The Importance of Knowing Your Family History and How to Discover It
By Luke Douglas
Do you know the ins and outs of your family tree? Beyond your core family, have you ever
looked into your roots? It's possible that now is the best moment to go off on your adventure.
Learning about your family history may provide insight into your identity and your place in the
world. However, these are not the only advantages. Read on to find out why knowing your
family history is so important and how to discover it.
Talk to your older relatives
The elder members of your family, even those who are just a couple of years your senior,
can provide you with a lot of valuable information.
Interviewing your ancestors using a digital recorder and well-thought-out questions can help
jog your memory and uncover details you may have missed the first hundred times you
heard the same stories. Furthermore, if you go on a treasure hunt first and then conduct
interviews, you will have exciting information to share with your loved ones. By having them
look for certain names or locations in old photographs, for instance, you might elicit tales and
clues.
Get the ball rolling by probing your family tree with questions about your own parents,
grandparents, and even farther back if you can.
Delve deep into documents
If they exist, you should begin your search by getting a hold of essential documents
pertaining to marriage, birth, and divorce. If possible, you may request genealogy services to
help you make sense of the legalese of the past.
The majority of countries have been maintaining up-to-date vital records since the turn of the
twentieth century. Do a Google search for websites for each archive to learn more about
getting vital records.
Confidence in your own identity
Understanding oneself is a journey unlike any other. Learning about your heritage,
participating in family rituals, appreciating your heritage, and realizing your own beauty and
individuality may all be enlightening experiences. Enhancing feelings of self-worth and
community is another benefit of knowing where you came from.
You can learn compassion
Studying our ancestor's past helps us understand the hard times they went through and feel
compassion for their flaws and mistakes. Our interactions with the living, both within and
outside of our families, may benefit greatly from this kind of compassion.
Things are difficult for all of us. We can all improve as workers, managers, lovers, parents,
children, siblings, and human beings if we keep that in mind while considering the flaws of
others around us.
Get in touch with your extended relatives
Those you've lost contact with over the years can turn up when you delve into your family's
past. There's a chance you'll find out you have close, long-lost relatives living in the area!
You are more informed when making medical decisions.
Learning about potential health issues in your family might help you prepare for them. It will
provide you with the tools you need to take charge of your health and avoid future problems,
whether that's via dietary adjustments or seeing a primary care physician.
You may come to feel more strong and capable
Your forefathers probably overcame obstacles in the past that appear insurmountable now.
Learning about their experiences and overcoming adversity might give you the motivation to
face your own struggles head-on. Understanding your roots helps strengthen your ability to
weather difficult times.
You can pass your knowledge to your children
Researching your family tree and recording all the information is the best way to ensure that
your heritage will be passed down to future generations. Create something lovely that future
generations will cherish by recording your life story.
Researching one's family history often begins with a trip to the local courthouse to peruse
vital documents. The importance of learning about one's ancestry is multifaceted. We hope
we have convinced you why knowing your family history can be very beneficial for you and
future generations.
Featured image photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash
How Outdoor Activities Affects Your Mental Health and Well-Being
By Luke Douglas
To say that our mental health took a downward spiral during the pandemic would be an
understatement. Even those people with enviously well-established family relations and spacious
apartments began to feel their well-being taking a turn for the worst. In large part, our mental health
took such a memorable blow because everything that happened to us happened in the same place
with the same people. In other words, before the pandemic, people had a way to diffuse their day-
to-day stress, not allowing it to pile up and eat away at their mental well-being. However, during the
past two years, going out and into nature became a commodity rather than common practice. Thus,
to help you feel comfortable being in nature once again, this article looks at just some of the
benefits that the great outdoors may have on your mental health and well-being!
Back to basics – living off the grid
During a normal workday, most people are usually on the go and available 24/7. As a result, they
often feel overwhelmed by both objects and information that surround them. To reduce this
immense amount of input, sometimes it's necessary to have an off-the-grid weekend in nature. In
short, this means packing a bag, a tent, and the essentials. Once we step away from the busyness of
the world, we'll be able to reconnect not just with our surroundings but with ourselves as well. In
the depths of the forest, there is no connection and, thus, no irritation creeping in. During their late
nights by the fire or early mornings by the lake, people have the unique chance to put things into
perspective and re-evaluate their life journey.
Building stamina – an exercise in self-reliance
In 2022, most of us are fairly comfortable. We have our schedules, location, and meals all available
on a whip. Returning to nature should force a person out of their comfort zone – it should be
challenging. When camping, we’re forced to rely on ourselves and our abilities. There’s no GPS or
frozen TV dinner to bail us out. While it may sound daunting at first, building our stamina is
rewarding in the end. Thus, when preparing for a trip, pack only the essentials – a tent, sleeping
bag, compass, and a change of clothes. Of course, dependable OTF knives are always great to have
on hand as they can be used in just about any scenario, be it hiking or preparing dinner by the fire.
Combating illness – new and old
It’s no secret that fresh air will do you a world of good. However, during the past couple of years,
more than a few scientists have begun to shed light on the complex relationship between nature and
mental health. Namely, a considerable number of people today suffer from what is known as a
nature-deficit disorder – the problem of spending too much time couped up in front of the screen
and not enough in nature. While it may sound a bit new-age at first, the nature-deficit disorder has
been linked to anxiety, obesity, lack of focus, and even depression – problems that cannot be solved
overnight. In light of these findings, a simple nature walk will not suffice. People suffering from
nature deficiency will need to change their routine as well as their habits, and while it may sound
unimaginable, any little change is a solid place to start.
Seeking healthier exercise – camping and hiking
The gym craze has consumed everyone at one point or another. While any form of exercise is both
welcome and appreciated, gym goers often turn into gym rats, disregarding the fact that all those
exercises are possible outside as well. Take a simple exercise such as a morning run, for example.
Instead of finding a mountain trail or neighbourhood route, people often opt for the treadmill in the
gym. Running or even walking in nature has tremendous benefits. While you'll still burn calories,
you'll also be breathing in the morning breeze and releasing toxins. In addition, the gym will never
come close to a mountain view or a seaside sunrise.
While this article covered several benefits that nature may have on our mental health, there is only
one pivotal point to take away – we need to return to nature. Be it a morning jog or a weekend
camping trip, people unconsciously crave the tranquillity that the natural world provides – and hey,
if we spend more time in nature, maybe we'll all learn to appreciate it more!
Photo by Dmitrii Vaccinium on Unsplash
Featured image Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash
What Can Chinese Art Teach Us about Healing?
By Sally Perkins
“Where the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity,” said Hippocrates, highlighting the fact that medicine is a creative as well as a scientific pursuit. Medical professionals, after all, have a range of tools, knowledge, and experience at hand but often, in order for all these to align in the correct balance, creative choices need to be made. Ancient Chinese art, like ancient writings, are a rich source of information about medical practises, some of which are still used with patients today. They are also testimony to the celebration of humanity in all its facets and an open window into the suffering and joy involved in illness and healing, respectively.
Suffering for a Higher Good
The work Moxibustion, a hanging scroll by the Song artist Li Tang, depicts an itinerant doctor conducting moxibustion - a form of heat therapy in which dried plant materials (moxa) are burned close to or on the surface of the skin, to invigorate the flow of Qi through the body and to eliminate toxins. In the beautifully detailed scroll, the man being treated contorts his face in pain and others hold onto him or try to accompany him during this difficult time. The work is not only illustrative of the importance of balanced Qi but also a symbol of the sacrifices that must be made to achieve it and the pain this can involve. In order to be healthy of mind and body, everything from one’s choice of diet to one’s breathing and exercise habits must work in unison since prevention is always better (and less painful) than cure.
Photo by The Harmony of the Eight Brocades
The Eight Brocades are a set of qigong exercises that focus on a different meridian, once again focusing on a different meridian to encourage the optimal flowing of qi through the body. The work Illustrated Album of the Eight Pieces of Brocade, created by an anonymous artist during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) portrays the eight exercises as well as breathing exercises. In the illustrations, both the beauty of the human form and the peace and joy that result from prioritizing health, are evident. In some postures, the subjects open their mouths to breathe but also seem to smile, their mouths turned upwards and their eyes both concentrating and enjoying the moment they are in.
