When my sister living in Wuhan was going in and out of the hospital emergency room, I once again asked if she was open to energy healing exercises.

“Yes.”  She said this time.  “But, DON’T give me a bunch… I won’t know what to do and I won’t do them.  Just give me ONE thing.”

Healing modalities, especially Eden Energy Medicine, have a large set of tools.  Her request got me looking for the Swiss Army Knife inside that tool box, something that is widely applicable, high effective, and easy to use.

One exercise, Hook-up, stands out.  It’s essential like clean air and fresh water are to our good health. And like a Swiss Army Knife, it’s highly beneficial and can be used to help with many problems. That’s why I do it daily, so does every practitioner trained in the Eden Energy Medicine.

Hook-up takes a couple of fingers and can be done in 30 seconds. Therefore if you want something quick and easy, this is good choice.

In this blog post I’m going to go over the exercise itself and its benefits.  We’ll then explore in-depth the energy system that it works on, basically the why and what. In a future blog post I’ll share with you other ways to activate your micro-cosmic orbit and the roles of the Central Vessel and the Governing Vessel, the two components of the orbit, play in human body.

Let’s start with the benefits of this exercise.

Why might you want to do Hook-up?

Here’s a list of its benefits:

• It soothes the nerve system. 
• It enhances a sense of confidence.  
• It centers the mind and calms the body.  It relaxes you to the core.
• It reinforces your energetic spine, the microcosmic orbit that the QiGong masters work with. A sturdy spine is a cornerstone to your health.
• It strengthens your aura, weaving stronger energetic threads around you.  A well-built aura protects you from the swirl of the world around you.
• It creates more connections to all other systems.  

and lastly,

• It activates the Extraordinary Vessels, also known as the Radiant Circuit, which I consider the circuit of joy.  It facilities transformation and change, thus supporting you on your Soul’s journey.

How to do Hook-up?

Hook-up involves two power points in the body: One is at your belly button.  The other one is at your third eye, the middle point between your eye brows.

• First, place the middle finger of one hand into your belly button with light pressure.  Pull the skin up slightly.  It does’t matter which hand you use.
• Second, place the middle finger of your other hand onto your third eye with light pressure.  Push the skin up slightly.
• Now relax your shoulders. Drop your elbows. Unclench your jaw.
• Hold for 30 seconds. Or for as long as you are comfortable.

That’s the basics of the Hook-up.  Later I’ll show you how to do it for maximum benefit.

What are the two power pointers?

The two points the Hook-up works with are the belly button and your third eye, the middle point between your eye brows.

Sitting at your belly button is an important acupressure point on the Central Vessel called the Spirit Gateway (ShengQue 神阙).  It’s considered the gateway to your life force and spiritual energy.  This is the lower DanTian in the martial arts practice.  

There’s a specialty in Chinese Medicine that treats various diseases using the belly button, including infusing herbal medicine into the body through this point.

Your third eye sits above the bridge of your nose at the middle point between your eye brows.  The acupressure point at this spot is called the Hall of Impression (YinTang 印堂), the temple of the spiritual seal. It’s the upper DanTian in the martial arts practice.

It’s your 6th chakra in the 7-chakra system, the seat of clear vision.  It governs your mental activity.

What is the energetic spine?

As I said earlier Hook-up strengthens your energetic spine.  What then, is your energetic spine? Let’s take a look at your physical spine first.

Physical spine

Your spine is the center pillar of your skeletal system. It’s attached to your skull.  It goes from your neck to your tailbone.   It holds up your physical structure, including your arms, hips and legs which are attached to it. In turn your skeletal system provides a stable framework for your soft tissues and protects your internal organs.

In addition, the nerves that run up and down inside your spine connect your brain to your internal organs and the rest of your body.

The health of your spine plays a pivotal role in the health of your entire body, which is one of the basics in chiropractic practice.  Your spine is your lifeline, as they say.

Beyond the physical spine you also have an energetic spine, the central pillar for your energetic body.

Energetic Spine

Your energetic spine consists of two Extraordinary Vessels, the Central Vessel and the Governing Vessel. Extraordinary Vessels are like super meridians in that they’re capable of jumping around, much like a helicopter flying to where it’s needed.  Whereas meridians are like cars whose energies travel on a highway.

The Central Vessel runs along the front of your body in the middle line of your trunk, from your public bone to your lower lip.  The Governing Vessel runs along the back of your body in the middle line of your trunk, starting from your tailbone, climbing up your spine,  over your neck and the back of your head, across the top of your head, down the front of your face, and then over your nose to your upper lip.

