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The Sun & The Moon, The Concept of Yin & Yang!

1/6/2016

4 Comments

 
People always say when the sun is waking up; the moon is going to bed. I was watching the sunrise today, and saw the moon still up high in the sky; it gets me thinking; does the moon really go down, or just disappear? As that thought crossed my mind, the concept of the Yin-Yang Theory came as well.

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We believe the Sun is represents the Yang Energy, some people believe it represents male, the light, heat, daytime, fire, explosion and a burst of energy etc.  

On the other hand, the moon represents Yin Energy; some people believe it represents female, the darkness, cold, nighttime, water, support, and long-lasting energy etc.

This morning, as I watched the sunrise and saw the moon disappear, it reminded me of the circle of life. The balance, parallel, the opposition, the perfect harmony, one cannot live without the other; the idea that Qi created yin & yang, and the yin & yang created Qi.

When the sun rises, the radius of the sun takes over the darkness. The moon is hiding in space waiting, but its power still exists. The moon is behind the power of the sun and plays the supporting role. It continues controlling the movement of the ocean waves. The ocean waves create wind, and the heat from the sun evaporates the water, turning it into a cloud. Then, when the cloud gets heavy and mixes with the cold air, it turns into rain, or a storm. The storm creates thunder and lightning. The lightning occasionally shocks a tree and creates a fire, burning down some of the forest. When the fire stops and the ashes cool down, the ash returns to earth become soil. The opening of the forest from the fire allows the new seeds to grow, the grass, the flowers, the plants, the young trees, and the open sunny spots support the animals to feed. The new cycle begins.

At the same token, when the sunset and the moon is up. The power of the sun does not vanish; it is in hiding, becoming a supporting role for the moon. Without the sun’s reflection the moon would not shine, and there would be total darkness. Even on cloudy days the moon and the sun’s energy still exists, if the rotation of the moon, the sun, and earth stopped or was knocked out of balance (the flow of qi is blocked) the life we know would be extinct!    

This is the idea that Qi created yin & yang, and the yin & yang created Qi! Qi is life, life is Qi! We must find the balance in life to create a perfect harmony!

Stay tuned for my new book “Unlock the Mystery of Qi” “Qigong-Self Discovery & Self Healing Techniques” It should be coming at the end of this month.

Or come to join me at my Qigong beginner 12 month program! http://www.altcaresolution.com/qigong-program.html

Thanks for reading, hope you find your inner peace!


4 Comments

An Alternative Treatment For Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

12/18/2015

5 Comments

 
Signs and Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:
  • Tingling, numbness, and/or burning sensations in the thumb, index finger, middle finger, and sometime the sensations radial to your ring finger.
  • Some people also may feel pain in the wrists, tingling sensations in the palm, and loss of grip strength.
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 Causes:
  • Could be work related, due to repetitive motion at work.
  • More commonly, it is due to repetitive motion.
Other illness may lead to CTS:
  • Any disease that may cause inflammation in the flexor tendons of the forearm such as rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Hypothyroidism may cause compression in the median nerve and the tendons passing through the carpal tunnel.
  • Hormonal changes during pregnancy, women may experience CTS.
  • Obesity could increase the risk of CTS.
Misdiagnosis:
  • Some people might misdiagnosis CTS as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or Pronator Syndrome.
  • So, if you are experiencing numbness, tingling, and/or a burning sensation in your fingers and pain on your wrist, you should go to see your doctor for a medical diagnosis.
  • Medical diagnosis tools includes: Electrodiagnostic testing, Clinical assessment, Tinel’s sign, Durkan test, Phalen’s test, Carpal compression test, or Hand elevation test.
Medical Treatments:
  • Splints – at the early stage using wrist braces and splints may help reduce stress on the wrists during activity.
  • Corticosteroid injection – temporary pain relief for CTS
  • Surgery
 
If you think you may have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, you should go to see your doctor for a medical diagnosis. If left untreated, you may lose muscle tone in your palm.
 
Alternative Treatment:

I will like to remind you, alternative medicine is not magic. We cannot magically cure any disease. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is one of the lifestyle illnesses, so the first step of healing is that you must be willing to change your lifestyle. Also, before you make the decision to try alternative treatment, you must understand that it took years to develop CTS. It is going to take years for the body to completely recover and heal.