Recreating the Beauty of Ancient Chinese Art
Art in itself can be a means of healing. It can inspire one to lead a healthier lifestyle and aspire to a higher ideal of health - a holistic, all-encompassing state of body and mind, one in which Qi is unblocked. If you wish to follow the example laid out in ancient Chinese art, begin by drawing the human face and body, paying special attention to proportion and perspective. If you are a beginner to drawing and you wish to express pain, joy, peace, and other qualities through the eyes, take advantage of online resources to hone the basics of eye sketching. Basic steps include making and joining curved lines, adding the iris, and adding color and details. As your skills improve, you can start to include more people in your drawings and create more sophisticated compositions.
Following the Examples Set in Ancient Chinese Art
You can also visit exhibitions featuring medical and health subjects to enlighten you on how to lead a healthier life. From studying the different positions and breathing techniques of qi gong right through to learning more about healing herbs, diet, and traditional medicines, you can balance the vital force of energy within you and feel more invigorated. In this state, it is easier to embrace creativity in everything from your work to your leisure time.
Art and science have a strong link and nowhere is this more evident than in highly praised objects of ancient Chinese art. The latter displays suffering, treatment, and healing methods. It also shows the importance of breathing and exercise to strengthen the body and enable Qi to flow as it needs to.
Featured image photo by Lisanto 李奕良 on Unsplash - photo from Sanxia District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Today’s Cuban Health Care
By John Voigt
In Cuba, the legends abound about outstanding Chinese doctors of the nineteenth century who helped create a foundation for the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in twenty-first century Cuba. (See “Not Even the Chinese Doctor Can Save Him” in the May issue.) Nevertheless, TCM’s acceptance and use by the Cuban medical establishment did not happen overnight. Historically and during the beginnings of the Revolution, TCM along with most other Alternative Medicine was rejected by the Cuban government and by a majority of its western trained doctors. As in the past century, the Establishment considered such healing modalities “antiquated occult quackery.” Such things were an anathema to Marxist Communist beliefs.
Photo by Alexander Kunze on Unsplash
The Political and Economic Situation.
With the US Embargo beginning in 1960, and the withdrawal of USSR support in 1991, along with the internal problems of their socialist-communist economy, Cuba was and remains economically devastated. There were and still are massive shortages in pharmaceutical drugs and medical supplies for the doctors, clinics, and hospitals that service the Cuban people. (Things are much different for tourists. See Modern Health Care for Tourists below.) Today in 2018 hospitals and clinics for the common people of Cuba all too often have little or no drugs, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, bed sheets or pillowcases—not even aspirin! Often there are no hypodermic needles, or used ones are washed in bleach and reused. Relatives living in Florida smuggle in prescription drugs.
Amazingly even with these horrid conditions, the World Health Organization’s latest report in 2016 has Cuba with an average healthcare expenditure of $2,475 per person; Cubans have approximately the same life expectancy (males 77/females 81) as Americans (males 76/females 81) who average a healthcare expenditure of $9,403 per person. Source: http://www.who.int/countries/cub/en/ and http://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/
Cubans even have a lower rate of infant mortality than that of the USA. Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html
These figures — $2,475 and $9,403 are not typos — they represent among other things Cuba’s extensive use of alternative medicines and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); as well as governmental enforced implementations of beliefs and lifestyles somewhat similar to Chinese and Asian ways of life, such as the paradigm that preventing an illness is easier than curing one, or the importance of daily socially required group gymnastics such as taijiquan or qigong. Or of small teams of doctors and nurses going throughout the entire country rigorously enforcing mandated medical examinations, or actively having people reduce or end smoking. Both Cubans and traditional Chinese health practitioners believe health is not just the absence of illness, instead, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. For both Cuban leaders and Confucius, the health of the human body and mind is an integral necessity for the very important health of the society. In Cuba, revolutionary health practices are a part of a continuing revolución. For Cuban lawmakers, if for no other reason, healthy people are important because they make healthy workers, soldiers, and government officials. The political reality is clear: no health means no revolution. Admittedly Cuba is a totalitarian government, something that Americans understandably will not accept, but at least in a theoretical — yet highly practical sense — there is much for us in America to learn from Cuba.
Returning to past historical realities, since the 1960s until the present the enormous difficulties presented by the American Embargo, and especially the subsequent lack of medicines and supplies, the Cuban medical establishment was forced to search for new approaches. Health officials began to incorporate techniques outside the scope of what doctors had previously been taught in the universities. After all, for a century Chinese doctors in Cuba had shown that TCM affected cures for certain illnesses that western medicine had not. Some skeptical doctors even started planting medicinal herbs in their backyards; at least they would have something to give to their sick patients.
Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash
TCM Becomes Official.
Beginning in the late 1980s medical students in Cuban universities began to be trained in alternative techniques. An executive report, “The Analysis of The Health Sector in Cuba” issued in 1996 by the Ministry of Public Health (Ministerio de Salud Pública) outlined this new approach:
The strategic objective of the National Health System is to give priority to the development of natural and traditional medicine. The “Program of Development” initiated in 1991, includes the search for active medicinal principals of plants, their clinical testing, and the subsequent generalization of the results so that they can be progressively incorporated into the techniques and procedures of the East Asian medical tradition.
By 2009 the Ministry moved to a full acceptance and legally enforced implementation of these radical methodologies as befitting a revolutionary culture. These changes were made official in August 20, 2009, with the publication of Resolución Ministerial No 261/2009. Below are key excerpts from this document along with several annotations made by the author. TCM is only a part of the Resolution no. 261, nevertheless it is hoped the reader will find the document interesting. With it, Cuba is probably pursuing Alternative Medicine more than any other country in the world. The original text in Spanish may be found at “Resolución Ministerial No 261/2009” at http://legislacion.sld.cu/index.php?P=FullRecord&ID=210
Photo by MINISTERIAL RESOLUTION NO. 261/2009 Republic of Cuba
RESOLVE - FIRST: To approve for medical care, teaching, and scientific research in health services throughout the country national, [with] the following types of Natural Traditional Medicine.
1- Phytotherapy. [Medical treatment based on the use of plants and plant substances.]
2- Apiterapia. [Therapeutic use of bee venom, and other bee products such as honey, pollen, and royal jelly.]
3- Traditional Asian Medicine:
- a) Acupuncture. b) Catgut sutures sewn into acupoints.
- c) Stimulation of acupuncture points: [by use of]
- Drugs
- Light
- Temperature
- Mechanical [devices].
- Ultrasonic [devices].
- Electricity
- Magnetism
- Microsystems of the Asian Traditional Medicine [such as ear acupuncture].
4- Ozone therapy.
5- Homeopathy.
6- Flower Therapy:
- a) Bach Flower Remedies, [solutions of brandy and weak dilutions of flower material in water.]
7- Hydrotherapy: mineral springs, mineral baths, Peloids [clay or mud baths], thermal baths.
- Helium Therapy – (Heliotalasoterapia). [Heliox is a breathing gas composed of a mixture of helium (He) and oxygen (O2). It is a medical treatment for patients who have difficulty breathing, For example, croup, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.]
- Traditional Therapeutic Exercises: [The Pan American Health Organization spelled out these exercises as: Taijiquan (usually Yang Style). Lian Gong Shi Ba Fa (created by Dr. Zhuang Yuan Ming; see Lian Gong Shi Ba Fa 18 Terapias Anterior on YouTube). Wushu (commonly called “Kung Fu.”) Qi Gong, and Hatha Yoga.] “Each movement is to be chosen with a modifiable therapeutic purpose according to the traditional medical diagnosis of the subject or patient.”] Ejercicios Terapéuticos Tradicionales.
- Naturist Nutritional counseling. [“In addition to meeting established nutritional requirements. Can include a vegetarian or macrobiotic diet, and traditional practices as used in Traditional Asian diagnosis. You should be aware of existing products in Cuba.”] Ministerio de Salud Pública, 2011. http://files.sld.cu/mednat/files/2014/08/prog-nac-mtn-2012.pdf ].
THIRD: The Deputy Minister attending Medical Assistance is authorized to issue the instructions considered necessary for the implementation and enforcement of this resolution.
Starting in 2016 all medical graduates in Cuba, including nurses and dentists, are required to learn Medicina Tradicional y Natural (MTN) which includes various Cuban versions of TCM. Almost all local clinics and hospitals of Cuba now offer Traditional Chinese Medicine, where acupuncture, reflexology, massage, heat treatments and liniments are the order of the day. Also, 30% of Cuban legally approved medicines are herbal. [Source: author interview with a Cuban physician in Havana, June 2016.]
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE IN THE CUBAN STYLE.
[Note: If you have any medical problem see a health professional. This article uses information derived from Cuban sources and is to be used only for educational purposes.]