These two channels start right next to each other between your anus and your genital.  They end at the same spot in the back of your throat, thus forming a loop.

This loop is the pathway of Microcosmic Orbit in the Qi-Gong practice.  Invigorating the Microcosmic Orbit is a foundational practice.

As such, Hook-up is an important practice, essential to your health and wellbeing.  That’s why I do it daily.  So does everyone trained in the Eden Energy Medicine. I hope you will too.

When I return to this topic in the future, I’ll share with you other roles the Central and Governing Vessels play in your energy system and how to take this practice deeper. Stay tuned.

Please leave me a comment about your practice or if you have any questions and suggestions regarding this blog post or your health.

See you next time!

My husband Jim is quite active. He runs, plays tennis and lifts weights. He’s also quite healthy, as far as he’s concerned, except for his right foot.

It tends to swell up. It’s something that’s happened for a number of years.

The Symptom

Lately it started to hurt occasionally.

For the record Jim doesn’t want me to be his healer. However he does enjoy a nice foot rub.

The other night as I sat down to give him a foot rub, he asked me not to touch his right foot, as there was throbbing pain on the outside of it. To be exact the pain was along the line between the 4th toe and the pinky toe. That happens to be the last segment of the Gallbladder meridian.

Your Gallbladder meridian starts at the outside corner of your eyes, covering the side of your head down your neck and down the side of your body, zigzagging on the side of your head and trunk. On your thighs it runs on the outside along the seam of your pants, down to the ankles and straight out of the lateral side of the 4th toes.

The Treatment

Once I identified the meridian on which the pain was sitting, I made a loose fist with my right hand and started digging into his breastbone with my knuckles, from the top near the throat all the way down to the distal tip of the breastbone, right above the abdominal cavity. Its official name is the sternum.

“It hurts a little bit.” He said as I dug in on the softer part of the breastbone.
“Good!” I replied.

Next I dug my fingers in between the ribs on either side of the breastbone.
“That hurts a bit too.” He commented.

The Result

“How’s your right foot?” I asked.
“Strange! The throbbing pain has stopped. It still hurts but it’s way better.”

A few minutes later I was ready to call it a night.

The following morning he told me:
“Not sure if it’s because of what you did. The swelling in my right foot has gone way down. It also doesn’t hurt anymore!”

“Great! Now that you know it works, here’s your homework assignment: massage your sternum every day.” I smiled while giving him a recommendation.

The Diagnosis

This is a straight-forward case using a combination of Chinese Medicine and Eden Energy Medicine.

According to Chinese Medicine, wherever there is smooth flow of Qi there’s no pain, wherever there is pain there’s a blockage of Qi flowing.

According to Eden Energy Medicine in which I’m trained, there’s a category of points and lines on the body called neuro-lymphatic points. As the name indicates, they connect the meridians to the lymphatic system. Massaging the neuro-lymphatic points of a particular meridian removes toxins and congestion from a meridian. It also sends fresh energy to the meridian and related organ system.

Now let’s look at Jim’s case. His foot pain was on the Gallbladder Meridian, which means there was congestion on the meridian. Whenever there’s a congestion in a meridian, you can start with its neuro-lymphatic points.

The neuro-lymphatic points of the Gallbladder Meridian are on the sternum and the gap between ribs. Massaging them helps to clear the toxins out of the Gallbladder Meridian. It’s a simple and easy way to work with a meridian. That’s exactly what I did.

Usually massaging neuro-lymphatic points provides immediate relief to physical pain.

There are of course other ways to alleviate pain. But this is one of the most accessible ways. Sometimes this is all it takes. Other times this is a great first step in managing pain.

My Plan

Please let me know if you find this case study interesting and if you’d like to learn more on how to work with health issues that come up on a regular day.

My plan in 2022 is to establish a system to best support you in maintaining and creating radiant health. I’m working on creating online courses so that you’ll have a centralized place to explore relevant information, with cases studies just like this one.

This morning my husband and I went to a neighborhood park near the Intracoastal Waterway, a canal near the Ocean. The sunlight was shimmering over the water. Schools of fish were jumping from the water playing. A dog was swimming. People were biking or walking.

It was a great place to find peace and tranquility on a weekday morning.

After strolling for half an hour I started feeling aches and pains in my body that weren’t there up until then.

