I sit patiently as a man who minutes earlier had been introduced to me as ‘the doctor’ taps a quick rhythm on my forearm.
His fingers fly with a light touch. I am being diagnosed, Chinese-style.
The doctor — his name is Mark, it turns out — is an expert in traditional Chinese medicine.
Often shortened to TCM, the practice is common in China, where Mark is from, and incorporates everything from herbal remedies to acupuncture.
My treatment is courtesy of the Starlight Centre of Excellence, a mediation retreat and animal sanctuary on the Moray Coast just a few miles from the village of Ardersier. And it is here that I have come to learn about the healing power of TCM.
But that’s not all. I’ve also come to meet Master Mei.
She is the founder of Starlight; a former businesswoman in China who felt drawn to this beautiful corner of the north to set up her treatment centre.
I’m told wants to heal all of Scotland.
First, though, it’s my turn.
Chinese medicine is about balance in the body
Mark’s tapping, I later learn, is called ‘palpatation’ and is an examination of my pulse strength.
The doctor diagnoses me in other ways. He asks if I sleep well or get cold legs at night. He looks at my tongue.
It is all part of the traditional Chinese way of looking at the body. Everything is connected.
Chinese medicine is based on the concept of ‘qi’, or energy, which flows around the body. A blockage of energy in one area can lead to health issues elsewhere. TCM is about balance. A balanced body is a healthy one.
Now, full disclosure — I’m no advocate for TCM. Concepts of energy flow and heat spots don’t strike me as solidly scientific.
But no matter. The centre already has a legion of fans who swear by its healing powers.
How the Starlight Centre in Ardersier gets people back dancing
“We’re so lucky to have something like this here,” says Dawn Bartlett, 56. “It’s just such a lovely place to go.”
Dawn, from Inverness, first heard about Starlight after she damaged her knee falling off a bike. A friend of a friend told her Starlight’s acupuncture treatment had healed his own knee issue.
“And he’s a man in his 60s whose hobby is Highland dancing,” Dawn laughs. “I thought, if they can get him back on the dance floor they can probably do something for my knee.”
Dawn says the acupuncture reduced her knee pain “by 70%”. Also, an hour’s session of acupuncture wasn’t prohibitively expensive, coming in at around £45.
But that wasn’t all.
Her father had recently died and she had just started a stressful business venture in Inverness.
It was, she says, the “most challenging five years of my life”, and Starlight, though a mix of TCM and talking put her back on her feet.
“It’s just their whole ethos of kindness,” Dawn explains. “It’s just like Master Mei says; she wants people to heal.”
Who is Master Mei? The story behind Starlight’s founder
Master Mei sits on a sofa wearing a beautiful set of Buddhist robes and a soft, patient smile.
As Ruth, a Starlight volunteer who is translating for us, pours tea, Master Mei tells me her fascinating story.
It starts in 2016 when, during meditation, she felt a calling to go to Scotland.
At the time, the Shanghai native, whose name is Qu Jiangting, was a partner in a substantial Chinese fashion retailer called Broadcast.
Pitched somewhere between Sandro and Zara, Broadcast was — and still is — a listed company with stores across East Asia.
But there was another side to Master Mei.
In 2014, she set up a foundation to support the mental health of children and teenagers in China.
Indeed, her views on health philanthropy are still in demand — in 2021 she was part of a high-level debate organised by Swiss investment bank UBS on how philanthropy can help improve public health in China.
But her calling to come to Scotland was strong. She stepped down from the day-to-day running of Broadcast, and with her daughter moved to Ardersier.
Master Mei’s ‘crazy’ decision to come to Ardersier
Today, the Starlight Centre is a magnificent complex of studios and halls, including the main hall that resembles the inside of a Buddhist temple.
But when Master Mei arrived in 2017 it was a different story. For months she lived in a run-down farm cottage which the unforgiving Moray Coast wind blew right through.
“It was a very difficult time,” says Master Mei, who lived in the cottage with her daughter. In Shanghai, she had lived in a mansion. People asked why she’d come here and said she must be crazy.
But Ardersier had compelling energy.
“Whenever you come here you can feel its healing and peacefulness,” she says.
Her plan was to establish Starlight as a hub for meditation and TCM, eventually branching out to other locations in Scotland and around the world.
That may sound unusual, but Master Mei seems determined to realise her goal.
“We will establish this kind of center in more than 60 countries,” she tells me through Ruth the translator.
“In each place, on top of setting up this kind of wellbeing center, there will also be a community where people who share the same values and this lifestyle come to live together.”
Meanwhile, Master Mei’s philanthropy continues through the Golden Angel Foundation, a charity based out of Ardersier that donates money to local development projects and pledges to act as a bridge between east and west.
The Ardersier Starlight Centre’s healing animals
Part of Master Mei’s wellness doctrine includes natural healing, and the centre has a petting zoo’s-worth of animals including alpacas and horses.
Some very friendly dogs roam the grounds, including the adorable Sammy who loves a good tummy rub.
“The animals have a very special healing power, especially for young teenagers who suffer from depression,” explains Master Mei.
“They do not necessarily learn how to meditate, but they can just interact with the animals and they can feel they are being healed.”
What I want to know, however, is what my TCM treatment will do for me.
Master Mei smiles. “You’ve got to try it out for yourself,” she says.
My treatment starts — with a giant cigarette
Doctor Mark is ready to give his diagnosis — overall, I’m healthy, but I have cold moisture in my right lung, which needs to be treated.
Mark says acupuncture is not what I need. Instead, he prescribes something called ‘moxibustion’; a heat treatment that involves Mark holding what looks like a giant cigarette next to my skin.
He says this will draw out the cold air in my lung.
He also gives me a round of cupping, the big suction cups that leave you looking like you’ve been attacked by an octopus. This is for my sore shoulder, which has been painful for some time.
Mark shows me the big red welts which he says are toxins coming out of my body.
I give my shoulder a shake and give myself the once-over.
I’m not sure if my right lung is drier. I’m not sure what that would feel like anyway. My shoulder feels pretty good, though of course that could just be because Mark’s given it a good going over with his hands.
The healing power of Chinese medicine is revealed
But then Mark shows me something else and I get a glimpse of what makes people like Dawn flock to Master Mei’s retreat.
As well as being a TCM expert, Mark is a master in tai chi, a controlled dance of a Chinese martial art that focusses on breathing and slow movement.
Taking Mark’s lead, I slowly rotate my arms and shoulders to make ball shapes with my hands, breathing in and out on the doctor’s instruction.
Owen, a Chinese student who is acting as Mark’s interpreter, joins in, and the three of us stand there, making shapes with our movements.
The room is silent expect for our breathing and Mark’s gentle commands. In, out.
Outside, the birds chirp. A dog barks. I can feel my shoulder loosen, and the world slow down.
