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Oriental Medicine
-The Relationship of Traditional Chinese Medicine's 3 pillars:
Tai Chi & Qigong Energy, Herbal, & Acupuncture Medicine
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Tai Chi & Mind Over Matter
- Psychoneuro-immunology
[right] Russian Tai Chi Teacher, Vladimir Pankov, repels the force of many students effortlessly
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Mind over Matter
Tai Chi's artful beauty can make us forget that it is actually one of the most highly evolved health technologies on Earth. The Chinese realized that our mind or consciousness is the root of who we are. Our health and our lives are merely reflections of our state of mind. Therefore, Tai Chi's mindful quality incorporates the mind and body into a powerful healing force.
Interestingly, Western science now sees that Traditional Chinese Medicine's ancient insights were right on the money. A new science called psychoneuroimmunology has found that our mind constantly communicates to every cell of our body.
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T'ai Sci
Psychoneuroimmunology is a modern science studying how the mind’s attitudes and beliefs affect our
physical health. Psycho means “mind,” neuro means “nervous system,” and immunology means “system
of health defenses.”
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Emotional chemicals, known as neuropeptides, flow throughout our bodies, communicating every feeling to
the entire body. So when hitting every red light on the street aggravates us or we become anxious in every line
we stand in, we walk around in a state of perpetual panic (or as Bruce Springsteen sang, “Yer life is one long
emergency”). This negatively affects our heart, brain, and entire circulatory system. In fact, those effects in turn
affect other organs, which can cause a breakdown of the entire system over time, causing, for example, kidney
failure, heart enlargement, and hardening of the arteries.
But don’t fret, T’ai Chi helps us do just the opposite. We can decide to let issues slide right off us, literally
breathing fears out with every sigh and yawn. As we sit in QiGong meditation or move in T’ai Chi’s soothing
postures, we let a nourishing healing flow of Qi, or life energy, fill every cell of our body.
Don’t try too hard to memorize any of these details on Traditional Chinese or Western medicine. Rather,
let the concepts wash over your relaxed mind. The important stuff will stick, and you can always
go back to look up details later.
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Know Your Chinese
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) differs from the Western approach in that its focus is holistic. Holistic means it views the body as an integrated whole. A TCM doctor does not treat only symptoms, but rather tries to discover the root of health problems.
For example, if we have allergy problems, Western pharmaceuticals might send chemical missiles in to dry out the sinuses. This does stop the runny nose, but some medications may result in irritating the surrounding tissue by drying it out or other undesirable side effects. Acupuncture, on the other hand, or T’ai Chi, in the long run, will enable the body’s natural balancing to occur, reducing the incidence of sinus problems in a way that nurtures the tissue. This is done by re-establishing the blocked flow of Gi that is at the roof of the problem.
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To fully appreciate T’ai Chi’s medical benefits, it may be helpful to understand how Traditional Chinese Medicine
views the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine has known for centuries what Western science is only now discovering
that our mind and body are two inseparable things. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is a joke that “the only
place the mind, body, emotions, and spirit are separate is in textbooks.” In real life and T’ai Chi, it just isn’t so.
T’ai Chi’s slow mindful movements are the epitome of this union of mind and body. As mentioned above Western
medicine is becoming increasingly conscious of it as well. Comedian, George Carlin, joked, “After hundreds of years
of medical research we have finally discovered the head is connected to the body.”
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Know Your Chinese
The energy meridians are known as jing luo. Jing literally means “to move through,” and luo means “a net.” So energy meridians are a network of channels.
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A T'ai Chi Punch Line
There are also acupuncture maps for animals. In fact, some racing horses have their own personal acupuncturists. Many veterinarians are beginning to use acupuncture as part of their practice.
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So when your body’s muscles are rigid, your thinking will likely be more rigid, too. Likewise, if your thinking is harsh
and rigid, this will in time be reflected in stiffness in your muscular frame. This stiffness impedes the flow of Qi, which
diminishes our health. Therefore, your mind and your thoughts have as much, or maybe more, to do with your health
than the food you eat or the exercise you get.
Tai Chi & Acupuncture
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Energy meridians, or jing luo, link all the organs and the entire physical body to the mind and emotional systems. This explains how T’ai Chi and QiGong’s mind/body exercises integrate all aspects of the self into a powerful self-healing system.
What are these energy meridians that T’ai Chi helps to unblock? By now you know that Qi flows through and powers every cell in your body, the way electricity powers your house. Without Qi, the cell would be dead, for Qi is the life force. The meridians are how Qi gets to the cells. You can’t see these meridians; you can only detect the energy that moves through them, just as you cannot see an ocean current in the water, but you can detect its motion.
There are ancient maps of these meridians, made thousands of years ago by Traditional Chinese doctors. These acupuncture meridian maps show 14 main energy meridians that carry Qi throughout the body internally and externally. The names follow, listed first by the modern acupuncture abbreviation, then by the English name, and a few followed by the Chinese name in italics.
CV = Conception Vessel or Ren Mai
CX = Pericardium Channel
GB = Gallbladder Channel
GV = Governing Vessel or Du Mai
HE = Heart Channel
KI = Kidney Channel
LI = Large Intestine Channel
LU = Lung Channel
LV = Liver Channel
SI = Small Intestine Channel
SP = Spleen-Pancreas Channel
ST = Stomach Channel
TW = Triple Warmer or San Jiao Channel
UB = Urinary Bladder Channel
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Here is an example of an acupuncture meridian map.
