The look

Festive flair

We could all do with a little festive cheer! Dress for Christmas in July with a winter colour palette that sparkles and shines.

Navette ring $29.99 Pear stone ring $13.99 Lovisa

Snowfl ake jumper $119.95 Birdsnest

WITH FASHION & BEAUTY EDITOR, LIBBY KIMBER Sally Hansen nail polish $14.95 Chemist Warehouse, Big W, Priceline

Yves Saint Laurent lip stain $59 Mecca Maxima

Tabitha dress $99 meshki.com.au Baked eyeshadow $41 ilmakiage.com Juniper dress $169.99 Forever New

Posy skirt $199 bandestudio.com

Sydney shoes $239 Happy Fit Footwear

Feather cu shirt $278 karenmillen.com/au

An ode earrings $149 Mimco

Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor in Self-Portrait. Eddie Redmayne donned a cream boucle suit, while wife Hannah Redmayne opted for a butterfly-print dress. Aussie basketballer Ben Simmons in Ralph Lauren. Model Emma Louise Connolly in an all-white ensemble.

wellbeing What is ch’i?

At the heart of all traditional systems of medicine is the idea of an animating force that underpins wellbeing. In Chinese medicine, the term is ch’i (pronounced ‘chee’), in Ayurveda (and yoga) it’s called prana, and in western culture the closest translation is ‘vital force’.

Hippocrates, who is considered the father of modern medicine, was an avowed ‘vitalist’, meaning he believed there was an animating force that made living organisms fundamentally different to, and subject to different forces than, non-living entities.

We have record of many failed experiments that tried to measure this vital force, such as weighing an animal just before being killed and again immediately afterwards to ascertain if the vital force weighed anything. However, a bit like the search for the legendary Loch Ness Monster, there has never been a conclusive sighting. As science was increasingly able to explain more about the physical and chemical functioning of the body (and nature as a whole) the idea of vitalism became superseded by a mechanistic model.

Now we have a schism between traditional forms of medicine, rooted to their tenets of vitality, and western medicine firmly in the camp of considering vitalism a pseudoscience.

What is interesting, however, is that many practices that come from these traditional models are still thriving in the West. Yoga and meditation have never been more popular, and healing arts like acupuncture are firmly entrenched in our allied health landscape. What has underpinned acupuncture’s acceptance in the West is the high-quality evidence of clinical efficacy. What that means is that even if you don’t accept the theories that underpin acupuncture practice, a fair-minded person, who is up to date with the research would have to accept that it can work. At the same time, it’s fair enough to say we don’t understand how it works from a western scientific paradigm. So, we have a gulf between the traditional philosophies and the modern perspectives.

WITH WESLEY SMITH DIRECTOR, LIVE WELL HOLISTIC WELLNESS CENTRE MANUKA LIVEWELLNATURALLY.COM.AU

Personally, I’m quite comfortable with that gulf (as an acupuncturist, of course I should be!). It seems entirely rational to me that our current understanding of the human body, whilst mesmerisingly impressive, is still a long way from complete. Who would have thought a generation ago that studying the gut microbiome would yield such medical riches?

The idea that there is a fundamental difference between inanimate and living beings that we have not yet found a way to measure seems not so far-fetched. Further, I would say that treatments and practices that cultivate vitality and its associated wellbeing, like yoga and acupuncture, meet a very important need that in many ways western medicine has until recently largely neglected – the cultivation and promotion of wellbeing. Editor’s note: Our rotating wellbeing and fitness columns provide information that is general in nature. Please always refer to your preferred health professional for advice suited to your personal healthcare requirements.

Luke Clews

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