Leading up to my online CEU course on Jing and nurturing life practices (2 hours of CEUs for FREE, sign up here), I sat down with scholar and Chinese medicine practitioner Dr. Phil Garrison to discuss Jing (Essence) and the less discussed Jing Shen.
It only makes sense that the first video we shot for the Nurturing Life Project would be on healthy soil. Healthy soil is directly tied to our Jing (vitality). Plants grown in soil teeming with healthy microorganisms thrive. They pass on this vitality to us in the fruits, vegetables, and grains they produce. Thus, we cannot have health if we do not have healthy soil.
This was particularly important to my mom, Dr. Judith Andrews, and I since we are remodeling an old home with an abandoned yard (read more about the renovations on Judith’s blog). Plants in southwest Florida have to be resilient to weather the onslaught of insects if you don’t want to rely on toxic substances. In our quest to improve the health of our soil and plants, we came across Rachel Singletary of Pine Forest Fruit and Flower Farm. Known as the “Worm Lady”, Rachel uses worm castings to replenish the natural ecosystem of the soil and help her plants thrive without the use of a single chemical or processed fertilizer. Castings work similarly as probiotics do in our own bodies. Rachel explains that while composting is hit and miss in Florida, worm bins are easy to manage in the climate here. This solution is cheap (about $40 to start a bin), environmentally supportive, and effective.
She put our yard on a regimen of monthly application of castings until the plants look visibly healthier.
For more info on Rachel’s worm bins, native plants, or butterfly gardening please see: Florida Native Plant Seeds
One of the many projects we have is to replace a failing hedge of ficus trees. Ficus trees can be a nuisance; destroying pipes and foundation. However, I don’t like to kill things, so I decided to re-purpose them into bonsai; Judith’s and my new hobby.
Ficus is supposed to be a great bonsai subject for beginners in warmer climates especially. It can take tremendous abuse and grows rigorously. We brought a few trees to a mentoring session associated with the Bonsai Society of Southwest Florida, hosted by Ernie and Dorothy. Watch as they mentor me on how to begin transforming unwanted, unhealthy ficus into beautiful bonsai.
There are three times during a woman’s life when she has the opportunity to either improve, or else risk damaging her health. These are menstruation, postpartum and menopause. This theory has historically been used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and has more recently been popularised by Dr. Zhuang Shuqi, a Taiwanese doctor of TCM specialising in women’s health. This article expounds on this theory and explores its relevance to modern Western society, presenting a comprehensive description of the main pathologies, practices, prohibitions, dietary approaches and lifestyle choices that practitioners should be aware of in order to help women recover and optimise their health during these life transitions.
For full article please see:
Andrews, Lia. “The ‘Three Golden Opportunities’: Key Times Women Can Improve or Damage their Health.” (The Journal of Chinese Medicine, October 2013, Number 103).
