Why To Use Chinese Elements in Your Journey

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Thank you, Dr. Simmons. It is a wonderful opportunity. I appreciate your sharing.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yeah, we have a mutual friend. When I was planning the summit, she called me and said, You must, must, must speak with her. I am so delighted to have you here today. Can you start by telling us how you got into this space?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

There is a long story and a short story. The short story is that when I was in high school, I was sick, and I had a form of autoimmune anaphylaxis. My immune system just made a bunch of mistakes, and I would go into anaphylaxis, my father was an osteopathic physician, a colleague of his. Dr. Wang can put me on a macrobiotic diet, and I have never taken a drug in my life. My father just did not believe in them, and the diet worked. I never had anaphylaxis after that. 

I remembered that food could be your medicine. Then later in life, I thought, Well, I will be a counselor; maybe I will be a massage therapist; and then my parents moved to work at the Upper Institute in Florida, and their doctor was a naturopathic physician. I was like, What is that? I decided to find out for myself. It was just amazing. It was exactly what I was hoping for in my life’s work. Finding my way to naturopathic medicine led to Chinese medicine and from Chinese medicine, I had a person who worked in our clinic who got breast cancer, and she was, I want to say, 25 when she was diagnosed.

Most women at that age had never met another woman who had breast cancer of their age. So she said, Can we start a support group? Just as things do happen, more and more women, 25 to 40, came into my practice, and they wanted to start a support group. I started this support group with them, and they just talked a lot and asked me to facilitate, but it was mostly their group, and they taught me so much. Of course, made me care so much about them that all they wanted to do was try and help them.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Amazing. I want to back up a little bit and talk about that 25-year-old who had breast cancer. Because when I trained, and I am sure when you trained, that was unheard of. Many women now get dismissed because there are doctors who are trained. When we trained, we thought that breast cancer did not happen to women of that age. My question is twofold. First of all, why are we seeing it more and more in this age range? Is there something else going on?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Yes, I was too young and naive in my practice when Ashley was working at our office and got breast cancer to know that it was that unusual. Most of my referrals were coming from oncologists or breast surgeons in Portland, Oregon, and I just happened to be around people who were younger when their breast cancer was diagnosed. Then only after many years, I was, this is unusual to have. I had at least ten women in my connections who had it. Since then, it has also become commonplace. I moved back to Maine from Oregon in 2010, and it is happening. It is a gut feeling. It is also in my data; if I look at how many people I have and the oncologists I work with, and we also talk about this, why is it happening in younger women more often?

The other part of it would be, why are cancers so different now than they used to be? I did not treat nearly as many triple-negative breast cancers as cancers such as that. That has changed too. All I can think of is the environment that we are exposed to. I have a theory about the pathogen. I think the pathogens that we are exposed to over our lifetime can influence our immune systems. I call it immune distraction, for lack of a better word. If the immune system is distracted here in Maine, I have seen it with tick-borne illness all the time within months to years. 

If I do a lymphocyte map on them, you will see that there are natural killer cells and that cytotoxic T cells are very deficient. I think it is because they are over here in inflammation land. They are trying to fight this. They call it the 17 dominant immune systems, white blood cells, and inflammatory patterns. The cells that should be fighting these mutations, which our bodies know how to do and get rid of them, are unable to do so. But I think our diet and our environment are playing a major role in other factors that create inflammation as well.

