Desert Health News July-August 2024

. There’s nothing like starting the day with a good steam shower, infrared sauna, hot yoga, intense workout or rapid walk to leave you feeling invigorated and energized. Cleaning out your system can clear your head and reset your mind and body for the new day ahead! We often feel that sweat is our best means of detoxing. However, this is actually not the case. While vigorous exercise is undoubtedly good for all body systems, we primarily release toxins through urine and feces; sweating releases water, electrolytes, sodium, chloride and small amounts of metabolic waste products. The holistic practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) offers a unique perspective on sweating. Let’s take a look… Sweat is produced by over three million sweat glands in our bodies and consists primarily of water, electrolytes, sodium and chloride with small amounts of metabolic waste products. The primary function of sweat is to cool the body thru evaporation from the skin’s surface, helping us maintain a stable internal temperature and preventing overheating during exercise or heat exposure. If not induced by strenuous exercise or working in the hot sun, sweat can be a sign of illness, viral or bacterial infections, heart disease, hormonal changes, being overweight, stress and or anxiety. Most of us know our bodies will produce a fever to burn and flush out diseases like viruses. In TCM, sweat is called Jin Ye (gold, fluid) and considered a precious fluid, along with blood and semen; one does not want to deplete or give away their Jin Ye. The practice divides sweat into Yin and Yang. The Yang aspect, our precious fluid (Jin Ye) warms and regulates body temp and promotes metabolic activity with actions by our digestive juices and semen, while the yin aspect of sweat and blood cools, nourishes and lubricates. Sweat that leaves the body containing electrolytes is considered Yin in nature as it nourishes and moistens the tissues. Sweat circulates in the body thru skin and muscles and in TCM’s five elements theory, is controlled by the metal element (lung organ energy). This element’s job it is to open and close the pores to maintain a healthy immune system by creating a barrier to protect from pathogens entering our bodies. Many believe that the more we sweat the healthier we become. However, excessive sweating can lead to dehydration. In TCM, it is not considered healthy to overdo it and once a week or so is recommended. The belief is that profuse sweating leads to a loss www.DesertHealthNews.com July/August 2024 Natural Options The Valley ' s Leading Resource for Health and Wellness 14 In traditional Chinese medicine, sweat is considered a precious fluid. Continued on page 23 www.Acqpoint.com Get relief from pain and stress now! Acupuncture • Electro Acupuncture • Chiropractic K-Laser • Cupping • Chinese Herbs • Cold Laser For appointments, book online at AcQpoint.com r call 760.345.2200 77682 Country Club Drive, Ste. G • Palm Desert Diane Sheppard, PhD, LAc ACUPUNCTURE CHINESE HERBS Madeline Flores, LMT, HHP MASSAGE THERAPY CRANIAL SACRAL THERAPY CUPPING Robert “Buzz” Edelburg, DC CHIROPRACTOR www.hfhcv.org Living with Jennifer Di Francesco Wellness There is no disputing that many of our traits and propensities in life originate from the integration of our ancestral past. The stirring of our ancestral inheritance speaks to us daily if we are willing to listen. The voices of family values, generational traumas and the choices of our ancestors affect us psychologically and influence our relationships with family and friends. Our ability to become acquainted with this circle of life and our family story contributes greatly to our responsibility to pay our actions forward to future generations. The ultimate question posed when engaging in this investigative work is a deeply personal reflection: what kind of ancestor do you want to be? It is a rare practice to unravel and peer into the keyhole of our ancestral patterns and extract the legacies and inherited truths. It is often not until later years of life that we find ourselves wanting to walk where others have walked, and to preserve their stories. At this time, we also begin to experience the passing of family and witness the past creep into our daily lives. The transitory nature of life and our indeliblemark upon future generations begins to hold a psychic responsibility. Our choices today, both large and small, will affect many people, and instead of burdening future generations with damage control, we can gift them with a life of greater ease. We can start laying the good-human groundwork by living our lives with the pondering of a few simply questions: • What kind of ancestor do you want to be? • What is your interconnected relationship between nature, creativity and your cultivation of energy towards life? • What role do you see yourself playing in change? • What aspects of your life support therapeutic work, inner-healing and health? • In what ways would you make changes to improve the lives of your loved ones? A known Greek proverb states that, “a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.” We live in a time where knowing and preserving family values holds challenge; we know less about our great grandparents than they did about theirs. Knowing that those before us provided the shade of trees for our supported life is a reaffirming thought. Such rumination may also encourage us to plant shade trees. Conversely, many of our ancestors made unskillful decisions and the reverberations from poor past life choices affect us today. We can begin to look at each woven thread of our ancestral tapestry and leverage knowledge as our North Star to guide us. Each of us holds great meaning and significance in this greater constellation called “family legacy.” As we ask ourselves the question, “What kind of ancestor do we want to be?”, we are encouraged to keep in mind this is not a future question as to how we want to be remembered. We are writing the script to this story daily with each choice and each non-choice. The meaning held in life moment to moment is what will be handed over for future generations. Jennifer Di Francesco is a wellness explorer and desert adventurist and can be reached at www.coachellabellaboho.com . What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? To Sweat or Not to Sweat The traditional Chinese medicine perspective By Diane Sheppard, PhD, LAc Please say “Thank you for supporting Desert Health . ® ” As a complimentary publication, Desert Health ® is 100% underwritten by our advertisers. We would not be here without them. If you visit their businesses, please thank them for their support. And thank you for reading!