Acupuncture and Acupressure are used in a majority of hospitals and health clinics, however often with variations such as Auriculoterapia or Ear Acupuncture which is based on the theory that the auricle, the outer portion of the ear, is a microsystem which reflects the entire body. Auriculoterapia is said to cure many conditions such as headaches, sciatica, lumbago, joint pain, depression, melancholy, insomnia, liver and digestive problems. In Cuba, it is also used to control obesity, addiction to cigars and cigarettes, and as an anesthetic in surgery.
Cubans have extended this concept to using acupoints on the face, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet to function as mirror images of the acupoints throughout the entire body. Patients may be prescribed a do-it-yourself continuous treatment where a tiny seed is taped to the body part and the patient is instructed to press the seed during the day.
Taping a seed to an auriculotherapy point.
An aspect of Herbal medicine is added to this by using the seeds of the Mexican Thisel, also called the Mexican poppy, which the Spanish found the natives in Mexico used for healing. This plant can be poisonous; nevertheless the colonial Spanish added this plant to their pharmacopeia and called it cardosanto. It was used to relieve kidney pain, to help expel a torn placenta, and in general to help cleanse the body after childbirth. It has also been used to treat malaria [see Argemone Mexicana, Wikipedia.]
Electro-acupuncture – (Electropuntura) combines the use of needles with electrical stimulation by sending a small electrical current through the needle after insertion into an acupuncture point. Instruments used usually consist of two parts: a needle and an electric current stimulator. There are different types of stimulators, some use AC or DC electricity, high or low frequency, continual or intermittent electrical pulsations. It is primarily used as an analgesic for all types of pain. It is also applied to alleviate the pain during childbirth, as well as anesthetic for some operations, including caesarean sections.
Source: Wikipedia Commons
Diet Therapy is used in relation to healing a specific illness; often it is used with pharmaceutical drugs if they are available.
Tuina or therapeutic massage is used to promote a more harmonious balanced flow of qi (bio-electrical energy) to cure diseases and promote health. In Cuba, as elsewhere, the practitioner’s hands are used to massage muscles and tendons. Acupressure techniques to affect the qi flow, and manipulation techniques to restructure musculoskeletal and ligament relationships may be added. Liniments, poultices and herbal balms, often from plants native to Cuba, may be used to increase the benefits of the treatment.
Moxibustion - (Moxibustión) is a method that treats and prevents diseases and corrects energy imbalances by applying heat through cones or moxa cigars burning on certain points of the human body. The raw material most commonly used for this technique is the dried leaves of the mugwort plant ground to a fine powder. In Cuba incense, and the wicks of oil lamps also are used.
Indirect Moxibustion – (Moxibustión Indirecta) is a method Cubans use that combines acupuncture with moxibustion. It is indicated for the treatment of joint pain due to cold and moisture. A little burning moxa is carefully applied to the handle of the inserted needle.
Another technique also called indirect moxibustion has an insulating ingredient placed between the slowly burning moxa cone and the skin of the client. The healing properties of the substance are considered added to the healing properties of the moxibustion. For example, one slice of ginger approximately 0.2 cm thick is recommended for a weak spleen and stomach, joint or abdominal pain and other symptoms of yang deficiency.
Garlic is used in the same manner as ginger. It is indicated for scrofula, skin infections and poisonous insect bites in their early stages.
Salt: the navel is filled with salt and a large moxa cone is placed over it. This is indicated for cases of cold limbs, weak and imperceptible pulse, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Phytotherapy (Fitoterapia – or “Plant Therapy”). This refers to the use of medicinal plants and vegetables and their derivatives to prevent, alleviate or cure diseases. Given Cuban history there is a heavy influence of Afro-Cuban practices. Currently various governmental health agencies are investigating methods and techniques to streamline and modernize Phytotherapy in line with the basic requirements of “safety, quality and efficacy.” American and African techniques are being actively studied and used along with traditional Chinese and native Cuban methodologies.
[The species most frequently used in Phytotherapy are Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae), Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae), Cissus sicyoides L. (Vitaceae), Erythroxylum havanense Jacq. (Erythroxylaceae) and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl. (Verbenaceae).] Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15013195].
------------------
Modern Health Care for Tourists. Today hospitals for tourists are in much better condition than those for native Cubans. These hospitals can be world-class 21st century facilities, and they are expensive. Generally speaking they are closed to regular Cubans, who have their own Government controlled free healthcare. The turismo de salud [“Health Tourism”] programs are understood to be a method to raise money for the impoverished country. Tourists and foreign diplomats combine vacations with state of the art health care which often includes Traditional Chinese Medicine and other more exotic health care alternatives.
Hydrotherapy at a turismo de salud [“Tourism of Health”] clinic.
Source: https://cubanosporelmundo.com/2015/09/28/turismo-de-salud/
Children Learn Plant Medicine
Children begin studying the multiple uses of medicinal plants in primary school, learning to grow and tend their own plots of faloe, chamomile, and mint, and later they conduct scientific studies about their uses. Radio and Television programs instruct people on how to relieve common stomach upset and headaches by pressing key points. Acupuncture is offered at all three levels of health care [primary care physician, clinic, hospital]. Cuban biochemists have produced a number of new alternative medicines, including PPG (policosanol), a natural product derived from sugarcane wax that is effective at reducing total cholesterol and LDL levels, and Vimang, a natural product derived from the bark of mango trees. [source: Healthcare in Cuba. Wikipedia.]
In Cuba since 2006 no cases of acute hepatitis B reported in children under 15 years of age.
Source: http://www.radio26.cu/2016/05/11/cuba-sin-hepatitis-b-aguda-en-menores-de-cinco-anos/
A short coda as a conclusion. ¡A Ese No lo Salva, Ni el Medico Chino! —“Not Even The Chinese Doctor Can Save Him!” is a popular slang expression that first appeared in mid-19th century Cuba. This article ends with the thought that in 2018 whoever that “Chinese Doctor” was, he or she might now actually be able to “Save Him!” and bring “Him,” (their patient), back to a state of health. Or better yet, with the use of TCM and other alternative medicine preventative techniques, the patient never would have gotten sick in the first place.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This article originally appeared as part of “Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cuba” in Qi Journal, vol. 26/3; autumn 2016. It is used with the permission of the author, who may be contacted at john.voigt@comcast.net
Sources.
Beautiful Decay: Cuba's Race To Save Havana's Architecture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9roxiC-fBDk
Sean Brotherton. Revolutionary Medicine: Health and the Body in Post-Soviet Cuba. Duke University, 2012.
Lisa Chiu. A Short History of the Chinese in Cuba. http://chineseculture.about.com
“Cuban Characters.” http://www.thecubanhistory.com/2015/02/cuban-characters-not-even-the-chinese-doctor-can-save-you-personajes-de-cuba-no-te-salva-ni-el-medico-chino/
EcuRed: Medicina tradicional asiática. http://www.ecured.cu/Medicina_tradicional_asiática
Carlos García. Cham-Bom-Biá: el médico chino. http://www.canarizame.com/2014/12/23/cham-bom-bia-el-medico-chino/
Enrique Jorge Hernández González. La Medicina Bioenergética y Natural: su aplicación en la Isla de la Juventud (página 2).
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos72/ natural/medicina-bioenergetica-natural2.shtml
Enrique Jorge Hernández González. Perfeccionamiento del desempeño profesional en la aplicación de la medicina natural y tradicional. http://www.monografias.com/trabajos-pdf2/desempeno-profesional-medicina-natural-tradicional/desempeno-profesional-medicina-natural-tradicional.shtml
- Jácome. No Te Salva ni el Médico Chino. https://www.facebook.com/CubaEnLaMemoria/posts/1209701712375197:0
Junior Vega Jiménez. “Juan Cham-Bom-Bian: itinerary of the"Chinese Doctor" from the Havana to ward Cárdenas. Brief historical notes. http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rhcm/v14n5/rhcm03515.pdf
Paul Kadetz and Johann Perdomo Delgado.
“Slaves, Revolutions, Embargoes, and Needles: The Political Economy of Acupuncture in Cuba.” Asian Medicine 6 (2010–11), 95–122. [also at]
Yovanny Ferrer Lozano. Chang Pon Piang: Un médico chino. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1684-18242014000600010
La medicina china y su presencia en Cuba.
http://bvs.sld.cu/revistas/his/his%2095/hist0595.htm
Medicina tradicional asiática. http://www.ecured.cu/Medicina_tradicional_asi%C3%A1tica#Fuente
Ministerio de Salud Pública. Programa Para el Desarrollo y la Generalizacion de la Medicina Tradicional y Natural, 2011. [Ministry of Public Health. Program for Development and Generalization of Traditional and Natural Medicine, 2011.] http://files.sld.cu/mednat/files/2014/08/prog-nac-mtn-2012.pdf
Moral R. Peñalver. “Juan Chambombián; el médico chino. Averiguaciones en torno a un popular personaje.” Revista Bohemia 1981; 5(16), 7-10.
