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In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a combination of good foods and Chinese herbs is essential for overall health and wellbeing. A small amount of traditional herbs can be eaten daily alongside a healthy diet, for additional nutritional support and for maintaining balance, and good health. This is known as food therapy and medical diet therapy in TCM, and this helps to balance the Yin and Yang through a combination of nutrition and exercise. Traditional Chinese herbs are an edible type of medicine that have been used in TCM for many years. The herbs are used for healing, and for providing many health benefits. Herbs often have a bitter taste, putting off some people from trying this simple way to improve your lifestyle. A core feature of TCM is the belief that a combination of the five flavours in our diet supports our vital organs and overall health, which are Sweet, Salty, Spicy/Pungent, Bitter, and Sour . So, herbs can often be eaten in combination with special fruits, nuts, and seeds to make for a more pleasant, and slightly sweet taste. This can also help you to gain additional nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. This combination of food and traditional Chinese herbs is a remedy that can support your immune system and vital functions. These small portions of combined seeds, fruit, and Chinese herbs, can be eaten daily and through a variety of methods. It is common for these to be eaten in bread, porridge, or through forms of steaming.
Reflexology is one of the most popular treatment methods for natural healing within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Before your reflexology appointment, a health evaluation and consultation will be carried out to identify your health needs and concerns for treatment. It is very common for clients to be treated with a foot massage. However, although this treatment option can be effective, it can also be limited. The reflexology approach that is often used for the foot massage can also be applied to the rest of the body. The basic theory behind the treatment is the Hologram theory , which treats the body as an interconnected system. The treatment approach to reflexology that works best for you will be determined by your health consultation. Practitioners use different techniques and areas of the body for reflexology to balance chronic physical, emotional and mental concerns. Although foot reflexology has become popularised, the ear, face, head, spinal column, back, abdominal area, hands, and feet all have reflecting points to massage and stimulate, and thus can be treated with this approach. Reflexology is a concept based on energy flow. Different units of the body are connected to different pressure points. When these points are targeted and massaged, they can assist in helping the balance of qi within that area. Through reflexology, blockages in qi can be targeted and prevented, and this can help in relieving stress or discomfort.
Tai Chi and Qi Gong are traditional forms of exercise in Chinese culture. They are related exercises that are offered at the Woden clinic, and can contribute to the holistic healing of clients as these exercises can improve your physical, mental, and emotional health. Many of our clients turn to natural healing methods including TCM when they're ready to take an active role in their health journey. This style of practice requires clients to review their lifestyle, and fitness and activity for their long term health. TCM supports this mindset.
Cupping therapy is a form of treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which is popular within the wider community. This practice has been observed for nearly 1,000 years. However, more recently this therapy has become popular amongst athletes. Athletes can often find they have overused their body after training or when performing, and muscle tension may be apparent. Cupping can be beneficial for improving upon the “perceptions of pain and disability [and for an] increased range of motion” . TCM cupping can be used to assist in the recovery process from exercise and injury, and can be used for a variety of applications in many health balancing ways. As we've explored in previous blog posts, the body consists of multiple layers, from the skin down to the bone, each contributing to a complex, interconnected system. Practitioners of TCM view the body not as isolated parts, but as regions within this holistic network. Understanding these regions is crucial for tailoring therapies like cupping. By identifying the specific areas that require treatment, practitioners can select the appropriate type of cupping and adjust the size of the cups accordingly, ensuring that the therapy effectively addresses the body's needs.
With acupuncture, there are many theories which can be used by practitioners. Aside from the standard meridian theory of acupuncture treatment, there are other health professionals that use alternative needle insertion therapies, such as dry needling. These treatment types have similar intrusive techniques to acupuncture, and they have many different names throughout the different regions of the world. The Hologram Theory in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Acupuncture In the TCM inclusive form of muscular based acupuncture, the needling technique is used to reduce tension, tightness, and to relieve certain conditions which have blocked energy. With the TCM holistic holographic concept (or hologram theory), practitioners gain a broader understanding of the body as a whole. This is applied by viewing the extremities or units of the body as individual microecosystems. Acupuncturists can then use this information to visualise a complex image of how the body’s systems function independently, and then how they can affect and interact with each other. Acupuncture can penetrate and treat many independent units of the body such as the head, forearms, neck, hands, knees, abdomen, and feet. This theory provides practitioners with the convenience, efficiency, and comfort necessary to consider the personalised treatment of clients. Acupuncturists when using this approach can easily take into consideration the preferences of clients. For example, some clients don’t want acupuncture in certain areas due to skin issues, pregnancy, fears, or discomfort. The holographic theory of acupuncture can provide different patterns for the treatment of clients in these situations, which is why this theory is broadly used in acupuncture treatment.
