New Directions in Heart Health

Xin-ji-er-kang shown to be an effective medication in the treatment of coronary heart disease

Research has shown that coronary heart disease and myocarditis caused by a heart attack can be treated with the help of the Chinese medicine called Xin-ji-er-kang. The study, published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, evaluated the cardioprotective effects of Xin-ji-er-kang on mice that experienced a heart attack.

  • A team of researchers from Anhui Medical University in China administered Xin-ji-er-kang to mice that experienced a heart attack for four weeks.
  • Xin-ji-er-kang is composed of 14 herbal medicines, including Chinese ginseng, milk vetch, mondo grass, etc.
  • A heart attack reduces the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, promotes the abnormal enlargement of the heart muscle (cardiac hypertrophy), and causes endothelial dysfunction.
  • Results of the experiment showed that the administration of Xin-ji-er-kang improved the cardiovascular problems caused by a heart attack.
  • The treatment improved endothelial dysfunction, cardiac hypertrophy, and collagen deposition caused by heart attack.
  • It also decreased oxidative stress, which plays a role in cardiovascular diseases, and reduced inflammation by reducing levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines.
  • The cardioprotective effects of Xin-ji-er-kang may be attributed to its role in improving endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and retaining the immune balance.

The findings of the study suggested that Xin-ji-er-kang may potentially be used in treating heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

Read the full text of the study at this link.

To read more stories on Chinese medicines like Xin-ji-er-kang, visit ChineseMedicine.news today.

Journal Reference:

Hu J, Zhang Y, Wang L, Ding L, Huang G, Cai G, Gao S. PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF XINJI?ERKANG ON MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION INDUCED CARDIAC INJURY IN MICE. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 26 June 2017; 17(338). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-017-1846-5

from:    https://science.news/2018-10-15-xin-ji-er-kang-shown-to-be-an-effective-medication-in-the-treatment-of-coronary-heart-disease.html

In Alternative Medicine, Everything Old is New

Energy Medicine Going Mainstream

Introduction

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

~ Nikola Tesla

Energy medicine is the diagnostic and therapeutic use of energy whether produced by or detected by a medical device or by the human body. Energy medicine recognizes that the human body utilizes various forms of energy for communications involved in physiological regulations. Energy medicine involves energy of particular frequencies and intensities and wave shapes that stimulate the repair of one or more tissues. Examples of energy include heat, light, sound, gravity, pressure, vibration, electricity, magnetism, chemical energy, and electromagnetism.1

It may come as a surprise to many to learn that energy medicine has been part of human history for thousands of years. Ever since man crawled and later walked the earth, energy was an essential part of primitive societies as well as advanced sophisticated cultures, including the Egyptians, the Chinese and the Greeks.

Going back to 15,000 B.C., Shamans living within their native tribes performed healing rituals using their bodies in movement, their voices, and plant or animal materials along with the elements of the earth such as fire, wind, and the moon. Their goal was to eliminate bad spirits which negatively impacted the physiological body of the sufferer. This art of healing is still taught and used today around the globe.

Ayurvedic medicine (also called Ayurveda) birthed in India, is one of the oldest medical systems and still today remains one of the country’s traditional health care systems. Its concepts about health and disease promote the use of herbal compounds, special diets, cleansing of the bowels, soft tissue massage using hot oil, and other unique health practices. India’s government and other institutes throughout the world support clinical and laboratory research on Ayurvedic medicine, within the context of the Eastern belief system.2 The Ayurvedic perspective toward the physiology differs from modern Western thought; Humans are spiritual beings living in the temple of the physical body prompting the care of health to focus on spiritual healing to affect the physical body. Another idea unique to the Eastern philosophy and yogic doctrine is the idea of chakras. Chakras are seven wheel-like vortices of energy over nerve plexes and endocrine centers of the body, as well as the third eye and the crown of the head, with small vortices at each joint. They are functional rather than anatomical structures that are connected to the meridians and acupuncture points. Numerous researchers have shown elevated electronic recordings from these locations, particularly with persons in higher states of consciousness or with extrasensory abilities.3 One cannot help but notice the popularity of this healing approach by finding Ayurvedic schools and practitioners not only in Asia but all over the Western world today.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was first recorded around 2,700 B.C. and originated in ancient China. It is still used primarily in China and also all around North America and Europe. While you may think TCM is accepted and widely used throughout Asia, the reality is different; China’s healthcare system offers two sorts of healthcare systems and hospitals to their people: Western Medicine and TCM clinics and both approaches are financially covered for the people. TCM encompasses the use of herbs and is mostly known for acupuncture. Acupuncture needles are placed on acupuncture points along meridians to balance the energy in the body, helping to improve the flow of energy and fluids. Most fascinating is the skill a TCM practitioner has to learn over time to be able to read the patient’s face, tongue, complexion, posture, and the various levels of the pulse felt along the radial artery. The ancient beliefs on which TCM is based include the following:

