All posts by TCM Heilpraxis

TAKING CARE OF …

Treating illnesses the natural way

I deal with health issues covering the following areas:

  • Sports injuries
  • Back pain, Shoulder pain
  • Tired legs
  • Occupational related ailments: mouse arm, headaches, stress symptoms
  • Digestion, weight loss
  • Mental problems – depression, general fear
  • Fertility
  • Menstrual cycle related problems
  • Prevention: Diabetes, high blood pressure and other life-style diseases
  • Eyes
  • Hearing loss
  • Congested sinuses
  • Allergies
  • Strengthening the immune system
  • Sexual health
  • Loss of concentration
  • Frequent colds, running noses
  • Treatment of scar tissue
  • Lessening the side effects of chemo therapy
  • Pain management

If you have a specific condition and you want to check, whether or not acupuncture helps, I recommend the curated fact sheets of the British Acupuncture Council.  The British Acupuncture Council is one of the largest self-regulated professional standards bodies for acupuncture in Great Britain.

In another section, I have listed more indications for acupuncture as they have been provided from a range of professional bodies representing doctors, TCM practitioners and acupuncturists.

If you have a specific question about your condition, please contact me and I can either provide more information during a phone call or you can book a session with me. After the first 30 minutes, you can decide whether or not to proceed.

MY NETWORK

My patients benefit from a network of colleagues, who have specialized in other therapy approaches like:

  • Herbal Medicine
  • Dietetic counseling
  • Shiatsu
  • Lab-based diagnosis (Orthomolecular Medicine)
  • Hypnotherapy
  • Qigong and Taiji Quan
  • Sundao (Meditation & Breathing exercises)

TCM & FERTILITY

I treat individual male or female patients as well as couples along TCM concepts with regards to improving their chances for conceiving a baby regardless of their chosen path: IVF & Transfer or just a change in life style for letting nature have its way.

Before conceiving
A combination of acupuncture, Tuina and counseling empowers patients to conceive a baby.

Before the transfer
Acupuncture and Tuina prepare the body for welcoming the fertilized egg and letting it prosper in situ.

During pregnancy
I use acupuncture with a set of specific needling recommendations for each pregnancy phase and for passing into a new trimester.

The pregnancy disc and acupuncture needles

EAR ACUPUNCTURE

Q: That means sticking needles in your ear?
A: Yes and no. Your ear lobes will be needled and some of the visible areas on your ear. There is no needling of the hearing canal. The needles are considerably smaller and thinner than with body acupuncture. The insertion depth is 1 to 2 mm depending on the location.

Q: Does it hurt?
A: Yes, it feels like a mosquito bite with the insertion pain rapidly settling down.

Q: Why should I suffer?
A: In Classical Chinese Medicine books there are references to treatments done to the ear, but it was the French doctor Paul Nogier, who worked out that a person’s body physiology as well as a few functional systems can be mapped onto it. This is a result from the human growth pattern, where each person grows from a fertilized egg into a well-developed fetus before its birth.

Paul Nogier found out that you can regulate bodily functions, reduce pain and thus treat systemic illnesses by needling specific ear points.

Q: Is it better than body acupuncture?
A: Body and ear acupuncture are two different treatment modalities. I combine them, in many cases. Ear acupuncture has been often deployed by non-TCM practitioners, since it has a shallower learning curve than body acupuncture. I do have patients that prefer just ear acupuncture on their own, because of their previous experience.

Q: What is ear acupuncture used for?
A: Detoxification, mental disbalances, systemic issues (hormonal disbalances) and also for pain management.

Q: What are the specific advantages?
A: You don’t need to undress. The diagnosis entails looking for sensitive (sore) areas on the earlobes, thus more emphasis is put on the body’s response to locate the points to treat. After the first treatment, follow-up sessions can be less time-intensive. It’s a good treatment for maintenance purposes and periodic visits.

Q: Anything to add?
A: Yes. I have patients that are not interested in a detailed discussion about their problems. They just need support for dealing with their (health) issue without feeling pressured into taking on any advice. Sometimes, because of cultural reasons, undressing may be a challenge or there is simply a language barrier. Ear acupuncture in those cases is a good treatment modality. I also treat couples during the same appointment. This can be:

  • an elderly husband and wife
  • a younger son bringing their father or mother, who does not speak German or English
  • a single parent with their (teenage / adolescent) child
  • a social worker bringing her client

Q: What do I need to keep in mind, when I bring a second person along?
A: The building in which I have the clinic is not wheel-chair accessible. After 10 flights of stairs, there is a lift to the floor of my clinic, but you need to be mobile. The street is uneven and there is no room to park any walking aid on the ground level. You would have to carry it up the 10 steps.

When I treat two adult persons both of them need to be fit to provide treatment consent. Children must be 16 years or older and if not present I need the guardian’s written consent.

For all cases, if there is a more suitable treatment modality, I will recommend that one.

You can book an appointment online:

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or send me an E-mail with your preferred time slot: praxis@freystaetter.com

BOOKING PAGE

YIN AND YANG

Yin and Yang are two forces in the universe that are effective everywhere. It explains the ongoing process and dynamics of natural change.

The well-known symbol of Yin and Yang represents the universal law of eternal change. It represents the way in which things change. Opposites attract each other, they condition each other, form a unity and ultimately – at their peak – become their opposite. It is a description without evaluation, neither yin nor yang is good or bad.

Yin and Yang are not absolute terms. They are always seen in relation to one another. An example: the chest is yin compared to the back, but yang compared to the pelvis.

