A New Beginning

I'm getting ready for a new beginning.  It was unexpected, I mean to seriously pursue a new career as a Doctor of Naturopathy which can be realized two years from now if I will remain persevering.  

Last June, I painted "A New Beginning" showing the transition from the darkness of the Underground River to the green color of nature.  The sights I've seen inside the Underground River were just amazing but the transition to the green color of nature was so refreshing so I thought that could be a very good symbol of a new beginning, I didn't know it was an exact symbol of what I will be starting two months later.

Starting on Thursday, I will be attending 50 hours of orientation at Green Life Center for Alternative Medicine with preceptorship at San Lazaro Hospital where it is also located. This educational institution was integrated to the Department of Health and is now the education partner of Tianshi Philippines, the Philippine branch of Tiens Biotech Group which manufactures state-of-the-art health gadgets and supplements based on the principles of TCM.

I have started the week preparing for this new undertaking.  The remaining days and hours might not be enough but I have enough passion to share whatever I've learned to help some people in pain. I will be bringing the gadgets I know that can help in pain management which is the focus of the training and practice for three days starting Thursday.

My painting, "A New Beginning" is for sale and I hope it will finally be sold so I can buy the latest Tiens gadget, the Acupoints Treasure Multifunctional Apparatus, an electroacupuncture for green acupuncture since it is needleless, and that will surely help me in this new career. For pain management though, I hope to prove that the Tiens Multifunctional Head Care Apparatus can relieve any pain even in other parts of the body aside from its versatility in managing illnesses involving the head.

Fighting a fever without medicines

This is the first time I fought with fever without medicines, and as I write this, the fight is over. My special needs child, Lyca, has been taking mood stabilizers and medicines to alleviate seizures and for her to take more medicines for fever or colds will again add burden to her kidneys and liver. So I tried to use what I learned from TCM to fight her fever. The easiest way was to use the comb gadget of Tiens by combing it from one acupoint to another, that is, from LI-11 found at the end of the crease of the fold above the elbow to LI-4 found at the junction of the thumb and index finger (see illustrations). The large intestine meridian is a Yang meridian and going against the path of the meridian (from a high numbered acupoint to a lower one, like LI-11 to LI-4) will reduce the excess Yang which causes fever. I also used the needleless acupuncture of Tiens, the Tong Bao, on the same acupoints, reducing their Yang-ness by counterclockwise rotation.

It was amusing to note the differences between taking paracetamol and just stimulating the acupoints. With paracetamol, fever will disappear but temperature will rise again after 4 hours and it can be as high as 39 degrees centigrade. That was the usual effect on Lyca, and she would look really sick. This time, just stimulating her acupoints, the temperature was more constant, fluctuating from 37.5 to 38 degrees centigrade. Lyca remained naughty so it was hard to give her the supplements that could help, like the Zinc Plus (with honey and albumin) which will boost her immune system, and hi-calcium powder for children, both from Tiens also, because she would laugh while drinking them (mixed with warm water). My patience was tested so it was a tough fight that went on for four days. For all I know it could be a fight with a flu, not just fever.

Tomorrow, July 24, is Lyca's eight birthday. I will stay at home with her the whole day, to make sure that her fever won't come back. I know that my two grown up children whose choir will have a concert tomorrow will understand.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

At last I can now really talk about Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM. With the current global economic crisis and the discovery of more bad effects of prescription drugs everyday, I feel that it is about time we people in the East go back to the traditional ways of our ancestors to treat diseases which is really mostly TCM but fully understanding its principles, while the rest of the world should try to be enlightened with the principles of TCM, which was a product of 5,000 years of study by the Chinese.

Or maybe I am late to say that because TCM is already practiced in every part of the world. Of course there are still a lot of people who are not aware of TCM and these are the people I’d like to reach this time. Don’t worry because I am just a layman like you and I became interested in TCM because I’ve seen that there is so much logic in its principles. Information Technology deals with logic so it will be easy even for IT professionals like me to understand and appreciate TCM.

