I'm Lucie Fink and this week is Five Days of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Hey everyone welcome back to Refinery29's channel into another episode of
Try Living With Lucie.
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And now onto the episode.
First and foremost let's cover the basics.
TCM is an ancient system of health and wellness that's been used in China for thousands of
years.
It involves using a ton of alternative methods and treatments that you will see a little
bit later on in this episode.
One of the main principles of TCM is that we all have this qi or this life force running
through us and it's running along various meridians inside of our bodies.
You can think of a meridian almost like an energy highway.
TCM's primary focus is to just maintain that flow of qi to make sure that there are no
energy blockages.
Another main principle of TCM is the yin and the yang, the concept of dualism, and finding
balance between the two of them.
The way that TCM differs from western medicine or conventional medicine
is that western medicine has been known to mainly focus on treating diseases, whereas
TCM and other forms of Eastern medicine seem to focus more so on overall health, overall
well-being, and actually the prevention of diseases.
Now before you even say it I know what you may be thinking.
Whenever the phrase
alternative health care pops up, people tend to get a little bit skeptical.
So I want to make a preface here and say that I am not here to make any medical claims.That
is not what this video is about.
I just know that so many people out there are interested in learning a little bit more
about what TCM is.
In fact I actually did a five day challenge a couple of years ago where I did five days
of natural remedies and I sort of skimmed the surface on some of these TCM practices
and it was you guys, my YouTube audience, that asked me to do an entire deep dive on
TCM.
So here I am exploring five of these TCM practices in a safe and professional setting.
But just know this video is not intended to make any scientific claims whatsoever.
And now that the air is clear let's get into the video.
On Monday I met with a holistic health practitioner to help guide me along on my week.
I'm Dr. Shari Auth.
I have a doctorate in Chinese medicine.
I am a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist.
I am also the co-founder and chief healing officer of WTHN.
I started off my five day challenge with acupuncture, one of the oldest known treatment methods
in the world.
Acupuncture works via the connective tissue to send messages to your brain that alter
brain chemistry.
In the simplest terms, acupuncture involves penetrating the skin with tiny needles at
specific points in the body.
Is there anything specific you want to work on or is it more for prevention.
I'm really interested in the acupuncture on the face for firming and toning and for the
collagen production.
Okay.
Just, I want to look supple.
And then I guess the second thing would be using acupuncture for digestion.
I notice you had your gallbladder removed.
Yes.
Tell me what kind of digestive symptoms you're having.
I haven't really had too many post-operative issues.
But in recent days I find that my digestion is just not good at the moment.
Okay.
And I'm just coming off of a stomach bug.
Oh wow, okay.
So anything to kind of fix the digestion.
Support your digestion.
All right follow me.
Thank you.
I had done acupuncture one other time in my life and it was during five days of natural
remedies.
And, if you remember from that episode I was lying face down and I started to get a little
bit lightheaded.
In fact, I almost fainted on the table.
So I really appreciated that Shari started out here by asking me a ton of questions,
and also that she devised a custom acupuncture treatment just for me.
She also let me do it face up, which had me feeling a lot more comfortable and a lot less
claustrophobic.
Since I had my gallbladder removed and my digestion could use
a little bit of help, she mainly focused on my stomach region.
Got a lot of needles.
But no pain, right?
Everything's really comfortable?
OK good.
And if it's ever not comfortable just let me know.
And then she also did a glow acupuncture treatment on my face to boost collagen, calm inflammation,
and more.
We even added some LED light therapy for facial rejuvenation.
I tried asking Shari to explain to me qi and meridians and all of the TCM terms but
at WTHN they're trying to take these ancient TCM practices and modernize them
to make them easier to understand in today's Western society.
So they actually don't speak about the qi or meridians at all.
Instead they talk in modern scientific terms.
Acupuncture works via the connective tissue to stimulate the release of your body's natural
pain killers, endorphins, and enkephalins.
It also increases circulation.
So similar to a massage it's going to loosen tight muscles.
And it's also a natural anti-inflammatory.
And instead she directed me to a ton of
modern research studies on their website that suggests acupuncture's effectiveness for a
whole bunch of different things.
