Chinese Medicine at Six Senses Duxton, Singapore – Traditional Healing for Urban Adventurers
By Juliet Kinsman
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has always been a wellbeing winner for Juliet Kinsman — an epochs-old system of health that’s perfect for balancing today’s approach to wellness for mind, body and soul. A consultation with a traditional Chinese physician from Chinatown at the start of a stay at the brand new Six Senses Duxton means that this stylish boutique hotel fashioned from traditional shophouses can be a health-boosting experience — all in a super-stylish setting thanks to seductive interior design from Anouska Hempel.
Wellness is at the heart of this luxury resort brand, and in April 2018 Six Senses launched its first city hotel in Singapore — so it’s only natural they should incorporate a partnership with a respected TCM practice based on their doorstep. TCM works in line with the Daoist laws of nature, and considers all of our organs as being interconnected; it’s a system which considers the body holistically and tackles the origins of ailments rather than slapping on a plaster to deal with the symptoms of what’s not working properly. I’ve always been rather obsessed with the idea of balancing our yin and yang and TCM’s principle of qi — pronounced chi. Essentially our life force, how our qi flows is of paramount importance when it comes understanding how our body ticks in the eyes of Chinese practitioners.
TCM consultation on arrival from Long Zhong Tang practitioners:
A session with a TCM practitioner is very verbal – it means loads of questions before a diagnosis about your state of health is made. “Let me take your pulse…” and “let me examine the top of your tongue and the underneath…” Sat in the opulent, sultry lounge, I confess I felt slightly like I was in a scene from a sitcom as the charming Professor Zhang Mao Ji — who has more than four decades of experience — loudly asked me questions such as whether my stools are firm or loose. This had to be translated by his colleague, with us in the company of a member of the hotel’s marketing team. Luckily Siew Leng is a sweetheart and rather than embarrassment around chat about my reproductive system it made us friends rather than just left me cringing so much I almost turned inside out. Yes, it felt a tad weird saying “ahhhhh” just off the lobby of a glamorous romantic hotel and having someone ask loudly in Mandarin about my bowels, and then having that repeated by the translator in English — most Brits should be able to relate to a level of awkwardness where I wondered if in fact I might need some medicine just to deal with the ensuing heart flutters and blushing from feeling so self-conscious. But Six Senses Duxton is a charming, elegant hideaway that has a discreet, dimly lit, consultation room to the side of reception, more opium den in ambience than medical clinic, so you can keep those digestion challenges private when you are having your consultation on arrival. Plus the powders that the doctor prescribed for me and got delivered sorted out my jetlag and insomnia in just one night. Magic.
With hundreds of dried herbs in stock on site, and the staff all fully qualified with impressive diplomas, this is an excellent enhancement to a city break in Singapore. Since all the herbs are very nuanced in look and efficacy, the highest levels of professionalism are required for a scientific diagnosis and accurate prescription. But whatever your health concern or challenge, they can create just the right medicine. Antibiotics shmantibiotics, I say — try a little acupuncture, Chinese Orthopaedic Tui Na and give their teas, pills, infusions and powders a try.