Eastern Medicine

About

Traditional Chinese Medicine has been in existence for over two thousand years. It looks at the human body from an angle quite different from the conventional view. TCM is based on a fundamental theory of Yin and Yang and Five Elemental phases, as if the human body is a small version of the universe.

In diagnosis, instead of using a process of elimination to narrow down to a single problem area, TCM considers the body as a whole and identifies the imbalance, excess or deficiency to determine which organ or organs are affected. TCM treatments often address a basic imbalance, providing the right condition for the body to adjust itself and cure its own problems. The result of this approach is that TCM can resolve multiple problems, all being a manifestation of the same imbalance.

For example, assume that our body is a house and an illness is a window that is stuck and cannot open. In Western Medicine, the window is studied and analyzed to understand why it is stuck. When the area of the frame around the window where it is sticking is identified, this area is planed or sanded so the window is free to open. In TCM, we step back and look first at the weather, then the foundation of the house. If the environment were wet, causing the window to expand then we would dry the window. Or if the foundation of the house has shifted, we would readjust the foundation to square the window frame. Once the window is fixed, you might also find that the crack in the wall in the next room has also been fixed.