Shiatsudo Blog

In shiatsu and TCM, the Kidneys are considered the store-house of Qi. Kidney 3 or TaiXi is a great point on the Kidney meridian to nourish the Yin and Yang aspect of the Kidneys. Most people who have a passing interest in TCM or Tai Chi or other martial arts know the Kidney 1 point, and when I started learning shiatsu, I thought this “the” point for tonifying the Kidney meridian. As it turns out, though, Kidney 3 is far, far better. It is pretty easy to locate - being in the nice, slightly tender depression on the inside of your leg, between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon. It is a great point for all sorts of Kidney problems, from lower back ache to insomnia, tinnitus and urinary problems.

Kidney 3 is a lovely point to apply some self-massage to - you can get the thumb of one hand into the point, while using your other hand to gently rotate your foot.

Winter is approaching fast here in the UK so it’s time to start thinking about making warm, nourishing foods.

With that in mind, here’s my take on a butternut soup based on a recipe in one of the Covent Garden Soup books:

Ingredients
1 Butternut (cubed)
4 Onions (sliced)
2 Garlic cloves (sliced)
50g Butter

Method
Melt the butter in a large soup pot.
Add the onions, garlic and butternut. Sweat for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add about a litre of water (depending on how thick you like your soup) and bring to the boil.
Simmer gently for about 25minutes.
Take off the heat and blend everything until it is smooth.
Season to taste.

Now if you like your soup rich, then after blending it, add about 100ml of cream - that makes the soup extra tasty :). Make sure the soup is off the heat if you add cream, and mix it in well.

I like to add just a little pepper for seasoning and eat with some nice homemade soda bread.

Variation
If you feel like a slightly different flavour, you can roast the butternut and garlic before making the soup - just slice the butternut length ways, scoop out the seeds and drizzle a touch of olive oil on the flesh. Drop the garlic cloves into the holes left from scooping out the seeds and roast for about 40 minutes at 190° (or until the butternut is soft). Scrape out the butternut flesh and discard the skins. Then sweat the onions in butter for 10 minutes and add the roasted butternut and garlic at the same time as the water.

So I was in France a few weeks ago, and stumbled on this 1000 year old olive tree next to the Pont du Gard.

How cool is that?

One thousand years old!

Oh, the Pont was pretty cool too, you know being a marvel of Roman engineering and all.