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On the 100th Anniversary of Bay To Breakers: A TCM View on Running

Sun, 15 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

I am not a runner now, but before I started training in martial arts, I ran for over ten years almost daily. I started in high school when my friends started doing it to get into shape. I hated it at first. My lungs hurt, my stomach hurt, my face would get really hot, my body seemed to be saying "yuck!" but I kept at it because I was convinced that running was something that fit people did. I started out jogging really slowly and going for 15 minutes at a time. Eventually I worked up to 20 minutes and so on, until I could easily run 45 minutes to an hour. That seemed like the optimal time for me. I never ran with the track team. It almost didn't even occur to me to go fast or to run for time. I just liked the motion of it, trying to get my body into a better rhythm and connect with the ground in the smoothest foot exchange possible. I was also taking dance classes at the time, so I was hyper-aware of posture, stretching, and the importance of not heel-striking as I ran. Eventually I was hooked. I ran every day, sometimes twice a day, rain or shine, wind or hail. I usually ran first thing in the morning, but sometimes I was foolish enough to run in the midday sun. It felt exhilarating.

Then one in my sophomore year of college, I strained my hamstring and groin muscles. It took me fully six months to recover. As soon as I recovered I went back to running every day, 3 to 4 miles a day in the mornings along the cliffs in Santa Cruz. At some point, I developed severe skin rashes every time I tried to go running, no matter how many layers I wore or how much lotion I used on my skin. The rashes were not just itchy but painful, unbearable. The final straw was when I got a severe kidney infection that almost put me in the hospital. That finally got me to stop. Around this time, I got interested in martial arts again and started training several times a week for several hours per class. That's when I first learned that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, running is considered "not good for one's health." I had never heard of this concept.

In Chinese Medicine, health and fitness are not just gaged by how trim you are and how many exercises you can do, it's measured in terms of overall balance, and the health, strength and resilience of all your body processes. Running is considered bad because it can be hard on your bones, joints, kidneys, and back. In my case, I would say that it made me healthier and then it made me sick. I did not take enough care to drink water when I went on longer runs, eventually leading (I suspect) to my severe kidney infection. I was draining my adrenals or mingmen fire, causing liver blood deficiency and internal wind rising up to the skin level. I noticed that my knees had a gritty sound when I would bend my knees. And my low back started hurting. All of these were signs to me that the years of running had taken quite a hefty toll.

So why am I doing Bay to Breakers? First of all, I'm going to fast-walk it with a friend. Great exercise, much less wear-and-tear on the muscles, bones and joints. Secondly, I am only walking half of it, going from Cole Valley to Ocean Beach and Back. I still enjoy running once and a while for fun, just so see if I can still do it and to feel that totally free exhilarating feeling again. Mostly I like to sprint short distances, but sometimes I will go on longer runs, especially if my friends want to run with me.

Although I can see now why running was bad for me, I was clearly not being smart in the way that I ran. I didn't carry water with me, I ran on asphalt instead of grass or sand or a track, I stretched cold in the mornings, I ran every day instead of letting my muscles rest, and I ran without a set training goal in mind. Even if I had done everything correctly, however, I don't think running daily was a good idea for me and my body's constitution; doesn't mean I didn't love every minute of it and that I'm not still trying to do a certain amount of running as one of my physical activities.