TCM views the body as a unified organic whole. It

• believes in balancing the body as a whole rather than treating separate parts
• focuses on prevention rather than crisis management of a disease

TCM is all about balancing and harmony, and balancing refers to YIN and YANG. Disturbing the balance between the YIN and YANG will cause illnesses.

YIN and YANG represents all of opposite principles found in the universe and cannot exist without the other.


Examples of YIN-YANG:

NIGHT - DAY
DARK - LIGHT
COLD - WARM
NEGATIVE - POSITIVE
PASSIVE - ACTIVE
FEMALE - MALE
SOLID - HOLLOW

(The hollow organs are the gall bladder, small intestine, stomach, large intestine and urinary bladder. Solid organs are the liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidney.

“YIN and YANG” is a very basic logical concept. My next topic about TCM will be the 5 Elements, which deals with more interesting logic and in relation again to YIN and YANG.

Reinvent yourself!

The lecture of Pete Avila on reinventing oneself was very inspiring. He is the Marketing Manager of the Philippine branch of Tiens Biotech Group, or Tianshi Phils. We can reinvent ourselves by learning new things which is not hard because learning is an everyday activity.

A number of reasons why we should start reinventing ourselves:

1. The world's economy is changing
2. Demographics keep changing
3. Competitive players are changing
4. Playing fields and market scenarios are not constant.

Reinventing should start within ourselves. How?

1. Always maintain a positive attitude and avoid negative people.
2. Maintain good integrity and character.
3. Work on your strengths, not on your weaknesses.
4. Be passionate, persistent, ethical, and a hard and smart worker.
5. Give up something.
6. Sharpen your skills.
7. Invest in your knowledge, health, relationship, comforts, etc.

That lecture inspired me to seriously study Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM which includes Acupuncture. I can be passionate about it but I have to give up something. That can be my desire to completely learn about web design programming though just the design of the background can be easy. Maybe when I start the formal TCM training next month, whatever won't fit my time, should be given up, of course with the exception of caring for Lyca, our special needs child. I can be sure it won't be blogging because I can share whatever I learn through my blogs. That can even help me retain everything I learn and at the same time help people.

TCM definitely has a place in a world undergoing economic crisis since to be admitted in a hospital can be very costly. The world has changed so that TCM is now well accepted everywhere. My challenge is to introduce the modern acupuncture without the needles, either the electronic acupuncture or the green acupuncture with the magnetic tip. I'll share all these in my next posts.

Learning TCM

As far as education is concerned, the best thing that ever happened to me was to learn about TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). This study focuses more on the causes and prevention of diseases than the cures. Although it of course includes the supplements that were studied and proven thousands of years ago, it also includes very natural remedies that has nothing to do with the supplements.

TCM is holistic, so it covers the relationship of each organ to the rest, also the effect of the emotions to each organ. Prevention of an illness involving one organ will usually involve another organ or several organs. A cyst on any part of the body for example, is usually caused by an imbalance of energy in the liver, so if you want to prevent its growth or make it disappear eventually, take care of your liver by avoiding anything that will make the liver work hard. For example, softdrinks will make the stomach acidic, so the liver will work hard to make it alkaline. Anger will affect the liver, so avoid it!

I will surely share more about TCM in my blogs, but it will take time for people not used to its principles to absorb everything. To learn about TCM faster, keep an open mind because your health is at stake! TCM is in because of the economic crisis. Yesterday in Dr. Dela Cruz' training about thyroid in TCM, it was a good thing it was the end of his lecture when there was an emergency because a patient was rushed to a very popular hospital nearby, while the closest relative rushed to him to consult him about the TCM side.

Cordyceps, a wonder supplement

I was wondering what I am scheduled to blog about, until I checked the time and it was time for me to take my supplement, which was 2 capsules of Tianshi Cordyceps Mycellium. As I took them, I was telling my daughter how effective this supplement really is. I had colds and cough two weeks ago, and now they’re gone. A week ago, I was even able to sing with the choir during the mass. This never happened in the past, and I hope it will remain this way whenever I catch a cold, that it will always be short even when accompanied with cough later.