  • The human body is a miniature version of the larger, surrounding universe;
  • Harmony between two opposing yet complementary forces, called yin and yang, supports health, and disease results from an imbalance between these forces;
  • Five elements – fire, earth, wood, metal, and water – symbolically represent all phenomena, including the stages of human life, and explain the functioning of the body and how it changes during disease;
  • Qi, a vital energy that flows through the body, performs multiple functions in maintaining health.4,5

Historic records lead us back to 1,600 B.C. discussing the brilliance of the ancient Egyptian priests or physicians who knew how to set bones, how to treat a fever and how to recognize symptoms of curable and fatal diseases. The Egyptians held the belief that illness was often caused by an angry god or an evil spirit. For this reason, the Egyptian doctor was also part shaman, who performed rituals and recited prayers on the sick. But, the Egyptian physician was not limited to faith healing as part of his or her practice. Egyptian medicine became a far-reaching discipline, encompassing a great many fields. Doctors in Egypt, like today, were specialists in their particular fields. These fields included pharmacology, dentistry, gynecology, crude surgical procedures, general healing, autopsy, and embalming.6 The goddess Ma-at wore as her symbol a feather, which was used to access the vibrational qualities of justice, truth, balance, and order. The energy is accessed by using intention, and by the use of symbols, usually hieroglyphs.

Energy Healing in the Sufi way predates religion. The elect divine messengers and prophets who were gifted with the precious gift of pure self-surrender to the Absolute, were also gifted with the healing energy which gushed forth from the energy of pure love and unconditional compassion (mercy to all creation). A contemporary energy healer in Sufi way once said: “To heal is to become one with Deep Love of God.”

Ancient Greek manuscripts from 400 B.C describe laying on hands in Aesculapian temples. The philosopher and father of Western Medicine Hippocrates of Cos7 defined energy as “the force which flows from many people’s hands.” Hippocrates was the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine and ultimately established medicine as a discipline distinct from other fields such as theurgy and philosophy, thus establishing medicine as a profession. Hippocratic medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on “the healing power of nature.” According to this doctrine, the body contains within itself the power to re-balance the four humors and heal itself.

Ancient Christian scriptures describe “laying-on-hands healing.” Even more important is the message that it is their altered belief allowing healing to take place.

In the 18th Century Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, discovered that “like cures like,” when he ingested bark substance (Cinchona) from South America which was said to cure malaria-related intermittent fevers.8 While he himself had not contracted malaria, when taking a larger dose of the substance, he in turn induced malaria like symptoms in himself, which led him to the idea “that which can produce a set of symptoms in a healthy individual, can treat a sick individual who is manifesting a similar set of symptoms.” This experience birthed the idea of a new philosophy called homeopathy.9 Often it is the information, a form of energy, related to the substance, not necessarily the substance itself that aids in the healing process. Homeopathic remedies are diluted at different levels to stimulate physiologically, emotionally, or spiritually.

Looking at today’s diagnostic approaches, one couldn’t imagine a hospital without ultrasound, X-Ray, and MRI capabilities, or even a private practice without an EKG, EEG, or ultrasound device. All these devices measure the energy of the body in different ways and from different perspectives for diagnostic purposes. This is standard use of care.

