Holistic healing

Health: Traditional Chinese Medicine with Emma Cannon

Introducing Natural Health’s new columnist Emma Cannon, who fuses eastern and western approaches to balance energy and promote optimum health

360°HEALTH

Introducing Natural Health’s new columnist Emma Cannon, who fuses eastern and western approaches to balance energy and promote optimum health
Back in the 1980s when I sold chlorella, an algae supplement, to Boots, balance wasn’t really on anyone’s agenda. Thankfully, the concept is now mainstream, and one can mention energy and qi without being called a complete hippy.

I’ve been a qualified accupuncturist for 16 years, and my expertise is now treating infertility and women’s health, working alongside both western and complementary experts with an east-meets-west appraoch. This is the best of both worlds; integrating cutting-edge western treatments with a holistic approch that’s always had one aim: balance for better health. My work is as much about staying well and preventing illness as it is treating ailments.

Chinese medicine

At the heart of Chinese medicine is the idea of creating balance in the body by taking a 360- degree approach. I look at three particular aspects, which I call the engine, fuel and mind.

Engine

I define the engine as your physical health, which can be affected by various lifestyle factors such as work, stress, relationships, sleep and exercise. I’ll write on all these subjects in the coming months. For example, how does sleep affect your health? Do you need to work less or even a little more to feel in balance and full of good, strong energy?

Fuel

Food is nourishing; involving all our senses. We think of the energy of food and so match different foods to different diagnoses. This is why one person will love the warming nature of ginger tea while another will feel better with cooling jasmine. I can’t wait to tell you all about the marvels of chicken soup and will be including healthy tips each month.

Mind

It has always felt very natural to me that emotions should impact on health and that physical and mental wellbeing are intimately connected. Much of the work I do is directed at calming the mind; often it’s only when you get to the emotional heart of a patient that you can really begin to make a difference. When a particular emotional state, like fear or anxiety, begins to dominate this disrupts our balance and smooth flow of energy, our qi. I will show you techniques to calm the mind and help you in many areas of your life and health.

What is our qi?

Qi is at the heart of everything I practise. It’s our life force and so when out of balance we try to improve the flow of energy and encourage the body’s own healing process.

We are all different with different needs. The same ailment can have many different manifestations and so respond to different treatments. We call this differential diagnosis in Chinese medicine; it is complex but I hope every month to show you how you can bring a little of this approach into your own health, developing your intuition and getting to know what simply feels right, for you.

I will also introduce you to aspects of Chinese medicine that can be incorporated into everyday life and I hope to show you that far from being old fashioned and irrelevant this ancient medicine is more relevant today than ever.

Article by

Emma Cannon

Integrated Health Expert & Acupuncturist