The Power of Place

After a couple weeks spent lounging about the beautiful beaches of SE Asia, I returned to Beijing and some fresh perspective on this place that has become so familiar, but yet never quite home for me. The characteristics of the physical environment, cultural identity, and lifestyle habits of its residents combine to give 'The Big Dumpling', as we affectionately refer to the capital city, its own unique energy dynamic that we all feel the effects of in one way or another.

Weather-wise, Beijing is not likely to be considered for a Club Med location any time soon. While there are 4 distinct seasons, its dry and windy in winter, dusty and prone to sandstorms in Spring, and deathly hot and stuffy come Summer. The brief Fall season is often the best month or two of the year when blue skies prevail and temperatures become more pleasant. Overall, the climate grinds on the body's
yin element, often depleting blood and fluids and affecting the spleen/stomach balance of dampness and dryness. The strong presence of both wind and summer dampness also have a definite effect on the liver/gall bladder dynamic as well.

Overall, the earth here feels tired as water-tables become depleted and dust from the Gobi sails into town on high winds out of the dry northwest. It is not a place where Mother Nature lovingly embraces life, but rather one of stark and rugged beauty where resources can be short and the struggle to survive fierce.

The cultural landscape is characterized by the remnants of times long past, memories that live on deep in the identity of the people here. To that has been added the destructive,
tumultuous forces of modern history, mass population increase and the breakneck pace of development. The result - as interesting as it is hard to define. It can be both ruthless and unforgiving at times, while somehow maintain a straight-forward naivety and endearing quality that makes it, well, almost charming.

This all culminates and is reflected in the patients I see everyday in clinic. The city dwelling population of China is quickly eating and sedentating themselves into Western pathologies at an alarming pace. Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all raging their ugly heads faster than medicine, whether modern or traditional, can chop them down. A people constantly on edge, Beijingers have taken high-blood pressure to new levels, with the resulting strokes so common that it has become almost a right of passage among aging men who have smoked the heavy smokes and indulged in the white lightning much of their adult lives. Respiratory infections flare up throughout the winter months among the aged population as a coal haze lingers over the city, making it hard for the sun to fight its way through many days.

And then there are the effects of uninterrupted stimulation on the mind and spirit. Overwhelming anxiety and depression are becoming more and more common along with insomnia and its long term side effects. Aging is not dependent upon the body's ability to conduct the more
yang processes of life, but ultimately upon its ability to gather and store at an energetic level - the ability to rest both physically and mentally. The perceived need to be one step ahead of the crowd, to push forward despite competition and adversity, to win one's own piece of the modern miracle is where many people find themselves nowadays, a state not so conducive to maintaining peace of mind.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A pleasure to read- looking forward to more...
It's been a long time, I'm out here in Taiwan if you ever want to come out here you have a place to stay.