My body was full of tension yet I was too busy to notice. Given what I’ve been up to lately I wasn’t surprised. I started an exciting project providing busy entrepreneurs an edge via a healthy lifestyle integrating healing with fengshui. I also stepped into a major leadership position inside a self-development training program.

Fortunately I know how to take care of myself.

One easy way to relieve stress and anxiety is to massage acupressure point Tai Yang, 太阳 (Sun), an extraordinary point that isn’t on any meridian.

Tai Yang is on your face on the outside edge of the eyes by your temples. It’s located between the end of your eyebrow and the corner of your eyes, a thumb’s distance (the width of your thumb nail) from your eyebrows.

There are several ways to work with it.

• Hold Tai Yang on both sides with your fingers for 30 seconds to 5 minutes. You can keep your eyes open or closed, whichever feels more comfortable to you.
• Place your thumbs on your temples (Tai Yang) and rest of your fingers on your forehead above the eyebrows. Hold for 2-5 minutes. Again you can keep your eyes open or closed.
• Massage Tai Yang with the pad of your middle fingers with up and down motion for a couple of minutes.

You can try all three techniques and see which one you like the most, for the time being. Your body changes. So does your preference.

Let me know how you like this new technique. And, please share this blog post with a friend by emailing them this link.

Cheers.

Recently several of my friends have fallen under the weather. Three of them have tested positive for Covid, while one is awaiting his test result.

I’ve reached out to share with them what’s in my medicine cabinet that I’ve been using to keep myself healthy and to ward off this virus, during this time of prolonged stress and uncertainty.

For me, maintaining a strong defense for my health includes regular exercise, keeping a positive attitude, getting sufficient rest, and sticking to a proper diet. It also includes:

• Energy exercises to keep the stress at bay and my body’s energy humming.
• Dietary supplements that boost my body’s natural immune response.

Today I’m sharing with you the list of dietary supplements that I’ve been taking since my close encounter with Covid last year.

Before we continue I’d like to make it clear that what I’m sharing here is what I use for myself. Nothing on this blog post or on this website is meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a health professional for any medical advise.

In the past I resisted taking any dietary supplements, opting to use food as medicine. At the height of the pandemic last year I finally decided to incorporate a small set of supplements, adding another type of self care to my routine.

Similar to food, I choose supplements with as few ingredients as possible. I personally like a sublingual that dissolves instantly. It gets into the blood circulation right away, instead of going through the digestive track, which may take hours.

My go-to brand is “Superior Source,” because they have what they termed “microlingual” that dissolves instantly.

I. Vitamins:

• Vitamin C by Superior Source. Tangy C has a kick like the smell of the peel of an orange,
• Zine Lozenjets by Superior Source.
• B complex by Superior Source. It contains B1, B2, B3, B6, Folate, B12, Biotin, and other ingredients.
• Melatonin by Superior Source.
• Vitamin D. I take it naturally in the form of sunlight as it’s one of the perks of living in South Florida.
• B-12 Vegan Methylcobalamin. Organic spray by Garden of Life – Mykind.

II. Specialities:

• Colloidal silver solution, by Sovereign Silver. Some consider it a powerful tool in supporting a strong immune system. I like that it has only two ingredients: 99.999% pure silver and pharmaceutical-grade, purified water. It contains 98% bio-active silver ions & silver nano-clusters.
• Oscillococcinum by Boiron. This is a homeopathic medicine that reduces the duration & severity of flu-like symptoms, such as body aches, headache, fever, chills & fatigue. This was recommended to me by a seasoned healer and nurse practitioner when the pandemic first broke out.
• Axio by LifeVantage. I use a formula called Axio, which is important for maintaining the brain’s health. It comes as a little pouch of powder that’s easily dissolved in water. For more on this check out my blog post A surprising cause of exhaustion.

One last thing

Supplements are useful only to the extend that your body is able to utilize them. Reducing stress goes a long way to enhance your body’s ability to make use of them.

Start building-up your immune system. Fortify it. We’re in this life for the long haul and want to be our healthiest during the journey.

I’m running my 9-day de-stress challenge again for a limited time only. Click here to sign up for it today. Share the gift of health and wellbeing by inviting a friend to join you. When your friend joins you, it increases the chance of success for you both!

Your health depends on more than simply knowing the specific meridians or some energy exercises.

Most of us acquire knowledge about how to live healthier here and there, in a random manner. We get excited and make healthy changes for awhile, but usually drift back to older, less healthy habits and behavior.

