Calming Back to School/Work Jitters & Restoring Balance with the Three Treasures
Southern California schools are beginning in person, but this year’s situation is entirely different. Even though everyone in schools will be wearing masks, the Delta variant continues to threaten, our youngest children can’t be vaccinated—at least not yet—and older students may be vaccinated but are worried about breakthrough cases so it’s no wonder that so many kids and parents are anxious.
Parents know how difficult it is for young children to maintain social distancing on playgrounds and it is equally challenging for older students to maintain distancing in crowded hallways and school corridors. Kids who were remotely schooled have lost valuable in-person connections so if you add social anxiety to worry about exposure to a dangerous virus it is only natural that many parents and children are worried.
In traditional Chinese medical theory, managing our emotions requires the integration of the Three Treasures: our Jing, Qi (or Chi), and Shen. Jing is our “essence,” our inherited potential for growth, development, and reproduction. We slowly use up our inborn source of Jing as we age, but we use it up more rapidly when we are ill, in pain, or suffering from stress.
Qi, our second treasure, can be loosely translated as vitality or our life force energy. When the aspects of our Qi are in balance, we feel vibrant and healthy. Shen can be interpreted as our spirit; when our Shen is in harmony with our Jing and Qi, we feel spirited and inspired. When our Shen is disturbed because of worry, our Shen is in a state of disharmony, we lose clarity and perspective, can’t think straight, feel foggy, or have problems with memory. When our Shen is disturbed we fatigue our Qi and deplete our reserves of jing.
In western biomedical theory, the body, mind, and spirit are often viewed as separate entities and are likely to be cared for by separate professions: doctors care for the body, psychiatrists care for the emotions, and spiritual leaders attend to the spirit. Chinese medicine practitioners believe that the Three Treasures are inseparable, and treat all three together and at the same time. They know that our emotional health has a profound effect on our very being—and that the health of each of the treasures has an effect on the others.
Meditation, tai chi, and qi gong practices can help balance the Three Treasures, and so can treatment with the modalities of traditional Chinese medicine such as acupuncture, Tuina massage, and customized Chinese herbal formulas. Our responsibility to you as experienced practitioners at Tao of Wellness is to help bring your body, mind, and spirit—your Jing, Qi, and Shen— into balance so you can assuage your fears, bring your worries into perspective, and begin looking forward to a happy, healthy future.