Once you have decided to try alternative treatment I would like to talk to you. We’d start with your working environment, daily activity, diet and lifestyles. Then we can work together to develop a treatment plan that fits your schedule.
CTS personalized treatments are including the following; regular massage & acupuncture treatment, and home maintenance (diet & exercise).


Clinic visit:

After the assessment, we would start with a Castrol oil moist heat treatment on forearm. Castrol oil helps relax the muscle, reduce inflammation & swelling, and detox the area.

At the same time, I would provide a neck and shoulder massage (Most therapists only work on the wrist and the forearm for client with CTS, but the median nerves begin in the neck.) If the neck and shoulder muscles are too tight, it will continue compress the median nerves and block the communication signals to your arm, wrist and hand. 

After 20 minutes of the Castrol oil moist heat treatment on the forearm, we will clean up the Castrol oil and start to massage the forearm, wrist and hand. Massaging the area helps reduce muscles tension, opens up the Tunnel on the forearm and releases pressure on the carpal. Then an acupuncture treatment will help reduce pain and reconnect the nerve signals. 


Treatment Plans:

Treatment plans will start once a week for 4 to 8 weeks (depending on the condition) then will change to once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks, after that once a month for continued maintenance.

The muscle will normally take 12 hours to complete the changes. If you don’t do any home maintenance, it will go back to whatever state it was after 36 to 48 hours. Therefore, depending on your conditions you might need treatment once or twice a week at the beginning.

The reason you would need treatment once or twice a week at the beginning, is because the body takes time to heal. Your body has been used to the pain signals for many years, and the sensation of pain becomes normal. Now we need to re-educate the body (cells) what a normal no pain sensation should feel like.
 
Home Maintenance:
  • Daily neck, shoulder, forearm and wrist stretching exercises.
  • Increase water intake – drink water, daily intake should be half your body weight converted to ounces.
  • Diet – food you should eat; whole grains, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, cauliflower, okra, green leafy vegetables, legumes, fresh fruits, bananas, pineapple, fresh vegetables, ginger, cayenne, cumin, turmeric, albacore tuna, mackerel, sardines, salmon, and other healthy foods.
  • Vitamin B6 – 80 to 100 mg two to three times daily
  • Vitamin B complex
  • Bromelain – 250 to 1500 mg between meals (anti-inflammatory) (foud in pineapple)
 
Herbs:
  • Willow bark – relieves pain and inflammation
  • Chamomile, Turmeric, Ginger, Cumin, Sage – anti-inflammatory
  • Meadowsweet, Wintergreen – pain reliever
  • Comfrey – add the powder to the hand cream to helps relieve pain, inflammation, and swelling.

If you would like to make an appointment call: 616-419-6924
www.Altcaresolution.com

Tactical Health Coach
Raymond Wan, LMT., ADS., HHC
Alternative Care Solution Wellness Center
3790 28th ST SW Suite B, Grandville MI 49418
616-419-6924


5 Comments

Is it investment or cost? Alternative Care Treatments (Massage, Acupuncture, Qigong exercise)

12/8/2015

3 Comments

 
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  • How much money you paying for your health insurance?
  • How much is your co-pay for doctor visit?
  • How much you paying for your prescription medicine?
  • How much is your hospital bill(s)?
You spend hundreds or thousands of dollars, monthly or yearly!

Are you feeling better and healthier after spending money on all those medical bills?

If not! Then that is the cost!!

Yes! Health is priceless! We cannot and should not put a price on our health, but why do we have to pay the government and the health insurance companies with our hard earning money every month? The worst thing is that most of the time we will not even receive any service!
Every month you pay the health insurance company hundreds of dollars, but you don’t go to see a doctor every month! The health insurance company said that it is an investment, just in case if you need a hospital visit, it could cost you thousands of dollars. Yes, that’s the truth! But you may have to pay out of pocket a $5000 or more deductible before your health insurance coverage kicks in to cover your bill.

