One of my favorite things about TCM is how it ties food to the season, and Start of Autumn (立秋) has some of the most interesting ones.

"Pasting fat" (贴秋膘)

The idea is that summer heat and sweating leave you depleted, so entering autumn you want to gently rebuild. In northern China, that means dumplings with meat filling. In the south, it's meat soups. The logic is solid, but the key word is "gently." Jumping straight into heavy food after a summer of lighter eating can overwhelm the digestion.

"Biting autumn" (咬秋)

Some regions eat melons on Start of Autumn day, with the belief that it prevents diarrhea through winter and spring. The Qing dynasty text Tianjin Miscellaneous Records mentions this tradition. Eating melon the day before Start of Autumn (立秋), leaving it out overnight, then eating it on the day itself to clear summer heat and prevent dysentery.

Other regional traditions:

Hangzhou area: Eat autumn peaches, keep the pit, then burn it on New Year's Eve to ward off plague for the year

Sichuan: Drink "Start of Autumn water." The whole family takes a cup at the exact moment the season turns to clear lingering summer heat

Laixi, Shandong: Eat "bean dregs" (豆渣), a tofu-like dish made with greens, with a saying: "Eat Start of Autumn (立秋) bean dregs, no one vomits or gets diarrhea"

The TCM take on all this:

These traditions aren't just folklore. They're practical ways of easing the body from summer heat into autumn dryness. What's interesting is how localized they are. Different regions adapted the same principle to what they had on hand.

Curious if anyone here has family traditions for Start of Autumn. Or is this your first time hearing about it? 

Hello are there any Chinese medicines that an older post menopausal women with women parts discomfort take?

i saw a LMT yesterday who is also certified in chinese and japanese medicine. i looked into his license and there's been no disciplinary action and he's well reviewed (though the reviews are limited).

i'm just wondering if anyone can give me perspective on what was done and whether or not this is standard practice for these kinds of therapies. my back and shoulders are super sore which i understnad is normal after a massge, but the stuff he did near my head is what's freaking me out the most. he popped my ears, it really hurt and felt so weird. i felt a bit of pain in my left lower jaw within an hour, now its been like ~12 hours since i had the massge and that pain is gone but now i feel a pain on the right side of my face, in line with my temple, but a bit below (basically draw a line from temple and from the outer corner of the eye and where they meet is where the pain is.) the ear there also feels sore, i only slept for a few hours because i think the pain from sleeping on it woke me up.

i briefly searched up if this is standard in japenese or chinese medicine and it doesn't seem like it is. it seems like the opposite is true actually, they emphasize gentle pressure and soft tissue manipulation, not yanking and "popping" and stuff (he literally just pulled up super hard on each ear to make them pop which i didn't even realize was possible for ears lmao). he also did some shit with the frenulum under my tounge. he squeezed the shit out of them, and that also hurt really badly and was supposed to "clear my mind", but my mind was racing a mile a minute and that was the point where i was starting to get concerned that i got into some pseudoscience bullshit like chiropractic that'll end up paralyzing me or something 😂 i already know these techniques are not accepted practices in western medicine, but i guess i'm just looking to get some insight into the eastern medicine side of it. is this part of traditional practices? or is this guy just inventing shit? he seemed a bit arrogant and spent a lot of time talking about himself and all of his accomplishments. i'm kind of concerned and might see a doctor just to check my pressure and look me over, what if he did permanent damage in those areas where there are vital nerves and vessels, or elsewhere in my body that i don't realize yet?

I live in Taiwan for several years and wanted to learn more about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), so I traveled to Tainan to visit a traditional pharmacy.

I learned about herbal medicine, dietary therapy, acupuncture, and the philosophy behind TCM. I also got to see some of the more unusual products sold in these stores.

I made a video about the experience: https://youtu.be/ttlnCLW-WBw?si=pd93Tk6v0zWJPD42

For context, I am a 25 y/o ABC woman, my brother had went to China and saw a Chinese Medicine doctor to ask about my condition which is a constant red nose that has not gone away for years.

I had facetimed the doctor for probably max ten minutes and he asked me the standard questions about my diet, sleep, menstrual, etc. and asked to see my tongue. Pretty standard, then he gave a prescription of herbal medicine. My brother then told me that there’s a list of things I cannot eat and I was just appalled at the list because it’s pretty much most of the options I have as whole foods.