A couple of months ago my husband Jim’s family came to town for a visit. It was their first time visiting us. My husband spent three months sprucing up our humble house. Painting the outside wall, getting the well fixed, and having new sod laid onto the front lawn.

The part of the project that was important to me is the main entrance. According to Chinese Fengshui principle the main entrance is the most important contributing factor to the health and wealth of the residents.

There’s a collection of potted flowers at the entrance, inside the small triangle-shaped plot between the drive way and the front door. For years every six months or so I would get new plants.

The first week or two I water them daily. They stay fresh and bloom during that time. Gradually I get out of the habit & water them occasionally, when I remember it. They manage to stay alive for a while longer.

One day Jim came home with an orange watering can from Lowes the home improvement store.

“Oh thank you,” I said to him, “An orange can, a happy color. How nice!”

Meanwhile I thought to myself: “Right, another useless toy! We have a couple of buckets already. Do we really need another thing?”

What happened next really surprised me, so much so that I’m sharing with you here!

Every day for months now I took out the watering can, filled it up, and went to water my potted plants.

Not only was I able to maintain a watering schedule, I also kept up their appearance by removing the flowers that just passed their peak and were wilting away.

If you’ve grown hibiscus, you would know that’s a daily routine as a hibiscus flower only lasts for ONE day!

Now more than 3 months later these plants are still produce fresh flowers!

By adding a little splash and a little convenience to a mundane activity, it turned watering plants into a pleasant activity that enabled me to sustain the habit.

I thought that I was beyond those little gimmicks but my subconscious mind certainly loved it.

Now turning to you, what is it that you can do to make sure that you do the Healthy Energy Routine everyday?

Is it to accompany it with your favorite music?
Or to do it with your favorite person?
Or do it at a favorite spot, like on the back porch, or under the mango tree?

Or a more nurturing or convenient time of the day for you, like 5 o’clock in the morning or 6 o’clock in the afternoon after returning from a day’s work?

What little touch can you add that pulls you forward in fulfilling your intention? What spark can you create that brings smile to your face and lit you up?

Remember, having healthy routine makes a huge difference in people’s lives because they are routines. They work on your physical body, emotions, mind and energy day in and day out, week in and week out. It solidifies a foundation on which to build your health and wellbeing .

Share with me what little splash or spark you use or intend to add to your routine.

It’s awful to experience indigestion. It’s even worse to vomit or have diarrhea.

Here’s an energy exercise that can alleviate those symptoms. It works on the acupressure point Liver-13, the 13th point on the liver meridian. It’s Chinese name is Zhang Men (章门), Completion Gate.

In addition, working with this point regularly can strengthen your solid organs: liver, spleen, heart, kidneys and lungs.

As a matter of fact, Liver-13 is one of the 8 points that are known as Influential Points, also known as Meeting Points. Each of them influences a particular system of the body, such as tendons and ligaments, the blood, and the bones.

Here are a few benefits from massaging this point:

• Alleviates indigestion
• Eases vomiting and diarrhea
• Strengthens your liver and spleen

Working on it regularly will for sure enhance your health and sense of wellbeing.

General guide for acupressure:
Use firm pressure when you massage a point, unless it’s too painful. If it is, then use lighter pressure.
If the point is painful to massage, it means that there is energy congestion and it’s in need of massage.
If it’s not painful, you’ll want to dig around. You may find a spot that’s tender.

Let me know what you find by leaving me a comment below.

Normally when we think about exhaustion, we think about lack of sleep, running around using up all of our energy, or even dealing with stress.

But, that’s not all.

There’s another cause of exhaustion, one that showed up as a surprise even to me, someone who’s been working with people coping with fatigue for years.

My friend Crystal tested positive for Covid-19 six months ago. Her main symptom was that she was tired all the time, so much so that she was sleeping almost constantly for days it seemed. I did some research and found out that researchers who study Covid-19 patients have categorized exhaustion as a common neurological impact of the virus.

That made me aware of the brain-energy connection.

The brain consumes a lot of energy. I remember a study done on college students years ago which found that students who studied more weighed less.

Not only that, the brain is also the command center of the body. It controls all of the cells in the body, including how efficiently they consume energy. When brain function is impaired, the cells in the rest of the body stop functioning optimally.

If you get tired easily, try something that supports your brain health, such as energy exercise or dietary supplements. That might be the thing that moves the needle upwards for you.

Being a vegan, I take a couple of B vitamins for my brain: B6 and B12 as they’re lacking in my diet.