So, after I pay the health insurance company whatever they ask for, can it prevent any illness & disease?  If not! Then for me, it becomes an unnecessary cost of my living!
Do we have not enough stress in our daily lives? It seems to me, that all medical bills do is cause stress. And we all know stress is the number one trigger for illness & disease!

On the other hand, alternative care such as massage, acupuncture and qigong exercise are well known preventative treatment for many health conditions.

  • The first benefit of alternative treatment such as massage, acupuncture, qigong helps reduce stress (both physical and emotional).
  • Second, they all help reduce muscles tension.
  • Third, they all help improve circulation and boost the immune system.
  • Fourth, they all help detox the body.

Stretching and joint mobilization techniques during massage can help improve range of motion.

Acupuncture can help the collagen re-grow, increase white blood cells (T cell) production during treatment, good for healing chronic muscle, joint injury, and other chronic illness.

Qigong exercise help your body heal faster, stay focused, stay balanced, increase energy levels, improve digestive system functions, and improve overall health.
Those are just few of the benefit of massage and acupuncture, and qigong exercise. Those are great preventive alternative care treatments.

Unlike bio-medicine, massage and acupuncture have fewer to no side effects. The average cost of treatment in Grand Rapids could be from $40 to $80 for each visit. How much is your co-pay for your doctor visit? And how much is your monthly payment for your health insurance?

Monthly massage or acupuncture treatment is not a luxury only available to wealthy people.  Regular massage or acupuncture and/or daily qigong practice also can help you improve your productivity. After the treatment and practice you feel relax and energize, you are ready to face a world of new challenges. It also helps boost your immune system, so the bodies become stronger and better resist to illness. Less sick days you take from work, more play (pay) days you earn for yourself!

Alternative cares are true investment for your own health! It is an investment that helps you reduce stress and muscle tensions, reduce pain, and prevent many future illnesses.
                       Start Invest On Yourself

Call Today for an Appointment!
616-419-6924

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3 Comments

If you are looking for miracle or a quick fix, alternative treatments such as acupuncture or massage may not be for you!!

8/12/2015

2 Comments

 
Over the years, many of my new clients have come to seeking treatment for their pain. Often times he or she will tell me “I don’t know why I have this pain; I consider my lifestyle to be healthy. I exercise, and eat healthy. I don’t understand why I have this pain, why won’t it go away?” Other new clients have claimed “I had this pain for many (weeks, months or years). I have been taking (Tylenol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, or Cortisone shot), and I’m sick of it.”

So, here are two groups of new clients, one considers themselves to be practicing a healthy lifestyle, exercising, eating healthy, and not using any prescription drugs. Other groups are the average American, eating the normal Standard American Diet (SAD), work is their exercise, and taking prescription drugs for their illness and pain, is also considered themselves “health”.

These are two different groups, but they have similar reason to seek acupuncture or massage treatment, “I’ve had friend comes to see you and they told me that their pain is gone,” or “I read an article, and it said many claim acupuncture can help cure the pain.” “So, Ray fixes me,” they said.

I’m sorry; I don’t want to burst your bubble or upset you, but I just want to tell you this. Neither acupuncture, nor massage treatment are “Magic”, I cannot make your pain disappear in one or two treatments. Sometimes it might take up four to eight treatments before you feel a little better. It is all depends on your health condition, and your lifestyle (genetic makeup, workload, diet, water intake, and exercise level etc.).

If you are looking for a miracle, then the invention of modern medicine such as Tylenol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, or Cortisone shots etc are for you. Those pain blockers help temporarily block the nerve communications in your nervous system, so you can continue doing what you’re NOT supposed to do (The movement that cause your injury at the first place). If you take those pain medicines day after day, week after week, your acute pain will become chronic issues and you will not even know it, until many decades later. (But you feel healed due to the absence of pain)

Pain killers are the fast way to stop the pain, but according to WedMD, pain medication also comes with side effects. For example; “Acetaminophen drugs such as Tylenol may cause nausea, rash, and/or liver damage. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil, Aleve, and Motrin may cause; upset stomach, heartburn, nausea, allergic reaction, in high doses and long-term use may increase risk of heart attack, stroke, stomach ulcers, and kidney problems. Use prescription anticonvulsant medicines to manage pain it may cause; dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue, headache, confusion, and/or skin rash. The use of prescription corticosteroid medicines may cause nausea vomiting, swelling of hands and feet, increased appetite, increased risk of infection. Long-term use may cause osteoporosis, and cataracts.” These are just a few examples; the list of side effects from different prescription drugs goes on even further.

