TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE AND, MORE GENERALLY, TRADITIONAL CHINESE ENERGY MEDICINE, ARE TRADITIONAL FORMS OF THERAPY WESTERN SOCIETIES ARE JUST START TO OPEN UP TO. IN ADDITION TO OR AS A REPLACEMENT OF ALLOPATHIC MEDICINES, THESE APPROACHES CAN POTENTIATE THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN TREATMENTS, AND EVEN REPLACE THEM COMPLETELY. IN ESSENCE, THEIR APPROACH IS BASED ON THE CIRCULATION OF ENERGY.
ENERGY AND THE ENERGETIC BODY
These two concepts are the foundations of traditional Chinese energy medicine and, by extension, traditional Chinese medicine as a whole.
Energy, called Qi, is an invisible substance that makes up the human being and the entire universe. It’s the matter of everything. It’s our life energy.
Energy, Qi, is the electromagnetism of every living organism, that is, it is charged with Yin for magnetism, and Yang for electricity. This electromagnetic energy is in our environment everywhere, at all times, and permanently. The human body must absorb it to nourish itself and maintain and develop its vitality.
The energetic body is another concept, different from Qi. It is invisible and untouchable, but it has an anatomical structure we can physically measure. This energetic body determines how the physical body will function and conceals the causes of illnesses. Traditional Chinese medicine acts on this energetic body preventively to treat energy imbalances, before they manifest themselves into physical illnesses.
THE CIRCULATION OF ENERGY IN A BALANCED AND FLUID SYSTEM
To circulate our energies and rebalance them, traditional Chinese medicine uses five fundamental notions:
- Yin and Yang
- the five elements: Water, Earth, Metal, Fire, Wood
- organs and entrails
- body meridians
- acupuncture points
Organs and entrails correspond to the five elements and create life potential, which create the energetic body.
Meridians allow Qi to circulate in the body and maintain life. These are lines of force that interact with our body’s electromagnetic field, allowing it to transmit nerve impulses and circulate blood and lymph. In Chinese medicine, each meridian is associated with an organ and distributes Qi there, after absorbing it from the outside, to recharge it. The meridians are a sort of energy connection network between the parts of our body that maintains harmony and, by extension, our health.
The organs store our vital potential, which is distributed throughout the body by our meridians. The use of meridians in acupuncture enables an exchange of energy between the human body and its environment, which we call “energy breathing”.
Traditional Chinese medicine uses six techniques to improve the flow of energy in the meridians: pharmacopoeia, acupuncture, massage, acupressure, Qi Gong and dietetics.
Traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese energy medicine are holistic approaches that have been applying the laws of the macrocosm of the universe to the microcosm of the human body for millennia.
These therapies are being worked on in the West as an alternative to anesthesia, or to accompany withdrawals or hormonal issues, for some common examples.
If we wish to work on energy in a holistic manner, we must also promote better circulation of energies in the environment and potentiate electromagnetic fields positively, which can benefit and heal living things.