Asia- A Healing History

Traditional Chinese Medicine, also known at Traditional Asian Medicine, was born in China as herbology and acupuncture. In China the categories of herbology were grafted onto the parallel system of acupuncture in a way that doesn’t do acupuncture justice, in spite of their common heritage. Both methodologies migrated around Asia and were the dominant healing method for hundreds of years. During the modern era in Japan western medicine predominated and included acupuncture. Herbology fell out of favor but acupuncture grew and flourished. As a result herbology is much more developed in China than in other countries and the acupuncture practiced in Japan has more in common with science than Chinese style acupuncture. This is primarily because of the work of Yoshio Manaka, MD.

The Weather- Acupuncture diagnosis and the environment

A traditional Chinese diagnosis is very different from a western diagnosis. To the untrained ear it may sound more like a weather report than a medical condition. For instance your condition may be called "damp" or "stagnant." This is because the ancient Chinese believed that the rules that govern the natural world also govern our bodies. Thus, they described bodily processes in environmental terms. The relationship between your body and the environment is one reason your acupuncturist may prescribe a seasonal tune-up.

Energy Channels and Waterways

Qi flows in meridians

The best analogy for the all the communication systems in the body – meridians, circulatory, hormonal, nervous – is that of the earth’s waterways. Water flows through oceans, rivers, swamps, brooks, and tiny temporary channels the same way biological information flows through the meridians, nervous system, digestive system etc. The acupuncture meridians, also known as channels, are the most subtle of all the body’s waterways, comparable to vernal streams that only appear when full. Filling or draining these channels as necessary is the aim of the acupuncturist.

Like all waterways our bodies are under the guidance of the moon and susceptible to other natural phenomena. For this reason your acupuncturist may, particularly for menopausal women, time your treatment with the phases of the moon, or question you closely about how you feel during particular seasons.

You are a Cloud (A Very Old Interpretation of Illness)

Imagine your body as cloud made up of gases instead of a bag of liquids. That is, trillions of chemical reactions which happen faster in the cells located by acupuncture points. Now imagine that instead of grouping those chemical reactions by the organ in the vicinity of where they happen, you instead divided them into Five Phases. These Five Phases are one of the most basic concepts of TCM. Each phase has a physical and emotional aspect and encompasses hundreds of symptoms that may or may not overlap with western organ or disease categories.

The Five Phases operate like a circuit, each one leading to the next. Understanding the interaction of the phases, especially which Phase is distressed, is the key to diagnosis, especially when practicing Japanese method acupuncture.

Introduction to Acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine

Qi and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Acupuncture works by moving the natural energy of your body through twelve channels that connect your internal organs with your body's surface. In ancient China this energy was called "Qi" (pronounced 'chee') and was ascribed many spiritual, emotional and physical powers. If Qi is abundant and flowing smoothly, then an individual enjoys good health. Pain and other physical and emotional disharmonies are the result of Qi being deficient or not flowing smoothly.

There are several different kinds of Qi and each can be likened to a kind of electricity that travels through the meridian system of the body. Pre-natal Qi is the Qi of destiny. Its mission is to compel us to manifest our genetic and spiritual blueprint and it connects us to the metaphysical world. This is one of the reasons that acupuncture treatments feel so good.

During a treatment you may feel as if you’re having a transcendent experience or as if you are an embryo floating in the primordial womb. This is because when the pre-natal Qi is activated you are in touch with the metaphysical world; it is coursing through your body. And, because the meridian system is the communication system of the embryo, during a treatment you are an embryo again, that is nature before nurture. Your body is hearing and implementing its genetic message without interference from all that has passed since birth.