La pluma del Tocororo: El Médico Chino. https://almejeiras.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/el-medico-chino/
Resolución Ministerial No 261/2009. http://legislacion.sld.cu/index.php?P=FullRecord&ID=210
**Beautiful featured image photo by Ellen Carlson Hanse on Unsplash
Not Even The Chinese Doctor Can Save Him! The History of Chinese Medicine in Cuba
by John Voigt
The History of Chinese Medicine in Cuba
Throughout Cuba there is a common slang expression people use when someone is thought to be incurably sick: ¡A Ese No lo Salva, Ni el Medico Chino! - Not Even The Chinese Doctor Can Save Him!
Not many know the origins of this phrase, or the man behind it. But that phrase and that man helped lay the foundation for an alternative healthcare revolution within a revolutionary country. In China he was born Chang Pon Piang. Having trouble pronouncing it, Cubans called him Cham Bom Biam. Then to give himself a Spanish sounding name he called himself Juan Chambombián. We begin with a summary of the adventures of his life:
His Early History
Chang Pon Piang was born as one of the Hakka people, an ethnic group found in the Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau areas of southeastern China. In the mid-nineteenth century these areas, along with most the rest of China, were in chaos: the last of the Opium Wars with Great Britain still raged; technological changes to the farming system put many out of work; there was a dramatic increase in the size of population. All that along with widespread political discontentment, natural disasters, banditry, and ethnic strife led many young people to look for work overseas.
Chang grew fascinated with the advertisements he saw that promised a better life by working in Cuba. All that was needed was to sign an eight year contract. (Only men could sign. Chinese women were not allowed to enter Cuba.)
What was not mentioned on the posters was that this was no more than a scheme to trap unsuspecting young men into an eight year long indentured servitude at the pay of four pesos a month. Once in Cuba the émigré was usually sent to large sugar plantations and once there was treated like a indentured slave, (or “coolie” - 苦力; pinyin: kǔlì) meaning "bitter work" or "bitter use of force.”
The situation was so severe that in 1873 the imperial Chinese government sent investigators to Cuba to investigate the large number of suicides by Chinese laborers, as well as allegations of abuse and breach of contract by plantation owners. Shortly after, the Chinese labor trade was prohibited and the last ship carrying Chinese laborers reached Cuba in 1874. By 1877 a treaty was signed between China and Spain completely banning the contracting system. [Source]
In 1854 Chang Pon Piang entered Cuba with a contract for agricultural work in the province of Guamacaro, in the western province of Matanzas. Chang as many other Chinese of the time was familiar with herbal medicines. He had a working knowledge of the healing properties of certain herbs, roots, bark, leaves, grasses, fruits, even shells. Legend has it that as a field worker he was able to prepare medicines made from the roots of shrubs and tubers that saved many lives.
In 1858, four years before the contract was supposed to be over, somehow he escaped his servitude and began practicing medicine in Havana. His knowledge of botanical medicine served him well for the preparation of herbal teas, poultices, ointments, powders, soaps, and healing incenses.
He also knew about arsenic, mercury, and opium. This knowledge may have lead to his eventual downfall.
He grew successful in Havana; not only Chinese, but now Spanish, Afro-Cubans and people of mixed blood came to him for help. Other doctors began losing patients and because of that, along with a jealousy triggered by Chambombián’s successes, they began a series of law suits against him. In 1863 Juan Chambombián was accused of the illegal practice of medicine. It was claimed that he was practicing medicine without a license (which was probably true), and that he had just received a consignment of medicinal drugs from Chinese suppliers in San Francisco, California. To his accusers the techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) seemed bizarre, no more than unbelievable occult garbage. (“Imagine making medicine out of weeds, such utter nonsense.”) But what really made it unacceptable for the other doctors is that these “bogus” methods all too often worked better than their own!
in 1864 he was placed on trial. The judge and jury agreed with the doctors and Juan Chambombián was found guilty. He lost his home and was forced to stay with Chinese friends. He soon he relocated fifty-six miles away to Matanzas and undaunted again began practicing Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM). There he lived on 11 Calle Mercaderes (11 Merchants Street) in the Chinese district of that city. Again the allegations of practicing illegal medicine were raised; to his enemies he was no more than a charlatan, a mountebank, an unscrupulous foreigner cheating other people. With new court trials pending against him—and because of his having few patients—in either 1871 or 1872 (accounts differ) he moved to Cárdenas, which had a large Chinese population. There he continued to develop his own medicines. He is said to have used rhubarb, aconite, sulfur, arsenic, and opium— along with folk medicines native to Cuba, and especially to its Afro-Cuban population—in his extensive collections of healing formulations along with the TCM medications he still continued to import from San Francisco. He also worked at and operated a Chinese pharmacy, which gave him a way to make money and to find more patients for his private practice.
It was said he had a number of miraculous cures of clients said to be terminally ill by western doctors: those who had been blind could now see: those with paralyzed arms or legs could now move them. His fame began to spread throughout Cuba. Most likely it was during this time that the expression, Not Even The Chinese Doctor Can Save Him!—(meaning that a person was in such bad shape that not even a miracle worker such as Juan Chambombián could help them)—appeared.
To promote his own medical and business activities he would travel back and forth the ninety-seven miles between the cities of Cárdenas, Matanzas and Havana. In a Matanzas newspaper the following appeared:
CHAMBOMBIAN, this old Chinese doctor, authorized as a botanist by the government, sent a card to a newspaper of Matanzas in which he announced that he had invented a medicine to cure fevers and a patch to treat rheumatism. He also announced that he would next visit Matanzas, a city where he was well known and to whose inhabitants he offered his services, from his home at Calle Dragones 94 in Havana.
A month later in the same newspaper the following appeared (one should not be surprised if the enterprising Juan Chambombián had written both of these notices himself and paid for their publication):
Your enlightened mind and gifts exalt
your knowledge and appliance,
intelligence, and science,
to win applause from the world of thought;
a monument to you well wrought
where your historic fame will rest,
where memories will be the best
the living spirit to preserve;
itself enriched it will observe
with the laurels of your glorious quest.
Signed: Some friends.
Dr. Juan Chambombián was described as a tall statuesque man, with a solemn, if at times, bombastic bearing. He had small penetrating eyes, a slightly drooping mustache and a small skimpy goatee at the end of a long sloping chin. He spoke Spanish and some English with a quirky Chinese accent in a formal but artificial literary style. He dressed professionally in the manner of a western doctor: jacket, top-hat and loose fitting linen frock coat, which he often carried formally draped over his arm. But he never forgot his humble past: when people came to him for medical treatments he would say, “If you have the money you pay. If you have no money you do not pay. I am no more than one simple man giving medicine to someone else.”
His Death: Was He Murdered?
One morning in 1872 (the exact date is unknown) Juan Chambombián was found dead in his home, in Cardenas. He lived alone. He had seemed perfectly healthy the day before, and no cause of death could be determined.
Rumors began to spread. Given the lack of any physical trauma to his body it seemed likely that he had been poisoned—but by whom? There were many possibilities: perhaps an irate local doctor infuriated that Juan Chambombián had taken away his clientele. Or perhaps by the relatives of a patient whom he was not able to save with his herbal medicines. It was possible that the death was accidental, that he was trying one of his newly prepared experimental medicines and it proved deadly. Or perhaps seeking longevity he prepared and drank some exotic version of a Daoist elixir of immortality—but the recipes for such elixirs might contain toxic substances such as lead, arsenic, and mercury, all chemicals which he owned. Or possibly he as many other Chinese in Cardenas became depressed and committed suicide.
And there had been whispered stories of a love affair gone wrong. He had children by eight different concubines. (No one knew the total number of lovers he had throughout his life. There are no extant records of his ever having married. At that time it was illegal for any Chinese person to marry a Caucasian; and back in China having many concubines was a common custom for rich men.) One popular story had it that he was secretly murdered by one of his jilted mulatto concubines by her use of some secret African poison. Rumor also had it that it was she was the same person who had taught him the use of certain medicinal herbs. Others said she had brought about his death by the use of a Santeria curse. (Santeria is a cult like religion, a fusion of Yoruba [Nigerian] gods and goddess with holy figures taken from the Catholic Church.)
