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Make Your Own Chinese Spring Wine Tonic

The chinese are well known for making tonics for drinking and for applying to injuries. Anyone who has practiced chinese martial arts is familiar with ‘dit da jow’ or ‘hit medicine’. Dit da jow is usually a secret combination of herbs soaked in alcohol for several months to years and applied to injuries to speed up healing.

Taken internally, the tonics are often called ‘Spring Wine’. You can make your own chinese tonic spring wine with just a little bit of money and lots of time! I believe these home brews are much more powerful than anything you can buy in a bottle or pill at an herb shop.

I love to drink Shou Wu Chih and decided to make my own a few months ago. I bought a bottle in a chinatown herb shop and asked the owner to make up a batch of the raw herbs so I can soak them in rice wine and enjoy a fresh powerful home made batch. I had to buy 4 bottles of the highest percentage alcohol (38%) rice wine at the liquor store around the corner. When I got home, I added a bit of Rou Cong Gong, baji tian, du zhong and American Ginseng to add some kick to it. I tried a bit the other day to see how it was progressing and it was powerful! First of all, I slept like a baby after drinking a few shots. It was so strong, I had to mix some raw honey in there to make it palatable. Also, I have to say that this stuff increases nitric oxide production in the body. After a few days on this, my thinking was clearer, I easily felt 10 years younger. It makes you feel strong and powerful. So now I have a gallon of this stuff to work through! I didn’t measure my testosterone levels, but if I had to go by physical indicators, this stuff boosts testosterone levels!!

So, not stopping there, I found a great recipe for another batch here. This site has a jpg you can print out with the formula. It costs $15 in the united states to make up this batch (plus the alcohol). The owner remarked that this was a great formula and was really impressed that came in the store with it. However, I wanted to kick it up a few more notches. I added deer anter glue, korean ginseng, shou wu (fo ti) and goji berries. The blogger, happyhomemaker88 also had the same idea to add goji berries but complained they soaked up a bit of the wine.

The herbalist was impressed with my knowledge of chinese herbs and confirmed those were good additions. I wanted to do even more but was told “enough”..it was strong enough! Now I have to let this stuff soak a few months. I’ll try an early taste in 2-3 months and give a good 6 months.

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Vivid dreams with Melatonin

I have taken melatonin in the past, but was reluctant to take a high dose because the pineal gland (which produces melatonin when it’s dark out) produces it in relatively small amounts. You can get the supplement in many different strengths, but 1mg and 3mg seem to be the most common.

However, I discovered recently that melatonin is also produced in the retina and in the intestines! I’m not sure how much melatonin is produced in the gut, but I’m willing to bet it’s a lot. I also have read many studies that indicate melatonin is safe to take in very large amounts. In fact, in one study, participants were given 150mg for an extended period of time with no ill effects.

I have taken up to 3mg without experiencing the reported vivid dreams that I’ve read about. When i upped the dose to 6 and 9 mg, wow! Extremely long, vivid dreams! It’s a very interesting effect. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to attain lucidity from these dreams. They are extremely real and vivid, right down to textures, sounds and other senses.

Please be responsible and do your research before experimenting with supplements. Start small and monitor yourself before upping the dose on any supplement. People who take high doses of melatonin report grogginess the next day if they don’t get enough sleep or need to wake up early.

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Lucid Dreaming — The Possibilities

Many people are unaware that it’s possible to ‘wake up’ within a dream and become fully conscious that one is really asleep. While in the dream and conscious, you can have varying degrees of control over the dream. With practice you can fully control the dream in all aspects. For example, suppose you wanted to fly up into the clouds or practice a skill. You can be anything you want to be.
I believe it’s possible to change our physical bodies via a lucid dream. While I don’t have any double blind studies available to prove my belief, my thought process is as follows: If it’s possible to affect positive change in our bodies through mental imagery and other visualization techniques, imagine how powerful it is to actually be what you want for awhile. For example, instead of seeing yourself whole in your mind’s eye, imagine the power of actually being whole in your dream. The mind can’t tell the difference between a dream and a physical experience. If you sit on a chair in a dream, it feels exactly like it does in waking life. If you bump against a wall in the dream, you’ll feel it. Except in the dream, you can walk through it.
The examination of what is possible in the dream world is an interesting exploration of what could be possible in the real world.
The most common technique for lucid dreaming is to get into the habit of questioning yourself periodically if your are dreaming or awake. Eventually you’ll dream this question and realize you’re really asleep.

Many people are waking up at 3 am after a few hours of sleep and taking a supplement like galantamine with choline to induce extremely vivid dreams.

These highly vivid dreams increase the odds of becoming aware you’re dreaming.
Look for any supplement or food that increases acetylcholine in your brain, and you’ll find a potential dream enhancer.

DailyNudge is a great site to send yourself a daily reminder to ask yourself if you’re awake or dreaming. It’s free.
It would be great to hear about your dream explorations here..
Dream On!

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Aspirin Dreams

I found out something about aspirin on my own…it seriously deepens, lengthens and enhances dreaming. Anyone have a theory why? Post it here. I don’t have a theory yet, but the effect on dreaming is unmistakable for me.
Aspirin enhances dreaming

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Shou wu chih for sleep?

So, it’s official. Shou wu chih is great for sleep! I’ve been taking Shou wu chih on and off for a long time. I started to suspect that it helped deepen sleep last year. I can say every time I drink Shou Wu Chih I get a great night’s sleep. I’m not really sure what the reason is for it, but it works. As I mentioned in previous posts, there is a version with alcohol out there. Drinking a few ounces of this will definitely make you sleepy, however you should wake up refreshed. Regular wine doesn’t have this effect on me, but shou wu definitely does.
Hmmm, does it contain melatonin?

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Zinc — Deep Sleep and Long Dreams

Want to have some long and intense dreams? Take this stuff:
Optizinc.

OptiZinc for Vivid Dreams
OptiZinc for Vivid Dreams
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This supplement is crazy.
First of all, I can’t say enough good things about Zinc. This mineral is a must have in every person’s tonic arsenal. I’ll write more about great skin, energy, male performance and recovery in future posts. But for now, take 1 or 2 tablets before sleep and you will not only sleep deeply, but will have the most vivid and long dreams you’ve ever had. I feel like I’m dreaming for hours. You’ll awake refreshed..not like you’ve been tossing and turning all night either.
I’ve taken other forms of zinc, and they are all good. Especially the liquid ones. However, optizinc (which is a supposedly highly absorbable version of zinc) is the one that affects me the most in the sleeping and dreaming department.

It’s simply AMAZING!