WHAT IS CHINESE MEDICINE?
Traditional Chinese Medicine is an ancient form of medicine that was born in China over 3,000 years ago. It consists of treating the patient with acupuncture, herbal remedies, diet recommendations, Gua Sha, Tui Na massage, moxibustion and cupping.
Chinese Medicine is a multifaceted system of medicine. It is unique because of the way that it observes and treats illness; it does not categorize an area of the body into a singular area for treatment - such as only treating the gastrointestinal system - but instead looks at the whole body and its prevailing symptoms as relatable to one another due to a complex mapping system on every human body; these maps are called acupuncture meridians.
Before delving into an understanding of the acupuncture meridians, a key ingredient to the formation of Traditional Chinese Medicine must first be discussed. The human body's interconnectedness came about because of a central practice in the life of our founders - that of observation.
"The human body's interconnectedness came about because of a central practice in the life of our founders - that of observation."
Our ancestors contemplated their natural world and began to see the human body as a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic Universe. They observed the human body and the elements in nature.
They watched how the body responded to disease and named the physical symptoms for medical diagnosis based on the elements that their symptoms mirrored.
When a person had tremors, they saw and named the tremors "Wind" - reflecting how Wind shakes the leaves off of a tree. When the complexion turned red and the skin felt hot, they observed it diagnostically as "Heat" in the body.
The ancestors observed the unrelenting force of nature as well as that of disease and saw how the two could mirror one another in their potentiality for destruction.
Over time, a system of Medical Diagnosis was formed based on these elemental factors of Heat, Cold, Wind, Dampness, Summer Heat and Dryness.
If a multitude of physical elements could come together in order for the natural world to exist and thrive, then similarly, the human body could reflect multiple diagnostic patterns simultaneously that correlated to one another.
The ancestors also understood the importance of preservation and moderation. If they did not store and calculate their harvests adequately, there would not be enough food to get them through the winter. If man did not respect nature, he could not prevail in his environment.
The Chinese discovered that a lifestyle of moderation paired with acupuncture, herbs, qi gong, meditation and healthy eating, helped to preserve the human lifespan while simultaneously strengthening the immune system in the process.
Over thousands of years, these observations and treatment protocols were written and passed down, practitioner to student, eventually forming a system of medicine known today as Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Chinese medicine's goal at its finest is to prevent disease and sustain both quality and longevity of life.
They watched how the body responded to disease and named the physical symptoms for medical diagnosis based on the elements that their symptoms mirrored.
When a person had tremors, they saw and named the tremors "Wind" - reflecting how Wind shakes the leaves off of a tree. When the complexion turned red and the skin felt hot, they observed it diagnostically as "Heat" in the body.
The ancestors observed the unrelenting force of nature as well as that of disease and saw how the two could mirror one another in their potentiality for destruction.
Over time, a system of Medical Diagnosis was formed based on these elemental factors of Heat, Cold, Wind, Dampness, Summer Heat and Dryness.
If a multitude of physical elements could come together in order for the natural world to exist and thrive, then similarly, the human body could reflect multiple diagnostic patterns simultaneously that correlated to one another.
The ancestors also understood the importance of preservation and moderation. If they did not store and calculate their harvests adequately, there would not be enough food to get them through the winter. If man did not respect nature, he could not prevail in his environment.
The Chinese discovered that a lifestyle of moderation paired with acupuncture, herbs, qi gong, meditation and healthy eating, helped to preserve the human lifespan while simultaneously strengthening the immune system in the process.
Over thousands of years, these observations and treatment protocols were written and passed down, practitioner to student, eventually forming a system of medicine known today as Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Chinese medicine's goal at its finest is to prevent disease and sustain both quality and longevity of life.
Acupuncture's goal is to relieve discomfort, restore immunity and correct organ functionality.
Chinese Medical theory sees both pain and disease as having a relationship to Qi (pronounced "chee"). Qi is an energetic property that resides within every human body.
Localized pain in the body is understood to be Qi that is "stuck" or "stagnant". Through the needling of specific acupuncture points, the acupuncturist attempts to unblock the stuck Qi to provide pain relief.
When Hippocrates said, "The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well", he was talking about Qi from the ancient Chinese Medicine Tradition.
When reawakened to its authentic state of being through the techniques of acupuncture, qi gong, Tui Na and herbal medicine, this "natural healing force" is capable of activating a powerful immune response from the body.
Chinese Medical theory sees both pain and disease as having a relationship to Qi (pronounced "chee"). Qi is an energetic property that resides within every human body.
Localized pain in the body is understood to be Qi that is "stuck" or "stagnant". Through the needling of specific acupuncture points, the acupuncturist attempts to unblock the stuck Qi to provide pain relief.
When Hippocrates said, "The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well", he was talking about Qi from the ancient Chinese Medicine Tradition.
When reawakened to its authentic state of being through the techniques of acupuncture, qi gong, Tui Na and herbal medicine, this "natural healing force" is capable of activating a powerful immune response from the body.
Chinese Medicine believes that organs have dedicated routes in which the Qi of that organ should flow (ex: Stomach Qi flows downward).
Acupuncture has the ability to restore vitality to the organs by redirecting the flow of an organ's Qi back into its correct alignment if the Qi of that organ has become compromised.
An example of this would be in the treatment of nausea and vomiting in a first trimester pregnancy; acupuncture could be administered to redirect the Qi flow of the Stomach to a downward action, since the "uprising of Qi" produces the symptoms of vomiting and nausea.
Acupuncture is as synonymous as vitamins and good sleep are for treating the common cold - it both treats and rebuilds the immune system after illness by activating the body's stored energy, or Qi, through the targeted use of specific acupuncture points.
Acupuncture has the ability to restore vitality to the organs by redirecting the flow of an organ's Qi back into its correct alignment if the Qi of that organ has become compromised.
An example of this would be in the treatment of nausea and vomiting in a first trimester pregnancy; acupuncture could be administered to redirect the Qi flow of the Stomach to a downward action, since the "uprising of Qi" produces the symptoms of vomiting and nausea.
Acupuncture is as synonymous as vitamins and good sleep are for treating the common cold - it both treats and rebuilds the immune system after illness by activating the body's stored energy, or Qi, through the targeted use of specific acupuncture points.
Acupuncture itself involves the placement of hair-thin needles through the skin as well as into the musculature of the body. There are over 500 acupuncture point location possibilities, giving the practitioner a multitude of options for treatment.
Acupuncture points are located using different systems of "mapping" on the human body.
For instance, the ear of a person is a microsystem of the body and has over thirty acupuncture point possibilities for treating the interior of the body. By puncturing specific landmarks on the ear a practitioner can greatly improve the acupuncture treatment results.
The most common of these "maps" are called meridians. Meridians form unique pathways all over the body; a single meridian pathway may pass through a single organ or multiple organ systems - while some pathways stretch the length of the whole body - starting at the top of the head and reaching all the way to the feet.
Qi activation occurs in acupuncture by targeting specific acupuncture points on the meridians and combining them with other acupuncture points on other meridians, thus forming an acupuncture point "prescription" that is used to heal the body of disease, and the mind and spirit of emotional distress so that complete equanimity of the body may be achieved.
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