
What to eat for hot flushes
Few people fancy eating watermelon in the snow. Even warmed up, it wouldn’t really appeal on a frosty morning. It’s also not the convention to drink hot chocolate by the pool in 40⁰ heat, but the watermelon would go down well. It seems we have an instinct for the foods that help us regulate our body temperature. Chinese medicine pays attention to instinct. Observes it, distils it, tests it out over hundreds of years, and then conveniently writes it down. In this way, Chinese

Book of the Month: The Spark in the Machine
This month’s book is one of my all-time favourites! Both witty and fascinating, The Spark in the Machine has proved an equally popular read amongst Acupuncturists, Western medics and the public at large. I can’t describe it any better than its publisher, so here’s a bit from the book’s description on their website. Why can salamanders grow new legs, and young children grow new finger tips, but adult humans can't regenerate? What is the electricity that flows through the human

February Health Challenge
February's Health Challenge is the first in the Chinese new year. Nature is still enjoying its winter snooze at this time. The snowdrops hint at Spring but things are still pretty mellow overall. This is the time of year to gather the last of those reserves in readiness for the WHOOSH of the growing season. Resting and storing energy now is like drawing back the string on a bow. Doing this bit right ensures that your Spring is more WHOOSH than flop. WHAT TO DO Set aside a tim

March Health Challenge
How is February’s Health Challenge going? It’s not too late to start – or restart – if you fancy giving it a go. It’s also worth continuing February’s Challenge on the darker, colder days next month. In February, the stillness of Winter asks us to slow down, go inward, allow our deep reserves to coalesce. Done right, this compresses something within us like a coiled spring. When bright green buds appear on the trees in March, we should be starting to feel cooped up, frustrate