What is Chinese Herbalism?
The practice of Chinese medicine goes back thousands of years. Chinese medicine is all about balance. In nature, there are two major forces, i.e., yin and yang. Yin and Yang forces are measured in energy levels referred to as qi. Yin conditions are cold and damp, and yang conditions are hot and dry. Qi travels throughout the body via channels called meridians. Health issues occur when this energy balance is disrupted.
To rebalance qi, Chinese herbs and herbal remedies are used to help realign the yin and yang balance to bring about harmony and general well-being. These herbs are combined into formulas that are carefully commingled to work to rebalance the internal and external environments of the body.
The knowledge surrounding Chinese medicine, also known as Eastern therapies were basically unknown to the Western world until 1972 when President Nixon successfully opened trade between the United States and China.
Interestingly enough, there are many similarities between the two herbal cultures in terms of a plant’s innate ability to heal. Most of our prescriptive medications have roots in traditional herbalism such as aspirin, which is a derivative of willow bark and foxglove a derivative of digitalis.
The philosophical differences between Western medicine and Eastern medicine are paramount. The United States traditional medical model treats the signs and symptoms of disease. The signs are objective determinations made by diagnostic testing, while the symptoms are those subjective statements made by the patient in describing their ailments. For example, the traditional western doctor would view an allergic reaction as a rejection to some substance; such as, sudden diarrhea after eating a dairy product might be diagnosed as lactose intolerance. Treatment is geared towards treating the immediate symptom of the reaction, in this case, the diarrhea. Conversely, in Eastern medicine an allergy is viewed as an invasion of wind, an attack against the body’s immune system. The treatment is geared towards strengthening the entire body to combat the allergy. These protective tools provide a strong barrier against the offending allergen or invader, and by eliminating the actual cause of the problem; the body is able to use its innate healing abilities to prevent any manifestations elsewhere in the body.
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