Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a holistic and complete system of medicine that incorporates the mental, spiritual & physical health of a person, as well as how they relate to their environment. One of the basic principles of this medicine is that everything is related to everything else. The oldest written documentation of TCM is called the Huang Di Nei Jing or the Yellow Emperor’s Classic, which dates back 2000 years. This is the first text to describe the natural effects of diet, lifestyle, emotions, environment and age on a person’s health and as causes of disease. Health is regarded as a dynamic state of balance, which your body can return to if given the right tools. TCM places a lot of emphasis on the prevention of disease and maintenance of health, or self-longevity, from which the 8 limbs of Chinese Medicine were created.
The 8 limbs are listed below, in order of least invasive and most beneficial for maintaining health. Their order also corresponds to the level of external intervention required, the first 5 are things you can do on your own, which if you are practicing regularly, you are less likely to need the last 3. Please note this is just a brief explanation of each limb, you can devote an entire lifetime to the study of each one of these topics.
1. Mindfulness
This includes meditation, spiritual practice, breath work and any other type of mindfulness practice.
2. Movement
Any type of movement that is suited to you, including Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, and walking. While lack of movement is common in Western Culture, so is over-exercising. Movement includes the appropriate amount of physical exercise for your body and constitution.
3. Eating
This includes eating intuitively according to your body, any imbalances you might exhibit, as well as eating whole foods in season.
4. Feng Shui or Geomancy
While there is an extensive system of Feng Shui in Chinese Culture, this can be as simple as the orientation of furniture in a room so that your life flows easily through it, keeping a house clean and de-cluttered as a reflection of your internal environment.
5. Astrology
While there is an extensive framework of Chinese Astrology, this could be regarded as any framework you believe in that can help you to learn your strengths and weaknesses, your tendencies, and how you are likely to go out of balance.
6. Tui Na Massage & body work
Tui Na is a form of TCM massage, and this section includes other bodywork such as cupping, and gua sha. This could also include other physical modalities such as massage, osteopath, physio, and chiropractor.
7. Acupuncture
Acupuncture is fine needles inserted into specific points on your body to remind your body how to restore balance.
8. Herbal Medicine
TCM herbs are herbs that are native to Asia, as well as beneficial herbs found in other parts of the world, most of them are taken in combination as formulas. They are prescribed based on a TCM diagnosis, by a licensed TCM herbalist and are taken for a short period of time to help restore balance. This section would also include the use of moxibustion, an external application of warming mugwort so that it is absorbed into the body.
Western herbalism can also be beneficial and sometimes is more easily accessible to those of us living in more remote areas in Canada.
If you include Western medicine in this list you would add:
9. Vitamins & Supplements
10. Pharmaceuticals
11. Surgery & Radiation
What I have seen in my career working in healthcare as well as through personal experience, is people often end up starting near the end of the list and working backwards. I will use a common example I see with depression. Often someone’s mood will slowly start to get worse over time, their healthy promoting habits slowly slip away perhaps as they become too busy or are under stressful circumstances, until they eventually reach a personal breaking point where they go to their primary care provider who starts them on an antidepressant. After being on anti-depressants for a while, they slowly get the energy and motivation to go for acupuncture. This step would also include seeing a counsellor or seeking out other forms of bodywork. It is really normal for people to need to start with support from others as a first step back to health. One of my favourite quotes from Adrienne Maree Brown is:
“Everyone is born into someone else’s hands. We are meant to lean on each other.”
As someone begins to rebalance, and emotional blockages are freed, they will start to have more insight, improvements in mood, and more and more energy. Maybe they have been seeing a counsellor this whole time, or maybe they start. Perhaps their acupuncturist provides education on the ways their body as a system tends to go out of balance and ways that they can work with that. It isn’t until someone is feeling fairly balanced that they can start to tidy their space & de-clutter (Feng Shui/Geomancy), and integrate healthier eating and movement practices. Maybe they have the capacity to cut out things that are not serving them anymore, like alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. Sometimes, due to life circumstances, it takes years to get to this point. I often find meditation is the hardest part for people, I have heard so many people angrily tell me “And then they suggested that I just meditate!” I understand, that in the depths of imbalance can feel virtually impossible for some people, myself included. The point is, you don't wake up one morning and integrate all 8 limbs of TCM into your life, this happens slowly.
As a practitioner, I send my patients home with bite-sized lifestyle modifications that they can begin to integrate.
Feeling good is the result of multiple, consistent lifestyle decisions that you make every day. Health isn’t the result of singular acts of self-care. In our culture, self-care has morphed into indulgent behaviour that we do when we aren't feeling great. There is no one-size-fits-all, no miracle cure that will fix you overnight. Inspiring acupuncturists Tamsin Lee & Paige Yang promote the concept of Self-Longevity rather self care. Self-longevity is an integration of these lifestyle decisions into the way you live, it’s not another task you have to do at the end of a long workday.
Amanda Shibley
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