Warning Signals from Our Body - Your Hands

        Take a close look at your hand, you may see some small blood vessels on your palm or your finger and they are blue veins. Generally speaking, the less the blue vines appear on the hand, the healthier the person is.  Multiple blue veins on your fingers and your palm indicate chronic constipation. The blue veins on the side of your thumb indicate inadequate blood in your head and frequency headache and dizziness.

        Blue vines at the base of thumb indicate possibility of atherosclerosis. The thicker the vines, the longer and more serious the problem is. Thinner and shallower vines indicate that the person suffers atherosclerosis only for a short time and the patient may not experience any discomfort under normal circumstances yet. At this point, the patient only suffers chest pain when they are fatigue and in bad mood and the condition will be improved after resting.

        The blue vines in the area of your palm under the thumb indicate irregular heartbeats, premature beats, and palpitation. Blue vine at the area of your palm close to your wrist means serious internal cold and dampness with negative impact on the heart, and it associated with symptoms of back pain, back soar, and joint pain. The long and deep blue vine on the outside of index finger means the person has healthy issues since childhood. The person with such vein suffers from poor digestion and malnutrition with a weak body and is sick frequently. 

         

         Blue vine on the middle finger indicates frequent headaches and dizziness. If the person with blue vine on the middle finger also has vines at the side of thumb, (s)he suffers headaches and dizziness since childhood, it is due to poor blood supply to the brain.

Blue vine at the base of middle finger indicates cerebral arteriosclerosis. If it appears on the left side (the side close to thumb), then cerebral arteriosclerosis and meridian blockage on left side are serious which result frequent discomfort on the left side of the head, and vice verse.  Dark blue vines on both sides of the middle finger means cerebral arteriosclerosis is already very serious.

         Person with blue vine at outside of pinkie finger suffers from Qi deficient in kidney at birth, enuresis as a child, and kidney problems as an adult. In addition, the person is lack of strength in his/her back and leg. The longer and deeper the vine, the more severe the problem is. Blue vines in the middle of palm above the wrist are signs for allergy and the person may have drug allergies and foods allergies, eczema, psoriasis and other skin diseases. 

Warning Signals from Our Body

        Our body is the most complicated and precise system, the system consistently sends out warning signals for potential problems long before any medical instrument can detect.  The problem is that either we ignore those signals or we don’t recognize them when they show up.  In the next few weeks, the way to identify the signals and their indications will be discussed in more details.  We will start with the palms of our hands.

        The palm of a health person should be pinkish white, smooth, and flexible. A dull, dry and yellowish or pale palm indicates inadequate Qi and blood, and malnourished. If the heart of palm area is very pale, this means the person eats too much cold food and his/her body is cold.  A very red palm indicates a Yin deficiency and excess heat in the body and this person typically is with hot temper and easy to get angry. If the palm only turns red occasionally, this mostly is due to excess heat and nutrition from the excessive spicy food or nutrition supplements. If the redness is only in the area below the thumb, this means there is excess heat in the upper body. People with this kind of palm may suffer hypertension and heart disease, they may have bad temper.  If the redness is only in the area below the little finger, this mostly indicates excessive internal heat in the gastrointestinal area and those people typically are diabetic. After a palm is open and the fingers turns to dark or purple, this indicates server coldness in the body and blood circulation already becomes slow. Those people may have high blood viscosity.

Your Body Knows (Continued)

Your Tongue Shows Your Physical Health Status

One of the diagnosis methods that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors use is observing your tongue. A TCM doctor can evaluate your overall health status by examining the shape, the color, the coating or fuzz, any cracks or spots and any teeth marks on your tongue. Please do not self-diagnose your health based on the discussion in this post.   

A normal tongue is pinkish with a thin white and uniform coating on it and has no teeth marks on either side. Your tongue coating can reflect the physical condition at any given time. Since tongue and organs are closely connected through meridians, any dysfunction of organ will definitely be reflected on the tongue. All five organs can be found on the tongue according to the TCM practice, generally, the tip of your tongue represents the heart and lungs, the side of your tongue reflects the liver and gall bladder, the centre of your tongue represents stomach and spleen, and the root of your tongue represents kidney. We can understand the internal organs’ pathological changes through their relevant area of the tongue. And the degree of the pathological changes of the organs can also be estimated based on the colour, the shape and size of the tongue, the coating of the tongue and how moist or how dry the tongue is. Here are some basic about this diagnosis method that has been used for thousands of years by the TCM doctors.

