Precepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine

▪ 2009

Introduction

by Nan Lu

      In one of the spectacles for the opening ceremonies of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing on Aug. 8, 2008, more than 2,000 performers appeared to float onto the performance area while carrying out the graceful movements of taijiquan. Many spectators in the global audience outside China may have been familiar with taijiquan (or tai chi, as it is commonly called) as one of the internal martial-arts practices. Most, however, were probably unaware that taijiquan is used as a treatment for chronic illness or in rehabilitation for pain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Modern research has also recognized this practice as effective for improving a number of health conditions, such as high blood pressure and poor balance. Over the course of the Olympics, television viewers worldwide were introduced to various other aspects of TCM, including acupuncture—the most familiar TCM treatment modality in the West.

      Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the oldest continuously practiced medical systems in the world. Elements of the system have been in existence for at least 5,000 years. Despite the general lack of knowledge about TCM in the United States, as of 2005 there were more than 22,000 practitioners of AOM (acupuncture and Oriental medicine) licensed to practice in the U.S. (About one-third of these practitioners were in California.) In addition, there were about 7,000 students enrolled in various AOM colleges, and about 60 colleges and other institutions were accredited with the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, a not-for-profit organization founded in the U.S. in 1982.

What Is Special About TCM?

      TCM is a by-product of the Eastern spiritual practice of qigong (pronounced “chee gung”), or “energy work,” which serves to strengthen the mind-body-spirit connection and to help the body operate as one harmonious system. Although the underpinnings of TCM are sometimes considered to be a system of philosophy, TCM practitioners understand that this comprehensive medical system is rooted in natural law and see its principles and theories operating in the physical world. One key principle is yinyang. It states that two types of complementary energies make up the whole of everything physical and nonphysical. Whenever yin or yang energy is out of balance, problems will arise. Applied to human health, imbalances of yin and yang within the body are manifested through different kinds of health disorders.

      Whereas Western medicine focuses primarily on disease and disease management, TCM works to achieve health through balance and harmony of the body as a whole in which complementary energies seamlessly intertwine and move together as one. It strives to return the body to an internal state of balance, after which the body will automatically regulate itself to maintain its harmony within. For that purpose TCM employs six major healing techniques: acupuncture, acupressure, qigong, herbal therapy, healing foods, and Chinese psychology.

The Role of Qi and Meridians.

      An essential aspect of TCM is an understanding of the body's qi (life force, or energy), which flows through invisible meridians (channels) of the body. This energy network connects organs, tissues, veins, nerves, cells, atoms, and consciousness itself. Generally speaking, there are 12 major meridians, each of which connects to one of the 12 major organs in TCM theory. Meridians are also related to a variety of phenomena, including circadian rhythms, seasons, and planetary movements, to create additional invisible networks.

      In acupuncture, thin needles are inserted into specific points along the meridians. The needles stimulate the meridians and readjust the flow of qi to balance the body's yin and yang. In place of needles, massage (acupressure) can also be used to stimulate the acupuncture points. Acupuncture is sometimes accompanied by moxibustion, the burning of small cones of an herb (typically Artemisia moxa) at acupuncture points. Not only can the meridian network be used to alleviate symptoms; it can also endow TCM with the ability to change consciousness in those who receive treatment.

      A TCM practitioner uses smell, hearing, voice vibration, touch, and pulse diagnosis to discover the source of an unbalanced health condition, which organ it is related to, and which meridians are affected. In addition, the practitioner typically makes use of what is known as the five-element theory. By observing natural law in action, ancient healers recognized five basic elements in the world—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—and found that these elements have myriad correspondences, both visible and invisible. This framework helps skilled TCM practitioners to identify unbalanced relationships. For instance, one key correspondence relates to time of day. If an individual always gets a headache at 4 PM, this signals that Bladder qi is unbalanced, since the Bladder (of the TCM Kidney/Bladder organ pair) is in charge of maintaining the body's functions at that time. Using the five-element theory, the practitioner can create a healing plan that might contain such components as acupuncture, herbs, lifestyle changes, and foods for healing. It might also include Chinese psychology, which shows how the energy of unbalanced emotions can affect proper organ function.

Chinese Herbal Therapy.

      TCM makes use of herbs and herbal formulas to strengthen organ function and support good health. An understanding of the essence of various herbal components gives the TCM practitioner a way to create a healing effect that reaches beyond the chemical composition and physical properties of the herbs. The practitioner chooses the herbal formula whose essence, or signature energy vibration, correctly stimulates or adjusts the body's own energy vibration.

      Chinese herbal formulas, some in use for about two thousand years, are composed of ingredients chosen to function in combination with each other. In Western medicine, medications are usually prescribed individually for a specific effect. In classical TCM herbal formulas, each herb has a different purpose or role to help the body achieve harmony. For a plant to have been included in the Chinese apothecary, each of its parts had to be identified for a different healing purpose. TCM also looks at the healing properties of foods in the same way. Different foods carry different energies that can go directly to specific organs to help them heal.

TCM Developments.

      Various Western scientific disciplines have conducted studies to learn how Chinese medicine works, but it is difficult to use a Western yardstick to measure Eastern medicine. Many studies on acupuncture, for example, involve research that attempts to prove that this modality can eliminate or reduce pain or alleviate certain conditions. This elementary approach, however, ignores the deeper insight and experience of Chinese medicine that the human body has unlimited healing power and that the complementary energies of health and disease reflect the yinyang principle within the human body. For example, the yinyang principle can be applied to a genetic disease such as inherited breast cancer and its associated genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. According to this principle of natural law, if either of these genes is activated, somewhere in another part of the genetic code there also exists a gene to fix the action of the cancer gene, because there is an opposite energy to the one that produced the disease. There must be complementary programs running—one for developing the disease and one for healing it. At present, scientific research is directed only toward exploring the disease aspect of the program, but this is only one-half of the genetic code. We have yet to begin the far-more-promising exploration of the healing aspect of the genetic code. In the future this uncharted territory could yield tremendous healing benefits.

Nan Lu is an Oriental Doctor of Medicine and the Founding Director of the Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation.

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