Santeria Central Havana / Author Bernardo Capellini / Source - Wikipedia Commons
A recent source says that he is buried in the Chinese Cemetery in the Nuevo Vedado section of Havana (at Calle 26 & Zapata, Calle 26), and that the grave site is often covered with flowers or other offerings left by people hoping to be cured of some incurable disease.
It is no surprise that such a flamboyant and exceptional person as Dr. Juan Chambombián—along with the TCM that he practiced—would have its critics, especially among the privileged upper classes. For example, sixteen years after his death he was mentioned in the lowest of terms as being a faith healer (which he was not) in a speech at the meeting in Havana of the Anthropological Society on March 4, 1888:
Even today among the most civilized nations abound in the lower classes of people, healers who exploit the innate good faith in men to cure diseases with a mixture of empirical remedies, and religious or mystical formulas that are a real medicine imagination; such as examples the treatment of erysipelas [an acute bacterial infection of the skin] saying prayers and making crosses on the diseased part, the various cures of Lourdes, trumpeted in all shades, and among us, not long ago, the supposed wonders of Chinese famous Chambombián.
Source: Revista Cubana: periódico mensual de ciencias, filosofía ... Volumen 7.
NOT EVEN THE CHINESE DOCTOR CAN SAVE HIM! Began to be used to refer to other famous Chinese physicians of the 19th Century, although none ever would gain the legendary status of Juan Chambombián.
Kan Shi Kom lived in at the corner of Rayo and San Jose streets in Havana. He died in 1885. According to historian Antonio Chuffat Latour the great pomp of his funeral made history in the city.
However not all stories about Chinese doctors are favorable. According to one such fanciful tale, an unnamed doctor (some say it was Kan Shi Kom, others that it was Juan Chambombián—actually it is unclear who the doctor was or even if the story is true). In any case, the doctor is said to have made a decoction using the stems of the tronquillos verdes plant, which people called “chopsticks” because of its appearance. He taught the preparation to a colleague, a Spanish doctor who soon after made some, drank it and died. In the story, the inscription on the tomb of the unfortunate dead man read, "Here lies, against his will, Pancho Perez Vitaluga: Good husband, good father, bad drinker. Died by helping the Chinese doctor." When the Chinese doctor, whoever it was, heard about the death, he was nonplused. Without showing any concern for the other man and just being concerned about his own medication all he said was, “Carumba! It seems that stick is poisonous.” (¡Calamba, palece que ese palito son veneno! ). And so was born another popular Cuban slang expression. [Source]
Chang Bu Bian - Don Damián Morales. Some say this man was the Chinese doctor referred to in the saying “Not Even the Chinese Doctor Can Save Him!” Beginning August 20th 1856 a series of Apocalyptic earthquakes accompanied by torrential rain storms struck Santiago de Cuba. To the inhabitants it seemed as if the world was ending. Many others from all over the island came to help, but unknowingly they brought with them cholera. Throughout October the disease quickly spread. November brought new earthquakes and storms and even more occurrences of the disease. (By the end of the epidemic 2,000 people had died.) City Health employees refused to move the corpses to the cemetery. Sometimes the bodies of the victims remained for days crushed under the bricks of fallen buildings. Prisoners had to be brought from Havana to remove the rubble and bury the bodies in mass graves.
Near the peak of the epidemic, and seemingly in answer to the prayers of those still alive, there appeared an apparent miracle worker: an Asian man claiming to be a doctor; but he didn’t give out any pills or powders, he only used a strange kind of massage never seen before. In fact what he was practicing was his version of tuina (massage) techniques he learned from a classic Chinese text of the sixteenth century, the T'uei na pi-kieu, or Treaty of Massage.
His massage was tortuously painful. With his index finger and thumb of his left hand he pressed certain tender points and tendons in the armpits of the patient and forcibly vibrated the flesh. At the same time with his right hand he pulled the skin over the larynx (Adam’s apple) producing a hematoma (a solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues). He then would vigorously rub the patient’s shoulder blades and spine with his arms, elbows and knees. The patients suffered, but many of them were healed. [Source: “Cuban Characters.” thecubanhistory.com]
Chinese Siam - Juan de Dios Siam Zaldívar. Coming from Beijing in 1840 he originally was known by the names “Sián” or “El Siam”, or “Chinese Siam.” Unlike most other Chinese immigrants, he entered Cuba with 20,000 Spanish gold pesos. Using his version of TCM he brought about many cures, which not surprisingly frightened certain inhabitants of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe, the city in which he lived. Rumors spread that he was some sort of a black magic wizard in league with strange demonic forces. But all that changed when during a religious procession, El Siam unexpectedly knelt before a statue of the Virgin of Veracruz; after which he was considered a Christian. He made it official by being baptized on April 25, 1850, taking on the name Juan de Dios Siam Zaldívar—but remaining true to ancient customs, he signed his new name with a Chinese calligraphy brush. He had two families, one with his wife, a white woman, and another with a black mistress. Today descendants of both branches are proud of their famous ancestor. Possessing a great fortune, he died in 1885.
[Source]
These legends about the outstanding Chinese doctors of the nineteenth century helped create a foundation for the widespread use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in 21st century Cuba. This is addressed in my next article, Traditional Chinese Medicine in Today’s Cuban Health Care.
This entry originally appeared as part of “Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cuba” in Qi Journal, vol. 26/3; autumn 2016.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Images
Juan Chambombián in Chinese clothing.
Source: https://www.artsy.net/show/taikang-space-portrait-hot-taikang-photography-collection
Juan Chambombián as a young man of about 20 years old soon after his arrival in Havana in 1854.
The photography was damaged in a hurricane.
Source: http://hojassdeprensa.blogspot.com/2011/09/cham-bom-bia-el-famoso-medico-chino-de.html
Juan Chambombián in his western doctor suit.
October 20, 2010 Opus Habana Magazine.
Santeria Centro Habana / Author Bernardo Capellini
Source: Wikipedia Commons.
Author John Voigt in Havana at a paladar (a small private restaurant in a family home) mulling over
the cause of the death of Dr. Juan Chambombián.
Source: Author.
Chinese cemetery in Havana where Juan Chambombián is buried.
Source: Tripadvisor.
Quote of the Month
Maintaining order rather than correcting disorder is the ultimate principle of wisdom. To cure disease after it has appeared is like digging a well when one already feels thirsty or forging weapons after the war has already begun.
~ Huang Di Nei Jing
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This breathtaking photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
Biophilia: Ways to Connect With Nature in Your Daily Life and Watch Your Spirituality Grow
Contribution from freelance writer Sally Perkins
We are a species of biophiliacs. In 1984 an American biologist called Edward Wilson published a book on man’s innate love of nature: biophilia. Wilson’s hypothesis is that human beings have an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. This means that connecting with nature will improve your physical, mental and spiritual health. Since Wilson’s thesis, a hoard of science to back it up has been published including this 2015 study from Nature, showing a strong link between health and green spaces in cities.
Of course this only confirms what practitioners of Chinese medicine have known for centuries: the universe and the human being are interconnected. But these days many of us live in cities, doing technology focused jobs that keep us inside all day. Here are some ways to connect with nature and reap the spiritual benefits.
Understanding the link between spirituality and nature
The first step is to understand and accept that nature and spirituality are inevitably interconnected and both are necessary for your happiness. New research has found that spirituality leads to better mental health across the course of an individual’s lifetime. Spirituality is an intimate connection between our inner selves and the outer world. Thus while spirituality is related to your inner being, your place in nature and the world is equally important.
One you accept the importance of nature to your spiritual growth, you will find yourself drawn to natural spaces without expending much effort and the next steps will come naturally, integrating nature into your life.
Travel
The most obvious way to connect to nature is to travel to a natural space. When we think of ‘travel,’ exciting journeys to exotic places come to mind . These kind of trips can also be hugely beneficial but you don’t have to cross the earth to connect with nature. A day trip to a forest or a hill an hour outside your city will do. This works better if you can turn off your digital devices for your trip and really allow yourself to be in the moment. Done right, you will come back to your daily life spiritually refreshed.
Find natural spaces in your city
Of course, in our hectic life, opportunities to take a day trip may be few and far in between. Never fear, nature doesn’t stop at town borders. Search for parks, gardens and rivers in your area. Even fifteen minutes in a small park during your lunch break can make you feel more spiritually centered and ready to face your afternoon.