This map also comes in a three-dimensional model. |
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Acupuncture and Tai Chi
There are three aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine: acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Tai Chi/ QiGong. All three share a common premise that Qi pours through the body, and our health is diminished when the energy flow gets blocked.
So whether an acupuncturist is treating you with needles, an herbalist is prescribing herbs, or you are practicing Tai Chi, you are trying to balance the imbalances, or unblock the energy that flows throughout your body. Millions of Americans are now using alternative therapies like acupuncture and herbs. If you practice Tai Chi daily, your relaxed state will help herbs or acupuncture work even more effectively.
The energy meridians, which flow throughout the interior of the body, have 361 points that surface at the skin, and these are the most common treatment points acupuncturists use. But the whole body and even the mind can be treated with acupuncture because these meridians that surface at the skin also flow inside the body, through the brain and other organs.
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T'ai Sci
Modern acupuncturists often call the
Qi meridians bioenergetic circuits.
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T’ai Chi and QiGong affect the same energy flow that acupuncture does, although acupuncture can be better
for acute problems, whereas T’ai Chi is a daily tune-up. Therefore, acupuncturists often recommend T’ai Chi
to their patients, and T’ai Chi teachers recommend acupuncture to students with chronic or acute conditions,
as a supplement to the students’ standard medical treatments. T’ai Chi and acupuncture are very
complementary, and each makes the other more effective.
(d)Say, “OOOOHHHHHMMMMMM”—OHMMeter, That Is
It is mind-boggling when you consider that many modern acupuncturists find acupuncture points with electronic
equipment, not unlike an Ohmmeter. What’s amazing is that acupuncture maps were made long before
electronics was developed, some believe over 2,000 years ago.
How did they know where those points were back then? They might have felt them. As you practice T’ai Chi
and QiGong, you will eventually begin to feel the Qi flowing from your hands or in your body.
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Know Your Chinese
Zang Fu literally translated means “solid-hollow.” Organs within the body considered to be hollow, like the stomach or large intestines, are Fu organs, while the solid organs, such as liver and lungs, are Zang organs.
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Get an Acupuncture Tune-Up
Acupuncture sees the body holistically, meaning that each small part of the body contains connections to
the whole body. Therefore, an acupuncturist can treat any problem in the whole body through, for example,
the ears. Likewise, any part of the body, or even the mind, can be treated through the hands or the feet.
One of the powerful health benefits T’ai Chi provides is a daily acupuncture tune-up. Because T’ai Chi is
so slow and the weight shifts so deliberate, with the body very relaxed, the feet are massaged by the earth
during a T’ai Chi exercise. The bottoms of the feet have acupuncture points that affect the entire body, and
the mind, too. Acupressure is acupuncture without the needles. So the foot massage is a 20-minute T’ai Chi
session that stimulates all the acupuncture points on the foot through acupressure, thereby treating the whole
body. No other exercise provides this type of slow, relaxed motion, making T’ai Chi unique in providing you an
acupuncture tune-up each time you do your daily exercise. If you haven’t yet, view the non-instructional
Exhibition of the T’ai Chi Long Form, and the Exhibition of the Mulan Style Basic Short Form, on this book’s
insert DVD to visually understand the flow and effortless slowness of the forms which result in stimulating the
acupressure points on the feet, and throughout the entire body by allowing the relaxed tissue to massage itself.
No other exercise provides this.
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Tai Chi & the Zangfu Organ Systems
Don't Be Zang Fu-lish
Another profound benefit Tai Chi provides is a gentle massaging of the internal organs. Because Tai Chi moves the body in about 95 percent of the possible motions it can go through, it not only clears the joints of calcium deposits, but it also gently massages the internal organs.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this is a powerful therapy for optimum health. TCM recognizes that the body is an integrated whole whereby all the parts are connected by the flow of Qi. In fact, the Chinese system of medicine is built upon a Zang Fu graph, which shows how organs interact with and depend on one another for good healthy function.
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The Zang Fu system uses a memory model, applying each organ to one of the five elements of the earth. The Chinese see the world as made of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. The energy flow affects different organs through the Sheng Cycle and the Ko cycle. This figure shows how organs are interactive and interdependent on one another for healthful function.
Therefore, because Tai Chi massages all the organs through its gentle full rotations, it helps to balance all the integrating activities of the Zang Fu systems.
Be Kind to Your Emotions
Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Tai Chi/QiGong use the Zang Fu system to understand how the body, mind, and emotions integrate. A problem with a particular organ may have emotional symptoms. Likewise, a chronic emotional state may have a physical impact on the organs. The following list explains the Zang Fu connection between organs and emotions commonly related to imbalances with those organs or their energy channels:
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Liver = Depression, anger
Heart = Excess joy (such as manic
behavior), excess mental
function
Spleen = Obsession
Lung = Anguish, grief, melancholy
Kidney = Fear, fright
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Sage Sifu Says
If you go to a Traditional Chinese Physician, she may likely ask you about your emotions as well as your physical symptoms because emotional states may help lead her to understand which organ’s energy is deficient or in excess.
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So Tai Chi benefits the mental and emotional states, not only by encouraging us to let go of the day's
problems by focusing on breath and movement, but in other ways as well. Tai Chi stimulates the organs
with gentle massage, while stimulating the acupressure points on the feet and throughout the body, with
its gentle relaxed postures. The breathing in Tai Chi is full, yet effortless, encouraging internal releases
of mental and emotional blocks that also help the internal Zang Fu systems become less restricted, more
free flowing, and healthful on mental, emotional, and physical levels. Chapter 4, "Expand the Mind and
Lighten the Heart," will explain how Tai Chi and QiGong can provide mental and emotional healing.
