What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?

This is a system that has been around for thousands of years. It is a holistic approach to healing and vitality. There are certain pillars of this that put everything into place. It used to be that you paid your doctor when you were healthy, as opposed to today when you pay your doctor when your sick.

Pillars Of Chinese Medicine

The pillars of Chinese medicine are all about energy and how it relates to disease. Stagnant chi leads to disease. If we can move and stimulate the chi, we can stay healthy.

1. Acupuncture

Acupuncture works by stimulating meridians to unblock stuck energy and promote energy flow.

Acupuncture originated in ancient China 2000-5000 years ago. It is described in ancient texts such as the Haungdi Neijing as a healing modality. It spread outward of China in 500 BCE, and to Europe in the 16th century. It came to the United States in 1972 when president Richard Nixon took a trip to China. One of his adversaries got sick and got surgery, being sedated by acupuncture instead of Anastasia. After this many doctors traveled to China to learn acupuncture. There are many styles of acupuncture do to all the places it has spread.

2. Qigong

Qigong is an ancient practice that was developed in ancient China over 5000 years ago. The word qigong translates to energy work. It differs form tai chi because qigong is an umbrella term that tai chi fits under as a martial arts form of qigong. Qigong tends to use simpler movements, while tai chi is more complex. Both have tremendous value, it really depends on your goals. There are actually 1000s of research papers that were done on qigong showing its benefits.

3. Massage

The word massage means friction, or kneading. Massage is the therapeutic manipulation of tissues to promote the healing process. It can be done on virtually every tissue, such as fascia, muscle, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and lymph nodes. Clay tablets have been shown in Babylon to demonstrate the use of massage. Around the same time, Chinese medical manuscripts from the Zhou dynasty describe massage as being one of the 5 main treatments of the era. They used a technique called Amma, which involved rubbing and finger pressure on the meridians. Egyptian artwork in the tomb of Ankhmaor show hand and foot massage being performed. In Japan, they used the Amma philosophy to develop Shiatsu, which means finger pressure. It involves using pressure on the meridians to balance energy. Hippocrates of Greece used massage in his practice. He believed the physician should be a gifted masseuse. Julius Caesar also endorsed massage, which allowed it to be spread throughout the Roman empire. In recent times, physicians used massage in practice, until they were phased out by pharmaceuticals.

4. Herbs

This is an ancient practice to use herbs to heal the body. It is a holistic system that is invested in getting to the root of the issue. It also can be used to maintain health and prevent disease. It uses remedies that entail the entire plant and all its biochemical constituents. Herbs have been used throughout history to cure a variety of aliments. The word drug actually translates to dried plant. Every traditional medicine system has their own form of herbalism. Reishi was ranked number one for aliments in Chinese medicine.

How To Utilize This In Your Own Life

Traditional Chinese medicine has many facets, and there are many ways to incorporate it in everyday life. You can go see a professional practicer, or you can utilize simple lifestyle practices everyday. The overall goal is Chinese medicine is to promote energy balance and holistic well being.