Bring nature into your space
For the days where even getting to a park sounds too much, make sure you have a little bit of nature in your home. The benefits of houseplants are numerous and well documented, including cleaning the air, helping you breathe and work better.
Even for urban dwellers, there are many opportunities to connect with nature and indulge your inner biophiliac. Integrate nature into your daily life and watch your spirituality develop and your happiness grow.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The beautiful featured image photo by Beata Ratuszniak on Unsplash
How My Cat Taught Me About Buddhism
By Emma Suttie, D.Ac, AP
Cats are the ultimate Buddhists.
When I first arrived in Panama many years ago, a friend arrived at my door one day with a burlap sack and handed it to me. Inside it was a tiny kitten, about the size of a tennis ball. He was filthy, missing patches of fur and had a huge cut on his tiny pink nose. I instantly fell in love with this baby cat and from then on my life completely revolved around his comings and goings.
Little Pepe soon after I got him at about 5 weeks old. Who could resist that face??
Being In The Present
I used to love to watch him. No matter what he was doing, he was always so in the moment. I never saw him sitting around brooding over the past of worrying about the future as people so often do. He was always absolutely engrossed in whatever he was doing at that particular moment. He was always reveling in the present.
Seeing The World As It Is
My little cat was living his life, fully in the present. He wasn't avoiding certain situations or experiences. He was taking life as it came and, seeing the world as it really was. As human beings tend to do, we avoid things that are painful or unpleasant and crave experiences and things that give us pleasure which creates a constant cycle of unhappiness. Pepe was living the hell out of every moment, no matter what was happening.
Little Pepe - fearless explorer, supreme hunter, and the ultimate Buddha.
Everything Is A Meditation
I used to watch him while he was hunting, often birds, and he was so focussed and almost relaxed as he stalked them... it really seemed to me that everything that he did was a meditation. He was always mindful and present and everything he did seemed like the thing he was DESIGNED, MADE to do. It was so effortless, and even though I often had to save birds from his clutches, I loved to watch him because it was like watching water moving effortlessly through his environment.
In Harmony With His Environment
Pepe always seemed like he was perfectly designed to blend seamlessly into his environment. Like millions of years of honing the perfect cat characteristics had reached its equinox with this one, small white cat. He effortlessly climbed the highest trees, plucked birds out of the air with one perfectly calculated jump. He and the environment were one, communicating through some silent nonverbal language, like a song being written on the fly, of the most beautiful music you have ever heard. Music you could never have conceived of because it is divine in nature. There was an ease about his movements and demeanor, and he always seemed relaxed and completely content, like he was made for his environment, and it was made for him.
Equanimity
I never saw things like fear (which might have done him some good sometimes, oh the things he would get into!!) from my little cat. He was always perfectly equanimous. I never saw him reflecting, brooding or looking anxious, he always seemed perfectly at peace. My life in those days was filled with such dramatic highs and lows and I always would look at my little cat and wish I could be more like him. Good and bad things didn't happen, only things. It is us that judge them as being good or bad. Pepe seemed to have equanimity at all times, no matter what might have been going on. I admit, there were many times I envied him, wishing for the balance that eluded me and seemed inherent in him.
Impermanence
It always amazed me how Pepe could be so completely engrossed in any activity and seamlessly flow into being just as engrossed in the next thing as it came. I never saw him stop something he might have found enjoyable and get sad that it was over. This seems to be a purely human thing. He was completely able to move from one thing to the other just being and taking it all as it came. Not being sad about things that had gone or worrying about what was coming. He was all about anicca (the Pali word that represents that all things, including the self, are impermanent and constantly changing). Change is so difficult for many people and I have certainly struggled with it. Pepe however, seemed not to even notice, he was able to go with the natural from of things.
Wisdom
I have had a lot of change, upheaval, highs and lows in my life. I have bene trying in my own way, to live it to the fullest. So many of these Buddhist concepts and teachings are difficult for me, and I am constantly working on them. I find that whenever I am feeling something strongly (which is often), or struggling with my feelings (which happens on a regular basis), wondering things like why bad things happen to good people or get worried or depressed about the state of the world, all I have to do is go outside and watch my little cat. He is a wonderful reminder that things aren't good or bad, they just ARE, and it is my feelings and judgements about them that cause me unnecessary suffering and pain. My little cat always seems content, in the moment and completely at peace with himself and with life. With all that I have "learned" in many decades on this planet, I realize that my little cat Pepe is still one of my best teachers.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If you would like to read about my experience with Vipassana meditation (and my foray into Buddhist concepts and teachings), you can read these - My Ten Day Vipassana Meditation, & Vipassana 2.0. I hope you enjoy them. :)
The Strangest Energy Healing Ever Reported - Part Three
By John Voigt
In Parts One and Two the curious and apparently true story of a healing aboard a UFO sixty miles from Beijing was summarized. Extraterrestrials showed a school principle how to send superconducting healing qi-energy into a sick girl; in minutes she was healed. In Part Three our analysis continues.
Note: Given the negative excesses of skeptics who would attack their professional careers, the names of the people who personally helped the author, or sent him their insights into this case, are not given. Many skeptics claiming that science is on their side, most curiously reject the reality of all things paranormal without giving any serious investigations of the known facts; they “just know” that such things are too weird to be. This of course is the height of unscientific ignorance. We also see this in the way the establishment often rejects aspects of TCM that have proven themselves for thousands of years. Check out Wikipedia, the mega-encyclopedia of our times. In their “Traditional Chinese Medicine” entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine the term “pseudoscience” is found thirteen times. In the beginning of their “Acupuncture” entry we read, “TCM theory and practice are not based upon scientific knowledge, and acupuncture is a pseudoscience.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
Girl’s Symptoms - Possible illness caused by Wind-Heat.
According to the Yellow Emperor’s Suwen, Kidney Wind manifests as excess sweating and aversion to Wind. When diagnosing, one should look for a dark black color and hue in the flesh. There is also a dull gray cast to the face and swelling of the eyes; and the face may even have a charcoal hue color. This is exactly how the young girl first looked.
Note: For further information see: “The Concept of Wind in Traditional Chinese Medicine.”
The Big Hammer
A key operation in the healing was the Extraterrestrial striking Cao Gong’s “Big Hammer” acupuncture point [the Governing Vessel-14, the Dachui xue, 大椎穴] and sending into him what the ET called, “cosmic light, electricity and magnetic energy.” Cao Gong (an alias) struck the girl, Xiao Xiaomei (also an alias) on her GV-14 point for about five minutes to effect the healing.
From The Acupuncture Point Book, by Colleen DeLaney, L.Ac. David Bruce Leonard, L.Ac. Lancelot Kitsch, Esq. Roast Duck Publications, 1989.
DU 14 "Big Vertebra" 大椎 Dàzhuī
Intersection of all Yang meridians.
LOCATION: Below the spinous process of C7, approximately at the level of the shoulders. "Zhui" is also a term for hammer. The vertebrae are said to resemble hammers.
FUNCTIONS
- Relieves Exterior Conditions
- Opens the Yang
- Clears the Brain & Calms the Spirit
- Causes Sweat, Clears Heat, Fire, & Summer Heat, Dispels Wind & Cold, Moves Qi & Yang,
- Reduces Fever, Regulates Qi, Relaxes Tendons, Restores Collapsed Yin, Tonifies Wei Qi
INDICATIONS
- asthma
- blood diseases
- bronchitis
- Cold-induced diseases
- congested throat
- constricted feeling in chest & soreness in ribs
- cough
- eczema
- emphysema
- fever
- fever & chills
- heatstroke
- hemiplegia
- hepatitis
- hot sensation in bones with recurrent fever (associated with deficient Yin conditions)
- malaria
- pain in the back of the shoulder
- psychosis (good point)
- pulmonary tuberculosis
- seizures (good point)
- tidal fevers
NEEDLING: Obliquely upward 0.5 - 1.0 cun.
PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL USES: neurasthenia.
POINT COMBINATIONS:
ANCIENT USES:
OTHER: All the Yang Channels cross this point. Main point for high fever. Main point for malaria. fainting/ heat stroke; helps relieve toxicity—hot blood diseases, skin problems.
From a reader: Although the Big Hammer is the major collection point in the back for the gathering of Yang Qi (opposite from the Heaven’s Chimney located at the base of the throat for the gathering of Yin Qi), this area is also the center axes point for the "Back Bridge Bar" (the area located in-between the shoulders that energetically connects both arms together). This area is an extremely important place for transferring Qi.
