Winding Path

10/09/2026

In Chinese medicine, the Lungs are the minister to the Heart’s emperor. They set the pace of your whole energy, and breathing is the one automatic rhythm you can steer. Try breathing in for four and out for six, and tell me what you feel. Follow along as we walk through Metal season.

10/06/2026

https://www.windingpathguide.com/blog/why-your-body-wants-to-slow-down-right-now

There's a reason for this seasonal feeling. In Chinese medicine, autumn belongs to the Metal element, and its organs are the Lung and Large Intestine. Metal governs boundaries: the boundary of your skin against the outside world, the boundary between what you take in and what you let go of, even the

09/30/2026

Waking up in the middle of the night? 🌙

You may have seen the Chinese organ clock, the idea that waking at 2 a.m. means the Liver is struggling, or 4 a.m. means the Lungs. It can be an interesting lens, but it is not a diagnosis.

Night waking has many possible threads. Blood sugar dips, stress, a late or heavy meal, alcohol, a room that is too warm or too bright, hormonal shifts, pain, or simply the natural rhythm of sleep cycles. In Chinese medicine, we look at the whole picture: your constitution, your digestion, your emotions, the season, and the pattern over time, not just the time on the clock.

A few gentle things to try:
🌿 Notice the pattern before naming it. What did you eat, drink, and feel that day?
🌿 Keep the room cool, dark, and quiet
🌿 Let dinner be warm and simple, and finish a few hours before bed
🌿 If you wake, breathe slowly and rest without checking the time

One wake-up does not mean something is wrong. Your body is giving you information, and the story it tells is usually bigger than one hour.

If it keeps happening, it is worth exploring with a practitioner who can look at the whole picture.

Find more at the link in my bio.

09/28/2026

In Chinese medicine, grief is the emotion of the Lungs. It is not something to fix or rush past. It is a natural response to loss, change, and letting go, and fall is the season when we feel it most.

The Lungs are also the home of the Po, often called the corporeal soul. The Po is the part of us tied to the body: our breath, our instincts, our senses, and the way we feel things physically before we can put words to them. When grief goes unfelt, the breath can grow shallow and the chest can feel tight or heavy.

A few gentle ways to support the Lungs and the Po:
🌿 Take a few slow, full breaths, letting the exhale be longer than the inhale
🌿 Place a hand on your chest and simply notice what is there
🌿 Let yourself cry, write, or sit quietly when the feeling comes
🌿 Keep warm foods and drinks close, like soups, pears, and tea

Grief is not a problem to solve. It is a breath that needs room to move.

Find more at the link in my bio.

09/25/2026

You may have noticed the air is a little more dry, or at least less humid. 🍂

In Chinese medicine, the Lungs and Large Intestine are paired organs, both part of the Metal element, and both are especially sensitive to dry air. When dryness builds, you might notice it in the skin, the throat, the nose, and the bowels.

The Lungs also rely on the Spleen and Stomach, our digestive center. The Spleen and Stomach turn food into energy and send fluids upward to moisten the Lungs. So when digestion is nourished, the Lungs are nourished too. Breath and digestion work as one team.

09/24/2026

Welcome to Winding Path. I’m Dena, Chinese Medicine practitioner, certified Advanced Medical Qigong Practitioner, and certified Master Face Reader, here in Dunedin, Florida. 🌿

I trained in the Shen-Hammer pulse diagnosis lineage and studied tui na and dit da in China. I’m also a certified Medical Qigong practitioner and a Master Chinese Face Reader. All of it comes back to one idea: your body is always telling you something, and Chinese medicine teaches us how to listen.

Here you’ll find seasonal guidance, food as medicine, herbal wisdom, and gentle practices you can use at home. Nothing rushed, nothing extreme. Just the next right step on a winding path.

Come on in. Start where you are. 🌙

Find more at the link in my bio and visit my website to sign up for my newsletter. 

09/08/2026

https://www.windingpathguide.com/blog/02790c7ften6iqwq757923g92gm04s

Summer is the peak of yang, the season of maximum heat, activity, and outward energy. All that brightness has a cost. Long months of sweating, moving, and burning bright quietly draw down the body's yin, its cooling, moistening, restful reserves. By the end of a Florida summer, many people feel it:

08/27/2026

I knew as soon as I walked in the door at an open house more than 10 years ago I had found a welcoming and dedicated group. I have been to many of our tai chi locations around the world and the feeling is the same, even after these years and no matter where I am.

I remember my first Taoist Tai Chi® session:
People were smiling at me and that was really important to help me feel at ease and feel accepted. Coming from a place where I was in pain, the smiles really made me think, Yeah! I can do this. It felt impactful.
Barbara

08/25/2026

https://www.windingpathguide.com/blog/the-bodys-quiet-turn-toward-autumn

We are nearing the end of late summer. In much of the world this is when the air first loosens its grip. In Florida, the thermometer does not read the memo, and the humidity lingers well into September. But something does change, and the body feels it even when the weather does not: the sun sits low

08/24/2026

I have been filming the changes I see around me this week, the small and the sudden. And the more I pay attention, the more I understand: there is no beginning or end.

In Taoist thought, life and death were never framed as discrete opposites. They are one continuous motion, yin folding into yang and back to yin, the way night folds into day. Zhuangzi wrote that life is the working of Heaven, and death is the transformation of things. I reflecting on this idea of perpetual, continuous change. It doesn’t remove the grief of watching something end, but because it widens my perspective of wholeness.

We are all changing every day…our thoughts, our feelings, our bodies. happening at the same time, in the same body, and I am starting to trust that both are exactly where they need to be. Something is coming into being, something is releasing. Always.