Simple recipes to warm the body during this extreme cold weather

We have been experiencing extreme weather in Jakarta Indonesia.
This extreme weather also experienced by other countries, and suspected related to the cold surge from Siberia.

We have rain almost every day, and this situation worse by lack of absorbing land in the highland of Bogor. Now we face a big flood in Jakarta.
The dying of some senior during this flood really concerns me. Some of them couldn’t bear the cold of weather. And it also happens in any other places. In US people facing the epidemic of flu.

During this cold weather it is preferably to eat and drink food that warming the system. Chicken in Chinese medicine have this warming quality. So if you experience this cold weather and also feel cold, then you may cook a chicken and add ginseng, and barley, simmer till cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You may try this dumpling recipe:

• Buy a dumpling skin from the Chinese grocery
• Leek, ginger, salt, pepper, garlic
•  Minced chicken

Chop the leek, ginger and garlic. Add them into the minced chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and knead all those ingredients.

Wrap a tsp.  Ingredients with the dumpling skin, and boil it in the boiling water, until cooked. Then serve them to eat.

Drinking a warm and healthy herbal is good.

• Take a ginger and grilled it on the stove, then peel the skin
• Put the ginger into the 5 glasses of water and simmer until the water left 3 glasses
• Before turn off the stove, add a pinch of ground black pepper.
• You may add honey to taste.

I make it as simple as I can, so people who might stuck in the house because of the flood can find the ingredients easy I their kitchen.

I hope these simple recipes may help all of you to get through this cold weather and stay healthy and fit

Children with Autism

In the year of a 2000 the number of autism incidence was 300:1, from 300 birth one child is autism. In 2011 was 100:1. In 2012 was 88:1.
The increase number of children with autism is shocking to me. I couldn’t imagine what will happen in the next ten years.
This number shows that we need to change our point of view of children with autism. Interestingly the number of non communicable disease incidence (such as stroke, hypertension etc) also increase.

I decide from 2005 that I need to shift my point of view to help children with autism, that’s one of the reason I deepen my knowledge and understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) especially acupuncture.

An organ in TCM comprises much function of organs from western medicine. One of the reasons is that TCM acknowledge the existence of meridian energy.
For example: Heart, in TCM the function not just to pump blood all over the body system, but also for capacity of mental. This is why when there is a mental issue usually acupuncturist may choose acupuncture points of heart meridian which is run along inner arm.

In my daily practice I found most of the children with autism have the imbalance in the heart. Sometimes there is phlegm blocking the heart or deficiency yin in the kidney. Phlegm in TCM is the result from the unsmooth flow of fluid circulation in the body system. Organs that responsible for this circulation are spleen, kidney, and lung and triple warmer.
In my practice, I notice that organ that mostly affected is spleen. In TCM one of the spleen functions is to metabolized food and converts it into qi or energy. There are numbers of food that may cause imbalance of spleen such as sugar, flour, white rice, and milk.
These foods are taking so much energy of spleen to digest, and causing lot of production of phlegm. 

The other things that need to be considered also microwave pollution. There have been lots of research shows the relation between wifi, internet, and cellular with the incidence of autism.
It makes sense to me, since this wave pollution may affect the meridian energy. Meridians energies are develop from conception till approximately 7 years old. This meridians development are easily affected by any energy transference, especially microwave (cellular, internet wifi).

Our modern lifestyle has been changing enormously. If we look back 50 years ago the way we eat, communicate, and technology are really different.
In this modern day we hardly see children play in the playground. Most of them now spent their tie with gadget and video games.

People tend to find instant result, instant food, and instant cure. But we cannot deny that life also about process, and how we appreciate process. 

In Indonesia, traditionally farmer has guidance for farming. They used to use local wisdom of astronomy, look at the sky to find the right time for farming and sowing. They will find the right land and the best seed as well the best time to plant.
In this modern life, people more instant result oriented. All this wisdom is forgotten, the important things is become how to gain more result. Even thought the action will create damage to the Mother Nature. As we had seen, if Mother Nature damaged, then it will affect us.

Changing lifestyle, diet, are important for helping children with autism. And I believe that autism is preventable. It is not just for children with autism, it’s also for our wellbeing and for our next generation.

