[Photo provided to China Daily]

Ribbons returned to Beijing the next year to spend another semester and decided to relocate to the city after her graduation in 2003. Her first job was with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention where she helped translate communications between the US and Chinese CDCs. She says the two institutions were working together on AIDS medication and that many aspects of TCM, especially the use of mushrooms, were involved.

The job provided her with a golden opportunity to learn more about TCM, which she had become very interested in after an incident the year before.

"In the summer of 2002, I got really sick and had a high fever for seven days. I took lots of medicine but still could not get it to subside," recalls Ribbons, who later received cupping treatment from a famous TCM doctor.

"My fever went away immediately after the treatment. That's when I realized there are lots of things we don't understand about the human body."

Her interest in the subject soon led her to the Chinese concept of yangsheng, which refers to holistic wellness of the body.

Part of this concept revolves around long and complicated rules about food and lifestyle that have been passed down the generations in China. For instance, particular foods are believed to be good for men but not for women, while others are believed to be able to "extinguish one's internal fire". Ribbons adds that these beliefs are to a certain extent no longer relevant in modern society. Instead, people should simply be aware of what they consume every day.

Ribbons also believes that yoga - a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India - can be an integral element in yangsheng.