On the flip side, therapeutic approaches are still expected to primarily come from a chemical or surgical solution. While there is more and more interest pushing up from the masses via patients who have been seeking help for their chronic health issues, physicians remain hesitant to incorporate forms of energy medicine into their practice. Physicians who have had some sort of training in physics, such as orthopedics, anesthesiology, or even physical therapy know of the significance of the use of physics complementing chemical treatment approaches including pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

With the abundance of self-help books, and information on the internet available today as well as TV and radio shows (which would have been unthinkable only 10-years ago), patients’ demands from their physicians are significantly on the rise for complementary solutions which ideally should be non-invasive and with little side effects. This includes:

  • Acupuncture
  • Massage
  • Osteopathy
  • Reiki
  • Meditation
  • Exercise
  • Homeopathy
  • Energy technologies including:
    • Laser, ultrasound and micro-current – primarily used for pain relief;
    • Biofeedback – for learning how to better cope with stress;
    • Electromagnetic stimulation for wound healing, soft tissue injuries, and pain.

Considered a “new” field in modern medicine, Energy Healing is separated into two categories by NCCAM, the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine:10

  1. Energies that can be measured scientifically by our present standards, like electromagnetic therapy, or therapy using sound waves
  2. Energies that are not yet subject to our measurement – the subtle fields that are utilized in energy healing, acupuncture, chi gong, Ayurveda, homeopathy, therapeutic touch, prayer or distance healing, and similar modalities.

Patients are frustrated and disappointed with the standard care solutions for their chronic symptoms. More times than less, a vast population of chronically ill patients not only sees no improvement, but experiences further decline in their health. So, patients start to research, ask their doctors intelligent questions and listen to answers and solutions with high expectations. They seek help outside their insurance’s network, often traveling far to seek a physician who goes beyond the standard offering of care, giving more personal attention to the patient and offering treatment solutions including the realm of energy medicine.

Humans are electromagnetic beings, and we need to capture them as such with diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. This branch of biophysics is barely known or understood and therefore not pursued by physicians. While biophysics has been known and was officially recorded in 189211 as “the branch in science concerned with the application of physical principles and methods to biological problems,” medical schools do not teach their students on the established fact that every function within the human body breaks down to an act of physics, even chemical processes. Knowing this fact would help physicians to move quickly and confidently embrace methods using forms of energy and complementing standard patient care with energy medicine.

In the peer-reviewed literature we find evidence that certain electromagnetic fields have an impact on the physiological process including melatonin secretion, nerve regeneration, cell growth, collagen production, DNA synthesis, cartilage and ligament growth, lymphocyte activation, and more.12 What’s consistent in these findings is that the frequencies need to be specific and not generic. Exposing the patient to a large range of frequencies limits therapeutic results along with the lasting effects of the therapy. The electromagnetic stimulation needs to be personalized to the patient just like we personalize pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals.

Research shows that specific frequencies correlate with organs and organ systems while significantly impacting cells, tissue, and organs:

  • 8 Hz and the heart;
  • 1,217.7 Hz with the kidneys;
  • 0.18 Hz with the liver;
  • 406.37 Hz with the lungs;
  • 26.90 Hz with the colon;
  • 114.03 Hz with the stomach;
  • 60.40 Hz with the spleen/pancreas.13

These frequencies are available in different octaves just like on a tempered piano; the note C can be played on higher and lower octaves. Frequency is the term to explain repetition over a certain amount of time and it is expressed in Hertz (Hz). These frequencies are based on the mathematical structure as already documented by Pythagoras 500 B.C., and upon which the basis of geometry is founded; this structure can be found in all elements of nature.

To read more, go to:    http://www.faim.org/energy-medicine-going-mainstream

On Meridians & Emotions

Meridians And Emotions

Find out how closely your health is related to your emotions

by: Evelyn Mulders

A meridian story relating the emotions to a situation that you may be able to relate to. If this is you, then look at the meridian attributes for reassurance. This confirmation offers you insight on knowing which meridian in your body needs the most attention.

Balancing choices for the meridians could be meridian tracing or vibrational remedies.

Meridians and Emotions

The approach to disease in Western allopathic medicine can be likened to the bug spray approach to garbage. You can spray the garbage with bug spray all week but as long as there is garbage, there will be bugs and flies and their eggs. The Eastern meridian approach to disease is to simply get rid of the garbage, the flies will disappear with the garbage.

