Traditional Chinese Medicine
TCM
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it is understood that all disease is the result of disharmony.
- the qi and blood system
- the yin/yang balance
- an organ (Zang fu)
- a meridian, or the interaction between the human body and the environment.
Yin (blood) is the material foundation of Yang (mind). If your body has abundant blood you will be naturally content. Your mental well-being is dependent on the quality of blood in your body.
The Body and Mind
In TCM each organ is associated with a different emotion, and this is another way of looking at the relationship between body and mind.
Emotional disturbances interfere with proper organ function — strong negative emotions distract organs from doing their jobs. Therefore, excessive or prolonged emotional disturbance will lead to disease. Conversely, if one of your organs is compromised (in disharmony, or not functioning properly), you will be prone to experiencing the emotion related to that organ. For example, a disharmony of the Liver organ will tend to make you irritable; habitual worrying may be caused by either a disharmony of the spleen or a weakness of the stomach.
The Meridians
Meridians are energy pathways through which qi flows to nourish and energise the human body.
There are twelve primary meridians, each corresponding to a different organ. Along with the twelve primary meridians there are eight extraordinary meridians which present a deeper level of energetic structuring. When the qi associated with a particular organ system is in a condition of excess, deficiency or stagnation, this may cause a blockage or imbalance in the flow of qi, resulting in disease. Acupuncture treatment corrects imbalance in the flow of qi and resolves blockage, thereby allowing the body’s correct function to be restored.
Environment and Lifestyle
TCM Treatment
In order to determine which pattern is present a TCM practitioner will
- take your pulses
- examine your tongue
- ask questions about general body function
Where Western medicine tends to treat the disease, TCM treats the individual. This means a TCM practitioner won’t necessarily treat two people with the same ailment in the same way; each person will receive an individual treatment which addresses the cause of the condition and takes his or her own constitution into account.
TCM is a holistic method of healthcare – it sees the body and mind as being equally important. In fact TCM recognises that emotions are one of the biggest causes of disease, and that by treating the mind; the body is nourished, and vice-versa.