1.      The tongue

Normal tongue is pinkish color and it is moist. A pale tongue typically indicates anaemia, Qi and blood deficiency, and coldness in your body. A red tongue represents excess heat in your body. If only the tip of the tongue is red while other areas are normal color, this indicates that the excess heat is in your heart. If the sides of your tongue are red and other areas are normal color, then the excess heat is in your liver. A purple tongue indicates poor circulation and meridian blockage. Any teeth mark on the side of your tongue indicates Qi deficient and week stomach and spleen.

2.      The coating of your tongue

There should be a thin white layer of coating on your tongue, and it should be moist and smooth. A thick white tongue coating indicates coldness in your body and the coldness can come from the cold food you eat or from the cold you catch. Now days, a lot of people have thick white coating on their tongue, which is caused by having cold fruits, vegetables, and ice cold drinks all the time. Black tongue coating means the coldness is your body is very serious, and the function of your spleen and stomach are badly affected and your digesting system is very weak.

Yellow tongue coating represents excess heat within your body, however, the excess heat can be real or fake and we need to exam the tongue and tongue coating together for more accurate diagnosis. Yellow tongue coating in conjunction with a red tongue indicates excess heat in your body, and in most cases, this is caused by the over consumption of warm /hot and high energy food and your body does not digest them. In this case, you need to reduce the consumption of those foods, drink adequate water and exercise more.

When you have only yellow coating but your tongue is pink or pale or only the side of your tongue is red, this indicates your digestion system is weak and there is coldness in your body. This kind of internal excess heat can be completely dispersed by clearing meridian through massaging or other physical means and there is no need for inflammation drugs or cold herbal medicine. Although those medicines work fast, they can aggregate the coldness in your body while massaging does not have this kind of side effect.

Tongue without coating often occurs to those who are ill for a long time and are very weak. It also occurs to those who have a cold with a thick white coating while they have fever but the coating disappears after taking inflammation drugs. They may think the medicine is very effective; in fact, this may not be good news since this may indicate that their digestion and absorbing ability becomes weaker. When this occurs, people need to nourish Qi and blood by food therapy which will be discussed later to get the normal thin layer of white coating back on the tongue.

　　3. Things to consider when observing your tongue

        In order to get accurate color of your tongue coating, it is not recommended to exam your tongue right after eating and drinking since the food or beverage may give false color. For example, the tongue becomes red after drinking hot water, or eating spicy foods; tongue coating becomes white after drinking milk and it is yellow after eating orange. Your tongue coating will have different color after eating chocolate, drinking coffee or other food with color. It is recommended to wait at least for half an hour after eating to observe the tongue, and it is beneficial to observe your tongue a few times in a day because this will provide accurate information for correct diagnosis.  

Your Body Knows

From the Theory of Health, we know that adequate Qi and blood are critical to maintain our health.  Here are twelve simple ways to tell if you have adequate Qi and blood.

1.    Your eyes:

The color of the white areas of your eyes is a key indicator.  The old Chinese saying, "the white of one’s eye becomes yellow when one gets old", refers to the white of the eye becoming cloudy, yellow, and with bloodshot and this represents the lack of Qi and blood. Additionally, large bags under the eyes, dry eyes, and heavy eyelids also indicate the lack of Qi and blood. On the contrary, if one can open his/her eyes widely at any time, this means he/she has adequate Qi and blood.  

2.   Your skin:

        Clean pinkish, radiant, elastic, wrinkle-free, and no plaque on your skin are signs of sufficient Qi and

blood in your body.  Rough, dull, dark, yellowish, pale, bluish, reddish, or spotty skin represents poor

health and lack of Qi and blood.

3.   Your hair:

Thick, silky hair with proper color is one of the signs of sufficient Qi and blood while dry hair, losing hair, hair with faded color or white, and hair with split ends are signs of insufficient Qi and blood.