But we all know about endocrine disruptors. Anyone watching this podcast has heard about toxins in the environment that relate to or are similar to hormones. They are called endocrine-mimicking agents, or xenoestrogens. There are just simply more and more and more environmental panels, and everybody has plastic in their system. Inuit babies in Alaska who never had DDT exposed directly are getting it from the water. Cotton companies in Mexico can still use it, so it just climbs up and then falls. It is if they live in our fat cells and the breast tissue has a lot of glandular tissue where these hormone-mimicking agents live.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes, I could not agree with you more. I think that there is no question that it is an environmental thing. Interestingly, you brought up Lyme and other infections, these low-lying infections, because for many years, when I was growing up, you barely heard about Lyme disease. Now you cannot throw a stick at someone without hitting someone who has either had Lyme disease or knows about Lyme disease. You just heard me. It is so ubiquitous now. I believe that the difference is that our immunity has taken a huge hit. Lyme should be something that an intact immune system can take care of, but we are under constant assault.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Yes, I agree. I did not know what it was when I moved back here, but it caught my attention. I started doing more immune testing and testing. Tick-borne illness, including Bartonella, seems to be another influencer of the tick-borne pathogen. I just think that, in general, our whole nervous system is also bombarded by things that it is not accustomed to. We had more downtime when I first started doing this 25 years ago. Even then, people were not as stressed out, I think, as they are now. Some of the coping mechanisms that people had put on the back burner, especially during COVID. I am excited to see people making positive changes in their lives toward creating that inner quiet space.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes, I love that. Creating an inner quiet space. Tell me about your approach to the breast cancer patient and how it might differ from patient to patient.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

It does differ quite a lot. It sometimes depends on how they came to be in my practice. If they were sent from one of my oncology associates, they have already made clinical decisions. They have already decided that they are going to have surgery or chemotherapy, and that was their choice. My plan for them is a method of helping them get through treatment with the fewest side effects and the fewest long-term toxicities. Then, even more, I think interestingly, is trying to use synergism. I am a person who does not take very many risks in her life; my financial portfolio is low-risk and I do not work in the sphere of working with people in the medical community or natural medicine. I would not want to make a mistake. I have monograph after monograph for every drug, so I do not interfere with it. You fall upon paper after paper of, if you take this together with that, then you can enhance its efficacy. People who are going to use certain chemicals who take curcumin, the extract from turmeric, will have much less numbness and tingling of their fingers in their toes, and it works synergistically. More cancer cells die. 

Of course, they are going to be eating or fasting—those kinds of things. I work with patients I prefer to help them through, and then I continue to do the deepest, most meaningful work for me. In addition to helping someone not have cardiomyopathy during Doxorubicin by taking CoQ10, it would also help them recover afterward, but take advantage of this horrible thing that happened in their lives to find transformation on all levels.

Cancer is not this thing that is in our bodies; it is who we are. Something has happened in our whole system. Maybe there are other opportunities out there to learn about ourselves on an emotional level, what our belief systems might be doing to interfere with our wellness, and what foods we could change and take advantage of to be healthier in general. A lot of the things you do to prevent recurrence are also great for preventing heart disease. They help get rid of our menopausal symptoms. If a patient came in not wanting to do conventional therapy and lived in Maine, there are quite a few people here who do not want to do conventional treatment. 

In Oregon, Portland was a big city, 90% of my referrals came from the medical community. I did not take as much alternative medicine. But since I have been in Maine, I treat all kinds of cancers or people with cancers of all kinds, and then they get to drive the train. It is their choice, as long as they understand the risks involved in not using conventional therapy. I have had so much learning since being here, mostly from my renegade farmers up north. They are just these amazing women who just do not have time for breast cancer, and they do their own thing, and I just help them monitor, and they are doing great. That would be the other group. 

I also have not given up a general practice, and that was intentional. Many of my colleagues are fellows of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology. They only want to treat cancer. I just feel that working with people, whether they have irritable bowel syndrome, bladder infections, or menopause, in addition to treating people with cancer, has helped me maintain a better understanding of the whole body, the whole mind, and the whole spirit. I love to treat the whole person.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes, and the truth is that people with breast cancer are old people, and you have to address every single aspect. I would love to talk a little bit about those synergistic relationships that you mentioned, because so often what happens is that because conventional medical doctors are unaware of these synergistic relationships, they usually say, No, do not take that, you cannot take that, or that will not help, or it will hurt, or it will interfere. They say, No, instead of, I do not know, more often than not. Can you talk to us about some of those synergistic relationships with common chemotherapeutic drugs or cancer treatments and your naturopathic approach?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Sure. Early on, I think the synergism that was found to be most commonly used was the CoQ10 and the Adriamycin or Doxorubicin. The risk of cardiomyopathy and having your heart muscle get weaker during the treatment made it so that people at universities wanted to find substances that would help protect their hearts. So they gave Coenzyme Q10 to women during treatment, and they found that they had much less cardiomyopathy. They also had much better energy. Coenzyme Q10 is what fuels the mitochondria. It makes our cellular ATP. So it worked beautifully. In the space of things such as aromatase inhibitors or Tamoxifen, you can find synergism with things such as green tea. Vitamin D is very helpful with those spheres. 

