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What is Chinese Medicine?

Chinese medicine is one of the oldest and most comprehensive models of health care. Chinese medicine is holistic in its approach, honoring the interdependence of body, mind, and spirit and the inherent healing capacity of each person. Chinese medicine embraces prevention and self-care practices, using non-invasive treatments such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, and breath work that restore balance and support a person’s natural abilities to heal.

From the Chinese medicine perspective, if a medical condition shows up on an allopathic test, it is already severe. Symptoms are the body's way of telling us something is wrong, and if allowed to go untreated and compound over time, they can result in a pathological condition. Chinese medicine helps to redirect any imbalances early before they develop into something more extreme.

Philosophy of Chinese Medicine

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin and yang is used to describe how opposite forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

The five elements of Chinese medicine are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. In the philosophy of Chinese medicine, health is a harmonious balance of all the elements. The qi, or vital force, of the elements moves in daily and seasonal cycles. Each person is a unique and characteristic blend of the influences of all the elements.

For more information on yin-yang theory and the five elements, see the "Resources" section.

Eight Branches of Chinese Medicine

  • Acupuncture
  • Herbal Medicine
  • Moxibustion
  • Tui Na – acupressure
  • Nutrition
  • Tai Chi – movement
  • Qi Gong – breath work
  • Feng Shui – environmental influence

    • 1. Meditation. ‘Know thyself’ is the first step in creating health. Meditation is an essential tool for learning about self, creating a peaceful mind, reducing stress, building qi among many other benefits. The focus of meditation is not so much to ‘stop the mind’s constant chatter’, but rather to learn how to not be burdened by it. Meditation calms the breath, and allows the qi to flow freely so we can move through our daily activities—no matter how stressful with greater ease.

    2. Exercise (T’ai Qi and Qigong). T’ai Chi and Qigong benefit our bodies and minds in many ways, by strengthening muscles, creating balance, building the bones to deepening the breathe and circulating qi and blood. Exercise recommendations are specific to each person's needs.

    3. Nutrition. Proper food and nutrition is paramount to our health and in the treatment of any illness. Nothing is more fundamental in our health than the food we ingest. This is becoming more evident as food related disease like diabetes and obesity soar. By understanding each individual’s constitution and energetic tendencies and coupling that with the knowledge of the energetic of foods and whole food wisdom, your practitioner can hone your diet to your needs. As Hypocrates suggested, “Let thy food be thy medicine.”

    4. Cosmology/Astrology. Chinese medicine is founded in the principles of Taoist philosophy. This concept focuses on the observation of natural rhythms and cycles that are apparent in nature and mimicked in the body as qi flows and life stages. By understanding these cycles your practitioner can help treat patterns that may arise at a certain time or day, or season, or to help you harmonize with the changing cycles and season.

    5. Geomancy ‘Know where you are’. Where you are can have as big impact on your health or your ability to treat a disharmony. For example: a person with a very ‘damp’ condition (yeast, phlegm, mucus) is likely to have more difficulty overcoming it if they live in a damp basement or climate. By understanding the interactions of nature, climate, season, location, work space and home environment in relationship to the person’s own energetic we can help clients harmonize their lives.

    6. TuinaTherapy/Bodywork. A classical Asian bodywork style that predates acupuncture, Tuina is a specialized form of bodywork therapy that combines deep, therapeutic, circular digital pressure and acupressure point stimulation with Chinese medical principles for accessing and treating imbalances in the energy system.Tuina is a powerful therapy for patients of all ages for both prevention and treatment of disease.It has been used to successfully treat and / or manage conditions including traumas such as sprains, strains, and fractures; chronic disorders such as arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, circulatory problems, anxiety, depression, gynecological problems, premenstrual problems, peri - menopausal problems, menopausal considerations, autoimmune diseases, and neuromuscular disease.

    7. Herbology. The use of natural plants, minerals, and animals combined to assist the body in its striving to achieve a state of balance or homeostasis. Chinese herbal medicine is highly refined. Each herb is understood for its energetic nature, the organ it enters and the post-metabolic results it creates in the body. Formulations are carefully considered for the interactions the herbs and for the client’s pattern. “Same disease different treatment, different treatment same disease” this quote reflects how individualized Chinese medicine is based on the client’s constitution and pattern. It is not uncommon for 5 different people diagnosed with the same disease from a western medical perspective. Each one of these clients may leave with a different Asian assessment, herbal recommendation and nutritional recommendation.

    8. Acupuncture. The use of very fine, sterile, disposable needles, inserted at specific points along defined acupuncture meridians, to regulate and balance the flow of Qi, relieve pain and assist healing in the body. Adjunctive therapies include moxibustion, gua sha, cupping and plum blossom needling.

History of Chinese Medicine

Dating back over 2,000 years, Chinese medicine is rooted in Taoist philosophy. Taoism reflects on our relationship with our environment, focusing on the importance of our interactions with nature and its effects on our health and wellbeing. Humans, and all life forms, are seen as inseparable from nature.

Chinese medicine changed when it was socialized in the 1950s and then was re-invented during the Cultural Revolution. From 1966 to 1976, traditional doctors were purged from China's schools, hospitals and clinics, and many of the old practitioners were jailed or killed. In 1979, the National Association for Chinese Medicine was established, and many of the traditional texts were edited and republished.

After nearly 100 years of rejection and attack, Chinese medicine has survived because it produces results that are difficult to duplicate. As modern science and philosophy develops, some scientists are recognizing the value of Chinese medicine. Some medical specialists in both the East and West believe that Chinese medicine will open a new pathway for Western medicine and will gain wide popularity in the West.

What is the difference between Classical and Traditional Chinese Medicine?

It is important to make the distinction between Classical Chinese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as there is a clear historical departure that took place during the Cultural Revolution in accordance with Mao’s political agenda. ‘TCM’ became the name for a style of Chinese medicine that dismisses the traditional characteristics of the medicine and conforms to Western scientific standards. The practice of TCM and Classical Chinese Medicine remain rooted in the same yin-yang theory and the cyclical transformations that exist between the five elements, but many classical Chinese medical concepts have been distorted to fit conventional Western ideas about medicine.

Classical Chinese Medicine remains committed to its ancient roots. Its intake process, the complex patient-doctor interaction, the methods used for diagnosis and the form of the diagnosis, the application of acupuncture, herbs, and other modalities, and the reasoning out of prognosis are all based on classical sources.

While TCM has some clinical effectiveness, it has become closely intertwined with Western medicine. It is more systematized and more limited in its influence on health.

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