Wellness Strategies for a Vibrant Life
Imagine taking full control over your wellness journey when you are young and healthy. To be optimally vibrant and healthy for a good, long life, we should plan on nourishing our bodies and minds beginning in our 30s. This is the start of our “Mid-Life Calling.”
Hippocrates said: “Let your food be your medicine.” It’s true that we can take control over our health and balance the four pillars of unrest in our bodies (Dampness, Stagnation, Inflammation, and Elimination) simply by eating foods and building routines that connect us back to the healing power of nature.
It’s not magic that to stay healthy, we must consume healthy air, water, and food. These elements, when optimal, give us the energy to carry our daily life purpose, deal with stress properly through the day, and sleep restoratively at night. Building a healthy gut microbiome is also part of our plan for longevity. By adding prebiotic and probiotic foods to our meals, we can optimize the post-biotic bi-products that are partly responsible for staying healthy!
When we fail to do these things for ourselves, we end up taking energy from our Kidney system reserve. This is not a good strategy for longevity. The Kidney Essence energy supports our immunity and sparks the basis for a long, healthy life. This, we want to protect and preserve.
Read on to learn how to support the four pillars of physiological unrest to live your most vibrant life!
Managing the Four Pillars of Physiological Unrest
#1 Dampness
Its Causes:
Dampness is the source of many imbalances in the body and mind. It results from a disruption in the cellular and water metabolism and can lead to stagnation in body fluids. This generally results from a dysfunction of proper digestion. One may feel heaviness, water retention, bloating, diarrhea, a form of “damp” gas in the bowels, mucous congestion, and more. Dampness may be triggered by a pattern of overthinking, worry, and mental overwork, among other things.
How to Clear Dampness:
In a nutshell, strengthen your digestion. Eliminate cold and heavy foods. Try not to over-tax the digestive system. Eat intentionally, with the best practice being to eat very light in the evening or not eat at all past 6 p.m. Some particularly healthy foods for internal damp conditions are cooked greens, radishes, bitter melon, ginger, and millet. Some helpful herbs and teas for dampness are Turmeric, Ginger, Saffron, and jujube dates. Starting the day with hot water and tangerine peel may also be helpful.
Try to set up a routine to naturally ease stress to the body and mind.
Another healthy tip to balance dampness is to try Chinese moxa therapy. Moxa over the abdomen is one of the best practices for lowering dampness!
#2 Stagnation
Its Causes:
Unmanaged dampness may lead to stagnation. Stagnation is often associated with a disruption in the faculties of movement in the body and improper management of waste and nutrition through the blood and lymph. Common clues of stagnation include fatigue, low energy, heaviness in the stomach, bloating, belching, loss of appetite, or swelling or bloating in the lower abdomen. The precursor of stagnation begins in the digestive system, where digestion, absorption, transportation, and elimination are all intertwined to determine your level of optimal energy.
How to Clear Stagnation:
Move, move, move! There are all kinds of ways to move your body, from simple daily stretching to walking (especially walking uphill), swimming, aqua jogging (our founder’s favorite), yoga, tapping, dancing, and more.
Also try to support your body's natural stress response. Remember there is no stress in life; only a stressful response. How we respond to stress determines its effects on us. Work on adaptation!
Eat well-cooked and warm foods, chew well, and eat intentionally. Sip on warm water throughout the day. Green tea, Ginger, Rosemary, and Saffron are some of our founder’s favorite herbs and teas for balancing stagnation.
#3 Inflammation
Its Causes:
Dampness and stagnation are stressors in the body that may result in excess heat and patterns of internal inflammation. At this point, it’s wise to try to balance all three - dampness, stagnation and inflammation - before a pattern of congealed phlegm arises in the body.
How to keep inflammation at bay:
Establish healthy practices first by easing dampness and stagnation, as mentioned above.
Empower yourself with yoga, meditation, or deep breathing exercises to nourish your nervous system: By actively incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can significantly ease your stress levels and support your body's ability to adapt.
Befriend Chamomile tea, Mint tea, and fresh Skullcap tincture: These nervous system supporters will help you build resilience to daily stress and give you the relaxation you need to offset inflammatory responses. Herbal teas that combine Holy Basil, Turmeric and Ginger are perfect for targeting some possible root causes of inflammation.
#4 Elimination
Its causes:
There are six elimination channels in the body: the colon, kidneys, liver, skin, lungs, and lymph. So, as much as elimination has to do with a good bowel movement, all six eliminative channels play a role in your body's vitality. It’s good to be wary of what you’re putting into your body: elimination is the end product of a sophisticated pattern upstream. For some, eating “body violators” such as sugar, refined carbs, gluten, or dairy can lead to stagnation and inflammatory responses, which can then disrupt our elimination patterns.
How to support healthy elimination:
Cut down on food violators (like sugar and gluten). Besides avoiding processed foods and eating whole, fresh foods, you can also keep your sugar intake in check (yes, this includes honey and maple syrup). Opt for alternative forms of bread, like wild-fermented sourdough, seed bread, or buckwheat bread.
Take time to rest, restore, and revitalize every day! These are the three formative principles as seen in nature. Your body needs adequate rest and restoration to ensure proper elimination. You're actively supporting your body's natural elimination processes by having a healthy relationship to these formative principles!
To support healthy elimination, you can also befriend Turmeric. This herb is a great daily ally for maintaining excellent health. Enjoy it freshly grated onto food or as a powder in drinks so you can keep things (healthily) flowing downstream.
Did you find this article to be informative and even a bit surprising? Follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletters for more tips and ideas on living a healthy life rooted in nature.
*For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
