In classical Chinese medicine, autumn begins weeks before the equinox. Learn how the qi nodes Lìqiū, Chǔshǔ and Báilù describe the seasonal shift, what it means for your health, and how we work with these changes through acupuncture and yangsheng.
Shen is routinely translated as “spirit” or “heart-mind,” but neither captures its meaning in classical Chinese medicine. Berkeley acupuncturist Anne Shelton Crute looks more closely at the Heart, shen, and what is lost when distinct Chinese medical concepts are collapsed into familiar Western categories.
A look at Summer Begins (Lixia), the seventh solar qi node in the classical East Asian calendar, and what early summer reveals about yangsheng, food, and the outward movement of life.
Most of us are not coordinated in time. We organize our lives by obligation, convenience, and weather. But in the classical Chinese medical view, time is not abstract. It is structured.
Tremella (snow fungus) is a traditional Chinese medicinal food used to nourish yin, generate fluids and moisten dryness, especially in the Lung and Stomach. At Ritual Health Acupuncture & Herbalism in Berkeley and the East Bay, we draw on acupuncture, herbal medicine and Chinese food therapy to understand each patient’s underlying pattern; here we look at Tremella’s traditional uses, seasonal relevance, modern research and simple preparation in the home kitchen.
