Emotional wellness affects so many aspects of health. In Traditional Asian Medicine, there has been an understanding of the mind body connection for thousands of years. Here are three key ways to help improve/maintain emotional wellness from a Traditional Asian Medicine perspective.
#1 Eat For Wellness The old adage “You are what you eat” proves to be true over and over again. Whole foods and regular eating times provide the body with more sustained nutrition. This can be helpful in lessening emotional fluctuations. While it is important to eat based on the needs of the individual, foods like apple cider vinegar and wild blue green algae can combat depression. In Eastern nutrition, celery is said to be calming and decreases nervousness. Limiting caffeine can also be helpful in lessening anxiety.
#2 Conscious Breathing
Awareness of breath can be key for emotional wellness. Shallow breathing makes the body feel more anxious. This is because oxygen is unable to get to where it needs to get in the body to more effectively perform its functions. In Traditional Asian Medicine, there is a saying that “Qi follows Li”. This means that a person’s Qi (loosely understood as energy) goes where their Li or intention is. When we are conscious of our breathing and take deeper breaths, the qi of the body and mind are able to follow suit. This automatically helps the body to be able to relax, regulate emotions and cope with stress better. An excellent practice that can help one to do more conscious breathing is Qi Gong.
#3 Get To The Root In Traditional Asian Medicine, each of the different emotions correspond with an organ energy and element. Specifically: anxiety is associated with the Earth element, grief with the Metal element, fear with Water, anger with Wood and joy or mania with the Fire element. An imbalance of any of these organ energies can cause the associated emotion. Simultaneously any of the emotions can affect those particular organ energies. To improve emotional wellness, Traditional Asian Medicine practitioners do further questioning and diagnostics to devise a plan to help bring balance to the energies that are out of balance. Many people experience an improvement in emotional wellness with such balancing. For individualized assistance to improve your emotional wellness, click here.
There are also a wide variety of supplements, herbs and herbal formulations for internal and external use that can help to promote emotional well-being. Some that can be helpful generally with rarely any side effects include chamomile for internal use and lavender essential oil for external use. As always, it is important to be aware of any of the potential side effects of any medications you are taking, as sometimes, these can also affect emotions. If you have concerns about potential side effects of any medication you are taking, discuss with your doctor.
Take good care and love being a woman, Dr. Danett
