• increases blood circulation,
• removes the look of fine lines (without expensive products),
• reduces the vividness of acne scars,
• releases tension and strain around the jaw joint and eyes to ease headaches
• improves skin elasticity,
• gives the face a brighter glow,
• and it feels great, too!

Now who doesn’t want all that?

Make sure you use some moisturizing, but not greasy, thick facial cream to make the massage smooth and flowing.  Then wash off the cream when finished.

Just before clinical practice one afternoon I decided to film the historical pedestrian street and two Traditional Chinese Medicine pharmacies in Hangzhou.  They are both very famous and highly patronized by locals.  Besides the herb dispensing section, they also have clinics with some of the top TCM doctors in Zhejiang holding consultation sessions.  The second pharmacy also runs the only Chinese medicine museum in Hangzhou. You can see herbs, patent medicines, peaceful gardens, and get an idea how TCM and pharmacies operate in China.  The pharmacies mentioned are Fang Hui Chun Tang 方回春堂 and Hu Qing Yu Tang 胡庆余堂.

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You’ll also hear the background conversation discussing the how the girl’s headaches have improved with 1 just treatment of acupuncture. She used to take Western medicine everyday, but after just 1 acupuncture session she wasn’t taking any more pills.

The video was filmed in a community hospital in Hangzhou, China, at one of the centers for Internship Base of Overseas Students associated with ZCMU.

See what maneuvers and techniques you can pick up  to make your own skin more vibrant. And besides, it feels great too! As shown in the video pressing those acupoints relieves tension from the face and eases headaches and tired or strained eyes.

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Filmed in the Skin and Beauty clinic of the Chinese medicine hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Don’t sit directly under the air-conditioning. The neck and shoulders are one of the places most vulnerable to cold air.  The cold air on your exposed skin can lead to excessive tightening of the muscles which causes neck, shoulder, and back pain and contributes to higher stress levels. The cold air can also enter your joints leading to arthritis, even later in life.  Exposing skin, especially on the neck to cold air, makes you more vulnerable to the common cold and other illnesses.  If you easily feel cold, have your neck or shoulders exposed, or tend to scrunch up your shoulders or tighten the muscles around your neck when the cold air blows over you, this rule is especially important for you. If you can, turn off the air-conditioning or at least set it to a more moderate temperature. Otherwise change locations.  If none of these are feasible, wear a scarf around your neck.

Don’t take cold showers, especially immediately after raising your body temperature and sweating. When you’ve raised your body temperature or been sweating, all your pores are open to cool your body down.  Taking a cold shower straight away allows cold pathogens to enter the body. And like stated above, cold pathogens weaken the immune system (common cold), increase susceptibility to arthritis, and reduce Yang (half of the essential balance in our body).

Don’t drink cold drinks. I know its hot, I know you want cold water, I know you want something cool you down.  But cold drinks, even cold water, may not always be the best for you.  Not only do cold drinks not quench your thirst as well as room temperature drinks, but it also stresses your body (especially the stomach) to raise the temperature of the cold liquid. I know room temperature soda tastes bad and is not very nice to drink so maybe that should be your cue not to drink any soda at all. Try swapping out some of your refrigerated drinks for drinks from the pantry. Use fewer (or no) ice cubes. Room temperature, warm, or hot drinks are all fine.  Just try to limit your consumption of ice-cold drinks. If your stomach feels uncomfortable or even a bit painful after drinking cold drinks, eating ice cream or raw salad, or consuming other cold or frozen foods, this rule is especially important for you.

Go to bed before 11pm. It is believed our body’s resting period–our most productive sleep–begins at 11pm.  Therefore, in order to take advantage of that, you should be in bed ready for sleep by 11pm.  I know its summer and the day lasts longer, but for most parts of the world, it is already dark by 11pm, so no excuses.  I’ve heard nearly every TCM doctor reiterate this point.  And one of them has said it to every single patient we’ve seen in clinic.  In fact, she tells them, if you don’t sleep enough, all of my treatments still won’t help–you must go to bed before 11pm. Try it, you may just find you feel much more rested the next day.

Eat less in the evening. Summer is hot and we naturally tend to eat less in the summer, but during the summer, eating less in the evening is more important. Give your body a bit of a rest, don’t make it work so hard digesting food, and choose lighter foods and smaller quantities on summer evenings.  Not only is this good advice for restoring balance and improving functioning of the body, it’ll help you sleep better and aid weight control. And much like sleeping before 11pm, it is oft repeated advice from the doctor.

• Ginseng for tranquilizing liver hyperactivity
• American Ginseng
• He Shou Wu for longevity
• Locally grown herbs
• Mai Dong generates liquid and reduces heat in the heart
• Mint expels exterior heat
• White pepper for food or Qi stagnation

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Watch World Vitae’s other videos on Viddler

• Animal gelatins (made from bones, horns, and shell)
• Seahorses
• Centipedes
• Frog
• Black-boned white chicken
• Dog testes
• Deer penis and testes

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As a small point of interest, for the Chinese New Year, one of my friend’s cousins gave her dad a gift package of whole deer penis.