Every day we spend our time watching the television, reading magazine, and newspapers, you may see prescription drug commercials promoting the wonderful effects of the drug. It is the future, and care of all disease. You could live a normal pain free disease free life. Don’t worry about the side effects; the pharmaceutical company will always take care of you. Just talk to your doctor, he or she always can write you another prescription to control the side-effects.

So, from the day you started taking your first over the counter pain killer for your lower back or neck pain, few years or decades later you might have 4 or 5, maybe even more daily prescriptions to maintain your health.

“After taking pain killers for so many years, I live without pain. Why now, do I feel the pain I’ve missed out on? Understand that the human body has the ability to heal itself and adapt to change. That’s the reason that when you are young, your metabolism is higher. Your body heals fast, so you might only take couple of over the counter pain killers to stop the pain. But when you get older your metabolism slows down. Your body adapted the effects of the pain med over time; therefore, those over the counter pain killers didn’t work as well as before for the some pain. So now you need to use prescription pain medication. After a few years you might find the prescription pain meds didn’t work anymore, so now your doctor recommends you to try cortisone shot. Many years later, the cortisone shot didn’t work anymore, now your doctor might recommend you to do a nerve block surgery. After that, all nerve activity will cease, and you cannot feel in the spot.

You have to understand that there are many reasons for pain; it could be a physical injury such as trauma, an automobile accident, or a serious fall etc. Internal issues such as chronic constipation may cause lower back pain. Early signs of liver problems might cause middle back pain. Pain from left shoulder to the elbow may indicate heart problem. So, besides over use of the muscles, there are many reasons why we feel pain.

I cannot cure your pain because there is no such thing as a cure. “Why is that?” It’s because pain is the language of our body, it is how our body communicates with our brain. If your brain never communicated the sensation of pain to your body, you would never know that you were over working you body, or that anything was wrong. Taking pain killers may help temporary relieve your pain, but it also bring toxin into your system. Decades later, you are seeking alternative treatment for you pain. Now, we are not just working on your pain anymore. We also have to work on other issues; the major difference between alternative treatment and conventional medicine is that alternative treatment treats the body as a whole. When you come to seeking me for help, I need to talk to you, listen to your concerns, your health history, and understand your lifestyle before I can create a treatment plant that fits your needs.

Why does it take a few treatments before you are relieved? During the treatments, we are trying to re-educate the muscles, changing cell memory, just like a chiropractic adjustment, or physical therapy, one treatment at a time redundant. It can take years to develop a problem, and it will take a long time to reverse it. A good healthy, clean diet also is important for your recovery; our bodies need the right macronutrients and micronutrients to heal itself. Also, drink enough water to hydrate the body and flush out the toxins. Daily exercise to strengthen and stretch your muscles can assist improvement to your circulation, and overall health.

So, if you want to try to use alternative treatment for you pain, please be patient……………… AH…….. “Patient” I was not born in the US, I am Chinese and grew up in Hong Kong so English is my second language. My question is that why do the doctor’s call the ill and sick people in their office waiting to be treated called patients (just food for thought)

I am not saying conventional medicine or prescription drugs are bad, I believe if you have pain or feeling ill you should go to see your doctor to receive an appropriate diagnosis. Then talk to your doctor to see the best option for your health condition is. If you are taking any prescription pain meds to temporarily relieve your pain, then remember to drink a lot of water, and learn how to detox your body.

Maintaining a good health is a hard work, if you are looking for a miracle or a quick fix; alternative treatment is not for you. But, if you are ready to change, and would like to live a drug free lifestyle please give me a call to make an appointment, I will be happy to meet with you in the future.

2 Comments

    Raymond Wan
    LMT., ADS., HHC
    Owner of
    Alternative Care Solution Wellness Center
    3790 28th ST SW, Suit B
    Grandville MI 49418
    616-419-6924

    Edited By
    Savannah Wan

    January 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015

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