I have seen that the most recent things that I have been working on making monographs for are some of the immunotherapy medications. I can pull a file and grab some of those. I was not prepared to answer that question. But those are the ones I have not memorized. But there were several immunotherapies you do not want to have green tea with for some weird reason; it interferes with the efficacy. But if immunotherapy is going to be effective, you do need to have plenty of white blood cells. If a patient has enough lymphocytes, they will run a lymphocyte map. If it is low, I will give mistletoe, this, or astragalus root.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

That is so interesting that you say that because I feel like so often people are given these immunotherapies and they do not have the inherent ability to respond. We say that the immunotherapy did not work, and it is just that that person was not ready. There are so many things that you can do to prepare your immune system to be ready so that it can help you.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

I think that the treatment plan changes and flexes with every stage of treatment. if you are doing complementary therapy, helping a person get through surgery with fewer side effects and less bleeding, even if it is just taking some Arnica Montana after surgery, radiation stopping certain things, like the CoQ10, and the green tea, but using topical calendula gel, which has great research on it. Then people are so tired after that if they are going to be going on to another medication after that. I do believe in a three- to four-week hiatus. If they were given some time to work on their diet and nutrition, they could build up their longevity with an adrenal tonic or herbal Ashwagandha and Rhodiola is one of my favorites. I do a lot of Chinese herbal therapies, so Classical Pearls is a line of Chinese herbs that my teacher and her crew have created, and Vitality Pearls have a lot of Astragalus root and herbs that promote vitality from the adrenal glands. The water element.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Amazing. You just said something that I wanted to comment on, and I know I cannot remember what it was. You were talking about decreased immunity and decreased white blood cell counts. I do not know about you, but I find a lot of people at the beginning of their journey already have decreased white cell counts. It is not because they have had chemotherapy or anything but because they are naive retreatment people. With low white counts. What is happening there?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

It could be a variety of things. Previous infections, of course. The first thing we think of in Maine is tick-borne illness. Lyme loves to create a low white cell count and so is COVID, most recently that would be one of the things I would strongly consider. But I do have a lot of patients with low white blood cell counts. I would think of heavy metals as well. When patients are done with all treatments, I do not do heavy metal detoxification during treatment. I think that is something that should wait till the white cells are a little bit stronger if you’re going to liberate those toxins and try to get them out of their system. However heavy metals can reduce the white blood cell count, as well as toxins in general. I have seen quite a few people. If we give them a good liver detox, that can be helpful. If they are not physically fit, exercise can stimulate the white blood cell count.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes, that is interesting that you said that. But I think it is important for people to know that if you are starting with a low white count, that is part of your picture. There is a reason why. After an accident. That is part of your picture. It is very important to look at your why and figure out why your white count is not where it should be. I look for a white count over 3.5. I do not know what your ranges are, but I see people coming in not on treatment with what counts as threes, and I know that that is how they landed in my office in the first place.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Yeah. Probably played a big role.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes. You started to talk about heavy metal detoxification and the fact that you do not do that during treatment. Can you talk about why and what is happening during that process, and why you reserve that for when people are in a better place?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

In general, I just think that if I am going to be liberating specific toxins, especially a heavy metal that can lower someone’s white blood cell count and independently cause mutations, those toxins are better left where they are until a person’s strong and healthy enough, and I can be sure their liver is going to be able to eliminate them. If you are going to do heavy metal detoxification, that person better have great elimination. If they are constipated from their treatment and they are just liberating it, it is just getting circulated in their body. I do think that there is a time and a place for heavy metal detox, and during treatment, I do not feel that time.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Yes, absolutely. Clinically more. I would love for you to start talking about how you approach someone who has breast cancer because you do it uniquely. You are looking at more things than the average doctor is going to do.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

I have learned to have an intuitive sense of a person when I am with them, and there is a feeling that I get that something’s missing and they could be there for their first visit. I sometimes have to send them their treatment plan which is very left-brained and practical afterward because this thing is yelling inside that says something is going on with this patient that puts you in your office and not somebody else’s office. 