Today I went to ZJ Chinese Medicine University to get setup for my classes, which will begin Monday, February 28th. They seemed to be expecting me as they had my class schedule all prepared and my documentation ready. That’s always a good sign.

Just before I went there I stopped at the bank to take out money to pay for my classes. And I took out a lot of money. Because I was expecting to pay my entire course fee today.

She gives me my Monday to Friday schedule and tells me, ‘you can study more basic theory of TCM, on top of what you’ve already studied. And you can learn meridians and acupuncture points. Besides, there will be 2 other foreign students in your class.’ I look at my schedule, its ok but not really what I expected.

So I ask, ‘is this the schedule for my whole time? Or just a month?’
‘No, that’s just your course for the first week!’
‘Do you have my schedule for the second week?’
‘No, you come back and get that next week. Pay 1 week now please.’
‘I was prepared to pay a month or more now. Are you sure you only want 1 week?’
‘Yes, 1 week schedule, 1 week payment. Next week another. But the receipt at the end of the month. Please pay 1400yuan.’

Just a few things rolling around in my mind: why 1400yuan/week? The website says its 1000-1200yuan/week. Her explanation, I have more class-hours. But the price is per week, not per hour… I don’t understand. No further explanation given.

Second, is she serious with the week by week schedule? How can I get a good sense of what I’m supposed to be learning and what my progression will be if she only gives me one week’s schedule at a time?  s t r a n g e … Although, I guess I do prefer to pay week by week, it might get annoying around week 7 or so.

And thus,

My Schedule (Feb 28-March 4)

Mornings– 8:30-11:40
Afternoons– 1:30-3:50

Monday, Tuesday, and morning half of Wednesday– Basic Theory of TCM
Thursday morning– Diagnosis of TCM
Thursday afternoon and Friday morning– Meridians and acupuncture points

Looks like a good start to me but without knowing what comes in the following weeks, it’s hard to tell. For example, 1 morning hardly seems to be enough time for diagnostics.

The first bar and expectations have been set. Now to see what comes next… This seems to be an exercise in patience and flexibility, and jumping in without knowing what’s on the other side.

My friend Emma turned me on to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University 浙江中医药大学 in Hangzhou, China.  They have both degree programs (undergrad: 5 years) and non-degree programs lasting anywhere from 1 week to 2 years. Given the flexibility of the time, and they fact that they offered classes in English or Chinese, it sounded perfect.  When I started contacting them, they were very responsive, both by email and phone.  They were very quick to start managing my application and guiding me through the process. They prepared the documents for me to apply for a new China visa.

Last week I went to the campus in Hangzhou to do my enrollment procedures, including collecting my visa invitation letter, paying the initial enrollment fee of CNY400, and choosing my curriculum.  The campus is really nice, though it was very quiet when I went there, maybe because it was so cold.  The woman helping me spoke English well and another girl was very helpful in directing me to the right room is in perfect, polite English.  All of that is very much making this look like the right decision.

Besides the flexible time period, 2 other factors attracted me to ZJ TCM University: the price, which for a full-time non-degree students is 50% cheaper than a part-time student at Shanghai TCM University; and the variety of courses to choose from. From their website, courses to choose from:

Students can choose the courses and programs as they need.

TCM Theoretical Courses: TCM Basic Theory, TCM Diagnostics, Acupuncture, Tuina, Herbology, Herbal Formulas, TCM Internal Medicine, TCM Surgery, TCM Gynecology, and TCM Pediatrics, TCM Orthopedics & Traumatology, TCM Ophthalmology, TCM Dermatology, and TCM Ophthalmology & Otorhinolaryngology, etc.

TCM Clinical Practice: Acupuncture, Tuina, TCM Internal Medicine, TCM Surgery, TCM Gynecology, and TCM Pediatrics, TCM Orthopedics & Traumatology, and TCM Dermatology, etc.

Lectures: Tongue Diagnosis, Pulse Diagnosis, Acupuncture Manipulation, Moxibustion, Scalp Needling, Depression, Insomnia, Headache, Diabetes, Stroke, Weight Reduction, Gastroenteropathy, Infertility, etc.

After discussion with Lao Jing, the woman who has been helping me through all of the process, we agreed to build on my TCM foundation, which is mostly in theory, food, and tuina, by having me take TCM diagnostics (tongue, pulse, etc) and add on my interest in herbs.

So when I start classes full-time on February 28th, I’m excited to be taking courses on diagnostics and herbs for 3 months!

Everything is looking good, except I don’t have a place to live in Hangzhou yet.