One of the things that brought me to Chinese Medicine was my bout with depression. About 13 years ago, a really dear friend of mine attempted suicide, this was one person that I highly respected in life, and who was one of the binders in my life. Shortly after this, my own life had its own down spiral. My episode was so severe that it got in the way of my job at the time, and actually I lost the "flavor" of life at the moment, and subsequently called in one day, and didn't go back to work. It wasn't that I hated this job. It was good for me at the moment but it wasn't what I really wanted out of life. Jobless, purposely, and just sleeping through my mood, for about a month, prompted me to seek help. I saw a therapist, and was put on Zoloft, and eventually found the motivation to pick myself up and start all over again. I then shortly after developed severe tension headaches, and frequent diarrhea. There was some light-headedness and some dizziness. Finally, it dawned on me that this was most likely the side effects of the medication I was taking. A month later, my therapeutic sessions were over, and I didn't feel like I needed to take the medication any more, so I simply quit taking it. However, I still felt like I needed something. Luckily one day, I ran into a Tai ji demonstration in Andersonville, Chicago. I had been doing Tai ji about three years at the time, but my last teacher was in Boston,and when I moved back, I hadn't had practiced as much. I hadn't looked for one either. The depression pretty much knocked the the desire out of me. I lucked out being there at the time, to see others practicing was what I had been missing all this time. The Tai ji studio, was also connected to an herbal shop where they put together various prescriptions. I met Dr. Wu, who ended up talking me into taking one of his Chinese Herb classes. It was here where I found ground for my new life, and love for Chinese medicine.
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Edwin Alvarez 