This month marks an important milestone for DAO Labs, and hopefully, for many people over the next several months of this most unique cold and flu season.  We just released two new Chinese herbal medicine formulas that are ones we’re recommending to friends and family members to keep on-hand as we weather this cold season: Bounce Back and Breathe Clear, two herbal tablets that provide unique, natural benefits should cold season ills strike your household.  

To accompany these new formulas, we also created something unique for the ordering experience - you tell us how you’re feeling, and we’ll customize a solution, tailored to your needs.  Consider it personalized (and digital) Chinese herbal medicine for your cold season woes. 

Two Formulas, Timed for 2021

Chinese herbal medicine theory approaches support for common cold season woes like fever, aches, chills and coughs, much differently than a western approach.  As noted by my colleague and DAO Labs Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eric Karchmer, MD (China), Phd, LAc, the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach focuses on strengthening your body’s natural abilities to rebalance itself, rather than simply masking the symptoms like conventional options. 

Equally important, Chinese medicine focuses on supporting your body, based upon where the needs lies.  That’s why we’re releasing not one formula, but two:

• Bounce Back is a proprietary blend should your need be similar to what we’d consider a head cold.  
• Breathe Clear is inspired by a classic herbal formula that helps address coughs and phlegm, should the need move into the lungs. 

Unlike our other formulas, we’ve made these in pill form for convenience, particularly given the need to take these formulas together.  They come in pre-dosed individual pouches (each pouch is your daily allotment of herbs), that makes taking either one or both of the formulas (combined) that much easier.

Tell Us How You Are Feeling - We’ll Send Only What You Need

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, no two “constitutions” (simplistically, individuals) are alike.  This makes a one size fits all approach less appealing when trying to provide support.  That’s one of the reasons we didn’t pack these pills in bottles.  Instead, we’ve created an ordering solution that allows you to personalize your herbs: You can answer a few questions and we’ll make a recommendation, or you can drive the process entirely yourself by describing how you feel.  To accompany this, we re-aligned our fulfillment capabilities, enabling us to efficiently (and cost effectively!) tailor each order to just what you need - in the long run, we hope this not only makes you feel better, but saves some money in the process (no more unused pills).

Aligning with Our Mission, Especially for 2020

Our company’s mission is simple - we deliver wellness through the wisdom of Chinese medicine and the healing powers of our innovative products.  Neither of these formulas, nor this ordering strategy, were part of our 2020 master plan.  But obviously, like many businesses, we were forced to pivot, and I’m glad we did.  

I’m proud of our approach in bringing these formulas to market, as I believe we maintain our promise of innovation in our packaging decisions and user experience.  But I’m much more proud of our role in helping keeping people healthy - both for this most unusual experience of 2020, and for many cold seasons to come. 

John G. McGarvey is a co-founder of DAO Labs and a regular contributor to The Way. A frequent visitor to China and Asia for both business and pleasure, he is an avid consumer of Chinese medicine. He can be reached at john@mydaolabs.com.