Re-introducing myself (wellness)
My understanding of wellness has been training over treatment
The second installment of my re-introduction…
No one was more surprised than me that my work would encompass wellness. Mostly because I thought wellness and healthcare providers could only be certified professionals - which is true for the type of healthcare provided and its regulation. My wellness journey runs on a different track. In tandem, I first became very aware at a young age that bodies are delicate as my mom had the first of two spinal surgeries when I was nine. Though I was never drawn to risky sports that would injure or break my body, I knew it had limits - even though I didn’t yet know what those were.
I started paying attention to how I treated my body in my 20s. I started getting migraines. Once a headache reached a tipping point, the only relief came in sleeping it off - at its worst, I would be incapacitated, lying down, curtains drawn, lights off, no sounds, waiting to lose consciousness. It took a couple years to notice my patterns and find my baseline. Migraine triggers: dehydration, overexertion (ie. moving furniture, heavy lifting), sleep deprivation, skipped meals. I considered myself lucky to have a condition that so precisely dictated lifestyle changes. Do these things, don’t get migraines: hydrate, take it easy, sleep, eat meals on time - regular exercise an added plus. I haven’t had to sleep off a lights-out-migraine in over fifteen years, now that I know the right prevention and intervention - and within that time, I also found Taiji, Qigong, and meditation.
My first wellness practice was Taiji (Tai Chi), having no idea this martial art was a healing art. How does Taiji feel in my body? It feels like a house-just-cleaned, flooded with sunlight, shining, clear, open. It took three years to pinpoint where I was un-relaxed and tense - signaling to me where I need to clear. Taiji is a self-healing, upkeep kinda art, rather than a treatment. Turns out, all the practices I’ve adopted (along with cooking and meditation) are self-healing practices - things that can be done without an appointment with someone else. I was once told by a massage therapist that they didn’t like Taiji and Yoga people because we make them dig deep to find knots with extra rounds of kneading.
I teach weekly Taiji classes and have started offering introductory workshops:
April 23rd Taiji at the Google Visitor Experience in Mountain View (free)
April 30th Asian Wellness Foods & Principles at the Lark in San Carlos (soup tasting and talk about complete Asian meals and flavors, de-mystifying meat-eating/vegetarianism, fasting, energy)
May 14th Tea Tasting at the Google Visitor Experience in Mountain View (free)
I do love a good spa every now and then, but my concept of wellness has been training over treatment, and that comes from hanging out with strong elders, all practitioners of art and craft. Teachers, moms, and aunties twice my age who can out-stamina me physically and mentally in the kitchen and in cleaning, the messy work. How did they get there? Somewhere along the way, they learned the limits of their bodies; and therefore, set their own boundaries, and hold fast to them - in their movement, eating, and sleeping - reflecting a clear picture back to me about where I do and don’t draw lines around when to stop. The lesson: elderhood is about playing the long game, and health in old age is success. For the past ten years, my mom has said “I don’t feel [insert age here],” as I watch her deep squat muscles, built and fortified since her childhood, with my equally deep envy ;)
Up next in the re-introduction: storytelling and culture bearing…