Hi,
I'm Dr.
Kim.
Today I want to share with you a very personal story,
One that actually happened fairly recently.
For as long as I can remember,
I have been the cold one.
Physically speaking,
That is.
My hands and feet were always freezing.
My partners would instinctively jerk away if my icy feet touched them in bed.
When I worked as a chiropractor,
My clients would often comment on how cold my hands were.
One time I was getting a holistic health screen and the practitioner touched my hand and said,
Wow,
The cold goes deep into your bones.
That moment stuck with me because it was true.
My coldness was not just skin deep.
I felt the cold deep inside of me.
It shaped my life in such a big way that it became part of my identity.
I was the girl who was always cold.
I even moved countries because of this.
It was that big of a deal.
In Perth winters,
Which are mild compared to most places,
I would sink into depression,
No matter how many layers I wore.
My body just could not withstand the chill.
When I relocated to Thailand,
Things improved.
The warmer climate was so much kinder to me,
But it wasn't solved.
Rainy season or air conditioning would take me right back to the same old.
To this day,
I still associate Bangkok with cold because every trip meant packing jackets just so I could survive the air conditioning.
And all this time,
I believed that this was just who I was.
I believed that this was a genetic problem sentencing me to a lifetime of poor circulation.
I even got to the point where I was wondering if I had died from the cold in a past life and then passed this trauma to my current body.
But last month,
Everything changed.
Let me tell you this story.
So I began working with my liver,
Doing movements inspired by qigong and somatic work,
Designed to unlock the flow of qi through the liver.
So let me explain.
In traditional Chinese medicine,
The liver has a very important role.
It's responsible for keeping the qi moving smoothly through the entire body.
When liver qi is stuck,
Circulation becomes poor.
Energy can't reach the hands,
Feet,
Or surface of the body.
You feel cold,
Stagnant,
And heavy.
When liver qi flows freely,
Warmth and vitality can return.
The energy and blood circulate,
And your body feels alive again.
I had known this concept for years,
But I had never practiced consistently.
So I made a commitment and kind of an experiment.
For one week,
Every single day,
I would do liver releasing practices.
I created my own sequence of movements,
Followed by breath work where I make the liver healing sound,
Which is a shh sound.
I then would tap along my liver meridian lines in my body to awaken the liver,
And then end with a short meditation.
I would love to share this exact routine here on Insight Timer,
But unfortunately,
This practice needed to be in video format so you can see exactly what I'm doing.
So unfortunately,
It will not be posted here.
Alongside this,
I also drank two to three cups of chrysanthemum tea daily.
This is a tea that supports the liver.
And then something incredible happened.
By the end of the week,
I found myself sweating during this practice.
I used to be the girl who could dance for three hours without breaking a sweat.
So this was an entirely new revelation for me.
Something deep inside me had unlocked.
My circulation had improved.
My hands and feet were warm.
Along with this,
My metabolism also changed.
My body is now using my food in a much more efficient way,
And I find that I am barely hungry.
Since starting this practice,
I have eaten very little yet felt completely satisfied.
My body and mind feels really,
Really light.
Now last week,
I went swimming during typhoon season.
Cold,
Wet rain was pouring down as I got out of the pool.
I dried off quickly,
And I went straight into a shopping mall with wet hair.
Now remember,
Shopping malls in Thailand are usually ice cold with air conditioning.
In the past,
This would have left me shivering,
Literally.
But that day,
I was completely fine.
My body was able to hold its warmth,
And my hands and feet stayed warm.
This was completely mind-blowing to me.
After a lifetime of believing that I was destined to be cold all the time,
Traditional Chinese medicine showed me that this was not a genetic thing like I thought.
It was a flow issue.
And when I restored the flow of qi through my liver,
My whole experience of being in my body changed.
I am sitting here talking to you,
Sweating,
After having just taught this practice to one of my one-on-one clients who suffers with the same chronic coldness.
I know this is going to change her life.
It's already changed mine in so many ways,
Not just in daily life.
I now find myself opening up to the idea of traveling to a cold place,
Perhaps even going skiing or to see the northern lights.
These things were simply not an option for me before.
I am still in awe of the power of these practices.
Something as simple as daily movement to release the liver and a humble herbal tea shifted what I thought was a lifelong curse.
So if you are someone who struggles with poor circulation or who feels cold,
Heavy,
Or stagnant,
I want you to know your body can change.
You're not trapped in that pattern forever.
This is the work I do with my clients.
I teach them how to heal pain and unlock vitality through the power of holistic practices.
When we work with the wisdom of the body and the teachings of Chinese medicine,
We can unlock warmth,
Vitality,
And flow.
Thank you very much for listening to my story.
Are you a cold person?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
I hope this talk has introduced some new concepts to you.
Have a wonderful day and I will see you tomorrow.