However, the powerhouse for my brain health is Axio, a brain drink by LifeVantage. It comes as a powder that dissolves in water. It has become a part of my health regime after I’ve given it a try for 90 days.

Here is a link for you to check it out. Click here for decaffeinated version. Scroll down past the shopping cart section & you’ll find the nutritional information and Frequently Asked Questions.

What have you discovered that helps you with your brain function?  Leave me a comment below. I appreciate your input.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of LifeVantage. If you purchase a product through clicking on the link above I’ll be paid a small commission, probably enough to buy me a cup of herbal tea (no caffeine please).

Disclaimer: This post and this website are intended for educational purpose only. Nothing on this website should be construed as medical advice. Speak with your medical doctor if you have any concerns for your health.

Have you noticed that your ability to make good decisions and judgments wavers from time to time?

Sometimes decision making is easy, while at other times you make lousy decisions that you later regret.

Do you believe that you have the best judgement and decision making skills when you’re under stress?

We don’t have the same level of decision making power all the time. There’re times when it comes easy, when we’re in the flow. Then there are times we don’t make good decisions. That’s when accidents happen around the house and on the road. That’s when we say the wrong thing or make the wrong move.

According to Chinese Medicine your decision making is the domain of the wood element, specifically your Gall Bladder meridian. The health of your Gall Bladder meridian impacts your ability to make sound decisions and have tempered judgement.

When Gall Bladder is balanced you have better judgement, and you make good decisions easily.

When Gall Bladder is out of balance, you have a hard time making decisions that you’ll be truly happy about.

Here’s one exercise that helps to balance your wood element, especially Gall Bladder.

This video that I made several years ago shows you how. In addition to balance your wood element and Gall Bladder meridian, it also helps to release excessive energy and pent-up emotions.

When do you have trouble with decision making? What does this exercise do for you?
Leave me a comment below. I appreciate your input.

What I struggle with right now is my inability to add more healing exercises to my day. It’s been a challenge to make Tai Chi and Tapping (a form of energy healing) a daily practice.

I’d like to do those exercise but I don’t seem to find the time for them. Sometimes I forget. Other times I have the intention to get to them later in the day but later never comes.

I know they are good for me and I should incorporate them into my daily routine. However I haven’t been able to make it happen.

Can you relate?

Don’t get me wrong. I have some daily practices to take care of myself, like walking, meditating, and energy movements.

However I’ve found it difficult to restart tai chi and tapping, two things that were both enjoyable and beneficial for me in the past.
Here’s what I’m doing to get over this difficulty…

1. Remind myself that little things do count.
That mindset gives me room to be creative with re-establishing them as a daily habit. After all, habits, both good and bad, are formed over time with repeated small, seemly inconsequential actions.

2. Attach it to something I already do.

It’s not that my schedule is so tight that I can’t find 30 minutes in the day to do these exercises. What fails me time and again is that I simply forget.

When I extend my morning 5-minute Qi Kong exercise to include Tai Chi, it becomes easier for me to remember.

3. I … start small, 3 minutes at a time.

Part of the reason that I push it to later is because I don’t want to interrupt what I’m already doing at the moment. When I give myself permission to exercise for only 3 minutes, I can take a one-Tai-Chi-movement break most of the time.

The trick here is to get started. Once it gets started, I can get going much easier.

I hope that you’ve found this useful.

After all, overcoming this resistance to (re)start a healthy practice is the key to you achieving radiant health and vibrant body!

Peace and blessings,
Dan Zhou, Ph.D.

PS, you can find my tai chi warm up exercise here.
PPS, you can find an introduction to tapping here. It’s one of the most versatile tools for emotional and mental health.

A popular acupressure point for relieving back pain and sciatica is the 40th point on the Urinary Bladder meridian, Wei Zhong (委中), commonly know as BL-40.

BL-40 is one of the four Command Points in acupressure/acupuncture. It influences the back, waist and legs.

Here’re a few benefits from massaging this point:

• Reducing back tension
• Relieving leg pain
• Soothing urinary issues.

General guide for acupressure:

• Use firm pressure when you massage a point, unless it’s too painful. If it is, then use lighter pressure.
• If the point is painful to massage, it means that there is energy congestion and it’s in need of massage.
• If it’s not painful, you’ll want to dig around. You may find a spot that’s tender.

Let me know what you find by leaving me a comment below.

P.S., Fast action discount for the live, online class Calming Anxiety and Stress is available for the next 24 hours. The general admission price is $37. Register now for $20 to take advantage of the discount. Click here for detail and register.