Barefoot Doctor's Journal

Take control of your health with this guide to natural health and healing. Get expert advice to help you alleviate pain and live healthy naturally. Access to tools, information and opportunities.

Take control of your health

For 5000 years Traditional Chinese Medicine has help people to relieve pain and achieve a healthy longevity naturally.

A comprehensive guide to natural health and healing, the Barefoot Doctor’s Journal seeks to empower it's readers to take control of their own health, find their own inspiration, help create healthier communities and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Internationally recognized experts in the fields of healthy aging and Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Living Younger Longer Institute has helped hundreds of people each year to live healthy naturally.

News You Can Use!

Providing members with the latest scientific research on the ancient healing secrets of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Get information, access to tools, and enjoyable opportunities for a lifetime of active adventure!

February 2, 2020
Joe Brady

Impact of Tai Chi on Mind and Body

A growing body of research shows that fall-related injuries and cognitive decline are highly interdependent. How sharp we are mentally, changes the way we walk, and our risk of falling. This may explain why exercises like tai chi, which strengthens both the mind and the body have such dramatic effects on improving balance and more importantly on reducing falls.

Watch the video of the lecture  “Minding” Our Bodies: Research on the Impact of Tai Chi on Cognitive-neuromuscular Interactions in Older Adults with Peter Wayne, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Research Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine   (see below)

Top ten reasons for getting to a Tai chi class today!

1. Improve balance and reduce falls – studies have shown people who practice Tai chi at least once a week have half the risk of falling and even if they do fall have half the risk of getting injured in a fall!

2. Improve strength, flexibility and aerobic power – According to the Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity, when done properly Tai chi is a legitimate, moderate aerobic exercise.

3. Pain Relief – Tai chi has been shown to be effective in relieving back pain, neck pain, and arthritis pain.

4. Improve cognitive function – Tai chi has been shown in studies to improve memory, learning, and concentration in older adults and even shown to slow down the decline in dementia.

5. Improves cardiovascular function – Reduces high blood pressure and your chances of developing heart disease.

6. Improves mood and anxiety – 82% of studies show Tai chi improves mood and anxiety.

7. Improves depression – Tai chi has been shown to work better than anti-depressants.

8. Reduce the effects of stress – a powerful form of mindfulness meditation, Tai chi can carry you away from your troubles for 20 minutes at a time reducing the harmful effects of stress-related hormones.

9. Improve the quality of life – Tai chi has been shown to improve quality of life, mobility and pain in cancer patients, fibromyalgia patients and heart disease.

10. Last but not least: Mythology – Joseph Campbell once said you can tell a lot about a person by the mythology they live. The mythology of the tai chi master is a much better self-image than becoming a victim of old age.

Watch the video: Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series

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January 22, 2020
Joe Brady

Year of the Rat New Year Celebration

Happy New Year! 新年快樂! Save the date on your calendars! Truong An Gifts & Far East Center’s 26th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration is on Saturday, January 25th and Sunday, January 26th, 2020. *ALL groups on both days will perform Dragon, Lion dances, and martial arts.

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January 20, 2020
Joe Brady

Make healthy eating an adventure

The average large supermarket has over 55,000 food items in it and most of those are healthy. Yet the average American diet has only 24 different food items in their shopping cart. Haven’t you noticed that we tend to put the same things in the shopping cart each week?

Healthy eating can be a hardship and a chore, or we can make it an adventure. Here are some tips from the Harvard Medical School on 13 easy ways to add fruits and vegetables to your diet. Make healthy eating an adventure for the next few months and try one tip each week when you go shopping. If you do this by springtime you will have a healthy diet happening in your life without depriving yourself of any of the other foods that you enjoy. Simply include more healthy stuff and unhealthy foods become a smaller percentage of your overall diet.

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is a cornerstone of good health. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help you:

  1. Keep blood pressure under control.
  2. Reach and maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
  3. Keep your arteries flexible.
  4. Protect your bones.
  5. Keep the eyes, brain, digestive system, and just about every other part of the body healthy.

Get your copy of The Harvard Medical School 6-Week Plan for Healthy Eating

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January 11, 2020
Joe Brady

Nature’s Therapy and the Science Behind It

The ancient Chinese firmly believed that there was something inherently therapeutic about being around trees and nature. As far back as 147 B.C. in traditional Chinese medicine “nature’s therapy” has been a major branch of the medicine. Remnants of nature’s therapy can still be seen in parks all over China very early in the morning as to this day the Chinese believe it is better to exercise outside than in a gym. Many spiritual traditions believe the same as in Zen gardens, and even in medicine, most hospitals have a healing garden somewhere on the property. Modern science is rediscovering the value of nature’s therapy and the science behind it has shown exposure to the natural world can benefit human beings in a variety of ways, there can be real healing effects to nature’s therapy.

Modern people spend 90% of their time indoors and research is showing that this may be wreaking havoc on our nervous systems as evidenced by the increase in depression and anxiety that characterizes modern living.

In a talk in NCCIH’s Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series, Dr. Gregory Bratman of the University of Washington discussed the research on nature and mental health and its practical implications – for example, for urban planning and school design. 

To watch the talk read on

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January 5, 2020
Joe Brady

Forget Resolutions: Healthy isn’t a goal, it’s a way of life

Being healthy isn’t about making New Year resolutions, it’s about how we live our lives on a daily basis. Healthy isn’t a goal, it’s a way of life. The legendary founder of Tai chi Zhang San-Feng once said: “every meal you eat, every walk you take or choose not to take is an opportunity for profit or loss”. As we head into a potentially, tumultuous year of 2020 staying healthy and keeping our sanity becomes crucial. Managing stress, changing our diets, getting more exercise and all the other resolutions we usually make at this time of year must become realities rather than just goals that evaporate as soon as we get lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life. To make healthy changes in our lives we need realistic plans, we need access to resources and we need the inspiration to make it all happen on a daily basis. The Barefoot Doctor’s Journal is dedicated to those who wish to make the world a healthier place. Here in this issue and in the future, we will attempt to provide the necessary resources for those who wish to take action in their own lives and to inspire others to do the same.

For more on making a plan, access to resources and inspiration, read on.

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