As a practitioner of The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy® a major part of what I do is teach people to connect to their inner wisdom by connecting first with their centre. This is where inner wisdom, intuition, gut instinct, or what you want to call it, resides. We are so disconnected in our culture because we are conditioned to give our power away to someone who “supposedly” knows better.
I am passionate about educating woman and men to take their health into their own hands. I tend to give a lot of homework to my students and clients. There are a few books I consider essential reading and Traditional Chinese Medicine for Women: Reflections of the Moon on Water by Xiaolan Zhao is one of them.
Chinese and Maya medicine are very similar and as a practitioner of TCM as well, I am always weaving Chinese wisdom into my teachings. This book is a life-changer – I have re-read it countless times and always find new pearls of wisdom. I highly recommend it.
Three things I love about this book…..
1. This book gives a good introduction to Chinese words and ways regarding the different stages of a woman’s life. Because we have grown up with so much shame and negativity in our culture surrounding body processes and stages, learning these beautiful Chinese phrases makes a positive difference.
Menstruation, for example, is called Heavenly Water. This is so much more gentle and poetic than period, the rag, and other common words we have grown accustomed to. Menopause is called Second Spring, because we essentially get a new lease on life. What a new and different perspective these words provide us about our bodies.
2. According to Chinese medicine women have seven-year cycles and men eight-year cycles. Certain things are supposed to happen according to those cycles. That is nature. We cannot stop the clock but we can learn how to support our bodies by working with them as we move through life. The author Xiaolan Zhao offers lots of practical and easy-to-incorporate tips from the Chinese medicine perspective. Yet she also offers a Western viewpoint.
3. I love that she also tells her story and shares her experiences as a Chinese woman who has moved to Toronto, Canada. She was so shocked by the way Western women view the different stages of life that she wrote this book.
I encourage you to read it and buy it for all your friends. I would love to know your thoughts after you read it.
Lisa Levine has been in the healing profession since 1992. She brings a background in massage, yoga, and acupuncture to her work as a Certified Practitioner + Self-Care Teacher of The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®. Her passion is sharing this work to help clients take their health into their own hands. www.essentialself-care.com