4.      Your ears:

Most people now days have smaller, stiff and deformed ears. These indicate people's health is getting worse. It is rare to see round, large, and full ears even in children and youth. However, the elderly with large ears are more common than with the younger people, indicating that people's physical health in the past is better than modern people.

For children, the shape of the ears is a good indicator for Qi and blood. For adults, in addition to the shape of the ears, the color of the ears, with or without spots on the ears, with or without pain in the ears are also indications of one’s health. If the ears are slightly pink, shiny, spots-free, wrinkle-free, and full, these indicate the Qi and blood are sufficient. On the other hand, dark and dull ears represents inadequate of Qi and blood. If the ears are atrophied, dry, spotted, and wrinkled, it represents the beginning of renal weakening, and it is time to pay attention to your health.

5.   Your hand – cold or warm: 　　

If your hands are warm throughout the year, then your Qi and blood are sufficient. On the other hand, very warm or sweaty palms or cold hands indicate lack of Qi and blood.

6.   Finger pulps:

 Flat finger pulp, weak or thin fingers represents lack of Qi and blood while full and flexible finger pulp indicates sufficient Qi and blood.

　　7. Blue veins on hands:

The blue veins on an adult's index finger indicate poor digestive system ever since childhood.  Adults with blue veins on the index finger are typically weak and lack of Qi and blood. The blue veins in the little finger indicate potential kidney problem.

If there are a lot of deep lines near the wrist stripes on one’s palm, then (s)he may experience poor childhood nutrition, physical weakness, and lack of Qi and blood.  Females with the deep lines near the wrist strip are susceptible to gynecological diseases while males may suffer from prostatic hypertrophy or gout etc.

　　8. Lunula:

Lunula is the half moon area on finger nail. Under normal circumstances, you should have a lunula on all your fingers except the little finger. The lunula should take 1/5-1/4 of the thumb nail and it should not exceed 1/5 of the index finger nail, middle finger nail and ring finger nail. Absent of lunula on your finger nails or lunula only appears on the thumb nails indicate coldness in the body, poor circulation, and lack of Qi and blood, therefore, blood doesn’t reach to the end of the fingers. However, if the lunula is too big, you may suffer from hyperthyroidism, hypertension and other diseases.

　　9. Vertical lines on your finger nails：

Vertical lines only appear on adults’ fingernails and children do not have them. When the vertical lines appear, you must be vigilant since they indicate that the body is lack of Qi and blood and exhausted. Vertical lines are signs of an aging body.

10. Your gum:

Shrinking gum is a symbol of lack of blood and Qi and this is mainly for adults not for children. When you notice that the gaps between his/her teeth are getting wider or the food can easily stuck in the teeth, then you need to pay attention because your health has been declining and the aging process is accelerated.

　　11. Quality of sleeping:

If an adult can fall sleep as fast as a baby, sleep soundly through the night, and breathe evenly while sleeping, then this adult’s body is full of blood and Qi.  On the contrary, difficulties of falling asleep, easily frightened, wakening up during the night, nocturnal enuresis, heavy breathing or snoring are all signs of insufficient blood and Qi.

　　12. Exercise:

　　If you suffer chest tightness, shortness of breath, fatigue and hard to recover while exercising, then you don’t have enough blood and Qi in your body.  If you are full of energy and feels relaxed after exercising, then you have sufficient blood and Qi.

Theory of Health

After reclaiming her own health, Yueling Ma has been helping other to become healthy by applying her knowledge and experiences. Along the way, she refined the core of the Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) theory into four key areas.  First and foremost, human body is a system and it should be treated accordingly.  Each part and each organ of our body interacts with each other, only when they are in harmony, we will be healthy. Secondly, everybody needs adequate Qi (vital energy) and blood flow. When a person does not generate enough Qi and blood, he/she is vulnerable for all kinds of diseases. Third, human system needs a proper functional network to transport Qi and to discharge waste and such a network is called Jingluo (energy channel or meridian) in the TCM terms. Although neither Qi nor Jingluo is visible to naked eyes or microscope, they exist in our body when we are alive and they play a vital role for our wellbeing. The TCM theory believes all health issues are caused by inadequate Qi and blood flow, and blocked channels. Forth, human system needs proper internal temperature in order to function properly. Internal temperature is a concept used in the TCM and Yueling applies this concept to our modern era and she believes that a lot of diseases are the results of cold internal environment. 