I don’t take antibiotics anymore, and I hope that will be forever. Whenever I believe I already need antibiotics, I just double the dosage of Cordyceps so I take 4 capsules each time. The regular frequency of intake is twice a day, but it shortened my cough when I took the same doubled dosage thrice a day (4 capsules three times a day), but I did that only for 3 days, so when I noticed that I improved, I went back to just twice a day intake, still four capsules each time but only for a few days again. Now I’m back to the normal intake of 2 capsules twice a day.

As instructed, I take Cordyceps with an empty stomach or two hours after eating, and with warm water, never cold water. Cordyceps is indeed a wonder supplement (discovered and studied thousand years ago) but probably it should really be sourced from a manufacturer using biotechnology like Tiens. The article "On the Trail of the Yak - Ancient Cordyceps in the Modern World" is really a good resource material that is why I’m mentioning it for the second time in this blog.

Fearing cancer

When my children were still little, I’ve always feared for their health. But when they became grownups, I feared for my own health because my grandmother died of cancer at the age of 56. Some of my relatives who passed away, like Rio Diaz who was popular in the Philippines, died of the same cause at an earlier age.

To have cancer was a great fear so when a cyst was detected in my uterus because of occasional pain, I only waited to turn 45, which was 5 years after my cyst was detected, to undergo total hysterectomy. I was given HRT or Hormone Replacement Therapy right after the operation, but after a year, when I heard that the therapy will expose me to the risk of acquiring cancer of the breast, I stopped.

The turn of events after I was retired early from work, I realize now, quite fits me because I am now exposed to total awareness on how to prevent cancer. That is the main reason why this blog, “I Don’t Want To Retire!” has started to include health and wellness. I am beginning to learn a lot about the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, which I find amazing. I want to share everything I learned in whatever subject, but TCM is not an easy subject. Rest assured that I will surely share what I will learn about TCM, once I figure out a style that can be easily understood by the readers.

For now, what I can share is a brief TCM learning that cancer of the breast can start with an imbalance in the liver. In TCM, imbalance refers to the qi (pronounced “chi”) or the flow of energy in the body. This coming December 15, I will undergo a sonogram of my breasts so I hope to share more about this topic after that.

Today, December 11, is my mother’s birthday. My only wish is for her to remain healthy. I hope to give her something for her health, and the most appropriate for her is Cordyceps supplement that was used by the ancient Chinese emperors and dignitaries to heal them from any illness. I prefer the Cordyceps manufactured by Tiens because I’m sure of its quality and I already have benefited from its effectiveness many times. I need to research though how I can purchase this from a Tiens branch in North America, Tiens Canada, and have it delivered to Las Vegas where my mother resides, since my mother has to take this supplement on a regular basis. What helped me confirm this choice of supplement was an article titled On the Trail of the Yak - Ancient Cordyceps in the Modern World.

At peace in the midst of China scare

I am now at peace for the longest time. The irony is I owe this peacefulness to products made in China that is scaring the whole world! What I can say is we are now faced with the challenge to listen to one another, especially to people close to our hearts, and the bigger challenge is when two people closest to us have different opinions. Now is the time for each one of us to have an open mind and heart, because each one of us has his or her own story, just like the children who were victims of the melamine found in milk.

Here goes my own story. Before the China scare, I’ve accepted the fact that I can no longer be employed in any company because of my age. I also stopped waiting to be hired by a network marketing company supposedly as their HR Manager in their Philippine branch, and the reason is a long story. I decided that I was free to be seen in the offices of other network marketing companies, which included Tianshi Phils., where I bought a comb massage gadget months ago. This gadget made me curious because the doctor who introduced to me this comb gadget was able to save a stroke patient inside the plane by just combing the scalp of the patient for 5 minutes. This gadget is technically called Hypotension Apparatus, but also relieves arthritic pain or any pain in any part of the body.

