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Alternative medicine is a substitute for conventional medicine. People who think conventional medicine is not useful to them may choose alternative medicine. For example, my parents who suffer hypertension and diabetes don’t believe in conventional medicine. Instead, they changed their lifestyle and started to use herbal medicine to improve their condition. However, it is important to consult doctor first before using any alternative medicine because some alternative medicine cannot use with conventional medicine or may be harmful.

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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a very familiar topic to me as a Chinese. Before the lecture, I thought that we will only be taught about some basic knowledge about TCM. I thought that I knew TCM enough that this lecture would be boring for me but things turned out quite different.

I was taught that TCM is based on two fundamental theories which are yin-yang and five elements theories. I knew about these two theories but just not what it should be in TCM. The yin-yang and five element theories that I knew are from the manga, anime and drama that are based on fantasy genre. People basically just use martial arts with different elements to fight each other and that were the yin-yang and five elements theories that I knew. However, in TCM, these two theories are used to describe the body condition of a person. The balance between yin and yang and the five elements are very crucial to keep a person healthy.

There were two modalities of TCM being discussed under this topic which were Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. My family use Chinese herbal medicine usually for personal health improvement. I have to be honest that I am not a fan of Chinese herbal medicine since I was a child. The main reason is that they are not tasty at all. Besides, they are not very effective to me even though I had consumed them for quite a long time but I have to admit that they somehow work sometimes even though the theory behind them is unknown.

It was the first time I being introduced with the principle behind the Chinese herbal medicine which are the synergism between the major herb (Zhing), adjuvant herb (Chen), assistant herb (Zhou) and ‘Guider’ herb (Shi). They work together to achieve optimal effect. It is interesting for me to know about the synergism between the herbs because the herbal medicine that I practice in my family do not involved synergism at all. Some knowledge was missing when it was passed down generation by generation verbally but not in record.

There is a problem with TCM. There are too many unknown remedies being spread within the community and on the internet. There is always some news about the tragedy happened due to the practice of unknown remedies once in a while. My father was diagnosed with cataract two years ago when the Movement Control Order (MCO) was just started. He couldn’t get his surgery done because of the MCO. Thus, he decided to use the remedy passed down by my grandmother to treat himself. He bought two powders from the Chinese herbal shop, mixed them with water and used the solution to wash his eyes. He told me that it was painful to wash his eyes with this solution. I decided to check the ingredients used to make the powders online. Things turned out that the powders were made from acidic minerals. The remedy was basically using acidic water to corrode the eyes and remove the cataract. The process was very dangerous as it may cause blindness if the acidic powders used were too much. I immediately stopped my father from using it anymore. I am not discouraging people from practicing TCM or Chinese herbal medicine but we must always be skeptical with the unknown remedies and we must consult with the doctor or related expert before using any remedy.

I learned a lot through the lessons and I think it will help me to consult my family and people around me when they practice TCM.

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Aromatherapy, as its name suggests, it is a therapy that involves fragrance that heals a person’s mind, body and spirit. The solution used for the aromatherapy is the essential oil extracted from plants using distillation method. There are five types of aromatherapy which are cosmetic aromatherapy, massage aromatherapy, medical aromatherapy, olfactory aromatherapy and psycho-aromatherapy. Out of the five aromatherapies, the one that I ever tried is olfactory aromatherapy.

The first time I ever tried aromatherapy was back when I still studied in matriculation. Despite the wonderful effects of aromatherapy, I started to practice aromatherapy was because I had a stinky roommate. He was a very busy person as he participated in many events and student union. He often had to stay overnight outside. Every time he came back to his room after few days, he will lay on bed first without even taking a bath. The bad odor of his body often be delivered to the bed next to him which was me. Besides, he will roll to my bed while he was sleeping. The bad smell was directly stick onto one side of my bed which was a very unpleasant experience for me. Thus, I always slept on another side of the bed.

