For thousands and thousands of years, Chinese Medicine has seen that the power of the mind is an incredibly potent and powerful force. It has the ability, through the medium of suggestion and belief to make the body strong and healthy or to make it weak and sick.
 
Methods of mastering, manipulating and controlling the conscious and subconscious minds have been written into and practiced in Chinese Medicine since its’ formation; from Qi Gong to meditations to Shen Gong to the art of Feng Shui.

Mind work is one of the many great pillars supporting the foundation of Chinese Medicine.
 
One of the best ways to increase your physical and mental health is to simply train your mind into a state of positivity; in this state your internal reactions, such as the building and upkeep of cells are performed at peak and productive levels.
 
You could imagine that if you have the opposite, a negative depressed mind, your body will slump and feel tired. Everything from your concentration to your digestion will become sluggish. And even the reproduction of your cells will be less efficient, causing weaker cells to be created, which in turn will cause you to slump even further and lay the grounds for possible future illnesses. 

To clearly see the power of the mind in action, all we have to do is look at the placebo and nocebo effect in western science …

In the simplest form, Qi means energy and Gong means work. Qi Gong is the art of cultivating energy.
 
It's primarily a set of exercises which have the aim to increase the amount of energy in the body, mind and spirit.

This energy powers up all living parts, enhancing their functioning. This increased energy will further help to process food and air more effectively to help create more blood and nutrients to nourish and protect our physical bodies and calm and stimulate our minds. It will help to preserve cells, slow down ageing and increase general health and well-being.

The Common Cold ...
 
Western Medicine sees colds very differently to the way Chinese Medicine does. They believe that colds are solely to do with exposure to bacteria and viruses.
 
Whereas Chinese Medicine believes that if a bug is really virulent, many people may succumb to it and become infected. But in most cases for ordinary bugs that create common colds, the internal strength of the body, in particular the energy, is far more important to prevent them. If your energy is very strong you may even be able to avoid getting them altogether.
 

There is archaeological evidence to show that the Chinese have been studying foods and herbs for well over three thousand years. During that time, they refined and perfected a great system.
 
It is entirely different to the Western way of counting calories and dividing our foods into groups of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It is instead very practical and useful in altering states and conditions, and even in treating and resolving illnesses in your body.
 
Once you understand the Chinese method, you can start to see why there are many flaws in current Western nutritional theories ...
 
The Western approach is nearly always to break foods down into smaller and smaller isolated chemicals, which are then categorized into similar groups. When you do this many elements start to appear to have the same qualities. However on the bigger level, the problem with this is quite clear.
 
A few examples should illustrate it ...

In the fruit category, a lemon is very obviously different in comparison to a banana. Indeed if you were to eat four bananas your intestines would feel and react very differently to if you were to eat four lemons. The lemons would have most people’s insides tied up in knots.

This article explains how certain types of foods can have an effect of immediate and also long term cooling in your body.
 
Knowing this can be very helpful in treating conditions and illness related to excessive heat in the body; and also avoiding problems created by the opposite, of having too much cold in your body.

(If you have been reading the other articles in this blog you will know why this is so important. If you haven't been reading them, then I suggest you start with this article ... The Art Of Balance )

How ?
 
Well the first thing to understand is that our body runs off energy. Quite simply, the more powered up it is, the better every organ and every cell will function.

Everything from your heart to your kidneys to your brain needs power. The more it has the better and healthier it works. The less it has, the less able it is to carry out tasks around the body, leaving things to pile up and break, or leaving it vulnerable to infections and other ailments.

So maximizing your energy levels is therefore of the upmost importance to a healthy flourishing well-being.
 
Energy in essence is really heat and movement. The more active molecules become, the more they vibrate and heat up. If you think of a car engine or a machine, they heat up while they are running. Or even when you get active and exercise using your energy reserves, you will heat up. The sun also gives us an example of heat and energy in the form of solar power. In simple terms, heat and energy go hand in hand together.

I previously discussed the illnesses and effects caused by having too much heat in your body, now let’s turn our attention to how an excess of cold can make you feel sick and unwell.

This article is very useful for any students of Chinese Medicine who want to get a better understanding of how it works.

It is also very important for people, particularly in the Western world, who are “health addicts”, those who are good living fitness buffs who are into heavy exercising and into eating lots of vegetables, fruit and healthy foods.
 
The reason why is because working out and eating too many fruits and vegetables can start to use up and weaken the energy in your body, which can lead to internal coldness. How this comes about will be explained in the last part of this series.
 
With internal cold and weaker energy, every part of you will have less power to perform and function at its best. If your energy suffers too much you can even become quite ill.
 
Later in this series we will see how you can tweak your diet and lifestyle to maintain all the benefits of Western style “healthy living” and at the same time increase the energy levels in your body, making it much stronger and healthier.
 
This article also relates to people with cold constitutions or those living in cold climates, who may often have feelings of cold, tiredness and weakness.

In the last part of this series on cold, we took a look at the properties of cold and how it generally behaves. In this part we will take a deeper look at the symptoms and illnesses it can create in the body.

But firstly let’s briefly recap on its’ characteristics …
 
It slows things and reduces energy and power.
 
It impedes movement and can block things up.
 
It congeals, thickens and creates fluids.
 
As things become more damp, they become heavier and usually sink.
 
Cold causes reactions more slowly, so illnesses and pains caused by it tend to be more dull, achy, dragging and drawn out.
 
So now lets take a look at symptoms which can be caused by excessive cold ...

This is the final part in the series of articles relating to how having a cold and energy deficient body can make you run down, weak, tired, depressed and sick.
 
If you have not read the first two parts of this series then please read them before reading this part.
 
 
The first article explained how cold behaves in general and how it affects the body. The second one showed you how to recognize if your internal systems are too cold and the type of ailments that can manifest from this.
 
This last article will explain how a cold energy-less system may come about and what you can do to reverse or prevent it.
 
So here they are, the common ways a cold unproductive system may develop in your body ...