I started to attend the trainings in Tianshi Phils., which is only one of the branches of the company also known as Tiens, and which has offices in 110 countries. It has 9 factories worldwide which include one in Spain, one in Russia, one in U.S. and another one in Malaysia or Indonesia. The biggest factories are of course within the 1,000,000 sqm. area owned by Tianjin Tianshi Engineering Co. in China. The company received several awards for its modern biotechnology, from different organizations like United Nations, and has all the certifications for high quality, food safety and pharmaceutical safety like HACCP in 2007, updated ISO 2000-2005 only last September 7, 2008, Halal, Kosher,etc. It has partnerships with American Pfizer and French L’oreal to maintain products at high quality and world-leading level. Tiens has introduced leading manufacturing equipments from Germany, U.S., France and Japan.

So much can be said about the company, but people who have used their products have much, much more to say. In the Philippines, probably the most amusing anecdote can be heard from Tianshi Davao who treated a girl with brain tumor and the brain tumor was gone after 3 months, just by using supplements like High Calcium Brain Tonic and Cordyceps but I guess they also used the third generation of acupuncture gadget (no needles). Yesterday, we gave Kuya Danny, my brother-in-law, the High Calcium Brain Tonic as a birthday gift. My training in Tiens include modern acupuncture and my husband and I intend to attend a more intensive training next month, where we can be licensed therapists afterwards, if we pass the written and practical examinations.

I see to it that my learnings from Tiens are supported by my researches for reliable materials from the internet. I found a very nice research material which included scientific studies about Cordyceps and which I also sent to most of my friends and relatives. I am now taking Cordyceps so it will inhibit the growth of the benign cysts found on my breasts during my last scheduled sonogram. I no longer fear the possible onset of breast cancer later. If ever there is a gift I’d like to give my mother who is now in Las Vegas, I’d like to give Tiens Cordyceps, because it will also give me peace of mind about her health.

By the way, I’m not yet perfectly well as of this writing. Almost two weeks ago, I was exposed to the rains and changes in weather and almost caught a flu. But I followed the testimonies of others who have tried halting a flu or colds with Tiens Cordyceps, so I took 5 capsules between 9-11 in the morning and another 5 capsules from 7-9 in the evening, with an almost empty stomach, and with warm water. I knew that the Zinc of Tiens can be a big help in my battle with the bacteria, but I wanted to try Tiens Cordyceps alone. It seemed like a long battle, but only a few thick threads of colored mucus came out, I couldn’t even call them phlegm, and my cough was caused by the occasional itchiness of my throat, as if bacteria were trying to pass through my lungs but could not. The itchiness is gone after I finally sought the help of Tiens Zinc but only for one day. I now have reduced the number of Tiens Cordyceps capsules to just two each time. I have to always include the brand “Tiens” just to be fair to all brands available which might have varying effectiveness.

Two weeks of battle with the bacteria and I’m glad that just through natural means I emerged as the winner, my throat the only “injury” as manifested by the short-lived itchiness and some mucus. Why am I doing this battle anyway, if four days of taking antibiotics can also halt the cough? I’m doing this for my liver. I’ve learned in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) that the root cause of cysts or breast cancer is imbalance of energy in the liver. It is a known fact that drugs can damage the liver. In TCM, just an imbalance in energy can cause damage.

It is not just me who can be affected by the negative effects of drugs but my own special child Lyca, who really is very much exposed to drugs to alleviate the symptoms of her Cerebral Palsy. She now has a lump on her left breast though it could be an early maturation of her breast, but I just cannot remain complacent. Too bad, I cannot try Tiens Cordyceps on her yet. Maybe when she’s older. My only alternative now is to try the modern acupuncture on her, but using only the third generation gadget, the Tiens Acupoint Treasure which is a gadget with a magnetic point to be pressed and rubbed on acupoints that will disintegrate breast lumps. The fourth generation gadget uses electronic methods and is not advisable on her or any patient with tumors.

Now that you’ve read my story, I know you’ll understand why I am now more at peace than ever. It is just too bad that all of us cannot be at peace at the same time. Maybe that is the real essence of heaven. It is the only place where everyone can find everlasting happiness and peacefulness at the same time.

Whatever happened to the rest of my problems? I gave them all to God, of course not forgetting to thank Him everyday for willingly accepting them.