The Barefoot Doctor's Guide to Wellness
By Letha Hadady
Roger Green’s enjoyable “Barefoot Doctor” class at Academy of Healing Nutrition offers simple ways to keep you and family sane, healthy and safe from stress and germs. Not based on the traditional Chinese barefoot doctor treatments but rather suited to today’s needs, the class is a good guide for wellness care during home quarantine as well as everyday ways to reduce fatigue and aging.
Who were the Barefoot Doctors?
The Maoist barefoot doctor guide to patriotic wellbeing was developed and written during China’s starving 1940s. Due to a period of crisis and turmoil, China found itself with a billion people and only a few medically trained doctors. The barefoot doctors were lay people who were taught basic skills in health and hygiene, such as traditional diagnosis and use of Chinese herbs, surgery, childbirth, cure of wounds, snakebites and broken bones and methods of sterilization using local plants, animal ingredients and some toxic herbs. The aim was political as well as practical:
We must actively initiate a patriotic health movement for the masses centered around hygienic measures and elimination of . . . pests, to reduce the incidence of disease and to strengthen the people’s resistance, for the benefit of ‘grasping the revolution and production, and stimulating work and war preparedness.’
Roger’s weekend class consists of learning some basics of Japanese Do-In (self massage), shiatsu massage, and applying a ginger compress to the lower back, as well as discussing healing baths and ways to purify the home.
Here is how we can protect our immunity during this pandemic…
Wear gloves outside especially in busy areas, such as the subway and other public transportation.
Avoid crowds and close contact with strangers.
Keep immunity strong with a sensible diet and immune-enhancing herbs.
See the previous blog, “The Ultimate Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine for COVID19+.”
More on Long- Term Immunity and Lung Health
The Chinese Barefoot Doctor Guide goes into detail about the types of cough detected with a stethoscope. When breathing, a whistling sound of wind blowing indicates dryness or irritation in bronchitis, a bubbling sound is excess moisture and congestion affecting the lungs. The coronavirus cough is dry (from fever) but when the lungs are charged with fluid enough to affect breathing, it is a deep loud cough with pain. Any difficulty breathing or discomforts should be reported to your doctor.
Keeping the lungs healthy on a daily basis includes incorporating digestive-friendly foods into your diet. Traditional acupuncture teaches that when digesting foods, the stomach gives off a “vapor” to the lungs. That means what we eat affects our breathing as well. Anyone who overindulges in creamy, sweet, non-nourishing foods (ice cream) may have excess lung phlegm. Roger stresses the importance of eating locally grown fruits in-season instead of tropical fruits in winter. Summer is an apt time for fruits, as fruits tend to be cooling but can be cooked to warm their nature. Digestive- friendly spices may be added when cooking, such as ginger, cinnamon, clove, and star anise. See the section on “kitchen medicines” in Karma Herbs to learn the temperature of herbs and spices.
Smoking and diabetes weaken our immune system, impacting our defense against coronavirus. Diabetes also tends to create chronic thirst and hunger from dryness. People who smoke or eat lots of hot, drying foods may develop a dry cough. An ancient Vietnamese doctor, who is also head of gynecology in Saigon’s main hospital, believes that people with diabetes should avoid all sweet foods, even carrots and beets.
To combat thirst and dry cough, moistening foods include soaked oatmeal, asparagus, and teas sweetened with monk fruit (lo han kuo.) Roger recommends Bravo yogurt if possible, made with raw milk, which has been used for easing symptoms of chemotherapy treatments, Alzheimer’s, and childhood autism. The famous ginger compress is another good way to address stagnation, poor circulation, and chronic pain.
How a Ginger Compress can help...
We all know that drinking ginger tea can help to soothe an upset stomach or ease nausea and morning sickness. But applying ginger to the skin is also recommended by some other health advisors to ease certain chronic pains in the back or abdomen, to assist in drug detox treatments, and to gradually improve infertility. Blood and Qi flow (adequate circulation) are the balancing features of healthy organ function, and applying ginger to the skin can help bring blood circulation to the affected area.