So what's my point. I think running can be great exercise and very helpful for transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle but only if you treat your body with respect and run smart. Drink water and electrolytes to replenish yourself, stretch after you are warmed up, run on softer surfaces, train yourself to transition the footfall exchange so you're not pounding the ground with your joints and spine, take rest days in between running, set reasonable training goals and when you plateau, do interval running to keep challenging yourself, cross-train with other activities like yoga, pilates, taiji, qi gong, swimming, tennis, volleyball, etc. Make sure your body gets to rest and relax as much as it gets to move around and be challenged. Get bodywork and chiropractic care regularly to keep your body in good shape. Wear orthotics to balance out any difference in leg-length and problems with the arches. Get your running analyzed by a professional who will videotape you running, and explain to you how to improve or optimize your posture, stride, cadence, rhythm, and breathing. And last but not least, consider which running shoes, if any, would be best for you. I highly recommend wearing flat shoes or Vibram Five-Fingered Shoe or trying barefoot running. Check out Vibram's here on Tim Ferriss' blog: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes. Also check out Christopher McDougall's site: http://www.chrismcdougall.com/ and read his book Born to Run, which chronicles his investigation into barefoot running. If you're not that fancy or brave (San Francisco has a lot of glass and other sharp objects on the road), I really like to run in Pumas; they are very flat, but still supportive and conform well to your foot. And if you're already injured or want to prevent running injuries, build qi and improve your performance, check out this site: http://www.chirunning.com/.

Ok. Now to bed. Bay to Breakers tomorrow. I hope I can follow all of my own advice. Good luck everyone! Bring rain gear, sunscreen, a hat, and your own good sense about what's right or not for your body. Happy walking and running everyone!

Kitchen Medicine: Table Salt for Sore Throat and Nasal or Sinus Infection

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

I am starting a series of blog entries (I do not promise that they will be consequtive or follow some kind of logical progression.) on the topic of Kitchen Medicine. Kitchen Medicine is what is practiced already in every home in every country since humans began trying to cure ourselves of what ails us. Mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, and neighbors act as doctors and nurses, examining, consoling, questioning, diagnosing, performing triage, and treating. Often what we know to do comes from our own cultural traditions, herbs and foods that our ancestors learned how to use, what we learned from our parents. Rarely did we turn to a written resource unless it was more serious. Now there's the internet, a great deal more useful and extensive than the Encyclopedia Brittanica that we had when I was growing up.

When I was about thirteen and my sister was 15, my mother burned herself badly when she spilled a pot of boiling soup on her wrist and forearm. We put her arm under cold water immediately and ran to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. There was an entry on how to treat burns. Apparently we were already doing it. The next step after the cold water was just to wrap it loosely in clean gauze. My father, having watched a few too many westerns and being an overly confident DIY farmer's son, decided that the burn wasn't disinfected enough, so he poured whiskey on it, turning it from a first degree burn (red, painful, heals in one week) to a second degree burn (red with blisters, heals in 2-3 weeks). The lesson here is that as Kitchen Medicine practitioners, we may all go well-intentioned into trying things on our unwitting relatives and children that are beyond our knowledge. Trusted resources are very important.

Another opposite danger with Kitchen Medicine is that we forget to do the most simple basic things that we have already learned and instead we live with the minor malady or reach for an expensive over-the-counter remedy. I am a perfect example of this. While I was in Shanghai last month, studying Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, I noticed I had a sore throat and a really minor infection in my right nostril. It was so slight that I ignored it for weeks. After I returned from my trip, I continued to gently clean my nostrils in the shower and then promptly ignore the infection. Eventually it started being more painful and growing rather than shrinking. The sore throat also seemed to linger, even when I was able to take the time to rest. Today when I went to my awesome holistic and green dentist, Fred Pockrass, DDS. I said "I know it's not exactly in your scope of practice, but could you take a look at this small infection in my throat and right nostril?" He reported that my tonsils did look a little red and that he could see the slight infection in my nostril. His advice was to gargle with a solution of salt water (1 tsp of salt to 8 oz of warm water) and use a neti pot for my nostrils. [Apparently, salt works because of osmosis. It draws fluid out of infected mucous membranes and other tissue.] Of course I was kicking myself because I've had a neti pot for years and have used it plenty of times for sinus congestion associated with my Spring allergies. Somehow I forgot this time, even though my parents have been gargling with salt water for years and taught me to do the same when I was a child. So I tried it tonight. The pain and tenderness is gone from my nostril. I'm going to do this a few times a day until it is all gone. My sore throat is barely noticable today, but I'll gargle as well to make sure it goes away completely.

