A few weeks ago, I was FaceTiming with my grandma and telling her about some of the acupuncture points I’ve been learning recently.
I shared them with her because she had been trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a young girl by her father—my great-grandfather. In fact, he was a renowned TCM practitioner with his own clinic before the Cultural Revolution broke out in the early 1960s.
What my grandma said next completely shifted my knowledge and understanding of my heritage.
“我的姥爷也是医生。我们家就是职业医生。”
“My grandfather was also a TCM doctor. In fact, the trade of our family has always been medicine.”
I was shocked. I had always known about my great-grandfather, but I didn’t realize I came from a lineage of traditional Chinese medicine doctors.
That knowledge felt like a full-circle moment. Over the past few years, I’ve been diving deeper into holistic health and TCM—driven by nothing more than personal curiosity. And now, I was learning that this path has been within my bloodline all along, not to mention a meaningful step in a much longer journey: one of reclaiming and even celebrating my heritage as a Chinese American.
As with many immigrants, there’s often a strong desire to assimilate—to fit in and feel like you belong in your new home. When I immigrated to the U.S. at 12, I vividly remember judging, rejecting, and even trying to forget my heritage.
I didn’t want to be “too Asian.”
I avoided hanging out in large groups of Asians.
I prided myself on having mostly non-Asian friends, as if that somehow proved I had broken the stereotype that “all the Asians hang out together.”
When my friends and I went out to eat, I chose anywhere but a Chinese restaurant.
I even tried to forget memories from my childhood, telling myself I had “moved on.”
Looking back now, I can see how extreme—and painful—that disconnection was.
Like tannins in wine, I too softened with age. As much as I had tried to forget my past, a quiet yearning began to grow within me—a desire to return to my roots.
It started with cravings for Chinese food. That “I’m home” feeling when walking through the aisles of an Asian grocery store, spotting foods like dried squid, seaweed, and fermented tofu—items that might seem foreign or even repulsive to others but feel so familiar and comforting to me.
Because I haven’t spoken, read, or written Chinese on a daily basis for two decades, my language skills have become rusty. But two years ago, I felt a deep desire to reconnect. I set a goal to study Chinese for at least an hour each week.
Now, as I explore TCM more deeply, it’s been especially rewarding to be able to read ancient texts in Chinese. So much meaning gets lost in translation, and being able to understand the original language gives me direct access to the richness and nuance of the practice.
I’ve also begun to recall so many wellness habits and philosophies my grandparents passed down when I was young—wisdom I had taken for granted at the time. Things like:
- A central philosophy: Health is wealth. “If you don’t have health, you don’t have anything,” my grandma still reminds me.
- A technique from my grandpa: massage a pressure point on the back of your neck when you feel sickness coming on.
- A daily wellness drink: my grandma prepares a blend of over 10 types of grains and TCM herbs to nourish the body each morning.
- A simple practice: sit on the balcony or go outside to soak in sunlight (晒晒太阳), especially important as we age.
As a little girl, this was just what my family did. But now, I see how much these practices have influenced me—and how deeply they’ve shaped my growing passion for Traditional Chinese Medicine and natural healing.
So hearing that I come from generations of TCM doctors felt like a full-circle moment—marking the end of one chapter (where past wounds were healed) and the beginning of another (where I fully love, celebrate, and reclaim what makes me me).
It’s been inside me all along:
My culture.
The wellness practices of my childhood.
My lineage.
I’m not alone. In fact, I have generations of doctors walking with me, supporting me, and cheering me on as I continue this journey in TCM, health, and holistic healing.
Hi there,
Thank you for reading. I sincerely hope the reflection enabled you to look at your culture and heritage through a new lens—a recognition of what a gift it may actually be.
Best,
Elinor Inviting You to Reflect on:
What about your culture, roots, or heritage do you want to reclaim? What are some things already within you that you may have forgotten?
Are there traditions, stories, or wisdom passed down through your family that you once overlooked but now feel called to explore?
Elevate Everyday 