Back to School: Gentle Warriors Build Resistance and Resilience

From August through September, toddlers, elementary, high school, and college kids are heading back to school. That means taking stock of supplies from new pencils to shoes, and anticipating what the season demands, including being ready for the colds and flus passed around like lightning, sometimes with the ferocity of a late summer hurricane.

We can’t stop kids from being in close contact, so sniffles and sore throats are tossed back and forth, in class, on the playground, and at home to siblings and parents. One strategy for preparedness is to use Gentle Warriors, formulas devised for children, in collaboration with Stephen Cowan, MD, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician who sought to use herbal medicine in his busy practice to address childhood woes that end up impacting the whole family. These mild tasting, low alcohol formulas can be useful for anyone who needs them.

Our role as health care providers is to help families meet the challenge of bugs that jump from child to child, making noses run, tummies ache, coughs that stubbornly irritate, and agitation that makes it difficult to calm down.

How do Gentle Warriors support the welfare of children?

First, these formulas mobilize Resistance by heightening the capacity to ward off infection.

Second, they optimize Resilience by nourishing the capacity to heal and recover.

Resistance and Resilience boost the body’s capacity to adapt to changes in inside and outside weather and daily stressors to fend off and recover from bugs. Chinese medicine sees these capacities mediated by the dynamic interaction between the Liver, Lung, and Spleen, known as the Adaptive Triad.

• The Liver mobilizes our defenses by moving Qi and Blood to the four limbs and the external layers of the body

• The Lung governs the skin and mucus membranes, the boundary between the inside and outside, activating Defense Qi (Wei) to protect from assault and invasion by external influences (Cold, Heat, Dampness, Dryness and Wind)

• The Spleen organizes digestion, assimilation and the distribution of nutrients in the blood (Ying). This supports the function of the Liver and Lung, generating the daily strength and vital reserves needed for healing and recovery.

The Adaptive Triad: Liver, Lung, Spleen

The Gentle Warriors formula called Wood Builder, a member of the Peacemakers group, directly addresses all three Organ Networks of the Adaptive Triad by modulating, integrating and mobilizing the defensive and nutritional functions of the Liver, Lung and Spleen. This formula is a preventive tonic for supporting and activating our adaptive capacity to resist and recover from external stressors including seasonal weather changes, increased physical, mental and emotional demand, or exposure to pathogens, keeping us on an even keel amidst the predictable and unpredictable windstorms that occur.

To augment the robust, steadying influence of Wood Builder, add the formula Grow & Thrive to further nurture Ying (Nutritive Qi), and fortify Wei (Defense Qi).

Meeting unavoidable exposures

When an exposure to whatever’s going around begins to cause discomfort, to either prevent or handle problems, Gentle Warriors formulas can be added or used alone, based upon what is happening:

• Windbreaker enhances the Lung’s power to ward off external invasion by invigorating Wei, expelling Wind, Heat and Cold from the Tai Yang layer, clearing Lung Heat, loosening and transforming Phlegm, moisturizing Dryness, and helping Lung Qi descend.

• Tummy Tamer aids the Spleen’s power to digest and nourish, by supporting the Stomach’s function of processing food and generating nutrition by dispelling Qi, Food Stagnation, and Dampness. This encourages the Stomach Qi to descend, harmonizing the movement of food, Qi and Moisture between the Middle and Lower Burners.

• Chest Relief assists the Lung’s ability to promote healthy respiration and rectify Lung Qi by fostering its smooth descent, dispelling Phlegm, replenishing Moisture, and augmenting Ying (Nutritive Qi) and Wei (Defense Qi),

• Pipe Cleaner helps restore healthy breathing by opening the Lung, relaxing the chest, anchoring the Qi by nourishing the Kidney, and breaking the entanglement of Heat and Phlegm that blocks the downward movement of Lung Qi.

• Quiet Calm helps restore emotional equilibrium by clearing Heat from the Liver and Heart, subduing Liver Wind, nourishing Brain and Marrow, anchoring the Qi and strengthening the Root, elevating the Spirit (Shen/Mind). Supporting the Kidneys, Liver, and Heart tranquilizes the nerves and relaxes the muscles, enabling focus and restorative rest.

Nourished qi that circulates well relieves stagnation in the Lungs, Spleen, and Liver. Expelling the Wind Heat that inflames the nose, throat, ears, and sinuses, relieves distress. Removing stuck Heat and Phlegm, relieves bronchial irritation. Anchored qi enables hardiness so that when the big bad wolf huffs and puffs, he cannot blow a strong house down.

Identify WHO a child is + WHAT they have

Providers who understand the person, the context within which a problem occurs, as well as the problem itself, have an edge. The Gentle Warriors Formula Guide explains formula rationales, and includes an in-depth, valuable method to identify a child’s nature, their constitutional patten.

This enables providers, as well as their parents, to anticipate each child’s challenges, physical and psychological, and prevent minor hitches from morphing into serious ones. Five Peacemaker formulas target the dynamic interaction between the organ networks specific to each of the five types. There are helpful charts, diagrams, and a questionnaire for parents to fill out, available on the Kan website or as a hard copy pamphlet.

Quiz: Can you match a formula to each of these kids?

• Jill doesn’t have an appetite with low energy, and susceptible to everything.

• Johnny caught a cold. He’s sniffling, sneezing, his throat is sore.

• Danny can’t breathe because his sinuses are continually clogged.

• Alice has a tummy ache and doesn’t want to go to school.

• Tony has a wet cough that’s interfering with his sleep and making him tired.

• Samantha has a deep, persistent cough that won’t let up and is wearing her down.

• Billy has a hard time letting go of the day, even when he’s needing to sleep.

• Dorothy is inward, shy, curious, and tends to be stubborn.

Be Equipped to Impress

The sage does not wait until the fierce squall arrives to close the windows and door. By identifying constitutional patterns, you can nurture development and prevent problems from becoming entrenched. By having what you need on hand, when autumn arrives, and the soundtrack plays an ah choo melody mixed with a hacking drumbeat, you’re ready.