Bronchitis decided to visit last week, thus no 2/24 post. 😦 As much as it sucked, it did give me the inspiration for this post.
SO many people here in Jersey cannot wait for the first day of Spring, which will be March 20th. In the meantime, we have to deal with the annoyances of nippy weather, aches, colds and flu.
I’ve been married to my Husband, Steve, for 7 years, but we’ve been together for 13-years. However, the first time I got a cold and broke out my family remedy, he looked at me like I had three heads and exclaimed: “You do WHAT?!?!”
I was in Color Guard during all 4 years of high school. We would perform in pretty darn cold weather, mostly during football games and marching band competitions. Clad in nothing but a leotard and tights, for the four years I participated in “Guard,” my Mom warned me that cold would get trapped in my body and I would pay for it when I got older. I had no idea what she was talking about. Guard was something that I loved to do and I was really good at it, but I was NOT going to give it up. Of course, all these years later, she might have been right.
My Mom never understood why Westerners would rush to pop a pill or run to the doctor at the slightest ailment. She said in Vietnam, you would only pay the doctor when you were well. If you were sick, you weren’t charged. Doctors are good for emergencies, but in the end, we are each responsible for our own well being. Anything not found in nature can truly affect one’s health in the long run.
Think about it. There are commercials that run everyday for the latest and greatest drug, which has a TON of adverse side effects. Hubby and I would look at each other like, “Seriously?” You would see either cutesy animation, people frolicking in nature or a wholesome family scene, with a speaker in the background listing all the horrible things that can happen by taking said drug. Death is NOT a side effect that I want to experience, thank you very much.
When my Mom was a youngin, she used to run 5 miles a day on the beach, ate freshly picked fruits and vegetables and had access to fresh fish, meats and poultry. She was never sick and was in excellent health. When she came to the United States though, her health was never the same. No matter where we lived, she would always make sure she found an Asian market that would sell the food that she had grown up with. She would serve our family well balanced meals, with plenty of the good food that’s highly recommended to maintain good health, but she could only do so much. The air we breathed, the food we ate, the water we drank have all been affected over the years with pesticides, preservatives and chemicals. We’ve become a nation of sick and unhealthy people, couch potatoes addicted to junk food and sugary beverages.
To combat illness, my Mom taught me various methods of alternative healing. The major one we cannot live without we call “Spooning”.
NO, it has NOTHING to do with sex.
Whenever you would feel achy or just don’t feel well, you would basically take the edge of metal soup spoon, slap some Vick’s Vaporub, medicated oil or balm on the affected area and scrape in long strokes until that area was red. You would then move onto the surrounding areas until EVERYTHING came out red. The redder the area, the more the “cold” would be released.
I had found an article on the practice a few years ago when my co-workers were asking me about why I had these strange markings on my neck or arms. The writer had referenced it as coining, where the edge of a coin was used instead of a soup spoon. In Vietnamese, the term was cạo gió or to scrape wind. In the end, it looks like someone beat the heck outta you.
In my search of that article, I came across references about trainings to medical professionals regarding cultural methods of medicine. After the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese had migrated to the United States. Since most Americans were not familiar with coining, there were cases where parents were arrested when children were seen with these red markings. To prevent accusations of abuse, explanations and photos of coining were shown.
Depending on the severity of the cold or ache, you would sometimes need to spoon/coin an area multiple times. The markings would fade in a few days to a week. There were times over the years that my Mom was very sick and she had me do this on her back, neck and arms. I thought that I was hurting her, but she would feel so much better afterwards that I had her do this to me when I wasn’t feeling well.
The only way that I can describe the relief is to imagine a tight muscle like a clenched fist. After spooning, the muscle would relax. Sometimes I would ache in the area of my lungs and my Mom would spoon one side of my back near that region. When she was finished, I could breathe better on that side; it was like my lung had opened up. I felt lopsided until she spooned the other side. Until the other side was complete it felt like my other lung wasn’t “open.” After my “treatment,” I would usually feel sleepy enough that I needed to take a nap. It seems as though it gave my body a chance to heal itself.
It’s hard to explain this method to folks of non-Asian descent, but many Asians will tell you how much it helps. You can imagine the shock on my Hubby’s face after he saw how red parts of my body would become following a “”Spooning.” There were times where I couldn’t reach the middle of my back that needed his help. He reluctantly did after much objection. He was so afraid of hurting me that the spoon stroke pressure was too light for me. I would have to chide him into applying more pressure.
A skeptic through and through, he doubted the validity of such a practice. However, there was an instance where he had a pain in his lower back that wouldn’t go away. I offered to help and assured him that I would be as gentle as I could. For people that are not used to this, you have to start out slowly, getting a feel for the person’s pain threshold. Then you would slowly apply more pressure until the skin would turn red. After I was finished, he felt relief and thanked me. Though he still doesn’t like that I do this to myself, he does respect my reasoning as to why I do.
I personally don’t know why this works, but it works for me.
Until next time, just look straight ahead and keep going.
The Way of THIS Dragon 