adequate or sufficient alimentation, the mother might use her own vital fluids to compensate in the milk production, that is, may suffer from Spleen Blood Deficiency and the excessive spent will lead to Deficiency in Kidney’s Yin.

In case we add that up with emotional stress and overwork, the mother may develop these syndromes even more easily.

In order to avoid that such syndromes occur, we can as prevention, recommend:

1. Diet Therapy:

Recommend to the mother, consumption of fresh foods for the Elements Earth, Wood and Water, thus making Blood and Yin formation easier, improving Spleen, Liver and Kidney functions.

Besides that, roots are always welcome, to improve blood production.

2. Acupuncture Points:

It’s important that, with the diet improvement, the body is able to use the aliments to produce more Blood and dispatch more energy. The acupuncture points can help those functions. I suggest:

• SP6 and SP8: tone Spleen blood
• LV8: tone Liver blood
• KI6 and CV4: tone Kidney’s Yin energy

Avoiding the Deficiency Syndromes, the mother will be able to breastfeed the baby for a longer time, with good and health milk volume. The milk will always be rich and give the baby the opportunity to grow and develop healthier and with improved immunity.

Remember: we must be even more careful about we women who choose for free demand. 

I hope that you liked it.

My warmest regards.

Fernanda Mara

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Good morning Readers

Today I’m going to talk a bit about the laws that rule Traditional Chinese Medicine when it comes to the 5 Elements.

The 5 Elements are the philosophical base for the body proper functioning, be it in physiology (normal body functioning), or be it pathology (in disease).

It’s explained in the 5 Elements, that, an organ is capable of donating energy to another, meanwhile another organ controls the energy reception.

Why does this Happen?

In case an organ was able to receive all energy in a indiscriminate way, it would enter in a state of “Energy Excess”, thus leading to a disease, that is why there is an organ countering or controlling this energy reception. This movement of, donating, receiving and controlling energy, makes the following laws: Generation (Mother and Son) and Control (Grandpa and Grandchild).

Besides showing us how energy is distributed, this laws are also useful to treat patient who suffer from Excess Diseases (Qi stagnation, Blood or presence of Pathological Factors – cold, humidity, heat, dryness, phlegm or wind) and Deficiency Diseases (when there is a decrease in Qi production, Blood or Body Fluids).

How do the Laws work?

Generation Law (Mother and Son)

This law is divided in 2 parts, being the first that states:

When we tone the mother – we tone the son. To make it simple, when we nourish the mother, we nourish the son.

On 5 Elements, we have:

Heart is Spleen mother                                     Small Intestine is Stomach mother

Spleen is Lung mother                                      Stomach is Large Intestine mother

Lung is Kidney mother                                      Large Intestine is Bladder mother

Kidney is Liver mother                                      Bladder is Gallbladder mother

Liver is Heart mother                                        Gallbladder is Small Intestine mother

In other words, when we Tone Heart, we Tone Spleen. When we Tone Spleen, we Tone Lung. When we Tone Stomach, we Tone Large Intestine and so on. We must keep in mind, that organs will only tone organs and viscera will only tone viscera, according to the pair above,

The practical use of this Law is when we need to tone an organ that is suffering from a deficiency disease.

Example: When Heart is in Deficiency, we tone it’s mother, that is, the Liver. When Bladder is in Deficiency, we tone it’s mother, Large Intestine.

The second part of the Law, states:

When we Sedate the son, we Sedate the Mom. 

Based on the previous pairs, we already know that:

Heart is Liver son                                          Small Intestine is Gallbladder son

Liver is Kidney son                                        Gallbladder is Bladder son

Kidney is Lung son                                        Bladder is Large Intestine son

Lung is Spleen son                                         Large Intestine is Stomach son

Spleen is Heart son                                        Stomach is Small Intestine son

We can observe, based on this law, that when the Son gets Sick the Mother suffers. Basically, when we Sedate the Kidney, we Sedate the Lung. When we Sedade Bladder, we Sedate Large Intestine. Equal to the prior section, organs will only sedate organs, and viscera will only sedate viscera, according to the pairing stated above.

The practical use of this Law is when we need to Sedate an organ who’s suffering from an Excess Disease.

Example: When Heart is in Excess, we sedate it’s son, Spleen. When Bladder is in Excess we sedate it’s daughter, Gallbladder.

Before we proceed to the Control Law, I suggest to the readers that study this first part in depth. Since it’s crucial that we master it, so that we are able to figure out the next step, tied to this one, that will give birth to the treatment by the 5 Elements

Practice a lot, I will be back in a few days to explain the second law🙂

A very tight hug!

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning readers,

Today I’m going to talk about the mood changes that occur during menopause, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

As we all know, in Chinese Medicine the functions of growing, development, reproduction, aging and death are all linked to the Kidney. In this way, a woman’s fertile time is directly related to a good Kidney functioning.

I have already written and recorded a lot (in Portuguese), on the reasons why the Kidney loses its strength and vitality before the expected. Overwork, lacking proper resting, emotional stress, bad eating habits, are the main causes of Kidney fatigue before the age of 40 or 50 years, situations like this are very common and imposed by the modern lifestyle.

However, it’s also true that the Kidney’s energy physiologically wears off. It’s normal that humans age. But we do not need to accept menopause symptoms that hurt women’s health very badly.

We always talk a lot about hot flashes, famous sudden heat feelings that bother us particularly during night, accompanied with a lot of sweating. Nevertheless is important that we balance our emotions. Women in menopause often suffer from anxiety, depression, insomnia, mental agitation, sensation of life purpose loss.

Why does it happen?

The main energy related to natural aging and menopause is the Kidneys Yin Essence.

To Yin some other important questions are related, such as blood, marrow, cold, and more.

As a result, when Yin energy decreases, that is less marrow production and thus Spleen will lack raw material for blood production. Therefore, as the cold energy dashes away, what is left to the body are uncomfortable heat sensations, like the hot flashes.

As blood production is reduced, Heart suffers, it has a shortage on the most relevant substance for its job, keeping blood flow through all organs, therefore, it weakens itself. Weakened, it won’t be able to anchor the mind (shen), the situation which belongs in its command.

Thus, with a unanchored mind, the woman may have days of extreme agitation and anxiety, alternating with days of depression, lack of living desire, as if menopause brought with itself a wait for death sensation.

Consequently, we should teach all therapists and patients, that it ain’t enough, in Chinese Medicine, only tone Kidney Yin during menopause, when important system parts belong to Spleen and its ability and capacity to absorb food essences and blood transformation. That’s why, by toning the Kidney’s and Spleen’s Yin, we will give to Heart adequate substances for it’s normal functioning, and thus mental activity will be better balanced, controlled anxiety and more positive thoughts.

In order for this balance to exist, I suggest the following points: KI6, SP6 and PC6. Points such as: CV4, SP2 and HT7 can also be used. On auriculotherapy, we can use Shenmen, Kidney, Heart, Spleen and San Jiao points. 

A woman in menopause must comprehend that life isn’t over once she loses her procreation capacity. Once the patient calms down, all bad symptoms from this period shall disappear and the patient will find a new goal and new energy to live.

I hope all of you have understood and liked the explanations and tips.

My warmest regards.

Profa Fernanda Mara