Eco-friendly gardening and Chinese medicine share something in common: they both emphasize food as medicine to balance the body. Sustainable and organic form of gardening is a way of growing foods that can be used to heal and balance the body. Chinese medicine, on the other hand, promotes the concept that the human body is a microcosm of nature. So, with these two systems, we can reconnect with nature in a deep way and give ourselves the power to enhance both our diet and health. Eco-friendly gardening and Chinese medicine bring or restore balance to the smooth natural movement of energy in our bodies.
By using cinderblocks to create elevated garden beds, you can create an eco-friendly sustainable, garden and raise a wide array of veggies that can help heal the body in a variety of ways. For instance, people are more likely to experience insomnia, tendon and joint pain, high blood pressure, and headaches, in the springtime. If you plant vegetables and herbs like cucumber, peppermint, leafy green veggies, mustard green, Swiss chard, and dandelion in your garden that are known to help relieve those problems, it can provide you a great opportunity to create real “herbal pharmacies” that can help improve your wellness and health by allowing you to include healing foods into your daily meals.
When we practice organic gardening, we can access foods that can help detoxify our bodies because the foods that we grow organically are free of toxins and pesticides that may cause or aggravate existing acute or chronic health problems. Moreover, organic gardening techniques can help restore harmony in the ecosystem in a manner that improves our capacity to contribute to nourishing the planet and other life forms and boosts our sense of centeredness. Hence, we’re able to experience a greater sense of connection to the earth that can help promote calm mental states within.
Dr. Christopher Lowry, a neuroscientist discovered that a harmless bacteria normally found in dirt called mycobacterium vaccae, can increase the production of serotonin and stimulate the immune system of mice that play a huge role in affecting moods. According to the doctor, studies indicate that doing gardening, where we use bare hands in working with organic earth or soil, can increase serotonin levels and help prevent anxiety and depression. This just proves that gardening is probably one of the best natural cures for anxiety and depression and when we spend time gardening on sunny days, it can also help raise serotonin levels in our body.
Chinese medicine in the form of qi gong, tai chi, and other energetic healing exercises can help prepare your body for gardening tasks. These ancient therapeutic practices can help prevent us from developing aches, pain, and other ailments that a lot of gardeners tend to experience. Qi gong and tai chi are ideal approaches to warm our spine and joints, parts of the body that usually stress out due to frequent bending when doing gardening chores (even if they are elevated beds). Moreover, both qi gong and tai chi exercises activate the flow of energy flows that give us greater sensitivity to the movements going on in nature. These very old types of healing exercises help our energy bodies access the higher frequencies within the world of plants. This is one reason qi gong or tai chi is usually practiced in nature and in beautiful gardens where plants are abundant. In Asian cultures, diets are usually composed of a few meat products and a large amount of vegetables, which is congruent to a healthy lifestyle that reduces the risk of chronic illnesses like cancer and heart disease.
So, during this coming spring, adopt a different style to your gardening chores by consciously creating gardens that raise “medicinal foods” and combining healing approaches as part of the process of working with the enhancement of the energy of plants and the earth.
Goldfarb Chiropractic and Acupuncture Center
1339 Pleasant Valley Way
West Orange, NJ 07052
Phone: 973-325-8884
www.acupuncturewestorange.com