Sometimes you have to go full circle to really know where you started. It seems a bit that way with our understanding of how our bodies work and the approach we take to our gut health and medicine. Modern western healthcare is based on the understanding of cause and effect. It is a linear relationship and we cannot ‘fix’ an […]
Our Gut Health, Science and the Ancients
Qi in the body – An Overview
The depths to which Traditional Chinese Medicine can go seem to have no end – It is a bottomless pit of interdependency, a roundabout which doesn’t really have a start or an end. Trying to pinpoint an exact position in TCM is a bit like trying to find a start to the yin-yang cycle – there isn’t one really, it’s […]
Sahasrara – Crown Chakra
The Crown Chakra, or Sahasrara, is located at the very top of the head and it is through this chakra that we connect with not just higher realms, but with the greater universe and humanity. It is our mental and spiritual energy and is connected to our pineal gland, the fabled gland with which we ‘see’ with our inner eye. […]
One week with No News!
Watching news and our wellbeing don’t really go hand in hand. Having a positive attitude to life while news bombards us with negative stories and emergencies just doesn’t seem to be a good kind of balancing act. Especially if you buy into the premise that our minds and what we think bring about our experiences, then watching the news seems […]
Ajna – Forehead Chakra
Ajna is the center of our awareness and intuition. It is our spiritual home and where we come to know who we are. Our intuition, fantasy and the power of the mind in terms of visualisation are all themes related to Ajna. The word Ajna itself means “to know or perceive.” This chakra is often called the third eye chakra […]
Vishuddha – Throat Chakra
Vishuddha or our throat chakra, is our fifth chakra and has the role of purifying awareness and giving us that sense of inner clarity. On a day to day basis, it is that piece of us that learns from our experiences rather than going on to make the same mistake over and over. This especially applies to our negative experiences […]
Anahata – Heart Chakra
The Anahata Chakra is our Heart Chakra and lies at the center of our chakra system. It is the turning point between the three lower chakras (our ‘earthly’ chakras) and the three higher (spiritual) ones. It is interesting that the Anahata chakra is all about the power of love – almost as if love is the way we progress from […]
Gut Health
It’s amazing to think that even within our own body we aren’t the majority shareholder. We are composed of 30 trillion human cells that make up everything from your hair to skin, toenails and organs. But vastly outnumbering them are the 90 trillion of viruses, bacteria and fungi that live within us. Most of these live within the gut area […]
Manipura – Solar Plexus Chakra
Located between our navel and solar plexus, the Manipura Chakra is our self esteem, confidence and self assurance. After overcoming the negatives of Svadhisthana (2nd chakra), the third chakra gives us a new lease of life in facing the world. ‘Mani’ in Sanskrit means ‘jewel’ and ‘pura’ means ‘city’ – thus the jewels of the city refer to the common sense […]
Conception Vessel
The Conception Vessel (‘Ren Mai’) runs along the midline of the front of the body and forms a Qi circuit with the Governing Vessel which runs along the back midline. If you were to ever train Qi, these two vessels would be where you begin – they are considered the primary qi channels which direct energy to all the other […]