I suspect that when the ET slapped Cao Gong’s Big Hammer that he simultaneously activated Cao Gong’s arms via the Back Bridge Bar, and also increased his capacity to store and maintain additional healing light within his body.
From a reader: If a Qigong Master was emitting strong Qi into the patient's GV-14 (i.e., the "Big Hammer,” where all of the Yang Channels converge), that specific point is often used to remove Wind Heat (and Wind Cold), which can sometimes cause tremors and even epilepsy, depending on the patient’s excess or deficient constitution.
TALISMANS
Remember that as part of the healing treatment the female extraterrestrial had the young girl stand on a diagram on the floor. I suggest that this was a talisman, or at least functioned as one.
The Chinese word for talisman is Fu - 符. Originally it meant “correspondence” [between the forces of the Heavens and Nature and the creator and owner of the drawn symbol.] Now the word means amulet, protective written charm, symbolic sign.
In modern times you don’t see much about talismans in TCM books or teaching syllabuses. Nevertheless many Daoist priests, and other spiritual healers, then and now did use and still use these ritualistic symbols to communicate with the heavenly spirit world and with the energetic forces of nature to cure illness. Starting an hour's drive out from any metropolis in Mainland China, and everywhere in Taiwan, you see them everywhere—but it should be clearly understood that unless created by one who is fully schooled in their meanings and in how to draw them, they are no more than art objects. I admonish any reader who without the needed extensive training not attempt to create a power talisman—for that you need a very wise, experienced and proficient person. Inadvertently an ignorant person (and most of us are certainly that in this area) may call down upon themselves and their clients the exact opposite of what they are seeking to accomplish. Talismans can mysteriously bring evil and sickness as well as good and wellbeing.
In lieu of that I was able to gain the following from a Chinese Daoist master knowledgeable in the use of healing talismans. This master asked that their name be withheld.
I am assuming that the patient [is] the young Chinese girl in the picture. In her particular condition - after the treatment (having successfully purged the Wind-Heat, and Tonified all of her internal organ deficiencies), I would then provide her with the following Talisman used to strengthen her Five Yin Organs, and rebuild her constitution:
Draw the following Healing Talisman on yellow paper with black ink, add the patient’s name and Four Pillars to the talisman (her birth year, month, day, and hour) at the center of the bottom hill, then at the bottom that - dedicate the talisman to the healing power of Taishang Laojun.
Daode Tianzun (道德天尊) is the official title of Taiqing (太清): the Grand Pure One.
Commonly known as Taishang Laojun (太上老君) "The Grand Supreme Elderly Lord." Source: Wikipedia.
While doing this [dedication] draw a Talisman Gall Bladder; i.e., a black ball and fill it with clockwise circling ink while speaking a healing incantation dedicated to quickly bringing healing Qi into the patient’s three San Bao bodies: physical-jing, energetic-qi, mental-shen.
Next “ Activate" the Talisman: First place a Three-Star Seal at the top of the talisman, representing the Celestial Power and Divine Authority of the Three Pure Ones (this top image looks like the out-stretched wings of 3 seagulls : side-by-side).
Second exhale your Daoist Priest Lineage Name into the talisman paper, and then place the official Daoist monastery chop seal in red ink in the center of the talisman.
Third place the talisman inside the Altar Incense, and swirl it clockwise nine times while repeating the talisman’s specific energetic function.
Right after that, light the talisman in the left red candle of the altar table,
then place the ashes into a small cup.
Add some water and stir it with a wooden chop stick while again repeating a healing talisman.
After that - give the talisman water to the patient to drink.
As the patient drinks the talisman water,
repeat the following Incantation “An - Lam” “An - Lam” “An - Lam” while she swallows it.
This is done in order to purify the way and to quickly release the imprinted energy currently inserted inside the talisman water.
ENDNOTES
About Cao Gong: “his great-grand father was a wizard, who healed people, and refused payments. The Emperor gave the wizard a wood plaque that thanked and honored him.” [Cao Gong is] skilled in Bone Massage inherited from his Buddhist family. Soon after the abduction he practiced such healing practices on several of China’s leading political figures. Certain sources say that he was a member of a governmental advisory group, the CPPCC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_People%27s_Political_Consultative_Conference
Cao Gong strapped to a lie detector
Professor Sun Shili, the renowned director of the Beijing UFO Research Association, made the following comments: “As for Cao Gong, the figure at the center of this incident, we first checked his personality traits and discovered that he is a man dedicated to public welfare. “Those that know him all admit that he is a respectable man of upright behavior, thus ruling out personality traits where he would willfully fabricate lies.” MUFON https://issuu.com/disclosureproject/docs/mufon_ufo_journal_-_2005_12._decemb
For more information about him see: http://it.sohu.com/20070129/n247899406.shtml .
Talismans
Sun Simiao (C.E. 581-682) was called China's “King of Medicine.” He wrote that the treatment of disease must include chanting the names of a particular Healing Spirit while tracing its esoteric Seal and Magic Talisman on yellow paper. The paper was then burnt and its ashes mixed with the appropriate herbs and swallowed by the patient, or applied topically to heal a wound.
Sun Simiao China's King of Medicine. Source - By Unknown - 清宫殿藏画本. 北京: 故宫博物馆出版社. 1994., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57203315
Stunning modern art Talismans (and a short essay) may be found at http://marlowbrooks.com/chinese-healing-talismans/#
Japanese UFO story.
Hidden within medieval Japanese mythology there is a story that synchronistically relates to our case, and strangely enough perhaps might even help us better to understand it. Many of the same images appear in it that we find in the Beijing Abduction: a UFO looking craft with a thirteen-year old Chinese girl aboard, a strange box (containing Ban Jiang Can, a medicine for Wind-Heat conditions), a Talisman looking diagram, an undefinable cup (remember the metal bottles at Xiao Xiaomei’s feet). But I admit this is more the stuff of fantasy stories than medical research.
Utsuro-bune ("Hollow-craft") painted in the mid-1800s.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsuro-bune\
Last ET Comment: Thank you for your cooperation. Our experiment has been very successful. Because our superconducting magnetic healing energies are too intense for earth people to directly receive, we used a really healthy earthling like yourself to be the conduit to harmonize the qi and transmit it to the girl.
Here we have something I wish all TCM healers could experience and enjoy: Being a conduit to harmonize and transmit energies to successfully aid in the healing of our clients, (minus of course the “healing energies…too intense”).
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
1. The Strangest Chinese Energy Healing Ever Reported – Part One. Chinese Medicine Living
2. The Strangest Chinese Energy Healing Ever Reported – Part Two. Chinese Medicine Living
The author may be reached at john.voigt@comcast.net
The Strangest Chinese Energy Healing Ever Reported - Part Two
By John Voigt
In Part One details were given about an extraterrestrial sending universal healing qi-energy into a thirty-eight year old man, “Cao Gong” (an alias) which he immediately used to heal a very sick thirteen year old girl. This took place aboard a UFO in Qinhuangdao, an area about sixty miles east of Beijing. Our brief analysis continues with Cao’s return to his family’s apartment in Beijing.
Right After the Abduction and Healing
The male and female extraterrestrials and Cao Gong entered as they had left two hours and twenty minutes before, by floating in through a wall, this time into his nine year old son’s bedroom. The boy, “Cao Xing” (also an alias) awoke. He said, “What happened to the nerve [or “nerves” the Chinese is unclear] in my head that controls sleeping?” Cao Gong was amazed at such grownup words coming from his young son. (Were the ETs controlling the boy’s mind somehow? Could they have been controlling Cao Gong’s mind as well?) After the ETs left, again by floating through a wall, the boy spoke, “How did these people enter my room? And how did they leave like that?” (Later investigators saw this as circumstantial evidence that Cao Gong was not alone in actually witnessing the two extraterrestrials.)
It was now 2:20 AM. By 4:00 AM that same night Cao Gong was on the phone with a member of the Beijing UFO Research Association, a Miss Ma Linghuan, seeking an explanation for what had just happened to him.
The Investigation of the Abduction Begins [张靖平]
Zhang Jingping, Director of Investigations of the World Chinese UFO Federation, decided to take on the case, and by April of 2000 he began a through investigation.
