GUEST BLOG: "February is the month to start your annual 'Detox' program" by expert Acupuncturist, Simon Cheung.

I’ve been fortunate enough to learn some tough lessons over the past years, the upshot being that I now have a black book of vital tips, tricks, exercises and formulas, which help me be the person I aim to be.  I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am without the help of expert Acupuncturist, Simon Cheung.  In my eyes (and I’m sure many others) he is a ‘miracle man’.  Through acupuncture and his wisdom he has provided me with the tools I need to help me live life to an optimal capacity.

"I am grateful to Chloe for the invitation for an opportunity to contribute to her February Blog on a topic related to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Natural therapy.

My name is Simon Cheung, I am practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. From my previous medical training in conventional medicine, I am a strong believer for the 'Integration' between Traditional Natural Medicine and the modern day Orthodox Medicine, rather than the 'Alternative' or the 'them-or-us' approach.

While we have made great progress in medicine through scientific advances and research, there are plenty of wisdoms from ancient culture that if we were to learn how to better our understanding of them and knowing how to apply them to medicine, it will often serve us well to improve our chances of not having to base our health care through continued dependence on biochemical or pharmacological means; a system on which conventional medicine has become heavily reliant on.

So I think February is a good month to start your annual 'Detox' program this year. We might have enjoyed the positive momentum of the New Year in January each year, where efforts to better ourselves are often easier. However, the real challenge of our good intentions begin now as we approach February and onward, when negativeness of everyday grinds gradually fall back into their places, and to remain within the positive frame of mind become increasingly difficult. 

For example, that month in January when some of us may have chosen not to drink may not have really made us feel that much better after-all. In contrary, what it often does is allow us to start drinking more yet again in order to compensate for our month of being tee-total thus putting back precisely the same 'toxins' that we managed to 'detox' in January, undoing any benefits we might have gained from our month of good intention. Next January is a long time away before we stop drinking again! So why do we bother to stop only to start again twice as badly? Kind of one step forward only to take two steps back so to speak!

The act of 'detoxifying' our body isn't based on just attending to our physically well being alone, it has to be followed by significant resolution of the 'detoxification' of the mind in order for us to gain the ultimate benefits of all the good intentions to improve our health. A consistent way to live our lives and manage our health from now on against the challenges of natural ageing process of the human body and everyday emotional stress and strains that we faced.

Apart from 'how to physically and emotionally improve in yourself' I would also like to suggest on how to believe in ourselves and to understand some of the rules or disciplines we needed to follow in order for us to be in control of our health in these areas. Traditional Medical techniques like Acupuncture, which addresses the disharmony between the mind and the body thought reconnecting or disconnecting the energy (Qi) that rules our lives through a networks of energy lines (Meridians) can also be an useful tools to fine tune and restore our body and mind back into harmony as well as a form of treatment to maintain our general well being. 

'Commitment' can be an imposing word! But committing ourselves to the principle of preventive medicine to stay well, a program of health management, which allows us to be in control of our health. Not a resolution that yet gets broken each year, but through a resolution to commit to our plan on how to looks after ourselves, how to reconnect ourselves mentally and physically, and the actions that we are willing to take and commit in order to improve on our health for now and for the rest of our lives.................rather than just for January!"