Now there's no way to tell if acupuncture was effective after doing just one session
but I can tell you if you've never tried acupuncture before, it's a very interesting sensation.
It just always feels like something is flowing through me during acupuncture.
Great, great.
Yeah it’s from the increased circulation moving through your body.
It feels great
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
And I don't know if it feels the same for every single person,
but for me, both times now that I've done it I have felt almost electrified lying on
the table.
And by the end if nothing else I feel very relaxed.
Day two.
Massage day.
Tui na is a form of Chinese manipulative therapy.
It's hands on and the practitioner might roll, knead, brush, or rub the areas between each
of the joints.
And many people do Tui na as a way to reduce stress, increase circulation, and encourage
relaxation.
A traditional Tui na treatment might be paired with something like acupuncture or cupping.
But on Tuesday I wanted to try a plain and simple Tui na massage.
Shari, my guiding force for the episode, invited me to experience this treatment at one of
her favorite spots in New York City.
I'm going to be doing a Tui na demonstration on Lucie at Modrn Sanctuary in their Pink Himalayan
salt cave.
These are all Himalayan pink salt bricks and then there's a generator that's going to blow
in highly concentrated salt air which is great for your lungs and great for your muscles.
Perfect.
The salt room itself wasn't part of the TCM nature of the treatment.
It was just an added bonus to be in such a beautiful space that has its own benefits.
But Shari being a licensed massage therapist went through the hand motions of this ancient
system of bodywork.
Let's have you face down with your face right in the face cradle.
Bye!
And I'm going to start out with a technique called rolling.
It's just meant to warm up the tissues.
Next we're going to do a technique called finger spraying and I'm gonna work on Pacific
acupuncture and acupressure points.
So the next stroke
is called kneading.
So Tui na means to push and lift and kneading really demonstrates this really well.
There's lots of vibrational techniques in Tui na.
I'm just using the sides of my hand for this but I could also use the pads of my fingers.
This was a little bit different from just the standard back massage because there are
very specific hand and finger motions and it's pretty repetitive.
So the same motion is done over and over again to really target specific areas and muscles.
Being in that room was so calming.
And by the end I just did not want to get off the table.
I'm going to stay in the salt cave forever.
By the middle of the week, I realized that I had already tried out two separate TCM treatments
in two New York City wellness centers.
So I really wanted to see if there were any TCM practices that I could do fully on my
own without paying any money or requiring a practitioner.
Enter, Tai Chi.
Tai Chi is one of the world's most graceful forms of exercise
and the best part is you can do it anywhere.
I walked over to a grassy pier by the Hudson River.
I kicked my shoes off, opened YouTube on my phone, and just typed in Tai Chi for beginners,
and up popped tons of free tutorial videos.
Five minutes long, eight minutes long, ten minutes long.
It's totally up to you.
I just popped in my headphones and did a 30 minute long tutorial.
Tai Chi is a series of deliberate movements performed in a slow and graceful manner all
accompanied by deep breathing.
It's designed to improve flexibility
and balance and it sort of reminds me of a meditation practice mixed with a restorative
yoga class mixed with some power poses.
Now at this point most people have heard of Tai Chi but another TCM practice that's garnered
a little bit less popularity in the West is Qi Gong.
The main differences between Taichi and Qi Gong are that Qi Gong is a little bit less
complex.
There's typically one movement that's repeated and sometimes it's very little movement at
all.
Instead it mostly just focuses on breath work.
Shari actually had a video
where she was teaching Qi Gong so I followed her tutorial and just flowed by the river.
And of course as soon as I was finished with this activity the moment we cut the cameras
a bird pooped right here on my arm.
I think because I had just done 30 minutes of breath work and relaxation I was not nearly
as stressed about the bird poop as I would've thought I'd be.
Our production assistant had a napkin on hand so I just sort of gently handed her my wrist
as she swiped the poop off of it.
But I wasn't frantic at all.
It was a calm
and gentle bird poop removal process that I can only attribute to my 30 minutes of
Qi Gong.
On Thursday I knew it was time to link up with a doctor from China.
