Traditional Chinese Medicine Explained

Chinese herbal medicine practitioner and acupuncturist, Dr Stephen Yan, is a man with a dream - he would like to see the integration of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Shanghai-born Stephen Yan, MBChB, had a six-year training in Western medicine from the University of Shanghai Medical School. Western medicine, he thought, was his destiny. He was soon to find, however, that many conditions benefited more from TCM than they did from Western medicine. So it was back to school for advanced training in the Department of Acupuncture at Hua Shan Hospital, Shanghai. Dr Yan is now fixed on the idea of promoting Western understanding of TCM, and spends a great deal of time to this end. 'There is a Western impression that Chinese medicine is vague and holistic, but that is not so at all. There are many precise applications and therapies, which all have the advantage that they benefit the whole body while treating the local problem. 'Dr Yan is highly knowledgeable about various Chinese systems of physical movement, of which the best known is Tai Chi. Though these all result in increased flexibility and agility, it is the strengthening of the links between body and mind that take place with these regular, rhythmical exercises that he finds so extraordinary. He set up a Chinese Martial Arts School in Wellington, and he lectures, demonstrates and teaches master classes around the country. In 2020 he finished writing a book on Chinese medicine, Dr Yan came to New Zealand in 1988 through an invitation from Open Forum for Health Information Association Inc, and support from Dr Bob Boyd of the Health Department.

The following are the key principles of traditional Chinese medicine, principles which are necessary for any understanding of both its philosophy and practice. TCM: the key principles
The Chinese perceive the body as having three dimensions: the physical body; the spirit; and the combination of these two - the living body with the life force (Qi or Chi), which is best explained as energy flows networking through the meridian system. Qi is there only while the person is alive. Without it, all that is left is a dead body. The physical organs contain the life force only when the body is living and mind and mental states also relate only to the living body. This life force controls the body's different functions. Operating as it does in the living body only, it is no wonder that Qi cannot be found under the microscope or in a dead body. While not generally understood in the West, the existence of the meridian system was confirmed last year by French nuclear medical scientists. They injected radioactive tracers into acupuncture points in over 300 volunteers, and found that the tracers always migrated along the standard acupuncture meridians. Achieving balance TCM refers to states of hyper-or hypo- as Yin and Yang imbalance. While it focuses on the correction of local problems, it will also improve the whole body's health by rebalancing the Yin and Yang.

These mainly involve four basic aspects
1. Physical structure (Yin); body organ function (Yang).
2. Physical body (Yin); mental state and mind (Yang).
3. Negative charges (Yin); positive charges (Yang).
4. Lower peaks, slower frequencies than normal (Yin). Higher peaks, faster frequencies than normal (Yang).

With an inbuilt memory of health balance, the body has the force to return it to that balance - to the position where it is best able to heal itself. If the body cannot achieve that balance, then treatment is needed to help it break through to heal itself. Often in acupuncture treatments, the same acupoints are used for both hypo and hyper conditions, e.g. as for diarrhoea and constipation, hypertension and hypotension. Using the life force in healing. The two most important approaches that TCM practitioners use are Fu Zheng and Qu Xue. They are often used together so that recovery is faster, Yin and Yang are balanced, and the body's bioelectromagnetic frequencies and fields are normal and pure. Fu Zheng enhances the body's healing systems, strengthening the life force, and lifting the immunity so that the body's own defence systems Qu Zue eliminates and prevents factors that disturb or suppress the life force and healing systems.