Let’s consider the notion of disease or discomfort by comparing the philosophy between western allopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. With the teachings of allopathic medicine, the belief is that we get sick because of germs. If this was true then we would be dead the minute we were born. Germs remain dormant rather than a threat to us as long as we have a healthy immune response.

Discovering the fundamentals of the immune response, three dimensionally by observing the eastern meridian approach is the key to body balance and your health.

The Eastern Five Element theory teaches us that we have two immune responses. One physical immune system with the endocrine and lymphatic system, same as the allopathic model but also an energy immune system; the meridians. By following the teachings of Allopathic medicine only the physical immune system can be strengthened to gain health, but by considering the effects of meridians from the Traditional Chinese medicine, a secondary resource is adopted to enhance our well being. The flow of the meridian is as critical as the flow of blood; your life and health depend upon it. If meridian energy is blocked or unregulated, the system it feeds is jeopardized.

 

that exist in our personal environment. The Eastern Meridian and Five Element approach to health theorizes that sickness is caused by “weather conditions” that exist in our personal environment. The weather conditions are described as “external weather”; physical exposure to the outside climate and “internal weather”; emotional vulnerability to your internal atmosphere.

External weather is simply being over exposed to the five elements. Heat, Damp, Dry Cold and Wind. As an example: Being form Canada and going to the equator in the middle of winter may be too much heat, often shown up as small intestine imbalance or loose stools or worse, diarrhea. What about sitting in a fishing boat on rainy day?? Too much damp creates the sniffles. Being over-exposed to dryness often creates breathing issues and being too cold can set off infections in your kidney and bladder and being exposed to constant wind takes toll on the liver.

Internal weather, is emotional stress from being caught up in our personal drama, causing us to fester about scenarios and propelling us into a state of emotional imbalance which eventually affects the physical body in the way of pain or discomfort. The five elements filter emotional themes: with fire it is joy.. too much or too little, if it is out of balance the fire element meridians have to fluctuate to bring resolve to the integrity of the meridian flow. For earth it is sympathy, for metal it is grief, for water it is fear and for liver it is irritation and anger.

Emotions are meant to stir us and move us into appropriate action, this is defined inside the word emotion: emote is to feel and motion is to take action. Emotions move through us every second of the day, it’ s what we do with them that guarantees balance. It’s when we get caught off guard with an incident or situation and we let it fester that the emotion gets stuck and adversely affects a meridian that ultimately affects our harmonious balance. This is what the traditional chinese medical practitioners coin “internal bad weather”.

“Bad weather” from emotional disturbance (internal environment) or overexposure to environmental elements (external environment) causes the body to become sick. The micro-organism balance in the body becomes upset, hence bacteria, fungus and viruses invade the body. This is the time we seek Western medicine but there are no longer the signs of “bad weather” just symptoms. The allopathic medical model then proceeds to treat the symptoms of bacteria, fungus and virus, but never explores the cause or “bad weather”. By understanding the importance of the meridians in regards to our immune system, we can explore the reasons for the bad weather and prevent the micro-organism imbalance in the body. This is like taking the garbage out.

In Energy Kinesiology we can easily explore the causes of bad weather by assessing the integrity of the meridians, offering physical balance and knowing the basic emotional theme of the elements. With further training in kinesiology the knowledge expands to understanding that each meridian portrays a kaleidoscope with shades of emotions, which brings the client closer to moving a stuck emotion.

Offering the body balance on all three dimensions is the new frontier of health. Balancing the physical body with kinesiology techniques (physical dimension) combined with discovering client awareness (emotional dimension) to the blocked emotion and assisting the emotion to take motion, eventually results in a new outlook spiritual dimension) on situations and with life.

This is ultimately a forecast of “good weather”, for both the “external environment” and the “internal environment”.

To follow are 14 meridian personalities representing the meridian emotional status. Pick the one you most resonate and support that meridian. Use the meridian tracing wheel or use vibrational remedies such as Meridian Sound Essence oils

This information is taken from “Western Herbs for Eastern Meridians and Five Element Theory” by Evelyn Mulders.

from:    http://www.naturalhealthcommunity.org/meridians-and-emotions/13630/