Dr. Xiaolan Zhao

I am very happy that this book has been so well received around the world. The success of our first Canadian edition led to publication in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Bulgaria, America and Germany. Later in 2007, we will add France, Brazil and Italy to this list. With new markets come new titles. The UK edition is titled Traditional Chinese Medicine for Women. In the USA, it's known as Ancient Healing for Modern Women. Für deutsche Leser: Der Schein des Mondes auf dem Wasser. Traditionelle Chinesische Medizin für Frauen.

Thank you all for your kind words, your support, and above all for your interest in my life's work.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, disease is an expression of the whole person — body, mind and spirit — in relation to the environment. Chinese medicine doesn’t just treat isolated symptoms in isolated body parts. It gently encourages an awareness of the self as a whole, which in turn promotes strength and healing. As a result, I’ve tried to organize this book using the same holistic principles, instead of dividing it into discussions of separate body parts and medical conditions…

The title of the first Canadian edition, Reflections of the Moon on Water, evokes the archetypal aspects of the feminine that we each embody. In TCM, both the moon and the water have been symbolically connected with Yin, the feminine, and many cultures compare women’s evolution from young woman to mother to matriarch with the transformation of the moon in her phases. The title is also meant to suggest the transformational possibilities that arise when we share ourselves with others. Just as I have shared my knowledge and experience of Chinese medicine with my patients, the wonderful women I’ve met in Canada have shown themselves to me, and in so doing have illuminated parts of myself that were previously hidden — like the dark side of the moon. The luminous light of our wholeness is reflected in each of us, for all of us to see. It is my hope then by sharing my understanding and experience of Traditional Chinese Medicine and offering stories from my life and the lives of my wise and courageous patients, you will be equipped with knowledge and practices to help you in your transitions. Also, it is my heartfelt wish that this book can help us reconnect to what is authentic within us, in a healing journey toward wholeness.

From the introduction of the Canadian edition.

Published in Canada by Random House Canada.
Published in the UK & Commonwealth by Virago Press.
Published in the USA by Walker & Company.