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What is the History of Traditional Chinese Medicine in U.S.A.?
According
to the Western perception, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) mainly refers to acupuncture. In fact, acupuncture is only a
small part of Chinese medicine. The main part is clinical diagnostics and herbal medicine. Acupuncture was first introduced
to the West when former president Richard Nixon visited China and was presented with a demonstration of acupuncture used as
anesthesia in surgery. When acupuncture was first legalized in the state of California, the practice of Chinese herbal medicine
was grouped together with it in order to save administration costs. Yet the fact is that acupuncturists are usually not trained
in the practice of Chinese herbal medicine, which takes a longer time to master, and many herbal doctors are not trained in
acupuncture . In recent years, many acupuncture schools in Western countries have started to teach Chinese herb medicine.
Philosophy:
Chinese healers began the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) more than 3,000 years ago. As
a comprehensive health system, it has a range of applications from preventive health care and maintenance to diagnosis and
treatment of acute and chronic disorders. Its treatments and diagnostic methods focus on balancing internal and external energies
through diet, herbal treatments, acupuncture, and breathing techniques. Chinese healing practices have also spread, with variations,
throughout other Asian countries, particularly Japan, Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam. In a few millennium of practice, TCM practitioners
have evolved a system both subtle and dramatically effective, and one that, in China, is given as much if not more respect
than Western medicine.
The concept most central to TCM is chi (pronounced chee, and also spelled qi), which is translated
as energy. Chi represents an invisible flow of energy that circulates through plants, animals, and people as well as the earth
and sky. It is what maintains physiologic functions and the health and well-being of the individual. In TCM theory, energy
is distributed throughout the body along a network of energy circuits or meridians, connecting all parts of the body. Obstructed
chi flow in the human body can cause problems ranging from social difficulties to illness. Its effects are very individual—a
person gets sick, has problems at work, or fights with family—and depend on each individual's unique chi. Certain
TCM treatments such as meditation, exercise, and acupuncture are ways of enhancing or correcting the flow of chi.
Yin and
Yang:
In the Taoist philosophy, wholeness is composed of the union of opposites—dark and light,
soft and hard, female and male, slow and fast, and so forth. These opposite but complementary aspects are called yin and yang.
Originally the terms designated geographical aspects such as the shady and sunny side of a mountain or the southern and northern
bank of a river. In modern terms, they are used to characterize the polar opposites that exist in everything and make up the
physical world. The traditional representation of the union of yin and yang.
As they studied the world around them, the
Chinese perceived connections between major forces in nature and particular internal organ systems. Seeing similarities between natural
elements and the body, early practitioners developed a concept of health care that encompassed both natural elements and body
organs. This theory is known as the Five Phases Theory (wu-hsing). Five elements—fire, earth, metal, water, and wood—represent
movement or energies that succeed one another in a dynamic relationship and in a continuous cycle of birth, life, and death.
These elements do not represent static objects, since even mountains and rivers change constantly with time. In the Five Phases
Theory, it is not the substances themselves that are important, but rather how they work together to make up the essential
life force or chi.
The rhythm of events resembles a circle known as the Creation Cycle. In this cycle, wood burns to
feed fire; fire's ashes produce earth; earth gives up its ore to create metal; metal causes condensation to bring forth
water; and water nourishes and creates plants and trees, creating wood. Each element is related to a specific bodily system,
as well as to a pair of internal organs—you guessed it, a yin organ and a yang organ. The yin organ is solid and dense,
like the liver, while its yang partner is hollow or forms a pocket, like the gallbladder. Remember, no one element is the
beginning or end—they flow together in an endless loop. It is the proper interaction of the organ partners that influences
how well the entire body functions.
The Five Seasons:
Just as the internal world of systems and organs is linked
to the Five Phases, so too is the external world, specifically, the seasons and points of the compass. "But wait a minute,"
you say. "There are only four of each of those!" Remember, though, that the Chinese name for China means "The
Middle Kingdom," and the fifth direction, the center, becomes obvious. Just as the center of the compass has a distinct
identity in TCM, so does the center of the year—the late summer, when the agricultural cycle is at its peak, and after
which most living things begin to decline into their Winter states.
The Chinese compass differs from the Western compass
in one other way: Chinese culture places so much importance on the direction south that it, rather than north, is placed at
the top of maps and compass roses. Just as south rules the top of the compass, it also represents summer, the "high noon"
of the year and is linked to fire. West, the direction of the setting sun, is associated with autumn and metal, which is used
to make tools for harvesting. North is linked to winter and water, the opposite of the element of fire and is seen as a period
of dormancy. East, the direction of the rising sun, is associated with spring and with wood, which represents all growing
things. The fifth and central element, earth, is related to the late summer season and a time of maturity.
Traditional
Chinese Medicine traces the causes of disease to imbalances in these sets of five—elements, organs, seasons, and directions.
If one component is overbearing and excessive, the system is thrown out of balance, and another component becomes weak and
debilitated. It is a complex system of checks and balances that is often not easily grasped by those with a Western perspective.
Diagnosis and treatment of illness depends on understanding the five elements, seasons, and directions and how they interact.
The Three Vital Treasures:
The Chinese believe that a
combination of life force elements make up the substance and functions of the body, mind, and spirit, which are fundamentally
all one and the same. One way to understand this connection is to think of water with its wet, fluid nature. Compare that
to ice, which not only appears different but feels hard and cold, and steam with its hot, gaseous nature. Despite the differences
in appearance, the molecules are the same, they are simply in three different states. In the same way, body, mind, and spirit
can be seen as different expressions of the same individual.
The Taoists call body, mind, and spirit the three "vital
treasures." They are jing, meaning basic essence, chi meaning energy or life force, and shen meaning spirit and mind.
The balance of their abundance or deficiency influences the state of health.
Jing is the essence with which people are
born, similar to Western concepts of genes, DNA, and heredity. Essence is the gift of one's parents; it is the basic material
in each cell that allows that cell to function. It is the bodily reserves that support life and must be restored by food and
rest. Chi, as described previously, is the sustaining energy of all life. The vital treasure known as shen is the gift of
heaven and represents spiritual and mental aspects of life. Shen comprises one's emotional well-being, thoughts, and beliefs.
It is the radiance, or inner glow, that can be perceived by others. In order for people to be healthy, their physical, emotional,
mental, and spiritual aspects must be balanced.
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