( ENSPIRE Mind, Body, & Soul ) Traditional Chinese Medicine Expert, Winnie Chan Wang Gives Tips for Holistic Healing
ENSPIRE Contributor: Kaitlyn Cruz
Winnie Chan Wang is a mindfulness and traditional medicine expert, specializing in holistic wellness practices. She uses techniques such as acupuncture and mindfulness to combat anxiety, pain, and fatigue in her clients. She incorporates both science and spirituality in her practices, knowing that these are key elements to an individual’s overall well-being. Winnie has seen much success, being an international speaker, bestselling author, and professor in acupuncture at Alhambra Medical University.
In her private practice, Winnie provides access to health services to all, especially the BIPOC community and other marginalized people. She believes wellness should be available to individuals of all backgrounds and income levels. She is compassionate and authentic in her work, desiring to help her clients heal from trauma and bring light into their lives. This compassion extends beyond her private practice, as she is the Chair of the Compassionate Transformation Community nonprofit in Pasadena, CA.
We spoke with Winnie about her practice and the keys to unlocking healing using holistic methods.
Winnie, could you tell us how you help women tap into their Divine Feminine and what inspired you to delve into this work?
The feminine principle is about receiving, weaving, and being. I am literally laughing out loud because to teach, to guide, and to work means I have to dive into my masculinity.
If you want to know the truth about Yin and Yang, look at the Tao symbol. White represents light, masculine, and yang, black, represents darkness, feminine, and yin. Notice that within the black fish is a white dot, and within a white fish is a black dot. That means when I am serving others (white fish), I am grounded in my ego’s desire (black dot) to make the world a better place. When I help women tap into their softness and creativity (black fish), I am holding the light and discipline in the center (white dot).
To be connected means to be Yin Yang balanced. The truth is that all the yin and all the yang are already within every individual. Because we fear the darkness, the messiness of birth and creation, and the mysteries of femininity so much that we often suppress the yin. In summary, the divine feminine activation is actually about me embracing my yin-yang balance. It is my authenticity, how I embrace my yin equally to my yang, that permits other women to be whole.
As a licensed acupuncturist and intuitive healer, you’ve mentioned using Traditional Chinese Medicine to release trauma. Can you explain how acupuncture and mindfulness meditation can help individuals in this process?
Traditional Chinese Medicine often uses acupuncture and herbs to restore Yin Yang and put the elements in balance. It is helpful to go to a licensed acupuncturist with a medical degree who is trained to make a diagnosis and treatment plan. For example, anger is energetically trapped in the liver, and fear in the kidneys.
Everyone responds to trauma differently. We commonly call the stress response: Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. If fighting, arguing, and being defensive is your primary coping mechanism, then you can soothe the liver. If avoiding, running away (flight), or addiction (sex/drugs /social media) is your primary pattern, then you can strengthen your kidney. The content is a four-year medical degree and is impossible to cover in a magazine article! I have private or group sessions for your particular needs and would love to point you in the right direction with custom solutions. I believe wellness belongs to people regardless of income level, so I have group sessions that are completely free or at a very low cost.
Your work emphasizes the importance of community and connection. How can individuals find and build the supportive community they may be missing in their lives?
The biggest mistake I made was not sharing my weakness and vulnerability in my teens, twenties, and thirties. Love, support, and protection are truly available to anyone who seeks it. Ask, and you shall receive. Our nonprofits’ monthly hybrid events are called H2H = Heart To Heart! It is a good place to find community and a safe space to open up. We have programs for kids, for men, for cross-cultural exchanges (people of Native American, European, Asian, and African descent coming together to share their ancestral wisdom). And if we don’t already have a program that meets your needs, we can co-create one!
Could you share a glimpse of the 5 Elements of Healing with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong and how they contribute to overall well-being?
Okay, I will give one example. Overthinking impairs the earth’s element, which governs digestion. If you have anxiety or are a people pleaser (fawning is your trauma response), then getting acupuncture or herbs can help remove the over-attachment to material things or people that you are holding too tightly.
Going to an acupuncturist is like going to a dentist when you have a cavity. An acupuncturist can help you stop the active pain and clean you up. Doing Qi Gong is like brushing your teeth. To me, it’s a non-negotiable. How can you not brush your teeth and expect to have healthy teeth? Qi means energy, Gong means work. I can tell you about how good an ice cream is with WORDS, but until you have dipped your tongue into the ice cream, how can you truly know how good it tastes? Acupuncture and Qi Gong are the same.
“Unlocking Light,” your upcoming book, sounds intriguing. Can you give us a sneak peek into what readers can expect and how it can transform their lives?
Unlocking Light is based on Tao Science, a book co-authored by Tao Grandmaster Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha and Quantum Physics Ph.D. Rulin Xiu. It is because everyone and everything is made of Soul, Heart, Mind, Energy and Body. I invited 4 other transformational coaches who are experts at connecting to the Soul, opening the Heart, shifting victim thoughts into empowering ones in the Mind, understanding your Energy, and loving your Body. It was born from the love of each of my co-authors and the modalities they work with, all of which have been instrumental in my own healing journey. Each of them shares their healing journey through the lens of their modality, woven together with all of my love and curiosity about them and their story. This book will change lives and give you a soul, heart, mind, energy, and body makeover. I’m so excited. Follow me on social media to hear about the release of the book, audio, and live workshops!
You’re the Chair of the Compassionate Transformation Community nonprofit. How does this organization support the mental wellness of youth and their parents, and how can people get involved or benefit from its services?
I love this question. You know, every single person has trauma. Every person has some unhealed wounds. We often work in a two-step process: 1) finding compassion (white dot) for our shadow (black fish) and 2) transforming (white fish) so that our ego can enjoy intimacy in every relationship (black dot). Do you know that separation is an illusion? When I first learned about raising vibrations, I only wanted to be around people who had high vibrations. When I took Lifeworks Transformation with Diana Miranda, I learned that “nobody breaks through unless everybody breaks through.” For example, we all drink water from the same river and we all breathe the same air. It doesn’t matter how much meditation I do or how much I clean up the river. If my neighbor keeps pouring poison into the river, then I am as sick as she is because we drink the same river! If I can enroll my neighbor in cleaning the river with me, now we both drink the same cleaner water! Therefore, the only true healing is when everybody does it together in the community. If only parents or children did therapy, we would still be drinking polluted water. We need everyone to be on the same team. Let’s take responsibility for how we show up.
Lastly, CTC has programs for everyone! We firmly believe in bringing a mix of cultural wisdom and healing modalities to children and their families. Once a month we have a Heart to Heart event that brings fun ways of bolstering psychological health to children from 6-12 years old. We use movement, video and audio clips, and fun exercises to bring awareness and offer tools to kids’ mental health! Additionally, beginning in November 2023, every First and Third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM PST (hybrid online and in person), we will have a support and coaching program for neurodivergent kids. Follow us on social media and check out our website for more programs and events, at https://lovect.net/.
Winnie Chan Wang’s passion and dedication to what she does is evident in her work. She is a prime example of going after what you believe in and making a positive difference in others’ lives. Her Chinese traditional medicine and mindfulness practices have helped her in her own healing journey, and she hopes to share that with others. She has seen much success and continues to grow in her practice. Through her private practice and nonprofit, she hopes to help others heal from trauma and make her services widely available to a diverse range of individuals.
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