Health Blog by YinTeing

Many years ago, I met monk who taught that there were 2 causes of diseases like cancer:

•  Due to element imbalance- in traditional healing, we have elements like fire, water, wind, earth. If these elements are not balanced or some are in excess, it will manifest into illness or physical discomfort.
• Due to kammic causes- the illness is the kammic consequence of previous deed(s) commitment- whether from current or from past lives. If the disease arise from kammic causes, then conventional treatment would not be effective.

I always remember  what he said- if a person is not going to get better, no matter how rich he is and even he goes to the best specialist in the world, he would not be cured. But if a person is due to be cured from cancer, and too poor to afford treatment- and the old people asked him to drink his own urine, he can be cured by drinking his own urine.

A person who constantly does good, help others, have a sincerely kind heart and is generous would in turn, receive life energy and usually, health and vitality. Everyone would undergo certain ‘danger’ period at least a few times in their lives. Sometimes, the person survives- like an attack by robbers, an accident or an illness. Sometimes, he may not. It depends on whether the life force energy is strong enough to sustain the person- and in scenarios like these, even all the investments and insurance in the world would not help. In fact, a person who invests regularly in stocks and mutual funds as well as buy adequate insurance should consider investing on one very important commodity – himself or herself. One who takes from Mother Nature or from life should consider giving back to it so that there is no deficit in the balance.

Once, there was a surgeon in Singapore who had breast cancer. Her own colleague, another qualified surgeon operated on her. The moment the surgeon opened her up, he knew the cancer had spread to all directions- and sadly told her that she had only about 3 months to live.  continue reading…

This is continuation from a previous published post on How to Overcome Shoulder & Lower Back Soreness When Travelling .

4.  Shoulder stretch- very good to relief tension in the shoulders and back area. I always do this exercise.

It gets more effective when done with a resistance/exercise band (holding the band with both hands shoulder width apart)

Image Source: fitness-training-at-home.com/

5. Another standing shoulder and arms stretch

Image source: thepilatesacademy.com.au

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Lower back pain/ soreness is quite common during travelling especially if the traveller does a lot of walking, carting their heavy backpacks with them. It brings a lot of discomfort as the muscle soreness prevents a good night’s sleep, decrease enjoyment and may slow down the travel. Most of the time, travellers who want a quick fix will douse themselves in painkillers.

Before resorting to pain killers, here are the following mini tools that I bring along during travels to ensure the well-being of my back:

• Exercise band
• Guadsa board

Now you would think how would both the items above help to relieve back pain?

Lower back pain is likely caused by tight hamstrings and/or tight hip flexors and/or erector spinae (spine muscles). Stretching can do wonders to relieve the ache of your body- when your muscles are tight, you gently stretch to loosen them. For a more useful guide, please read my previous post on Overcoming Lower Back Pain.

Even though you may normally do yoga or stretching exercises in your gym, once you are out there travelling, you will no longer be stretching those muscles. After a while, your muscles will become tight. When you attempt to stretch your tired hamstring muscles after a long day’s of walk, you will find it much easier to stretch using an exercise band as it will help you stretch easier.

Stretches you can do (click on the link to view the pictures):

1.  Hamstring stretches . You can do it either standing or sitting

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The Body Mass Index (BMI) chart below only provide a rough idea of whether our weight, in proportion of our height falls under underweight, normal, overweight or obese category. Reading differs from one place to another. For example, in some countries, BMI of over 32 is considered obese.

Body Mass Index Table

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Chinese New Year (CNY) is around the corner- this year it will fall on Valentine’s Day (14 February 2010).

Usually Mandarin oranges or “kam” are available during this Chinese New Year session- during other times of the year, only the smaller versions are sold. For the Chinese, “kam” has the same pronounciation as gold in Cantonese. As such, the mandarin oranges will be placed all over the home and exchanged between the guest and host. Because during festive session gatherings will tend to sit around and chat, with the Chinese cable TV in the background, most people will conveniently reach for the mandarin orange.

You may want to go easy on mandarin oranges to avoid sore throat

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Some people suffer from constant running nose- possibly due to allergies or choice of food intake. There are those whose sinus is so bad that they have to literally go around with a few handkerchiefs- and their nose may run for no apparent reason, causing a lot of embarrassment.

When I was young, I remember suffering from consistent running nose. My mom used to take back free samples from pharmaceutical companies and made me take the medicine. Or it would be piriton, artified, anti histamine prescribed by her doctors. A lot of this medication used to make me sleepy during class. Already not being a natural morning person, waking up to go to school was tough. Having to take medication made it worse. I do object to this at times but my mom gave the medication with good intention, believing that they will work. The only thing that she does not give me is antibiotics- possibly because they know that they have side effects. 

Cute tissue holder sold in Suphan Buri, Thailand. That's what sinus sufferers use tissues mainly for.

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I did mention earlier that I will be writing a post on how you can use Coca Cola a.k.a the real thing to cure cough. Take note though- it can only cure if you do it during the initial stages of cough. Once the cough gets chronic, it does not work anymore.

How to do it:

1. Pour a can of Coke on a pan and heat it up.

2. When the Coke is getting hot, add almost a tablespoon of salt in it.

3. Off the fire and stir till the salt melts.

Drink it as soon as possible. OK, the salty version of Coke will not be getting you excited but drinking it helps when you notice that you are just beginning to cough.  Once you delay this, sometimes you will have no choice but to let the cough runs its course.

If you feel a little better, do it again either the next morning or at night (depending on which time is nearer to you).

well, coke bottles and cans can also be a collector's item

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The following is a personal story shared by Dr Jeffrey Chiew, in his book The Millionaire Formula where he writes about mind over matter:

When you perform mental programming, you must believe that it will really happen. You must give it a reasonable time to work its wonders. I first came across subconscious programming when my mother suffered a stroke many years ago. As the result of the stroke, my mother was paralysed from the waist down and was bedridden. The doctors told us that she would never walk again. We gave up all hope and started to claim permanent disability insurance from our insurers. But my mother was always a positive person. She said, “Okay, don’t worry, I’ll be cured.” One day, she told my sister, “I’ll be cured very soon. All you need to do is to pray for me.” My sister went to the temple to pray for our mother and true enough, a few days after that, my mother could sit on her bed. By the end of the second or third month, she was able to walk again. I’m sure glad that I didn’t convince her that she couldn’t be cured. After that incident, I started to believe that the mind can perform miracles.

(Dr Jeffrey Chiew himself have a very impressive life story- born in the slum area in Kuala Lumpur, he rose from poverty and became a millionaire by 25. The book itself really pack a punch- providing lots of tips on how to make your first million in 7 easy steps.) 

This reminded me of an incident years ago that I’ve witnessed while I was at a Buddhist world conference. The topic that was being discussed was mercy killing- is it right to pull the plug on a person who is declared brain dead?

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