Chrysanthemum tea

I have read this article on chrysanthemum tea - incidentally, my mother likes to make chrysanthemum tea occasionally, which we would buy from a traditional chinese herbal medicine store near the neighbourhood wet market - she says the tea is cooling. Like the article also says, it "cools the body and clears the liver.... also supports immunity, reduces high blood pressure, relaxes the nervous system and curbs aging". I would sometimes drink warm chrysanthemum tea during lunch at the coffee shop too.

I happened to have taken a photo of chrysanthemum flowers at the plant nursery which I visited about 3 weeks ago.

I think maybe I can buy a pot of chrysanthemum to grow at home, then we can harvest the flowers which are edible to make chrysanthemum tea to enjoy the health benefits. I found this article that says the chrysanthemum flowers "tend to bloom from May to July".

I have checked out the article on "Heat in the blood - traditional chinese medicine diagnostic patterns", and noted that among the conditions or symptoms that may arise from heat in the blood include skin conditions, and other possible TCM patterns include liver yin deficiency. On a similar note, I learnt from this related article that among the herbs that clear heat and relieve toxicity include chrysanthemum.

I found another article that also recommends chrysanthemum flowers to dispel heat generated in the body and resolve the heat rash problem.

"According to TCM principles, heat rash is an outward sign of an internal temperature imbalance. If you have heat rash, avoid eating spicy foods or sugar, drinking hot beverages or alcohol, or taking hot showers or baths-all behaviors that generate heat in the body. Prepare a cooling herbal tea with one tablespoon of peppermint leaves and two tablespoons of chrysanthemum flowers in three cups of boiling water. Steep it for 20 minutes, then strain and cool to room temperature; drink half a cup every few hours until the rash clears."

(From "How to treat heat rash")

"In traditional Chinese medicine, emotions and physical health are intimately connected."

I have checked out this article "Emotions in Traditional Chinese Medicine" and I noted that "emotions and physical health are intimately connected", and different emotions "are each associated with a particular organ in the body". I also learnt that "a diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine is highly individualized", and "once an organ system is identified, the unique symptoms of the patient determine the practitioner's treatment approach".

While googling to find out more about this subject, I came across this article that shares a similar observation - it says Finnish researchers map how emotions are expressed physically in human bodies".

"(NaturalNews) New research published in the journal Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America (PNAS) provides a solid basis for understanding how our bodies physically react to various emotional states. Scientists from Aalto University in Finland found that the human body lights up differently on a heat map for each type of emotion, illustrating for the first time how emotions play a definitive role in physical health."
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043686_emotions_human_bodies_physical_expression.html#ixzz2tvJ4ytNt

I also learnt from this article below that Chinese medicine such as acupuncture treats physical and emotional trauma.

"Chinese medicine is particularly effective for trauma relief because the method of diagnosis involves searching for the root of a person's distress, rather than merely treating the symptoms. By thoroughly investigating the cause of a patient's stress disorder, origin and continuing source of discomfort and fear is recognized and more readily conquered. Whether a treatment occurs quickly after a traumatic event has been experienced or years later, acupuncture can help relieve tension".

- See more at: http://www.pacificcollege.edu/acupuncture-massage-news/articles/252-chinese-medicine-treats-physical-and-emotional-trauma.html#sthash.N8n7zApf.dpuf

Another article I found focuses on liver health harmony and the link to physical and emotional wellbeing - I learnt from the article about some foods and herbs that are good for the liver.  

http://soundworksbygehl.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/liver-health-harmony-the-link-to-physical-and-emotional-wellbeing/

"We get a new liver every 6 weeks, and with the proper nourishment, care and some lifestyle changes, we can avoid or reverse many of these problems. Everything in the body can and will return to a state of balance when provided with the right support.

Foods that are good for the Liver: red beets, carrots, zucchini/squash, raw green leaf vegetables, tart cherries (sour is cooling & tonifies liver), black cherry juice, lemon water, rose hips, wolfberry, aka lyceum.

Bitter Herbs good for the Liver: Yellow dock, Dandelion, Blessed Thistle, Milk Thistle, Burdock, Oregon Grape".