Chinese Medicine

The first writings about TCM date back to 200 BCE. Herbal medicine and acupuncture, including theory, practice, diagnosis, and treatment, were recorded in classical Chinese texts and refined over many centuries. The practice of TCM stayed in Asia for centuries. Chinese immigrants had been practicing TCM in the United States since the mid-19th century, but its existence was unknown to most Americans before 1971. That year, New York Times reporter James Reston, who was in China covering former President Nixon’s trip, had to have an emergency appendix operation. After the operation he received acupuncture for pain, and his stories about this experience with TCM fascinated the public. Since then, TCM has gone on to become a mainstream alternative medicine practiced all over the world.

Disease, alterations in the normal flow of qi such that yin and yang are imbalanced, is thought to have three major causes: external or environmental factors, your internal emotions, and lifestyle factors, such as diet. Through the use of its therapeutic modalities, TCM stimulates the body’s own healing mechanisms. Practices used in TCM include:

Acupuncture and acupressure
Moxibustion, burning an herb near the skin
Herbal medicine
Nutrition
Chinese massage, called tui na Exercise, such as tai chi and qi gong which combine movement with meditation

In TCM, the body’s internal organs are thought of not only as individual structures but also as complex networks. According to TCM, qi flows through organ systems, the kidneys, heart, spleen, liver, lung, gallbladder, small intestine, and large intestine, by way of meridians. Despite their specific names, these 5 systems correspond to more than individual body parts. The kidney, for example, represents the entire urinary system along with the adrenal glands, located on top of the kidneys. The heart, meanwhile, represents both the heart and the brain.