Table salt--cheap, handy, safe, and totally effective!

(By the way, if you have any great Kitchen Medicine stories to share, please send them my way and I will re-print them here.)

Happy New Year!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and much needed break! My Christmas and New Years was great; I spent two weeks in LA with my family and friends and I'm happy to be back in SF. Warning: This is my longest, most packed post to date. I have a lot of news to share with you. First of all, there seems to be a learning curve to becoming a faithful blogger, but I'm feeling like a stalwart neophyte tadpole swimming around in the internet pond. In addition to this blog, I have begun a personal blog on WordPress (which is the coolest, most well-designed, well-built, and fastest-growing blogging community and site. Check it out! Although December was kind of a wash due to holiday madness and fun and fun madness, my New Year's Resolution is to post weekly blogs to keep folks up to date.

January is typically a time for re-grouping after Winter Holidays. It is cold (stop laughing all you East Coast strays). Lots of people don't immediately think of coming in for a session and are low on funds due to buying lots of toys for the Tiny Tim's in our lives. So, I am making January the month of 25% discounts one hour. I have also added 30 and 45 minute sessions to the menu of services so that more people can afford to take care of their bodies in these tough economic times.

I am remodeling the office. There is new furniture, lighting, and a new print. As many of you know, Michele King is the artist who painted the two beautiful paintings that have been there for a while. (You can see her work at: www.michelemking.com.) The office is going to be painted this month, unfortunate but necessary. I will let you know in advance in case you are particularly sensitive. I will air out the room as much as possible.

I have a new business coach, Michael Condren, who is wonderful and funny and has helped me immensely. When I first embarked on the path to becoming a healer over ten years ago, I didn't fully understand how much I needed to learn about running a business. And one day I received the epiphany that I needed help. Michael happened to have moved into the building a few months before and we'd exchanged smiles and hello's until finally I asked him what he did. You can learn more about Michael's work at: www.visionaryupstarts.com. (Note: The website is going to be updated soon. He has recently changed the focus of his practice from young adult men to start-up businesses.)

As many of you know, I am always learning new tools to bring to my Acupressure Massage practice. This month I have enrolled in an Environmental Stress Management (ESM) class taught by Dr. Kim Makoi, whom many of you know as the awesome holistic chiropractor that I recommend to everyone. He has been my personal chiropractor for six or seven years so far and has helped me overcome low back pain, weakness in my knees, neck tension, and adrenal imbalance. In addition to running a busy practice, he gives bi-monthly lectures and teaches modules on ESM. ESM is the lay person version of Total Body Modification (TBM), developed by Dr. Victor Frank, who also helped develop Touch for Health, which is related to Kinesiology and Muscle Testing. For more information on the ESM modules, contact Dr. Kim. I will be blogging on the ESM module very soon. Stay tuned. I am learning a lot about environmental toxicity, diet, the effects of certain drugs like acetaminophen, muscle testing diagnosis, and treatment for various ailments.

In addition, I am now in my 6th quarter at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) in Potrero Hill. I am loving the program. The faculty are so dedicated to teaching and furthering the practice of Classical and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Eventually I will be adding acupuncture to my current practice but will still continue to provide acupressure massage for my clients. Feel free to ask for recommendations for great acupuncturists in SF and Berkeley. I know some wonderful practitioners.

Some of you may know of Cameron House, a non-profit that serves the Asian American Community in the Bay Area, especially immigrant families and youth. In the past, I taught massage techniques to an immigrant mom's group and will be teaching martial arts basics to children in the after school program. Cameron House has been serving the community since 1874. It is a wonderful place with a lot of spirit and history. You should drop by and check out their innovative programs. They can always use your skills, time, and financial support. Thank you C.K. for introducing me to the wonderful people at Cameron House.