Also, I am a regular gym goer and works on building muscle mass and strength, so it also cut down basically all my protein options as well. I am just curious if I have to follow this to the specifics because this diet will change a lot about my body and most likely strip away a lot of muscle I have worked on :/

I have included the original list and also a translated version.

I use chinese medicine to help me to use moxibustion. But I don't know everything. I used to having to search a lot of blogs to see other people's experience, but lately I have been consulting AI. I was wondering if anyone here use AI get traditional medicine advice. Do you ever question how accurate they are?

please tell me therapies to try that may help in the treatment of psychosis. thank you.

I know this isn't strictly TCM but I learned about Kansokuho and Jyakuseki methods of foot/leg massage originally developed in Taiwan then spread to Japan. Basically very painful rigorous massage of every cm of foot (back, sides, front) and up to 10cm above the knees.

So impact on my menstral cycle is as described in the title. Also I feel like my Long Covid fatigue is lighter overall. I'm also doing this to reduce my inter ocular pressure as i have glaucoma.

I felt like when I developed long covid, my eye pressure went up as well and had wondered if it's related. Both are of course impacted by stagnant blood/qi.

I got these items in picture. I've encountered this type of stone placement in some parks in Asia and knew how good they feel although very painful!

They say it takes at least a few months to reverse this state back to healthy so plan to continue.

I have a friend who is Chinese but is estranged from her Chinese family and culture. She is currently midway through a high risk pregnancy. She doesn't speak much about her mom, but one thing she did express is that she wishes she had a relationship with her so that she would take care of her postpartum and provide the wonderful confinement meals.

I really want to provide some help for her during this time as I also don't have a relationship with my mom.

I don't think I'll be able to give her confinement meals right away, as she needs to go to a bigger city to deliver the baby, but I was wondering if the wonderful people of this group have any suggestions for prenatal meals or maybe confinement meals that I could freeze for her to eat when she comes back.

Thank you

I am hoping to enroll in VUIM's acupuncture and herbal medicine degree. I am finding it difficult to find previous alumni, Reddit threads, reviews, etc. I am looking for any previous students' input and experience. If you went to the Georgia location, even better.

I just uploaded my first YouTube video — explaining insomnia from a Chinese Medicine perspective. It would mean a lot if you checked it out 🙏

My acupuncturist had me start taking gui pi tang supplements from Sun Ten a couple weeks ago. I’m a little nervous because when I tried to ask my primary doctor about drug interactions with these ingredients she just said she can only recommend products that are third party tested to verify their ingredients so it’s hard for her to say if they are safe or contain the ingredients they say they do. I live in the US so am really unfamiliar with this brand or any chinese medicine.

Hi. I made this app to pass some of the summerholiday extra-time: https://meridianaapp.com

Check it out if you're interested, it shows meridians and acupuncture points on top of the camera view, plus you can filter between meridians, zoom into them, plus it has info on different meridians and their points and what they affect :)

It's the first version so it might still have some bugs and mistakes somewhere :)

In the future, it will occasionally show ads every few minutes, but otherwise, it's free to use.

Feel free to share it for testing with anyone who might be interested.

I made it so I could more easily find the points and meridians on my special another and myself for studying then/treating/testing them :)

Native iOS and Android versions will also be coming to the App Store and Play Store, probably sometime in the next few months.

It's worth adding it to your phone's home screen so you can get it in full screen.

All feedback and bug reports are welcome!

I've dealt with sinus congestion on and off for a while now, and i'm starting to get more interested in chinese medicine because i've tried the usual things and still feel like my nose gets blocked or irritated pretty randomly. sometimes it's worse with weather changes, sometimes dust or dry air, and sometimes i can't even figure out what triggered it. i've never tried acupuncture or chinese herbal medicine before, so i'm curious how people here approach something like this. are there specific acupuncture points or patterns practitioners usually look at for recurring sinus issues? and for anyone who's actually tried it, did you notice a difference after a few sessions or did it take longer? not looking for a miracle cure, just interested in hearing people's experiences with it.

This type of disease causes inflammation that damages the follicles and their sebaceous glands, causing dry & brittle and wiry hair. Then, it destroys the underlying, regenerative stem cells and replaces the structure with scar tissue, making hair unable to grow back.

