Chemistry

This semester has been very enlightening. I admit that I dislike blogging, and feel hesitant about what I will write and how it may be interpreted by the group. But I have gotten more comfortable about the idea of writing in this forum and appreciate being able to read each of your contributions. Thank you for always being honest and thought provoking in our dialogs both outside and inside the classroom. The last biochemistry class brought up a number of very important topics. Some of which I feel have governed my whole life, like the foods we eat and have access to. It makes me so mad that you cannot find any grocery store in parts of the city that are more impoverished. Have you ever tried to find a decent food store in the heart of East Oakland or West Oakland? and where stores are more concentrated, like North Oakland and trendy neighborhoods, the prices are exasperated. This is just one example of food discrepancy that we are faced with on a daily level. And as you expand outw...

I do not support the development of the "bionic" person. I accept that we are imperfect beings with mortality facing us. I believe in the development of the "raw" person, which is something some people do not want to put effort into. I believe there are a lot of people that desire to be more enhanced, intellectual, athletic, physically able, mentally fit, without the patience to commit to making the sacrifices to achieve or with limitation around accepting who they are, or what they are faced with.  We see technology making huge advancements daily, all around us. We see willingness for some people to be enhanced as a bionic person without truly knowing the long term effects of these experiments. Of course it is easy to idealize that it will be used for good, to help people who have been tragically paralyzed or struck with brain injury, but what is the real possibility of this development. There are a lot of hateful people in the world who crave world power and domin...

700 Microbial Species in OUR MOUTH! we are often times afraid of the unknown, the unseen, the microbes in our mouth are nothing new, in fact we have been a host to microbes for all of our existence. perhaps its those microbes and the perfect harmony that allows for them to exist in and within us that is the matrix of immunity. One discussion in class to today that stuck with me is having dogs help prevent allergies. I have had dogs my entire life. I occasionally get seasonally allergies, but nothing debilitating.  I know that being exposed to various microbes in the dirt help me build good immunity so it makes sense that having an animal, a dog or a cat or even a chicken could help you build good immunity that would therefore support a healthy response to allergies.

One of the discussions from today was the article about radioactive remnants from decades- old bomb tests on our ocean floor. This is a tragic reminder that what we do has long term consequences. We may not see the effects of our experiments, they may disappear from our consciousness, or we the experimenters can long be dead and gone by time our decisions and the effects from our decisions are seen by generations that surpass us.

Acupuncture as effective Energy Medicine : I find acupuncture to be very effective energy medicine. I suppose I would have to in order to want to dedicate my studies and try to build a professional career out of it. I personally have been able to recover and heal from certain life challenges, both emotional and physical, with the additional use of acupuncture. I watch it work for other people, yet I know many people who do not believe it is effective or have had uncomfortable or bad experiences with acupuncture. I feel very connected to the energy in my body and can am sensitive to shifts that happen with needles, moxibustion, herbs and connection with other people. I know not everyone is connected with the energy in their own body. Kirlian photography is really cool. I once had my aura photographed, we discussed this in class. I find it so cool that our aura is continually being changed by our environment, our mental state, the energy of whatever we may be in contact with, a gems...

I know I am a living system because I can grow, learn, adapt, heal, reproduce, and ultimately die and go back to the carbon form in which I originate. Biophysics and TCM can be interchangeable. Biophysics studies the theories of various aspects of physics and applies those to how biology works. TCM is looking at the health of the body, mind, and spirit in relation to how it interacts and is effected by its environment, external and internal, diet, lifestyle, stress and calm patterns, seasonally, energetically. The use of herbal medicine, energy medicine, moxibustion, acupuncture, massage all support the body on a biological level.