Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture schools are opening all around the world at a rapid rate - India, England, America and Russia, just to name a few. Part of its popularity is the effectiveness of alternative medicines in treating things like sleep disorders, anxiety, cancer, osteoporosis, fertility disorders, anemia and other conditions. While many regard traditional Chinese medicines as “an outdated science,” the World Health Organization publicly acknowledge TCM as a legit practice in 1980 and now Western doctors are turning their heads, hoping to learn more about alternative, natural medicines that will serve as long-term treatments for their patients.
Many Americans don’t realize that traditional Chinese medicines date back nearly 5,000 years, passed down by oral tradition until about 3,000 years ago when people began writing down their findings in ancient texts like “Basic Questions of Internal Medicine” and “A Treatise On Cold Damage.Since the Nationalist government feared missing out on scientific progress, classic Chinese medicine was fobade in the 1930’s. However, thirty years later, Mao Zedong chose ten highly respected doctors to create a traditional but standardized practice called Traditional Chinese Medicine. Not only is TCM taught in all Chinese schools, but schools in England, Russia and the US are opening.
TCM’s basic principles of “Yin” and “Yang,” come from Taoist ideas.” The term is used by the school of Chinese medicine to describe a series of opposites; for example, hot and cold, dark and light or moving and still. Just like the changing of the seasons or the fading of day into night, the body goes through constant motion as well. If the cycle of equilibrium is disrupted and there’s an excess of something or deficiency of something, then the body naturally breaks down.
In traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong studies the regulation of movement and breathing. This practice can be performed by anyone, but is most commonly associated with Martial Artists and Buddhists. Progress toward the ultimate goal of cultivating virtue and knowing oneself is achieved through deep relaxation, which acts as a cleansing agent to allow truth, light, joy and healing into the body. In the process, it is believed that one is tapping into a universal energy, according to the school of Chinese medicine. Even people who don’t get into the philosophical meanderings of TCM observe a noticeable calming effect and overall fitness improvement.
Traditional Chinese medicine doctors can give you many surprising solutions to common ailments. For instance, women suffering premenstrual syndrome can be treated with herbal supplements like angelica to relieve cramping, buplerum to relieve irritability and irregularity with biota seed. The good news about Chinese herbal medicines is that they’re safer and less expensive than other drugs on the market.
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