How To Own Your Health
Wellness was never meant to be this complicated.
Looking after yourself shouldn't require hours of your day, an endless list of supplements or a complicated wellness routine. The problem isn't that we need more health advice. We need to understand what really matters.
This is where Chinese Medicine comes in. An extraordinary system of health that has been developed and refined over thousands of years. For more than 20 years, I’ve dedicated my career to unlocking the vast wisdom of Chinese Medicine and distilling it into a powerful, practical system that puts you back in charge of your health.
It all starts with understanding how your body works.
There are three fundamental things I want you to know, three simple things I want you to do, and this is where you start to own your health.
Three things you need to know
To start with there are three fundamental things I want everyone to understand about how their body works. Get these right, and everything we do next starts to make sense.
1. Circulation
Your body needs things to move.
When I talk about circulation, I don't just mean your heart pumping blood around your body. In Chinese Medicine, it is a much bigger idea. Your body relies on constant movement. Blood and nutrients need to reach your tissues, waste needs to be carried away and qi, the vital energy that powers your body, needs to flow freely.
There is a saying in Chinese Medicine: “Movement is life, stagnation is death.” It sounds dramatic, but the principle is simple. Your body functions best when things are flowing.
The problem is that modern life works against this. We sit for hours, move far less than we
This is why circulation is always my starting point. Before you add another supplement, diet, treatment or wellness trend, get the foundations flowing first.
2. Purge and Nourish
Your body needs to let go as well as take in.
Once things are moving, the next principle is what I call purge and nourish. Your body is constantly taking things in, using what it needs and clearing what it doesn't. Every breath is a perfect example: you breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
When I talk about purging, I don't mean a detox or cleanse. I mean supporting the ordinary processes your body uses every day to clear and eliminate, from breathing out to a bowel movement.
Only then do we nourish with the bascis, good food, water, sleep, rest, breath and movement.
Chinese Medicine understands health as this constant rhythm of taking in and letting go.
3. Strengthen your five key organ systems
Chinese Medicine looks at your body as a whole. Rather than treating every part of you as separate, Chinese Medicine sees five key organ systems at the heart of your health: the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lungs and Kidneys.
These mean much more than the physical organs themselves. Each represents a wider system of functions and is connected to the others, helping Chinese Medicine build a much bigger picture of how you're functioning and feeling.
The important thing to understand for now is simple: nothing in your body works in isolation.
You don't need to memorise any of this or become an expert in Chinese Medicine. Because when it comes to what you actually need to do, I've made it even simpler.
Three things you need to do
There is so much we can do to own our health, but we want to start simply. Just a few minutes a day, done correctly, puts you back at the helm of your health.
Breathe
You already breathe thousands of times every day, so start here. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing is one of the simplest ways to bring your body out of fight or flight and create a moment of calm.
My favourite way is to breathe deeply into your lower belly for a count of four, hold, then breathe out slowly and linger.
One way to do this is every time you pick up your phone, take a deep breath. You've just turned something you already do all day into self-care.
Once you’ve got the hang of this, try my beginner's meditation.
Move
Your body was designed to move, but modern life has made us incredibly sedentary.
This doesn't mean you need to add in another punishing workout. The important thing is to move regularly and get your circulation going. Every time you stand up to go to the loo either shake, tap or twist your body to get everything moving.
My easy Qigong routine is a brilliant place to start because you can do it every morning, however busy you are.
Schedule
You schedule your work meetings, so give your self-care the same attention. Your body loves regularity and this is one of the easiest ways to make sure you prioritise yourself.
Start by scheduling these very simple things: your mealtimes, daily movement, an afternoon rest and a consistent bedtime. Put them in your diary and before long, they’ll become part of your everyday life.
Want to go further?
This is your foundation. You now understand your circulation, purge and nourish and know your body is one interconnected system. Then you breathe, move and schedule.
My free Beginner's Guide to Chinese Self-Care will help you put all of this into practice and start building your own daily self-care routine.