After several hypnotic regression sessions, a lie detection session, physiological tests, and talks with Beijing police examiners, and other ufologists, Cao Gong’s story was found to be believable and truthful—at least he was honestly reporting what he had experienced. It seemed unlikely that he dreamt any of it: everything points to the probable fact that he was awake when his abduction took place. (His nine year old son also had seen the two aliens when his father was returned home.) On November, 2002, two years after the abduction took place, the girl, Xiao Xiaomei (an alias), now completely healthy, with a baby and a job with her a live-in lover cleaning other people’s homes, was found in Qinhuangdao, the city where the healing had taken place. The case is said to remain open, but no new information has been released as of September, 2017. Perhaps this analysis in Chinese Medicine Living will generate further information from our readers.
Cao Gong, and Xiao Xiaomei (an alias) two years after the abduction
Source: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4ca903250102e6h6.html
Cao Gong, UFO investigator Zhang Jingping, and Xiao Xiaomei
Source: http://news.qq.com/a/20080916/000852_8.htm
About Energy Healing
The use of external energy for healing is a worldwide technique from ancient times to today. The Christian Laying on of Hands, Reiki, and Healing Touch are all examples that have produced healings that western medicine can not properly explain or duplicate. The Chinese have been especially proficient and successful with this kind of healing―after all they have been doing it much longer and more extensively than any other people. For example, there is the legend―(I suggest that legends are somehow based on historical realities)―of the Yellow Emperor, (died 2598 BC), credited as being the founder of Chinese Medicine.
100-yuan banknote (1938) with a dragon and the Yellow Emperor who was said to have been taken up to heaven by a dragon. In ancient China UFOs were called dragons.
Source: Wikipedia.
In his court there was a shaman priest named Zhu You who practiced healing by emitting qi combined with sacred prayers. In the “Bible” of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine it is written that, “In earlier times most illnesses were treated in the manner of Zhu You.” (Chapter 13). Today in China this healing modality is called “External Qi Therapy” - Wai qi liaofa - 外气疗法.
About Qi
Chinese Traditional Form
Source: Google
气
Chinese Simple (“Modern”) Form
Source: Chineseetamology.org
Qi (pronounced “chee” in a descending tone) is a highly complex term that gains its meaning from within the context in which it is placed. Although impossible to get an exact translation of the word in English, it is often called “vital life energy.” In traditional Chinese thought, Qi is usually thought to be the underlying force of all of life, matter and consciousness in the universe. Within humans Qi may be understood as a being a bio-electric interface between conscious awareness and the physical body. As such, qi is the energetic foundation and cause of life. [For more about Qi see: http://qi-encyclopedia.com/ .]
More commonly and less accurately, the term Qi is used to describe its sensuous manifestations. For example in the Cao Gong abduction case: the sensations Cao Gong felt in the qi transmissions from the extraterrestrial into his GV-14 acupuncture point, and then what he felt as he sent qi into the sick girl: “a burst of heat, rivers of radiating pins and needles, numbing electrical-like discharges.” Even the glow of health coming from the healed girl certain people might colloquially call “good qi.” But strictly speaking these are not proper definitions.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), well-being is gained through the harmonious flow of qi. However, if qi is in excess or deficient in the organs and/or energy meridians of the human body, or if it is of the wrong kind, as with the foul gaseous energy removed from girl, Xiao Xiaomei, sickness and death is often the result.
Healing Qi-Energy from an Extraterrestrial’s Perspective
The male extraterrestrial told Cao Gong aboard the UFO: “Don’t be nervous. We are like you. Our universal life energies [yuzhou nengliang -宇宙能量] are the same. You’re invited here to be in an experiment in which earth people heal other earth people by using the abilities and capacities of this energetic force [neng li 能力].”
After the girl was healed, Cao Gong asked, “What’s going on? How can this be?” Extraterrestrial male answered, “Because you are in physically good health, I could supply you with universal cosmic light (yuzhou guāng - 宇宙 光 ), electricity (dian - 电), and scientific magnetic energy (cineng - 磁能). Since such magnetic energetic abilities are not mutually repulsive, you were able to transmit it to her. Because she needed it, she absorbed it. This is very normal.”
The last thing that the male ET said to Cao Gong was, “Thank you for your cooperation. With it our experiment has been very successful. Because our superconducting magnetic healing energies are too intense for earth people to directly receive, we used a really healthy earthling like yourself to be the conduit to harmonize (tiao jie – to adjust, regulate, harmonize, reconcile) the qi and transmit it to the girl.”
Those Chinese words, tiao jie … qi, may be the best summary ever given of what Traditional Chinese Medicine is all about: to adjust, regulate, and harmonize the qi in the patient.
Bad (pathogenic) Xie Qi
Qi can cause illness as well as heal it. This bad qi is called Xie Qi. It is pronounced “shay” in a rising tone, “chee” in a falling) tone. In the healing abduction it probably was cause of the girl’s black and grey complexion as well as the noxious stuff that oozed out of her. Cao Gong described it this way: The semi-transparent covering surrounding the girl began to fill with a foul (wu zhou - 污浊 ) gaseous/energetic substance (qi ti -气体.).
Various Meanings of Xie (邪):
Formal TCM translations offer: Pathogenic (disease causing) – Turbid – Toxic. Especially telling is what the word means in Chinese everyday colloquially speech: “Bad” – “Evil” - “Demonic” – “Devil” – “Killing.”
Xie Qi is caused by such factors as wind, cold, heat, wet, dry hot (fire) , improper diet, phlegm, polluted atmosphere and improper life style behavior. Emotional unbalance can both be caused and/or create xie qi. The girl, Xiao Xiaomei , only thirteen years old, was mentally challenged and unmarried. She may have been in the beginning stages of an unwanted pregnancy at that time. (Within the two years after the abduction she had given birth to her baby.)
For more about Xie (Turbid) Qi see http://qi-encyclopedia.com/index.asp?article=TurbidQi
Calling Out to the Reader For Answers
This is an invitation for you, the reader, to add your knowledge and experience to the Cao Gong-Extraterrestrial healing event. Email me at john.voigt@comcast.net. Selected replies will chosen for publication in Chinese Medicine Living. Your name and email address will not be given without your approval.
Suggested Possible Questions –
(but any comments about the healing are welcome)
1. Have you every used, experienced, or observed qi being externally sent for healing (i.e., External Qi Therapy)?
2. Why or how was the GV-14 point used?
3. Any comments about the semi-transparent membrane used to capture (or remove) the pathogenic xie-qi?
4. Have you ever removed xie-qi from a client? If so how did you do it? Was it black and oozy, smelly? How did you keep it from getting inside you?
5. The healing only took about five minutes. Can such a thing be possible?
6. Any educated guesses about what the thirteen year old girl was suffering from?
Remember that her fingers twisted about on the palms of her hands as if she were looking for something. Her skin looked leathery—like dark processed meat. Her forehead was ashen grey and black. Her body was wasted away, all skin and bones. Also she was reported to be mentally challenged as in possibly having a low IQ, as in “slow witted.”
7. I was told by one of my teachers that she seemed to be suffering from a condition of Wind-Heat. What is your hypothetical diagnosis?
You are not restricted to these suggested questions; but only replies that are pertinent to the healing will be published in future issues of Chinese Medical Living. I am looking forward to continuing the investigation of the TCM aspects of this case with your help. Email me at: john.voigt@comcast.net.
SOURCES USED
MUFON UFO Journal, December 2005, Number 452. “Chinese Schoolmaster Reports Flying Abduction and Healing by Proxy.”
https://issuu.com/disclosureproject/docs/mufon_ufo_journal_-_2005_12._decemb
外星人劫持北京人!電視台首次震撼曝光 – “China Central Television (CCTV) Reveals for the First Time the Abduction of a Beijing Resident”
https://read01.com/4GN0dQ.html#.WZWofyMrJL8
Zhang Jingping. 曹公对领导人说见过外星人吗 -
“Cao Gong told the leaders about aliens?” http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4ca903250102e6h6.html
Note: Most Chinese language sites can be translated into English (albeit not easy to read or fully understand) on such sites as https://translate.google.com/ For Chrome browser users see https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/173424?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en-GB
Further Information About External Qi Therapy
John Voigt. “External Qi for Healing.” Qi Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1: Spring 2014. http://www.qi-journal.com/store.asp?-token.S=qi&ItemID=D241&-Token.X=X
Yongsheng, Bi. Chinese Qigong Outgoing-Qi Therapy. Shandong Science and Technology Press, 1997; [text in English].
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
The Strangest Energy Healing Ever Reported - The Beijing UFO Abduction Case
The Strangest Energy Healing Ever Reported - Part 2
The Strangest Energy Healing Ever Reported - Part 3