Someone who has actually pioneered some of these TCM treatments and began their practice
in China.
I did a quick google search to find practitioners in the New York City area that fit that criteria
and that is how I found Dr. Wang.
On Thursday I went to his office in midtown for cupping therapy.
Nice to meet you.
How are you?
Good, how are you?
Good.
So you've practiced cupping in China.
Since 1982.
I wasn't even born yet.
Cupping has been practiced in China like twenty five hundred years.
The cups are typically made of glass bamboo or silicone.
A lot of the modern cupping centers use the plastic cups because they want to minimize
the risk of any glass breaking.
But Dr. Wang does this in the authentic Chinese way using glass cups.
He starts off by burning a flammable substance
either alcohol herbs or paper.
He briefly puts the fire inside of the cup and then he places the cup directly onto your
skin to form a suction as the air inside the cup cools.
Your blood vessels expand.
Blood is pulled to the surface, and you're basically getting giant circular shaped hickies.
The cups are left on for different amounts of time depending on what your practitioner
thinks you need.
Also leaving the cups on for longer will likely lead to longer lasting marks.
Dr. Wang stepped out of the room briefly
to tend to another patient.
So I was left lying there on the table with the cups in my back.
This procedure doesn't hurt and honestly feels like more of a pressurized massage.
But I will tell you the cups felt very tight on my back and it did make it kind of difficult
to move.
So as Dr. Wang stepped out I had a really bad itch on my nose and I was trying to move
my arm to scratch my nose but I couldn't move my arm because my shoulder blades
were so tight from the cups.
It feels so weird I can't move.
So my production assistant,
yes the same one who had previously wiped the poop off my wrist, came in to rescue me
again and scratched my face for me.
When Dr. Wang came back he removed the cups
and I was left with some lovely circular cupping marks.
People who do cupping therapy regularly claim it helps with pain inflammation blood flow
relaxation and well-being and also that it's kind of like a deep tissue massage.
Back when I did five days of natural remedies
I spent an entire day at Remedies Herb Shop in Brooklyn and basically got a crash course
in herbal medicine.
We focused on nourishing herbal infusions or in other words a hibiscus iced tea.
And we also made a lavender and lemon balm infused honey.
There are so many different herbs used for healing all over the world.
So for my final day of TCM I sat down with Shari since she's a board certified Chinese
herbalist and I learned a little bit more about these plants.
Chinese herbology is a part of Chinese medicine and it's one of the oldest medicinal
forms in the world.
This is our line of organic Chinese herbal formulas.
And they're for everything from energy to stress, digestion, and sleep.
Which of these herbs would you recommend to me?
The first one is gut check which has a lot of herbs that increase digestive enzymes in
the body and it helps you metabolize food.
You mentioned something for stress.
Yes.
Which one should I do for stress?
So, run the world.
Run the world is really great for both kinds of stress whether it's anger based stress
like
irritability and frustration or fear based stress like anxiety.
Herbs are basically all different plant parts that have different therapeutic properties.
There are roots and stems, pearls and shells, fruits and seeds, mushrooms and branches,
and leaves.
And at WTHN they combine various formulas of these Chinese herbs and put them in tablet
form.
Each tablet being used for something different.
They have one for stress management one for an energy boost one for bloating sleeping
and so much more.
Their herbs are 100 percent organic.
They're tested for quality and potency
and these are things that are very important to look at
today before taking any herbal supplements.
These five TCM practices that I focused on this week are not the only ones out there.
There's Moxibustion the process of burning dried herbs and in some cases applying them
directly to the skin.
Although that technique is not used that much anymore because it can be really painful and
cause scarring.
There's also an entire school of thought out there surrounding Chinese nutrition focusing
on the five tastes.
So if you're interested in learning more about that there are tons of
books you can get all about TCM and nutrition.
Now I want to know if you've ever tried any of these TCM practices so comment below to
let us know.
And if you haven't, comment and let us know if you're interested. Give this video a thumbs
up if you enjoyed learning more about traditional Chinese medicine and also let me know what
topic you want to see me explore next time on Try Living With Lucie.
See you then.
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Thanks for watching Five Days of TCM.
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