Lots of practitioners are excellent at keeping someone from taking the wrong herbs, vitamins, or minerals, but because of this intuitive sense that has come from practicing acupuncture and Qigong and doing guided imagery with my patients, that feeling just does not let me address it anymore. They end up on the acupuncture table, and over on the acupuncture table, I would take their pulse, for example, and if the patient had a huge wire and you are plucking a guitar string—we call it a wood liver cheese stagnation pulse—it probably means that they are having a lot of tension.

They usually do not come off that way. When they are in the office, they seem so calm and so together, and you get their pulse, and you are like, That is what this is. They need to be permitted to not work so hard. My framework, which was taught to me by my teachers through the use of Qigong, is an exercise and form of movement that helps us to step outside ourselves and connect with nature. Everything falls into those five categories. There is fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. I would say most of my patients come in with an earth constitution and, secondarily, a wood constitution. But we all have all of these different elements within us. 

When a woman is on my acupuncture table or we are just doing guided imagery from a distance, let us say they are down in another part of the state, the element comes forward. Let us say a person has this wood constitution. They are successful. They are so good at what they do. They do not complain that they have to do the hard work of life. They have arrived in my clinical practice with lists of things they have already read about. They already know that they want to change or have changed their diet. They have already decided what treatment they want, and the stress and tension of all this is causing them to have jaw pain. Maybe the tensions, giving them, their shoulders stiff. Maybe they are getting headaches because they are not sleeping as well. But everybody around them thinks they are doing great. Still have a smile on their face. They are still going to work.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Seemingly perfect.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Yes. They are.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

I do not know anything about that.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

You are also very successful. I love my wood clients, and they have such tender hearts; they just need some permission to create balance in their lives. The Earth Constitution. When I go to feel their pulse, it is usually in the pulse a little bit. It is a slippery pulse in the middle right, stomach, and spleen. But it is also a little bit of a layer—we call it phlegm and dampness—but it is a little layer of edema on their legs. They may have a little bit of a belly compared to, say, the fire, the wood patient may or may not. But that is usually stagnation of Qi in their middle. If you ask them to relax their body and notice where inside you feel the tension the most, they usually feel it in the pit of their stomach. 

The work that I will do with them is also about permitting them to live their best lives. Let themselves be first that earth element person. They’re your schoolteachers and your nurses. A lot of the people in the natural health field are also earth elements. They are givers. They are people who want to help other people and their loved ones by helping other people. then now they need help. That is uncomfortable. They do not have that feeling. They want to cook the meal for their friend. They do not want their friend to cook the meal for them.

When we work with someone who is of the earth element, their food is important. Also trying to help them quiet their mind that is to ruminate. It might even be just the to-do list that is waking them up too early, but that earth element just needs to have a feeling of being centered and grounded. Because the breast tissue, which is the whole breast, is represented by the earth element, their tumors could be just about anywhere. Then, the fire may present having a little giddiness, laughing inappropriately, or denial. They have more heart palpitations. They are the ones who are monitoring them during their treatments that could affect their hearts; they would be wise. 

People with the metal element; would be women with metal; they would blame themselves. Every element has an emotion, a body part meridians. The meridian is the lung and large intestine for a metal. That is your inner discernment. We, the lungs, breathe in and breathe out the large intestine; what we take in and what we release through the stool—that person is very good at discerning what is going on within themselves and the people around them. But that inner critic is not nice to them. They will be so harsh on themselves that it is, well, because I drink wine, and they must hear that the wine did not give them breast cancer. They may think that it was because they were somebody who lived in a factory. Now, that definitely could be true, but they are always looking for what to keep, what to get rid of, and also grief. My patients who’ve lost loved ones within five years of their breast cancer and who have a mental constitution, it is hard for them to get over that, and the lung reading goes up the side of the breast, and they need compassion for themselves. 