We are healthy and our self-healing powers are active when Yin (vital sap and substance) and Yang (vital force and energy) are in a balanced relationship to one another.

Yin signifies vital fluids (blood) and substance, the ability to relax, restful sleep and good nerves, serenity, patience and calm, the condensed matter, earth, sinking down, darkness, cold, relaxation, retreat

Sufficient substance and vitality are necessary for this

Yang signifies life force and energy: Movement, dynamics, light, warmth, expansion, resistance, joie de vivre, willpower, sky, rises upwards. All active processes in our organism

Sufficient energy (Qi), life force and warmth are necessary for this

Illness is always an imbalance between yin (substance) and yang (energy). If a component is missing, there is no life. In death, energy and substance, i.e. yin and yang, have separated.

Yin and Yang are two forces in the universe that are effective everywhere. Their interplay is the basis for the continuous process of every natural change, every movement in the universe and the basis of man himself. Yin and Yang are relative quantities, they determine each other, are dependent on one another, together they form a whole, they are constantly in motion and in constant change.

We are healthy and our self-healing powers are active when Yin (vital sap and substance) and Yang (vital force and energy) are in a balanced relationship to one another.

There is no static state in the cosmos, everything is constantly in motion! We humans are also in a constant process of change. All manifestations have a share of yin and yang.

Yin is the sap of life (blood) and substance, the condensed matter, earth, sinks down, darkness, cold, relaxation, retreat

Yang is life force and energy, movement, dynamic, light, warmth, expansion, sky, rising upwards

Yin and Yang are opposites that together form a unit and depend on each other, they only exist in connection with each other.

Illness is always an imbalance between yin (substance) and yang (energy). If a component is missing, there is no life. In death, energy and substance, i.e. Yin and Yang, have separated.

ABOUT QI

Qi is the invigorating energy of all processes, our life force or life energy. It animates all living beings, nature and the cosmos. It is an energy that is present in all forms of matter and is concentrated in living organisms.

In TCM a distinction is made between prenatal and postnatal Qi. The prenatal or innate qi is inherited from parents and ancestors. This is stored in the kidneys and is our essence.

The postnatal qi is obtained from food and the air we breathe, which is why nutrition and exercise are so important. The Qi flows in the so-called meridians, but also circulates freely in the body – such as the Wei Qi, our defense energy. The Qi expands and is active during the day (Yang), at night it retreats inside to regenerate (Yin).

Qi can be abundant or deficient, stagnated or blocked. Abundance manifests itself in Yang or heat symptoms such as inflammation, rather sharp pain, high fever and acute events, deficiency, on the other hand, are mostly Yin or cold symptoms such as chills, numbness, edema, chronic and rather dull pain.

Qi is the breath of life, like a stream, an invisible force that keeps all physical, emotional and spiritual processes going and lets us be alive. It pulsates, transforms, nourishes and is the engine of an ongoing cyclical change, filled with the energies of heaven (Yang) and earth (Yin).

It directs the blood, the nervous and lymphatic systems (Ying-Qi), it strengthens the immune system (Wei-Qi). It turns food into body substances, keeps organs in place, prevents excessive perspiration, keeps the body warm, and is the source of movement and growth.

Qi is everywhere in the body, its flow runs along certain channels, the so-called meridians. There are 12 main meridians corresponding to the main organs and 8 extraordinary meridians.

Qi is the invigorating energy of all processes, our life energy. It animates all living beings, nature, the cosmos. The Qi flows in the so-called meridians, but also circulates freely in the body – such as the Wei Qi, our defense energy.

Qi expands during the day and is active (Yang), at night it retreats inside to regenerate (Yin).

A PRIMER IN NUTRITION AND CHINESE MEDICINE

“When we eat with pleasure, the stomach directs the purest portion of the essence from the food directly to the heart and awakens our joy of life.”

Good eating habits are the most important principle for strengthening the energy of the center.

  • Prefer good quality and high quality food, seasonal and local food
  • Establish a daily rhythm with regular meals
  • Regular breakfast, lavish lunch and light dinner, the latter before 6:00 p.m.
  • Serve lots of warm / cooked food (preferably 2-3 times a day)

While eating:

  • Eat slowly and chew thoroughly
  • Don’t drink cold liquids with your meal, but rather clear and light soup, hot water or green tea.
  • Don’t eat right away after getting angry
  • Avoid exhausting discussions while eating
  • Do not eat completely full

Quality of food and food preparation:

  • Use organic ingredients (whenever your budget and availability permits)
  • No artificial food additives, no ready meals.
  • No microwave

Detailed advice:

  • Simple meals (do not combine too many different proteins and carbohydrates)
  • Lots of vegetables (preferably only briefly steamed or seared)
  • Boiled cereals (millet or barley, bulgur – together with some soy, coconut or almond milk, also suitable as a healthy breakfast)
  • Neutral foods to which you add warm and refreshing ingredients
  • Soups that warm the whole stomach (e.g. Chinese style)
  • Vegetables that grow in the ground

Food items with a (naturally) sweet flavour and neutral thermal properties have the following effect: strengthening Qi, harmonizing, moisturizing, relaxing, saturating, nourishing.

However the sweet flavour has no direction of action, i.e. it’s harder to digest. Therefore add other tastes. Too much sweetness creates moisture, which leads to phlegm. ‘Visible’ phlegm manifests as an excess in body fat.

However don’t be fooled by instagram and lifestyle magazine depictions of skinny and „sporty“ looking models. Healthy bodies have mainly the outline and body fat distribution visible in many Renaissence or classical art nude paintings.