Relation Between Our body to the Nature

We have 365 acupuncture points in our body. These points create energetic lines that connect to the internal organs.

These points discovered approximately 5000 years ago in China through experience and noticing. In that time sage in china, notice a big correlation between human bodies with nature. How human life interrelated with the universe and inseparable. As a microcosm and macrocosm, affect each other

Disease and imbalance is due to imbalance relation between our body and universe. For example, we have 4 seasons in north hemisphere and south hemisphere. In Chinese medicine, in each season the energy that flows in the meridian and organs has it peaked in a certain season.

In winter the energy has its peak in kidney, in spring energy has it peak in liver, in summer the energy has it peak in heart and in autumn has it peak in lung.

For example during the winter now in north hemisphere, winter is the time to hibernate. All creatures gather food and water before they enter winter. The climate is cold, and the quality of energy is shrinking and going inward.

To maintain balance it is advisable to drink or eat food or herbal with a hot or warm quality, food or soup that nurtures the kidney. I like to eat sukiyaki at this season with add shitake mushroom.

Leek also good, you can fry it without oil with walnut and shrimp; do not forget to add salt to taste.

Avoid food that cold in nature such as cucumber, pineapple, and star fruit.

Take more rest and not too much working, since it will deplete kidney energy. Relax your mind and centered, avoid anxiety. In Chinese medicine, each organ has it specific emotion, and anxiety is emotion related to kidney. Too much anxiety may deplete your kidney energy.

If kidney energy not maintained during winter, then disease may come during spring.

Season in equator is different.  Pulse in each season had different characteristic. According to my experience using pulse checking, Indonesia more affected by the north hemisphere season.

It is not a coincidence if we have 365 basic acupuncture points like number of days in a year. It is a sign how we are interrelated with the universe. Time is related to the movement of moon, sun and earth.

Time is not just number of hours in a day, but the movement from day to night. Rotation of moon and sun in a month. In addition, season changes in a year.

If we can live in harmony with the nature or universe, then we may maintain our wellbeing and the world wellbeing. This one of the reason why we have so many disease in this era, and people get easily stress out, because our world at this moment is out of balance. Global warming, pollution, trashes create imbalance, GMO food. Moreover, if our world is imbalance, so we are imbalance too.

Brain Gym® International Conference in Bali, 1st time in Asia

Annual Brain Gym® International conference 2013 will be held in Bali, Indonesia.

This year the theme is “Balance in Abundance”

This is a big event for Brain Gym community, and open to all.

Keynote speakers are professionals from various modalities, to share their knowledge for participants who are interested in the field of brain stimulation through movement, such as O. Fred Donaldson, Ph.D, Brendan O’hara, Renate Wennekes and Dr Tan Shot Yen.

Numerous presenters for breakout session will come from around the world to share their knowledge. And their name will be announced on 31^st January 2013 in www.braingym-indonesia.org

Information about this event and registration can be accessed through www.braingym-indonesia.org

Food

In my clinical experience food and nutrition aspect are important. Much discussion talks about the danger of consuming gluten and casein product as well as high glycemic index product. To me all this finding align with Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective.
The aim of Chinese medicine is to maintain health through balance on Yin and Yang aspect. Yin and Yang is an ancient philosophy of how Chinese people in that era saw life in relation to universe.
 In this world many things could be divided into two aspects which are opposite each other but also supporting each other and it call Yin and Yang. 

For example:
Yin has the quality of female, solid, cold, below, earth etc.
Yang has the quality of male, ether, hot, above, sky etc.
In human body also consist of these two qualities. Some organs have the nature of Yin and the other is Yang. And illness appears when there is imbalance happen between Yin and Yang. Could be one overpowering the other or the other one is weakness than the other.
Food have this quality as well. And even we can classify some food either Yang in nature or Yin.

For example: Durian is hot or Yang in nature, cucumber is cold in nature or Yin.
In Chinese medicine some food have other qualities that when consumed may stimulates certain organ too much (especially if it’s over consumed).
For example: grilled or fried food, this food is hot and yang in nature, but may stimulates liver and gallbladder too much, which may create imbalance between liver and spleen.
Cow milk is hot and damp in nature, and it may affect spleen in Chinese medicine. In Chinese medicine spleen is also related to the mental function of thinking, so imbalance in the spleen may affect the capability of thinking.