Lastly, the water element is patient. There are very few primary water-element patients with breast cancer, but every one of the breast cancer patients who choose conventional medicine ends up in a water-deficient state. Their adrenal fatigue is through the roof by the end, if it was not before, which often it is, and they will be anemic, and that deficiency of blood is a deficiency of water in Chinese medicine. That also means emotion, courage, or that terrifying fear. They are usually in a state of fear, and they just need to be reassured that it is just because they are anemic. Everybody with anemia has a lot of fear. They are going to be okay. Giving them hope that when this is over, there is going to be a new normal with a lot of vitality, and they are going to feel great.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

That is amazing. I want to spend the last couple of minutes just talking about all of those states so that people can see themselves in them and just know where they are. Because this is something that is not at all part of the conventional medical picture. But I think when people hear themselves and see themselves, they can maybe dial into that. then I would also love to talk about how you work with guided imagery.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Okay, it might be easier if we do the guided imagery and I take you through the five elements. Would you like to try it that way? 

Jennifer Simmons, MD

I would love that. 

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Okay. How much time would you give me?

Jennifer Simmons, MD

We have whatever time you need.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Okay. I always close my eyes, and I am not technically savvy, so I have no idea how to put music on without it making my phone start ringing. We are just going to go quiet, and we are just going to not have any background or music today.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Let us go quiet.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

If your feet could be planted on the ground, I will invite you to imagine that your feet have roots. If your tailbone could be directed down toward the earth, imagine or try to feel it. Some people do not see in meditation. Imagine that your tailbone is reaching down, down, down to the earth. 

When you feel a sense of calm by grounding and centering, allow your upper belly to soften. If you feel in your upper belly that there is a fist or a tied-up ball of knots, that might be a clue that Earth is your primary element. It could be your secondary. But one good thing to do would be to take a breath into the upper belly, and then out. Breath in general is a tool that you can use to relax the nervous system. We breathe in for a count of four. We hold at the top, and then we allow that exhale to be slow and intentional. We are breathing in for four, holding, and breathing out for six. 

As we exhale, we feel the nervous system beginning to soften and relax. If, as you relax, you feel that center of your body beginning to melt, we call it the vagus nerve. There is starting to relax, unwind, and move its way down, down, down toward the hips. If the mind is still active, we need to quiet the mind. If the muscles are strong, tense, and tight, those muscles are the flesh, the body part associated with the earth element. The organs would be the stomach and spleen. As we relax the muscles in the body, the earth element softens, and relaxes the shoulders drop. 

Relaxing the palms of the hands and then the soles of the feet. 

Then imagine the nervous system of your digestive tract. It is called your enteric nervous system. Imagine it going somewhere absolutely beautiful, a place in nature where you could rest. If you do not see it in your meditation, just feel it in your body. You might be able to conjure the image of being somewhere in nature where you are close to the earth and you are feeling centered and grounded. The nervous system of the digestive tract is starting to calm, and that is freeing up your immune system. Freeing up the digestive nervous system is helping to support your immune system. Your liver detoxification even makes your neurotransmitters, so you feel happier. The thing about the earth element is that we tend to ruminate, we think about something, and then we release it, and then we bring it back and think about it again. It is normal. While you picture yourself somewhere in nature, I want you to bring up the image or the feeling of your favorite tree. Or you can create the image of one as we move into the wood element liver and gallbladder. 

There is a feeling different with a tree than there is with the earth. Even though they are intimately connected, we have relaxed and grounded your center, and now we are inviting the roots of those trees to reach down into the earth, imagining you are stirring the earth with your tailbone. The beauty of the trees is their strength and their upright nature. That is the aspect of self where you can just do anything. You will push, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, or you will just keep going. No matter how tired you are. If you are a wood element, you will take your supplements through treatment. But I will permit you not to do that.