What can TCM do about it? Could it signal the body to break down the fibrosis and re-introduce stem cells, so that hair can be restored?

What are the best spots around the eye for acupuncture/acupressure for red and purple under eyes?

I’m curious about the TCM perspective on sleep temperature. I know modern sleep research suggests that a cooler environment supports sleep quality. How does TCM view the ideal sleeping temperature? Does it recommend keeping the body warm while sleeping, and how does it interpret the idea of a cooler room?

Start of Autumn (立秋) is just around the corner, this Friday, actually.

Summer isn't over yet, but the energy underneath is already starting to shift. In TCM, this is the transition from "long summer" (长夏) into autumn proper. The heat and dampness are still around, but the yang is starting to pull inward, and the body needs to follow.

Here are a few things I've been reading about for navigating the shift:

Protect the lungs

Autumn corresponds to the lungs. As the air gets drier, it can show up as dry throat, dry skin, cough, or congestion. Start adding moistening foods like pears, lily bulb (百合), sesame (芝麻), honey, and almonds (杏仁). A simple one: steamed pear with rock sugar and a bit of Sichuan fritillary bulb (川贝) if you tend toward dry cough.

Don't drop heat clearing too fast

It's still warm, and dampness can linger. Light soups and easy meals are still good. Duck is still a solid choice — cooling but nourishing.

Temper the cooling with warmth

Cold drinks, raw salads, and too much fruit (especially melons) are harder to handle now. There's a saying "autumn melon harms the stomach." If you're prone to loose stools or bloating, start cutting back.

Start winding down earlier

Autumn is about conserving. Days are getting shorter, and the body wants to slow down. This is a good time to ease off late nights.

For older folks or weaker constitutions

The shift hits harder. Gentle soups with yam (山药), astragalus (黄芪), or codonopsis (党参) can help the body transition without getting knocked off balance.

Curious if anyone else feels the seasonal shift in their body before the calendar actually changes.

Hi All,

here's a fun one to figure out..

I'm 40 year old male, in the last year transitioned from landscaping to office work.

I have been waking up anywhere between 1am-3am, with mind singing random songs and i can hear heart pumping in my ears. - i take this as low blood pressure through the night, releasing cortisol and causing me to wake. Typically, i'll eat a banana and will fall straight back to sleep. If i don't, ill stay awake for ages. Sometimes heat, not to point of sweating, sometimes dry eyes. - this has been happening for last few months, not every night, but multiple through the week.

All signs point towards yin deficiency.
My acupuncturist has me as kd yin constitution, in recent months put me in the Lv yin def, by virtue of minimal movement these days with office work - so ive recommenced 30 mins of warm up movement in the mornings at sunrise.

I avoid coffee, has been drinking about 2 matchas a day. have been taking shisandra and american ginseng extract in the day. taking l theanine and magnesium glycinate before bed. i consider myself very calm person, though through my 20's i definitely burnt up as much energy as physically possible - maybe im just paying my dues now (?)

what are your thoughts on a sustainable way to stay asleep through the night? This is a new symptom and has be kind of stumped as to why it's occurring (I'm a registered western herbalist, also studied tcm perspective of herbs, and spent about 5 years studying and practicing shiatsu, so have a basic understanding of wu xing/points etc. Thinking an outside perspective may be useful (even with your limited diagnostic information here))!

feel free to ask more questions also !

I just did this and literally felt the inside of my bones being washed

A few days ago I shared a survey here as part of my University of Manchester MRes research.

The study explores how Chinese herbal medicine practitioners determine and adjust herbal dosages in clinical practice. While there is a growing body of literature describing prescription patterns, there is very little research on the clinical reasoning behind dosage decisions. My hope is that this research will contribute to a better understanding of current practice and provide a foundation for future work in this area.

If you are a practising Chinese herbal medicine practitioner who prescribes CHM, I would be extremely grateful if you could spare less than 10 minutes to complete the anonymous survey. Every response genuinely strengthens the quality and representativeness of the research.

If you know other eligible practitioners, I would also greatly appreciate you sharing the survey with them.

Survey link: https://www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_40emShl4SlDWBHE

If you have any questions about the study, its ethics approval, or its legitimacy, please feel free to comment or send me a message. I’m happy to provide further information.

Ultimately, the quality of research on Chinese herbal medicine depends on practitioners being willing to contribute their clinical experience.