I tried many ways to solve this problem. At first, I tied a rope between our bed to prevent him from rolling to my bed anymore but I thought that it was too much and it might hurt his feeling; thus, I untied the rope soon after. Then, I brought a new small fan and turned it on for the whole day hoping it might help by blowing the smells away but what stuck on my bed, still on my bed. The bad odor did not go away. It was by that time that my brother suggested me to use the air refresher. I was worried at first that both the good and bad smell would mix together and create an even worse smell but surprisingly it worked. I am sure that everyone like their room to smell good. I immediately fell in love with the aromatic products and most importantly, I like their elegance. I put a bottle of air refresher on my table since then for my whole matriculation period.

The air refresher not only give a good smell but it also helps me to calm down and focus on the assignment. The aromatic products I ever used were all cheap products and I think they were not plant extracts but only the products of chemical synthesis. I hope I am able to try the real aromatherapy and experience the good effects of aromatherapy in the future.

Overall, this topic introduces me with many types of aromatherapy and essential oils with different functions. It helps me to choose which aromatic products I want based on their effects.

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Mind body medicine suggests that a person needs to have good mind and spirit in order for the body to stay healthy. Optimistic person is less likely to suffer from any disease. It is important to treat the emotion too when treating any disease.

There are four steps suggested by mind body medicine to heal a person’s mind which are emotional balance, sharing and support, guided imaginary and breath. I found that these four steps not only can describe how to heal a person’s mind, it can also be used to describe how a person destroy his or her mind.

I am a very sensitive person and an overthinker. A single word even from a stranger can ruin my whole day. I will think of every single word I said and every single decision I made and regret everything every night but I would not share with anyone of my thought because I think that nobody has whole day to hear my story and my negative thoughts. I ended up keeping everything in my mind.

Things got worse and worse since I started my study in matriculation. It became harder and harder for me to open up with new people in this new environment and the same cycle happened again when I first came to UM. Many negative thoughts crowded in my mind. I smiled lesser and the expression of my eyes became less energetic. I always suffered from fever and cough almost once a month since then. Things went to the worst in April of 2022. I suffered from panic attack every night. I felt like my head will explode anytime and I could not think of any other thing. The only image in my mind was the mistakes I had done in my life and I also suffered from shortness of breath during the panic attack. I could not focus on my studies and assignments at all. I started to prepare my last words for my friends and family and I planned to leave this world after my birthday on 23rd May 2022.

I tried to open up with my friends before during my secondary school. Not only did I not get any support from my friends, but I ended up being judged by them. Thus, I swore to myself that I won’t share my thoughts anymore. I can’t say that this lesson really helped me in my decision making but it definitely helped a bit especially the sharing and support part of the lecture. ‘Since I am going to die anyway, why don’t I share a bit of my thoughts to my friends’, a tiny thought popped up in my mind.

Thus, I made up my mind, prepared myself of being judged again and finally decided to share my thoughts to few of my friends. Things were different this time. It was the very first time I received so much emotional support from my friends. I am so grateful that I decided to open up with them that time. If you guys ever have the chance to read this, I just want to say thank you. You guys saved a life. I love you guys.

Anyway, just as mind body medicine suggests, my persistent cough is finally treated as soon as my mind is treated. Thus, it is important to have healthy mind and spirit to have a healthy body.

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Acupressure is a technique derived from the acupuncture. The use of needle is not needed and only physical pressure is applied to the pressure point to bring out a certain effect.

Although I did know that pressure points are also used in alternative medicine, my knowledge towards pressure points is also the same as my knowledge towards the yin-yang and five elements theories. I learned about pressure points through fantasy genre Chinese drama. Pressure points in drama are located at the same place as the pressure points in real life. Pressure points in drama and real life are similar at some point that every single one of them have different effects. However, their effects are completely different in drama and real-life perspective. In Chinese drama, the pressure points can stop the bleeding, stop opponent’s movement, knock out the opponent or make the opponent tell the truth. There are also some pressure points that once press, the opponent will receive an instant death. My mother used to scare me with the pressure points story. She told me that I might die or might kill someone else if I let them touch me or I touched the others. I knew that basically my mother just wanted to teach me that I should protect my own body and never let stranger to touch me but the child me was traumatized. At some point, I was very cautious all day long, afraid of being touch by accident by my friends.