I am also continuing to teach Yin Style Baguazhang Basics, Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 at Jefferson Square Park. The classes are small and focused. I am currently accepting new students. The fee is $10 per class and there is a sliding scale. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. I highly recommend developing a physical fitness practice that you can do your whole life. Whatever it is, whether it be: walking, yoga, surfing, weight training, cardio, mountain biking, martial arts, calisthenics, climbing, dancing, or your own 5 minute a day routine of sit-ups and push-ups, staying in shape is a crucial part of being pain-free, staying healthy, and feeling happy. Learn more. (Look for upcoming seminars with He Jin Bao, Yin Style Bagua Zhang lineage holder.)

One last note: a lot of people are getting sick this season and the weather has been sharply variant. Stay warm, rest well, and be sure to do all of the immune boosting things this season. I recommend using: Airborne, Wellness Formula, astragalus, ginger, vitamin C, and adrenal support supplements in order to stay healthy. But remember, the best medicine is preventative. Take good care of yourself and make sure to notice if you are tired, sleepy, feel cold or are overly stressed right now. If you feel like you are about to be sick, come in for an acupressure massage session. Acupressure massage can boost your immune system, relax your muscles, relieve your stress, keep the Winter blues at bay, and help you to sleep.

Be well.

Stretching vs. Warming Up

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

When first introduced to Dr. Xie Pe Qi, the lineage holder for Yin-Style Bagua Zhang, I was repeatedly warned not to stretch in front of him. Having been a dancer and a student of Northern Style Long Fist, this surprised me; I was used to doing an hour of stretching before every class. Before Dr. Xie began the Bagua Zhang seminar, he invariably caught someone stretching and went into a long tirade in Mandarin about how it was useless, makes you tired, and weakens your muscles. If he were still alive, Dr. Xie would be pleased to know that science has corroborated his opinion about stretching before engaging in sports or physical exercise.

For those of you who work-out or play sports, this NY Times article: Stretching: The Truth sheds some light on how to perform your best and protect yourself from injury. Acupressure, Massage and Bodywork can also be helpful in keeping your muscles relaxed and pain-free. Several of my clients improved their performance and afterwards recovered better in races and triathalons this year. One client noted that because she made receive weekly massages part of her training regimen, she felt upbeat and relaxed even in the last leg of her triathalon.

It is important to note that the point of the article is that warming up is more appropriate than stretching before exercise. I would add that overall health requires both strength and fexibility. Stretching, especially active stretching as opposed to passive stretching, is important to increase circulation, relieve pain, and keep the body relaxed. Yoga is a great example of active stretching, as is Pilates, and Tai Chi Quan.

History of Amma, Acu-Point Therapy,

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I am often asked to describe Korean Acupressure Massage and how it differs from other types of acupressure. My answer is that the system that I practice, Hwe Choon Do In Sul Bup, is a family lineage practice, handed down from father to son for over 500 years. I learned it from the Master Yoo, the last of the lineage holders within his family. This system uses finger pressure to press acu points on the body, stimulating qi circulation, toxin release, and nuture of tissues, joints and organs. This system has much in common with other Asian Bodywork Therapies, such as: Amma, Shiatsu, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Chinese Acupressure, however I would say that Korean Traditional Acupressure relies more on short and intense pressure over a large number of points during one treatment. Here is an article by Barry Kapke of the San Francisco School of Massage. It explains the history of Asian Bodywork Therapies.

NY Times Article on Referred Pain

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In the West, acupuncture is famous for pain relief (which is only one of the many things it is extremely effective in treating). Often biomedical doctors (MD's) don't understand why it works but that it does, and will refer their patients to an acupuncturist. When it comes to pain, the medicines and treatments available through biomedicine often do not treat the root cause, only the current symptoms. Here is an interesting article explaining referred pain from a biomedical perspective and why acupuncture is effective in treating it.

What's new on this site

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I am currently adding new stuff to this site, more pictures, blog posts, recommendations. My good friend Phil Quinn, of Quinn Interactive, built this site and set up a CMS so that I could edit and add to it easily. It's actually pretty fun. If you have any comments about this site and how it can serve you better, please send me an email.

Thanks!

hae min