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Traditional Chinese Medicine - Benefits
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treats the person, it creates order, it stresses positive energy, and it treats the root of disease.
TCM treats the person, not the symptom or the disease, thus directly contradicting Western Medicine (WM) which always treats the symptom or the disease, and never the person. The difference between western and Chinese medical diagnosis could not be greater. While WM refers to cancer, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, kidney stones, diabetes and hepatitis, Chinese medicine refers to energy deficiency or stagnation, Yin and Yang deficiency or excess, or too much wind, heat or cold in certain organs. WM rarely looks further than the symptom and is continually looking for external causes of disease such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Chinese medicine is always directly involved with the person and their internal reaction to different influences. A comparison might be that the west diagnoses and treats the site of disease, whereas the east diagnoses and treats the energy responsible for it. Put another way, the west fights the invader while the east strengthens the warrior.
In WM the treatment of a particular problem in most cases is the same regardless of the person's age, size or sex. This is treating the disease, not the person. When a number of people with similar symptoms go to a practitioner of Chinese medicine, they will receive totally different treatments. This is because Chinese medicine treats the person, not the disease.
There is a famous saying in Chinese medicine which is supported by a few thousand years of observation and trial. It says that if our protective energy is strong, negative energy or disease will not be able to attack us. Constitutionally strong people rarely get sick - this is good protective energy. All the bodies out there are different to each other and hence react differently to the same condition. TCM diagnosis and treatment works within this realm of understanding.
The aim of TCM is to allow the energy of a person to have order, its natural state. Disease comes about from disorder of the body's energies, chronic disease comes about from the longstanding disorder of energy. Our bodies constantly pursue balance, working all day and every day at achieving this, and pain is the body telling us where it is having difficulty. The practitioner's role is to listen to what the presenting person tells them and assist them in correcting the disorder. When this happens the body does what it does best, namely it heals itself.
Our level of Protective (positive) energy dictates our tendency to good health. It consists of anything in or around the body that assists in protecting us from negative factors in the environment. It can be noticed in our skin, saliva, stomach acids, blood and immune system generally. Resist the western urge to dissect these factors individually and understand that the combined healthy functions of all of these represent strong protective energy (otherwise known as a good constitution). Negative (Xie) energy includes weather conditions (such as wind, heat, cold, dampness), incorrect food, excess emotions, sports injuries, and even excess sex. According to Chinese medical theory negative energy can only harm if the positive energy is weak. Take the following situation as an example. A group of campers, all dressed the same in T-shirt and shorts. The weather changes, it rains and becomes cold. One of the campers may get pneumonia, two may get a cold, but the rest are unaffected. This is because they have good protective (positive) energy, whereas the campers who get sick have poor levels of positive energy.
A person's reaction to anything depends on their protective/positive energy. Parallels may be seen in a person's reactions to humidity, heat, cold, work stress, flu virus and so on.
By taking care, we can increase our protective energy. Dressing according to the weather, eating according to our constitution, getting proper sleep, exercise and fresh air, and leaving nothing to luck. It is not the virus or the star sign that creates the problem, it is always our reaction. Take care of the positive energy and it will take care of you.
TCM is causal. It treats the root of disease, and this means symptoms disappear. Frequently other problems will disappear also as the pursuit of balance applies to our entire self, and a treatment for severe headaches may normalise weight, fix sleep disorders and clear the skin. This is because the root of the problem is being treated and not the symptom.
