What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine ?
What Is TCM ?
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) reaches back thousands of years and has remained rooted to traditional practices, changing very little over the centuries as the knowledge is passed down from generation to generation.
The earliest-found writings were discovered on pieces of tortoise shell and bone dating back to the Shang Dynasty -15th to 11th centuries BCE.
Foundational Chinese medicine texts date back to the Han Dynasty - 206 BCE to 220 CE.
These ancient writings focus on the circular movement of “Qi” air and "Xuè," blood. Illness is understood to be the stagnation, deficiency, or the improper movement of qì or xuè, and results in the imbalance of yīn and yáng.
Foundational Chinese medicine texts date back to the Han Dynasty - 206 BCE to 220 CE.
These ancient writings focus on the circular movement of “Qi” air and "Xuè," blood. Illness is understood to be the stagnation, deficiency, or the improper movement of qì or xuè, and results in the imbalance of yīn and yáng.
The imbalance of Qi and Xue in the body can cause discomfort, chronic disease and illness, restoring balance to the body and treating the internal system as whole is vital to our well-being and is the founding principles behind TCM.
TCM practitioners use various treatments focused both on our physical body, energy and mental wellbeing to treat imbalances, holistically restoring and maintaining harmony using -
HERBS
MUSHROOMS
ENERGY
ACUPUNCTURE
CUPPING
MASSAGE
QIGONG
TAICHI
NUTRITION
TCM has been becoming more popular here in the west and I'm sure many of you may have even indulged in treatments such as acupuncture, cupping therapy and practiced Tai Chi as well as other herbal remedies.
We are slowly beginning to recognise the intelligence and power of other deep routed healing practices from cultures other than our own, practices that focus not only on chemically numbing a symptom for convenience, but the power of a more holistic approach.
Medicines such as mushrooms, plants and herbs have never been more vital as we transition to a more advanced understanding of what and who we are, our relationship with the natural world and ourselves.
We often forget,
"WE ARE NATURE"
Nature is not something separate from us.
So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.
Andy Goldsworthy