I experienced acupressure once in a tuition class during my secondary school. My teacher was an old retired man in his 60s putting all his efforts to learn traditional Chinese medicine and one of the techniques he learnt was acupressure. There was one time I went to the tuition with very severe runny nose. The snot came out from my nose continuously like the waterfall. I ran to toilet many times just to clean up my nose and my face as well. My teacher noticed me and he tried to fix my problem. He pressed a pressure point between my eyebrows. I always thought that acupressure was fake since I discovered my mother’s lie. However, it magically worked that time. My runny nose was fixed in literally just a few seconds. I was amazed. However, the effect did not last long. My runny nose came back after a few minutes maybe due to the treatment was not done yet since my teacher just pressed on the pressure point for few seconds. I tried to press it myself but I failed. I couldn’t locate the exact place my teacher pressed and it did not work at all.

Overall, this topic taught me more about the acupressure. I learned more about its function and now I am willing to learn more about the acupressure and reexperience the magical feeling of the acupressure.

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Bowen technique is a gentle and non-invasive technique that only slight pressure and movement are applied onto the fascia and soft tissues of the body to realign the body and introduce the healing effects.

I used to receive Bowen therapy from my father every day and night. He used to give me a Bowen therapy every morning to wake me up and every night to put me to sleep. He will also hum a Hokkien song during the process that was passed down through generation which I don’t even know the meaning until now but it is very hypnotic. He put a slight pressure on my hands, legs and back using his thumbs and moved along the muscle. It was very relaxing and I enjoyed it every time. He will also give my family a Bowen therapy if we suffer from any kind of muscle soreness since it is very effective too in relieving the muscle pain. Only my brother who does not like any kind of body contact at all will reject my father when he offers us the Bowen therapy. In my opinion, the therapy does not only give relaxing and healing effects, but it also can improve the relationship between the family if the therapy is applied among the family members.

I received the Bowen therapy without even knowing it was the Bowen therapy and thought that it was just a simple massage technique my father learned from my grandfather. I realized that it was the Bowen technique only when I learned it from the lecture. ‘Isn’t that the massage my father used to give me?’, was my first thought when I read about the Bowen technique. The reason why I thought it was only a mere simple massage technique was because Bowen technique really does not involve many variations in term of the techniques and movements. Maybe my father is not very professional in Bowen technique is also a part of the reason.

My father used to give me Bowen therapy until my secondary school. After that, I never receive it anymore partly because I am already away from the house to continue my study in matriculation and university. I still think of the nice memory from time to time. Maybe I should learn the technique from my father and ask him about the meaning of the song sometime during the semester break.

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Crystal healing is a holistic healing modal that involves using crystal to promote our spiritual energy and indirectly maintain the balance between body, mind and spirit. There are many types of crystal and every crystal exerts different functions. Thus, the placement of crystal is also very important in order to obtain the optimal healing capabilities. It is very much similar to the Chinese Feng Shui which values the placement of every single object inside a space such as house or office to bring us fortune or promote health.

I was attracted by the crystal healing mainly due to the game called Minecraft. During the 1.17 version update of this game, the developers added the amethyst into the game. Amethyst is a purple color quartz. The appearance of the amethyst alongside with the new terrain, amethyst cave, really amazed me because they are so beautiful. They caught my curiosity wondering how they actually look like in real life so I looked it up online and turned out they look more astonishing in reality. In terms of crystal healing, amethyst can be used to prevent drunkenness and overindulgence while in terms of Chinese Feng Shui, amethyst is used to enhance wealth, clear negative energy and drive hazards away. Of course, I didn’t realize the properties of the amethyst at that moment and I just simply attracted by its stunning look.

Apart from that, one of my friends practice crystal healing in her house. Her family put an orange crystal light in the living room. I don’t know the meaning of it or its properties but the orange light it exerted did give a calming effect. Me and my friends always went to her house to hang out with each other and I always felt relaxed going there.

Since I know more about crystal healing now, I always want to try it out. I can’t afford to buy any crystal now of course because they can be really expensive if you check it out online but I will definitely try practicing it once I am able to afford it in the future not only because of the crystals’ healing power, but also their stunning look.