Imagine that you are that tree, or that you are leaning against it, and feel that tree is flexible. The issue with the wood element people is their fantastic and driven, and they get so much done, but they forget to be at peace within their center. The way that we remember that trees, this wood, energy in harmony. They are not deficient. The trees are not falling. They are not in excess. The tree is not stiff, as a board is flexible. Picture a willow with those branches that are moving back and forth and feel that flexibility. That is a healthy wood element: flexibility, rolling with it, giving yourself exercise, drinking detox tea, and eating root vegetables. All of those things will help release. 

The wood element people, they are dominant or secondary in that element, they might get headaches. They might be the woman who had terrible PMS. When they are off balance, they get grouchy, especially with their partners and, the people they are closest. Unfortunately, even our children. The wood energy person does a lot better when they have flexibility. The plan is good. Sometimes the plan needs to change. While in treatment. Everyone who is a wood element needs to watch those liver enzymes and make sure they do not eat rich and sticky foods that are going to make their liver stressed out. It might be time to take a break from alcohol and use different herbs that help support their body, such as burdock and milk thistle. They can interfere with treatments or not within 48 hours. But using the beauty of those root vegetables helps the body feel more grounded and centered. 

We are going to move now into the other elements. You are still sitting there in this beautiful place in nature, and you are leaning against the tree. I would like to invite you to soften the joints in your body. Those are the tissues of the wood element. The jaw is relaxing, and the eyes are the orifice parts of the wood elements. Soften the eyes, relax, and soften behind each one. We are going to invite the mind to relax away from your brow and lean back into your head. The mind is at peace when it is resting within the heart. The mind is something related to the heart in that it feels a sense of connection to inner wisdom. 

We are moving to fire now. Imagine that your heart is a beautiful lotus flower. It is floating on a crystal-clear pond. It has little roots that hang down to stay connected. It is cooled by the water. The fire that flames can be cooled. It cools those hot flashes when we have too much fire. But if you picture the beautiful lotus opening its petals and inviting the mind to float its way down from the head to the heart. If you like, and your heart is feeling palpitations or if you are waking so early in the morning with night sweats and you cannot quiet your mind with true anxiety. Not just going over the to-do list, but true panic and anxiety, you have asked your doctor for Lorazepam or Xanax, or if you are in natural thinning, you are drinking your camomile tea, or you are taking GABA with the heart resting, floating its way down, resting quietly within the heart. This mind can be at peace. Place your hands on your heart if it feels comfortable, allowing this fire to quiet. But if you have deficient fire, if the passion is gone, it is not uncommon. The heart in the fire is responsible for the blood. If you get anemic during treatment, it is going to make you have anxiety. It is going to make you feel like there is something wrong. But just remember, that is anemia. It will get better using herbs such as sage, which can help nourish these heartfires. If it is too hot and sweaty, calm down. Allow the fire element within to quiet and rest. As you see that beautiful pond across your natural landscape. 

We are moving into metal. Imagine that in your landscape now you bring in a beautiful big boulder, one of those big rock rocks on your hike sometimes, or a mountain that you love. Imagine you could feel the strength of that mountain behind you or move into the lungs and large intestines. Notice that when you put that metal element in, you feel a little more stable. There is a strength that comes with it. The metal element calls you. If the routine is something that you do, if you are someone who carries a lot of pride in what you do, people who are in the military are often mental elements. They do great with routine. 

This element, however, can come with deep grief. You can have a grief state or a mental state, even if you are not mental. But if, as we talk, you are spending some time in your lungs and you are feeling grief, it is important to breathe into that and empty that. Allowing for the free-flowing discernment that comes from a healthy mental element. Discernment and Chinese medicine mean, Where are you going to keep? What will you let go of? At times when you have cancer? It is a time when people make decisions. They are like, Wow, I was wasting my time doing this habit or hobby or having this relationship with someone. It was not serving me. Sometimes that is the gift of cancer. We do not want cancer to have to learn these gifts, but if we have them, it is an opportunity to say, What serves me? Do I breathe enough?

