I’ve often felt conflicted about celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year. Practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine and Japanese Acupuncture as some one outside of those cultures, is a sensitive place to be. Through the transculturation of TCM in the West, we as acupuncturists are only taught a fraction of the history & pillars that make up Traditional Chinese Medicine, mostly for the sake of taking a standardized licensing test. In the process, we have left out several branches of healing arts traditions that make up, intersect or influence Chinese Medicine including; astrology, Feng Shui, I Ching prediction systems, and the lunisolar calendar which describes the interrelation of our bodies with the natural world, and the cosmos.
For the past couple of years, I’ve been attempting to fill in some of the gaps in my understanding of the sociocultural context of TCM, by practicing Qi Gong, following the lunisolar calendar, and learning I Ching. While it’s been a mish-mash of self directed study, I would like to acknowledge the teachers I’ve been directly learning from; Dr. Aung and Master ZhongXian Wu. As well as the lineage of acupuncture from Sensei Kiiko Matsumoto, and her teacher the late Master Nagano.
It is impossible to separate Chinese medicine from Chinese culture. With that, I believe comes a process of self reflection and humility on how to engage with and carry these lineages of knowledge in respectful way. I share my ongoing learning in these letters, and on socials, with respect to my teachers and the 3000 years of cultural knowledge and innovation that has allowed me to make a living doing something that I love.
With that I say, Happy Lunar New Year!
If the year has started off slow, sluggish and unmotivated for you, you may be relieved to know that you are right on time with the rhythm of the natural world. Contrary to Gregorian calendar, in the lunisolar calendar we are still amidst the deepest days of rest - these are the last few weeks of the winter qi nodes. This is a time for sleep, contemplation, and saving our resources. This is done so that we are vital, and our energy is abundant when the stirrings of Spring begin to emerge. A shift in our orientation might be to focus on reflections over resolutions. While this is a good time to plan, vision and reflect, it is not the ideal time to take action, or deplete ones energy. The traditional Chinese Calendar follows both the movements of the moon in 12-13 phases of the year, and the sun through 24 solar terms. The year of the rabbit starts the lunar year/Spring festival on the new moon falling January 22, while the start of spring in the solar year falls two weeks later on Feb 4th. (This video explains in detail if you’re curious.)
The Year of the Rabbit brings a slower, gentler, and more contemplative pace for the year. A nice change after a hurried, and often challenging Year of the Tiger. Tiger Years are known for correcting our course, while events may seem dramatic and at times painful, it is usually meant to change what is no longer serving us in our lives. Year of the Rabbit gives us time to heal these wounds, redirect our focus, and renew a sense of hope for better years ahead. You can find a full write up of Year of the Rabbit from local Chinese Metaphysics practitioner Sonia Tan here.
For myself, a contemplative theme emerging for the Rabbit Year is how to align my work with what feels meaningful on a larger scale. After such a deep cultural upheaval during this pandemic, I find myself asking - What truly gives us meaning? What generates hope? What is the world we want to be a part of? And what is our role in bringing that to fruition? A helpful reflection prompt I found was this article Finding Our Place in the Social Change Ecosystem by Deepa Iyer. I love this framing for finding our sense of purpose, and the accompanying diagram because it resonates so beautifully with TCM theory of interconnectedness.
I feel lucky to have such caring & empathetic clients. To support so many of you who in turn support your communities through organizing mutual aid, politics, government, relationships, and parenting. My work feels meaningful in part by being able to support you in your work in the world.
Wishing you all the best in your reflections for the year ahead. May we all know and experience the support of our interconnectedness.