In Search of the Miraculous. Chinese Medicine

Remember, God treats you like you treat your lover. Being a good lover is the highest form of humanity as far as I am concerned.Sometimes being a good lover means letting go of each other. Such is life.

Before I share the first chi kung exercise it is important to understand a couple of fundamental differences that separate Chinese and the western medicine. I am going to be a bit repetitious but as they say " Education is repetition." Western medicine understands and relates to a human being as a physical/psychological/social organism. Chinese medicine understands and relates to a human being as a radiating field of energy that exists in and as a series of interrelated fields of energy all of which exists in an all encompassing field of energy. A human being has a physical/psychological/social manifestation but the key in Chinese medicine is the energy field not the manifestations of the field. If the energy field is strong and balanced health will manifest. If it is not, illness is inevitable.
A western medical professional will treat a person physically and or psychologically. They might use herbs, and or pharmaceuticals,and recommend exercises of one type or another. The west has a plethora of psychological treatments available. But their is no commonly agreed upon energy therapy in mainline western medicine. That is changing but very slowly and erratically. Touch for Health which is energy work, is being done now by many nurses and in some hospitals. But that is the exception not the rule.
The ideal Chinese medicine practitioner will do much the same as a western practitioner only using Chinese equivalents. Chinese medicine does not, however, use or prescribe pharmaceuticals. In china there are hospital and doctors who combine Chinese and western medicine but the two mostly kept distinctly separate. A client in china can chose one or the other. The two types of medicine are to different to be combined at this point in time. Another very big difference is that a Chinese practitioner who is knowledgeable and cares enough to take the time will also use chi (energy work) and recommend various types of chi kung exercises, external and internal forms. External chi kung can be compared to yoga and the client is taught a series of body movements and breathing styles. Internal or quiet form is done by the client being taught how to move their awareness through the body in set practitioner for set periods of time depending on the intent of the client. Both forms have the client pay attention to breathing diaphragmatic and correct posture. I will say more about this later.
Chinese medicine in the best sense of the word helps a client understand who and what they are in context of the great energy field we exist within. And to understand how being out of balance with any part of that field of energy will produce illness of one type or another. The Chinese going back well past a thousand years recognized that a persons social relationships are a prime determined when it comes to health. If a man or woman's social relationships are not harmonious illness will sooner or later manifest. Therefore in Chinese medicine, helping a patient to learn how to understand and navigate the often treacherous social seas is vital. So theoretically Chinese medicine should encourage a client to examine carefully all their significant social relationships. Unfortunately this aspect of Chinese medicine is hardly ever practiced in china or anywhere else by Chinese medical practitioners that I know of. Chinese society has historically worked against the idea of psychology considering it an invasion of privacy. That is why you will not find the same plethora of psychological methods as you have in the west. This is changing but very slowly. When the west has a fully integrated energy component and China has a solid series of psychological methodology available both societies will benefit
For the most part Chinese doctors in the west take a pulse diagnosis ask a few questions occasionally palpate and than either prescribe herbal medicine and or acupuncture. Hardly any of them mention the reality of energy and things like chi kung. As my dear late father use to say when speaking of the difference between the ideal and the reality; " manys the slip between the cup and the lip." I urge a return to acting on the ideal.
Another very real and important difference between western and Chinese medicine is the way they describe the manifestations of health and sickness. Western medicine uses words and concepts that are very precise in their meanings. Chinese medicine on the other hand uses words and concepts that are poetic and suggestive and not at all declarative. The Chinese speak of tendencies rather than precise realities. This different way of speaking drives a lot of western doctors crazy. (I am speaking poetically of course:)
A Chinese medical practitioner will use words like "liver rising or he has rebellious chi or she has wind heat." For a lot of western people it feels like Alice in Wonderland. They have an impossible time understanding most Chinese doctors at first and many turn away as a result. Never mind that we can rarely understand or believe in western doctors and more of us are turning away from them as well. What a predicament we find ourselves in. We may really need medical help but oh how difficult and rare it is to find it. So, if we can not find others to treat us and our family and friends, than I say we become our own student/teachers and healers.
Several years ago when my grandma was going through a heart surgery procedure my mother was with her in her hospital room and told me this story. The Indian western trained doctor came in and was telling my grandma a bunch of stuff he felt she needed to hear. She kept nodding her head and agreeing with him. As soon as he left the room my grandma turned to my mother and said; " He is full of shit." She survived the surgery but died a few months later. I tell this story to illustrate a reality that to many people in western hospitals experience when it comes to communications between doctors and patient at very critical moments. I wonder what would have happened if the two of them had really tried to understand each other?
What is true of the relationship between a western doctor and patient as far as communication is concerned, is also common among people who go to Chinese medical doctors and practitioners. And often the results are the same. We must learn to communicate effectively with each other. The practitioner and the client are equally responsible. The need is to great to blame or ignore. We must take responsibility for becoming much better at communicating with each other, to much depends on it. Indeed our health, as was stated above, is directly effected by our relationships. And study after study indicates that good communication skills are key to good relationships.