The methods used in Fu Zheng are
1. Herbal tonic medicines: these are used to lift the life force and enhance metabolism. They stimulate immunity, especially the production and balance of T and B cells. They enhance the body's endocrine system and protect against adrenal cortex depression. They also help in the recovery of shrinkage associated with long-term steroid use, and minimise damage from chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
2. Acupuncture, moxibustion and acumassage: used on certain acupoints along the meridian system to stimulate and activate the body's metabolism, immunity and to adjust the sympathetic, adrenaline and pituitary- adrenocortical systems.
3. Herbal diet therapy: certain herbs may be prescribed to balance the life force. These are prepared in different ways and incorporated into the daily diet.
4. Physical exercise and meditation: Regular physical external exercises or more relaxing internal exercises may be suggested according to the individual's condition. These bring the body's mind and mental energy in harmony with the physical body. The internal meditative exercises are best practiced at particular times of the day and. in particular environments for optimum harmony with the natural world.
5. Delivering energy: a well-trained practitioner can deliver his energy with touch or without touch to recharge a weak health condition. This lifts the life force and energy level and corrects the sick person's disturbed energy flows and fields.
6. Emotional therapy: Using one emotion to control and balance others so as to return the body to a peaceful and pure state of mind. This state enables the body's healing and defence systems to function at their best. The Chinese believe that only in this state, when a person's energy frequencies match the planet's electromagnetic field, can the individual bio-energy be harmonised by the natural energy of the globe.
7. Locational and lifestyle changes: changing to approaches that are more natural to the body and more in harmony with nature. For example: the patient's house should not be situated in a damp, noisy or windy location. It should avoid power plants, and be where local earth magnetic fields are average. It is best located sheltered from the wind, in a sunny spot, and with a hill and trees at the back and both sides, and fronted by running water. Aspects of Qu Xue In eliminating the factors that suppress the life force.

TCM practitioners use the following approaches
Xing Qi - eliminating irregular energy: bioelectricity, biomagnetism, bioelectromagnetic frequencies and fields, and bio-heat frequencies are basic forms of the body's energy.
Xing Qi redirects and corrects disturbed energy flows and fields. Source areas for any disease generate regionally disturbed bio-electricity called 'bad' Qi (Chi) or Qi (Chi) stasis. Unless this is corrected, the body's healing systems cannot function properly.
Huo Xue - improving poor localised blood flow: When there is poor regional circulation, the blood often becomes more viscous in that area, suppressing the vitality of nearby tissues. This leads to their bioelectromagnetic frequencies becoming irregular and disturbed, and finally affecting the healing power in that area. Therefore, to enable local tissues to heal properly, it is important to improve local blood circulation.

Hua Yu - removing stasis:
Stasis relates to static body fluids such as in oedema and inflammation; blood stasis, such as blood clots as in thrombosis, due to bleeding in tissues and organs; and stasis caused by pathological products, such as sputum or pus. Stasis in whatever form means that local tissues are under pressure, cannot breathe normally, and that local Qi is disrupted. Any stasis makes it more difficult for the body to shift local toxins or metabolic wastes.

These in turn become static areas, generating abnormal frequencies that further disturb neighbouring normal frequencies. Growths generate a special frequency which is quite different from the bio frequency of normal tissues. If a monitor can be developed to test for this particular abnormal frequency, it will enable earlier testing for cancer.

Jie Du - effigiating toxins or allergic materials: these often cause either acute or chronic inflammation and disturb normal functioning. The toxins and allergic materials produce interior heat as well as abnormal frequencies.

Qu Huo - eliminating heat (Huo): heat means both fever and localised hot spots, and also the body's interior tension or stress. Both disturb the body's healing power, drive the body out of balance, and weaken immunity. Both types of heat have two aspects:
Shi Huo or solid heat. Often due to acute infection and non-infectious inflammation, including that of arthritic conditions. It may be related to reactions to temperature, toxins, allergies, acute injury, strong emotions, or long-term intake of hot, spicy foods.
Xu Hou is weak heat, often due to chronic sickness, long term stress or hormonal imbalances. Though these principles involve different healing methods, their overall aim is to eliminate anything that distribute or suppresses the body's healing and immune system. Their common goal is to enable optimum function to the body's healing powers. We now know that chemical and immune-suppressant medications are often not fully eliminated from the body. Their build-up produces abnormal Qi. If the build-up is in important organs (such as brain tissues, heart, kidney and liver) it lessens the body's immunity and ability to heal itself. Thus, during the treatment of symptoms and disease, such medications cause further imbalances and loss of vitality. Practitioners of TCM believe that if an individual's life force is strong, if the healing and defence systems are normal, then that individual can resist all ill- ness and overcome all diseases. They also keep in mind that the healing power comes not just from the body, but is enhanced by the life forces of nature.