The human body is a precise system that needs adequate Qi and blood, functional energy channels and a proper internal temperature. These are the keys behind a healthy human system. When any one part is not at the proper state, one’s health is at stake.  Our diet plays a critical role for our physical well-being. Food provides the raw materials for our body to generate Qi and blood; food also plays a critical role for our internal temperature. In fact, the TCM classifies foods into five categories: hot, warm, neutral, cool, and cold (will discuss this next time). If a person consumes a lot of cool/cold food over a long period of time, (s)he tends to have a low internal temperature.  Yueling believes that people today are more vulnerable to low internal temperature and poor network condition than before due to the availability of many off-season and cross region foods, the extensive use of air-conditioning and refrigerator, and the lack of physical activities.

A picture of a tree can illustrates the above concept well. All the elements that affect how a tree looks are under the ground.  Think about what happens to the tree when there is not enough fertilizer or water, or the lateral roots are cut off, or when the temperature is too low.  Relating this back to human bodies, how we feel and how our body functions are affected by the factors that we do not see, the Qi and blood, the channels and the internal temperature. Even though we can’t see them, our diet and habit will impact the Qi and blood flow, internal temperature and the channel, and ultimately, the overall health. This is the Theory of Health and will serve as the foundation for the Way to True Health.  

Story of Yueling Ma

Yueling Ma

     As a child, Yueling Ma suffered from congenital malnutrition, mumps, and glomerulonephritis; cold, flu, and bloody noses always kept her company. At the age of 19, she was hit by a car while riding her bike and was unconscious for four hours. The accident damaged her memory and left her with insomnia and constant headaches that worsened every day. In addition, she suffered knee effusions and the pain sometimes was so bad that she couldn’t walk. To make matter worse, her body reacted negatively to pain medicines, so, for more than 20 years, she suffered.

     Yueling was a nurse by training and she worked in a major hospital where she had access to both modern medical practices and traditional Chinese medical practices. She had seen many of the doctors there and took a lot of medicine for her headaches but none improved her condition. Well, the good news was that “nothing was really wrong”, according to numerous blood and urine tests. However, she knew that something was not right; she should not suffer all those pains and feel tired all of the time at such a young age and she should weigh more than 100 lbs at her height of 5’7”. The bad news was that “she was too weak to handle any treatments”, concluded by many traditional Chinese doctors. But what was really wrong with her? She visited everyone near and far who might have the slightest chance to help her. She tried all kinds of nutritional supplements; she prayed for a miracle… but she was left disappointed.

     Finally, she realized that no one could really help her and no miracle would happen to her either, so she decided to take the matter into her own hands and became a doctor for herself. Since medications did not help her much, she turned to ancient Chinese physical treatments. Among them, she found that foot reflexology significantly improved her headaches. Out of curiosity, she bought all 12 books that she could find on the subject, immersed in the books, and learned everything she could about foot reflexology. Then she wondered if the improvement could be accelerated by injecting some mild medicine and decided to give it a try. This was easier said than done since no one had ever tried this before and no one knew what would happen. Knowing her reactions to medicine, she carefully searched and picked liquid-form angelica. After injecting angelica into the proper reflecting areas of the head on her foot,  every organ has a reflecting area on the foot, her head was cleared for the first time in many years. As she continued to test this on herself, she

eventually cured her headaches and improved her memory.

     Encouraged by her initial victory, she continued to test other ancient treatments on her own body and also changed her diet. By 1997, Yueling not only got her health back, but also developed her own theory about the causes of disease and the way to reclaim one’s health.

Books written by Yueling Ma in Chinese

     Today, she is helping thousands of people to reclaim their health and enjoy their lives through her four best-seller books, “The Wisdom of Being Healthy,” “Temperature—The Key to Health and Life,” “Parents are Children’s Best Doctors,” and “Yueling Ma’s Health Questionnaire,” and web site (http://www.mayuelingfans.com/). Yueling shares her experience, insights and potent recipes with her readers passionately. She loves to take on challenging cases and her goal is to bring health back to the world.