You think of constipation. Can I let things go, or do I hold on to things too long? A metal element person in this discernment can get this deficient, meaning you do not do the things you need to do for yourself. You do not let go of the people or the hard things in your life, and it can get very excessive as well. Get in touch with your inner critic. We all have one. But if your inner critic is so loud that you cannot have compassion for yourself, that seems like a foreign concept. Then maybe metal is something that you would work with. Metal is a beautiful element that we all need within us. We need to soften and take a breath of compassion, even for the parts of ourselves that we feel shame, and disappointment for not living up to the expectations of others, for not living up to the expectations of ourselves. Soften the metal, and have compassion for yourself. Ask that fire element to bring in a little bit of humor because it is always something to laugh about or delight in. 

The last element it will move into is the water element. If you want, you can place your hands back on your kidneys and your back, or you can put your hands on your lower belly. For women, we place the hand toward the skin and the left hand on top. The water element has an emotion of courage. If anybody has been so tired that they are barely able to keep their eyes open and they cry, their water element is deficient. If someone has felt the courage to stand up, to fight, and to do what they know they need to do, no matter what their water element is so strong. Imagine you are somewhere beautiful with a body of water, allowing that water to either be something you put your feet in or perhaps it is buoyant and warm and you could float within it. The water element corresponds to the marrow of the bones. It starts with a bubbling spring at the base of your feet, near the ball of your foot. Imagine the water coming up from the marrow, from the feet through the legs, rising all the way up through the marrow of the bones in your legs to your hips. If you can imagine feeling a well called your lower burner or your lower down chin, it is well within the pelvic floor, keeping it soft but allowing that to fill up to your adrenal glands, replenishing, rejuvenating, and revitalizing your body. Awakening the immune system in the wise white blood cells. Feeling the energy of courage, rising your spine, lifting your spine until it plunges up through the neck, into the brain. 

The whole nervous system is the water element. If you have issues with brain fog, if you are somebody who is feeling tired all the time, you might look at the water element as needing support, feeling the energy of the water element, cleansing your mind, and if you like, opening the crown at the top of your head and imagining you could reach up from the top of your head, my teacher would say, Allow the light from your head to go all the way up to the cosmos, to the heavens, to the stars above, and stir the Big Dipper with that light. Realigning yourself with whatever you call spirit energy, opening and remembering that you are part of nature.

Before we come back, I will invite you to soften the energy within your body and allow your energy field to expand. The state of stress is one where we wrap ourselves tightly in a cellophane wrapper of stress, a state of ease and flow that is required for health. We relax from the inside, imagining our pores are open and our energy field is expanding behind us, releasing the past, expanding in front of us, letting go of the future, and helping us come into this moment. Take another breath as you slowly and gently allow the sounds around you to bring you back to the present. When you are ready, open your eyes.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Wow!

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

It is fun, right?

Jennifer Simmons, MD

That was so powerful. I know your patients are so lucky to have you provide this perspective and this gift that you truly have. I just heard Lisa Nichols speak the other day, and she was talking about shining your light and remembering that your light is borrowed. It is not yours, and your light is given to you to light others’ way. I am so grateful that you are here to shine your light and light others’ way.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Thank you so much.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

It was an absolute pleasure to have you here today. Have you written a book? Do you have a book?

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

I did. I wrote a book called The Breast Cancer Companion, A Complementary Care Manual. It was originally written by Kelly Jennings, a student of the oncology program. She wanted to help download my brain; she called it. Since then, there have been several different editions, and it is due for a rewrite, but it still has a lot of great information in it.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Amazing. If you are not insane and you want a little piece of her, please, please, please make sure that you get the book. I am just so grateful for you to be here today, for you to spend your time with me, and for what you do for everyone.

Barbara MacDonald, ND, LAc

Thank you for all you are doing for everyone too, Dr. Simmons, I appreciate it.

Jennifer Simmons, MD

Thank you. It is Dr. Jenn. Bye for now.