December 2006 Newsletter

First of all, I would like to wish you happy and healthy holidays.

Now for the big news at the Center for Traditional Health Arts: We're moving! We have been at our 6th Street location for about four and a half years, and, while we love the building, we have outgrown it. Our new location will allow us to have our herb dispensary onsite and additional consultation rooms. See below for all of the information.

I have also enclosed two articles of mine from previous newsletters that are particularly appropriate for the holiday season. It seems that the busy (sometimes frantic) nature of the season can pull us away from health, so following the suggestions in the two articles below can help to bring us back to the calm of our inner nature.

Our new location Our new location, starting in January, will be at 5 Keller Street, Suite A in the O'Connor Professional Building. It is about a block and a half away from our current office and close to the downtown. There is parking behind the building and plenty of street parking available. To get to our new location at 5 Keller Street: From Highway 101 take the East Washington Street exit and head West toward the downtown. You will continue on Washington Street for approximately one mile until you make a left turn at Keller Street. Travel on Keller Street for almost two blocks until you arrive at our new location, 5 Keller Street, in the O'Connor Professional Building. The building is on the right hand side of the street. (Helpful marker: When driving down Washington Street you will go through the major intersection of Washington and Petaluma Blvd two blocks before you turn left on Keller street.) There is some parking behind the building and parking available on the street. You can also park in the 'A' Street parking lot (free), just past the O'Connor Professional Building on the left hand side of the street. Enter the door on the right and head upstairs. Once upstairs, turn left and continue to the end of the hall to our new space. Our new address is: Center for Traditional Health Arts 5 Keller Street, Suite A Petaluma, CA 94952 Our mailing address is now: Center for Traditional Health Arts PO Box 2153 Petaluma, CA 94953-2153 Click below for an online map of the area around our new location. Map to our new office.

Relaxed & Focused Within Chinese medicine and Medical Qigong the concept of song (pronounced more like "soong") is important for health and vitality. Song is often translated as relax or relaxed, and while this is literally what the word can mean, it doesn't carry the same connotation or feeling as song. To understand what song means, we can look at the character and its traditional etymology. There are two parts to this character, the top half and the bottom half. The top part of the character is an image of long hair being let down. This is actually one of the proper movements for the springtime - letting the hair down and taking large steps in the courtyard - that are described in the Suwen. The idea essentially being to relax the mind and loosen the tendons and ligaments. So this top half of the character encompasses the ideas of relaxing and loosening the body and mind. The bottom half of the character is the word for a pine tree. Within classical Chinese thought the pine was seen as a very special tree that had so much internal vitality that it could maintain its greenery (the color of life) all year long, even when all the other trees had lost their leaves. We can think of this combination of characters that form song then as not just meaning to relax, but also as something like "to enter into a state like a pine tree." Like a pine tree we can cultivate strength and stability that is deeply rooted and resilient. The uprightness of the tree illustrates a type of strength that is flexible and adaptable, never becoming rigid. The roots of the tree are stable while the upper branches are light and clear, illustrating a perfect balance between heaven and earth. Whenever you are facing challenges or are becoming stressed you can put this image in your mind. Let your shoulders sink down, press your weight into the soles of the feet and take a slow, smooth breath, like silk flowing around the body. As you exhale silently say song to yourself and relax into a state like a pine tree: strong, resilient and clear. Visit our website for more articles.

Back to Reality Within Chinese medicine, we can view all of the interactions that take place within us and around us as movements of qi. In a simple way, we can identify these movements as either following the normal flow of nature, and thus bringing us back to our own nature, or carrying us away from ourselves, in opposition to the natural movement of our own lives. In classical Chinese texts our role in this process is sometimes described as the process of learning to faithfully follow the reality of life. So what can we do if agitation, stress and tension become a movement in our life that carries us away from ourselves and from the reality of the present moment? We can do the things that will bring us back to our nature. One of the most simple and powerful ways to come back to the reality of life is to spend time outdoors in nature. Simply sit quietly and feel the breeze on your skin, watch the leaves swaying gently on the trees or observe the careful movements of the birds around you. Let all of the hectic activity of your mind settle, until all of your thoughts of what might happen later or what has happened in the past slip away and you are present with all of nature around you. If you have studied qigong, make sure that you practice everyday. This provides a solid foundation for the proper movements of the qi, which will influence how you respond to everything else throughout the day. Practicing in the morning and then for a short time later in the day will profoundly support you in all of the activities of your day. Cultivate yourself by finding the art and way within what you are already doing. Within traditional Chinese culture there are numerous "ways," such as the way of tea, the way of calligraphy, the way of martial arts, the way of medicine, and so on. In this sense, a "way" is how one approaches life, rather than a specific method or technique. Spend time with beauty. Listen to beautiful music, look at beautiful paintings and read inspiring books. The things that we find beautiful and inspiring are beautiful and inspiring because we can see the proper movement of our own life within them. It is the quality of our own qi that we see within the beautiful painting, music and writing. Whatever you do, make sure that you do something every day, preferably throughout the day. There will always be circumstances and events that pull you away from yourself. It is through small steps that you can come back to your own nature, and, as the classics advise, learn to faithfully follow the reality of life.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or thoughts.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for health, happiness and prosperity!

Sean