Since the abdomen, lower back, and lungs are energetically connected, a ginger compress placed over adrenal glands may also improve breathing and energy,and is relaxing for lower back strains.
Bring 2 quarts of water to nearly a boil.
Rinse then finely grate about 1 cup of raw ginger.
Squeeze about 1/2 cup of liquid from the grated ginger into the very hot water, allowing the ginger enzymes to be released into the water.
Carefully dip a clean towel into the ginger water, wringing it to remove excess water.
Check the temperature to not burn the area where you will place the towel-it should feel warm but not burning.
Place the wet towel over the kidneys or lower abdomen and cover the towel with another dry towel to keep the warmth inside.
Repeat this several times when the wet ginger towel cools.
This Ginger Compress can be done once a week as needed to ease chronic pain and cramps from stagnant Qi, internal cold, or irregular menstrual periods. Avoid this treatment if you have a fever or may be pregnant.
Other compresses Roger discusses include the cooling and detoxifying salt compress, as well as various cooling food compresses made with taro, chlorophyll, buckwheat, and miso. They follow the energy principles of the Five Elements and Tastes: sour gathers and is astringent; bitter scatters energy, sweet sedates, salty softens and dissolves lumps, and pungent increases Qi. When Vick’s VapoRub, which contains camphor, eucalyptus, and menthol, is applied on the chest, we inhale a fragrant steam of ginger water or essential oils.
*Note that young children and very weak or pregnant people should avoid the ginger compress.
How Essential Oils can help...
Essential oils are wonderful for applying topically with a carrier oil or used in house cleaning to enhance the aroma and vibration of your rooms. For us, mint, lavender, citrus, and ylang-ylang are relaxing and recommended to ease depression. Tea tree diluted with water is a favorite oil for application to cuts and fungus and disinfectant gargle. I like to use seasonal essential oils with water to wash my wood floors: cooling ylang ylang or sandalwood in hot weather and cider or spruce in winter. Lavender both strengthens and moderates the heart and, in that way, eases stress. Topically helichrysum oil has been recommended for skin problems, including wrinkles and spots, and neem oil for bug bites and eczema. Some essential oils are toxic for pets so avoid using peppermint, pennyroyal, tea tree, lavender, citrus, ylang-ylang, and wintergreen where pets may lick or inhale them, and never apply essential oils to pets.
Take Healing Baths...
Healing baths are an easy way to incorporate energy treatments into a daily routine. You can add chamomile tea to a warm bath to help heal wounds, itchy skin, and lung congestion. The fragrant tea is digestive and soothes stress.
Heart to Heart: Care For Your Heart Naturally discusses detoxifying baths in detail. Because mud pulls toxins from the skin, mud from the Dead Sea and water spas from Budapest to Mexico have long been enjoyed as a luxury used to treat chronic pains of arthritis and clear skin irregularities naturally. Adding 1/4 cup of pure clay powder to a warm bath can help to soak away troubles and feel grounded by Mother Earth.
Borax is another natural earth element that is mined from lake bottoms. Minerals in borax are heavier than water and pull heavy metals from the skin and water down the bathtub drain. Add up to 1/4 cup each of borax and baking soda to a warm bath and soak for 15 minutes. Borax Twenty Mule Team Borax is the same powder, sold in the supermarket, used as a clothes washing additive to make clothes cleaner, but make sure there are no added chemicals or fragrance.
Your bath is an apt time to do Do-In. Sitting in warm perfumed water, tap gently with fingertips along the bladder meridian, starting from above the eyes, over the top of the head and back of the neck to the tops of shoulders. Tap from the palms of hands upward to the underarms. Tap from the top of the shoulders down to the tops of the fingers. The same for legs: Up the inside, down the outside. The Yin meridians are on the front of the body, the inside areas of arms and legs. The Yang meridians are on the tops (dorsal side) of the arms, legs, and back. You can reach everything--meridians and internal organs--by massaging the ears, hands and feet.
Do some relaxed deep breathing, listen to soothing music, bless those you love, and wish health and happiness for all sentient beings.