Xiaolan Zhao - Ancient Healing for Modern Women

ANCIENT HEALING

for

MODERN WOMEN

TRADITIONAL

CHINEES

MEDICINE

FOR ALL

PHASES

OF A

WOMAN'S

LIFE

ANCIENT HEALING

for

MODERN WOMEN

Xiaolan Zhao, C.M.D.

with KANAE KINOSHITA

Note: The information in this book is intended as complementary and is not designed to take the place of medical care. You should consult a physician before embarking on any treatment plan and for specific information concerning specific medical conditions. All patients' names in this book have been changed to protect their privacy.

Copyright 2006 by Xiaolan Zhao

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing from the Publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Walker & Company, 104 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011.

Published by Walker & Company, New York

Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

All papers used by Walker & Company are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

eISBN: 978-0-802-71869-3

First published in Canada in 2006 as Reflections of the Moon on Water by Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited

First U.S. edition 2007

Visit Walker & Company's Web site at www.walkerbooks.com

Image Credits

Studying the Yin Yang Symbol, hanging scroll (detail). The Trustees of the British Museum. by Hu Yaxong. Lotus and Ducks, late thirteenth-century Chinese painting on silk, unsigned (detail). Reproduced by permission of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Funds given by the Ruth Peters MacCarthy Charitable Trust, Dr. Patricia L. O'Neal, Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Luh, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Kresko, and an anonymous donor. Amorous Couple, ink on silk, by Jiao Bingzhen (1622-1723 AD). Courtesy of Lina Shen.

Text Permissions

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders; in the event of an inadvertent omission or error, please notify the publisher.

T. S. Eliot, "East Coker," Four Quartets, Copyright 1944 T. S. Eliot, Faber and Faber Limited.

Giovanni Maciocia, Obstetrics and Gynecology in Chinese Medicine, Copyright 1998 Giovanni

Maciocia, Churchill Livingstone.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield

To my grandmother,

who tought me so much

Contents

W hen I first entered Xiaolan Zhao's clinic many years ago, I experienced a beautiful healing space where I was surrounded by care and compassion. Xiaolan gave me acupuncture and massage, and it was a wonderfully healing treatment. Since then, many of my friends, family and patients have passed through her officein fact, she is the only doctor my husband would ever go to.

Xiaolan s new book, Ancient Healing for Modern Women, is a labour of love that brings the healing atmosphere of her practice to the world. This enlightening and invaluable book should be at the bedside of every woman. It is a compelling look at the stages of a woman's life and includes a wealth of practical suggestions for living them in harmony with nature's rhythms to maintain health and prevent disease.

In Western medicine, we have medicalized the natural and healthy stages of a woman's life. We over-prescribe birth control pills, hormonal medications, tranquilizers, antidepressants, and many other medications, much to the detriment of women's health. In contrast, in Chinese medicine, the stages of a woman's life are honoured and celebrated. Menstruation is referred to as Heavenly Water, pregnancy is called Ripening the Fruit, postpartum is known as Golden Month, and menopause is called Second Spring. Golden Month, the prescribed period of rest following childbirth, is one of my favourite concepts in Chinese medicine. During Golden Month, the mother and babe are encircled in a cocoon of love and nurturing by their family, completely cared for day and night so that the energy depleted during childbirth can be replenished. I think there would be far less postpartum depression and sheer hardship for women in the West if at least some of these principles were adhered to.

The ancient traditions of Chinese medicine are needed more than ever in our society where women are increasingly pressured to be superwomen and are fatigued, stressed and sleep-deprived beyond endurance. And breast cancer and heart disease, autoimmune diseases in which the body attacks its own tissues, are all on the increase.

In the Chinese art of feng shui, we make our environment harmonious for the flow of Qi, or life force. Our most valuable possession, our body, the house we live in, must be put in similar balance in order to optimize our health and ensure a healthy and vibrant Second Spring. This book will enable you to care for and thoroughly enjoy the body that you're in.

Carolyn DeMarco, MD

Author of Take Charge of Your Body: Women's Health Advisor

I n 1986,1 was working as a general surgeon in the emergency department of the biggest hospital in the city of Kunming, China, when a twenty-four-year-old woman named Jiayu was rushed in. She was vomiting bright red blood, and from its colour I assumed it was coming from a hemorrhage in her upper digestive tract. I, together with my medical team, operated immediately, but could not find the source of the bleeding. Three hours later, Jiayu was again throwing up blood.

Mystified and concerned, we consulted the chairman, the head doctor of the hospital. He thought we should again do exploratory surgery but this time to look farther down for the hemorrhage, to the small intestine, pancreas and gallbladder. An hour or two into the operation, using all the medical technology at our disposal, we still could not locate the source of Jiayu's bleeding. Everyone was shocked. We'd successfully performed countless abdominal surgeries to treat acute conditions, but this time we were at a loss. Within a matter of hours, Jiayu was again vomiting blood.

We decided to call an emergency meeting with the hospital's top surgeons. All five were at home sleeping in their beds when the nurse called them, since it was the middle of the night. But they soon arrived at the hospital and quickly changed into their surgical clothes. Together we operated for the third time, carefully looking everywhere we'd already looked. But there was no wound, no internal bleedingeverything looked clean. Approximately twenty-four hours had passed since Jiayu had been admitted, and we were no closer to understanding why she was vomiting blood. We felt helpless.