by Angela Tian Zhu | Nov 7, 2019 | Seniors & Dementia
The Qi or energy state of seniors may be one of deficiency due to age, illnesses and their lifestyle.
Wellbeing For Seniors
Qi Gong can help increase energy and make seniors stronger. With stronger energy, blood circulation improves nourishing the skin and muscles while helping the internal organs function well.
Circulation and Wellbeing
If you think about blood circulation, blood as fluid tends to flow down due to gravity. We need our circulation to go up to nourish the brain, eyes, hearing and our teeth.
When we get older, we tend to be energy deficient and our circulation doesn’t pump the fluid as efficiently. This can lead to reading problems with our eyes, problems with our teeth and can also affect the brain with memory issues.
Without good blood circulation to the brain, brain cells can then die very quickly reducing the size of the brain. This leads to a loss of brain function which may include dementia and even stroke.
Qi Gong Helps Reduce Inflammation
Throughout our life’s journey, we build up stagnation (Chinese Traditional Medicine), or inflammation (Western Medicine). Inflammation occurs when our body fights sickness —infections, toxins, injuries or stress. This may lead to heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more. Stagnation is a sickness. For example, if you have dementia your brain cells stagnate and they die or they shrink. Cancer is stagnation, so is arthritis —where your body is not working properly.
When your whole body stagnates your life is finished because movement and breathing become difficult and you don’t have warmth— you don’t have energy.
Qi Gong can help.
Increasing Your Energy
You’ll have increased energy helping to fend off the stagnation or inflammation. Your organs will be stronger, circulation better and tend to live longer. You will move better and be more flexible and active, leading to a better quality of life.
We should encourage seniors to use their Dan Tian (their energy centre) for walking and standing upright as much as they can. When they walk we recommend that they try to put their heel down, otherwise they shuffle, as when we age we take smaller steps and use less Dan Tian.
We encourage seniors to walk early morning using their Dan Tian to be proud of their body and to visualize putting down the heel down first and if you can, and more difficult, putting your five toes down evenly. That takes concentration. If you can encourage them, safely, to take larger steps they will use your Dan Tian. steps became smaller.
by Angela Tian Zhu | Oct 11, 2010 | Seniors & Dementia
I once had a 70 year old patient who was also my friend. He was very friendly honest and nice. One day he had a car accident. The car was terribly damaged but luckily he was ok. The only problem he had was controlling his urine. He started seeing me for acupuncture treatments. After the treatments he felt much better and was able to control his urine again. Checks in the hospital also showed he was fine. Unfortunately though he started forgetting things a little while after the accident and it got progressively worse. He has two daughters. He forgets their names and doesn’t know what they do. The problem was diagnosed as Dementia. When watching him I noticed he was making very small steps, leaning forward, using the front of the feet, head down reminding me of a rocking doll.
One of my other students has an older neighbour who used to be very active and happy. One day she was robbed on the street which was a great shock to her. Very soon after this incident she was diagnosed with Dementia. The shock had brought on the dementia. In Chinese medicine we say the kidney controls bones, marrow, brain and also fear and shock. When people get shocked the kidney Qi gets destroyed and cannot carry the energy to the brain and the marrow. We say the brain is the sea of the marrow. Therefore the brain very much depends on the kidney energy. When the body gets older, Qi deficiency is natural. Especially in the kidney, the life energy becomes deficient. This is natural to a certain extent. When we get older we are already deficient but having a shock is tragic and Dementia can easily happen.
How to protect kidney energy
Good nutrition, avoid shock and play safe. Fear and shock is normal to a certain degree and not harmful. But having fear for a long time can destroy kidney energy. One of my patient’s mother lived in fear for all her life. One member of her family was very sick and the husband was very controlling. Those many years of fear gradually destroyed her kidney Qi, very similar to a great sudden shock. It’s very important to find out the reasons for your fear and getting rid of it to strengthening the kidney energy. Exercise is also very good, so is good nutrition, avoiding being frightened and shocked. It’s also very important to see a doctor regularly. Walking, Tai Chi, Qi Gong and yoga are good exercises. For prevention of Dementia needs to be done early and you should start thinking about it after the 45th year of your life, especially if there have been cases of Dementia in the family. It is also important to remove any kind of fear.
Prevention and wisdom are the two principles of Traditional Qi.
Written by Angela Zhu, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi instructor.
© Copyright Angela Zhu 2010
by Angela Tian Zhu | Jul 19, 2010 | Seniors & Dementia
One of the things we can do to regain the balance and help avoid these health issues is:
According to TCM, the kidneys support and nourish the brain through Qi (energy). The kidneys support the brain, spinal cord and bones by producing marrow, which is why TCM calls the brain, “the sea of marrow.”
If the kidney energy is deficient, the support system is deficient and weakened. This can ultimately lead to problems in the brain such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. So to help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s, one of the things to focus on is strengthening your kidney energy. One of the things you can do is:
Bring your column up. There are four things involved with the column.
- Lifting the Hui Yin up (prenim)
- Hui Yin connects up with the Dan Tian (under the navel, inside the stomach. Prenatal and postnatal energy comes from here!)
- Use the Dan Tian to push the spine up
- All the way up to the Bai Hui into the sky (crossing point from both tips of the ears and the middle line of the body)
Prevention and wisdom are the two principles of Traditional Qi.
Written by Angela Zhu, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi instructor.
© Copyright Angela Zhu 2010
