Self-Care Tips & Herbal Remedies
On Grief
Nerdnote #34: on grief
written August 17, 2017
I've been thinking about grief lately, watching it unfold in one of my patients eerily mirroring my own experience, and wondering why nobody's written about the way it runs its course, like a fever or an injury.
I wish I had kept better records of my own process, ennumerate the things I wish I'd known.
Sleep Hygiene
What I do for sleep is as follows:
- Try to exercise daily, but not right before bed.
- Stop eating after 8pm.
- Stop using screens after 8pm.
- Go camping.
- Be outside 10-15 minutes every day.
- Avoid caffeine.
- Cuddle my cat.
Start of Summer
Yesterday was the solar term 立夏 lì xìa, the beginning of summer. I lost my first patient on this day three years ago. Exactly one year later, we lost my partner's maternal grandfather.
Slow Breathing
excerpt from an email to a patient sent February 21, 2016 at 9:35am:
You can work on slow breathing. I mean really slow, smooth, and relaxed, like you're sipping sweet air through a straw that's the very back of your airways to fill up your lungs from the bottom to the top.
On Dreaming
Nerdnote #2: On Dreaming (from Suwen 80, Lingshu 43/80)
sent on October 19, 2015
Hi Margaret,
Here’s an alphabetical list of Nei Jing references to dreams that I compiled on November 4, 2014. I’ll try to get you an actual translation (Amy-style, beware incoming whimsical approximations! :p) soon.
How to Pack a Wound With Yunnan Baiyao
Yunnan Baiyao herbal powder and capsules used for wound care
Foot Soaking
How to do a therapeutic footsoak
What’s that pin on your head?
Monday, April 14, 2014
I hit myself in the face with a bungee cord while trying to untangle it from the spokes of my new bicycle today. It cut the bridge of my nose and bruised my left eyebrow.