In the treatment of acupuncture, posture and movements are beneficial for the healing process, when used collaboratively. In a healing environment, this combination is very important for clients in different age groups, and with health conditions, as these techniques can make clients more comfortable and ready for the healing benefits of acupuncture. Clients in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are recommended to adopt specific breathing techniques, postures, and healing mindsets when receiving acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, cupping etc. This is because these techniques can work on influencing the meridian energy flow, improving the effectiveness of specific treatments. When you are receiving acupuncture, different postures will be suggested by your practitioner depending on which meridians need to be focused on for the treatment, and what health conditions or considerations need to be made. For example, when a client is having a very stressful day mentally and emotionally, they have often gained a lot of tension in the front and face partition due to experiencing a lot of conflict, or stress front on. This can influence where the acupuncture is focused on in the appointment. In the work context, people hold a lot of tension in the front of the body such as in their face, chest, abdomen, and top of feet. Tension in the face can result in headaches, jaw tightness, sleeping and snoring issues. Therefore any issues in the front of the body and face require a ‘face-up’ position or posture for acupuncture. In TCM, it is believed that the back is young and has a young meridian, which keeps people stronger and recharged. The young meridians and the functioning of the qi in these places can be targeted with acupuncture to help relieve pain, and to energise and revitalise clients. For this effective treatment, the face down, or ‘back-up’ position is implemented. Thus, a focus on posture in TCM can result in different results for specific concerns.
We have already discussed how the treatment plan for individual clients is discussed and implemented through the process of a consultation and initial review, and how this impacts working towards the individual health journeys of clients. There are many different aspects that affect the healing process, such as the discussions you have about your health, your individual reflection of your health, and your surrounding environment. In acupuncture, breathing is also very important for the effectiveness of the treatment, and for the benefit of the health process. Acupuncturists communicate to clients and encourage them to adopt certain breathing techniques which can support them throughout the treatment. The classic technique is that when the needles are being put into the body, you breathe in, and when the needles are being taken out of the body, you breathe out. Breathing techniques can either work to help make you stronger, or can focus on helping you relax and relieve tension. Clients can also breathe stronger to maintain the qi energy inside of them. The breathing technique which requires you to breathe in when the needles are being put in, and to breathe out when they are being taken out of the body, has a more calming effect on the body, whereby tensions and stress are alleviated. There are also breathing techniques for when the needles are already in the body. For example, clients can use more time breathing in and then quickly out which will have a different effect as the quick release of breath makes the client feel stronger, whilst a longer release of breath is aligned with a calming effect. The breathing technique recommended to you by your practitioner may not only focus on the timing of when you breathe in and out. For example, some clients may be sensitive to the needles, feel pain, or have fear surrounding acupuncture. In this case, clients are advised to hold their breath for a short amount of time, and then when the needle penetrates their skin, they breathe out. This can help a lot with the stress surrounding acupuncture. Therefore, in this holistic healing world, there are many factors that your acupuncturist will consider when conducting your treatment, which can contribute to the overall benefit of the therapy. Regarding breathing techniques specifically, practitioners will advise you about an appropriate technique to best suit you in your treatment.
Acupuncture is a great medical invention that goes beyond the surface level of the body, and requires no intense preparation, recovery, or rest time. This means that acupuncture can match the flow of your daily life and can easily fit into your schedule. This is convenient for the modern lifestyle of clients, so they can prioritise their health, whilst also allowing themselves a moment out of their busy lives. Although acupuncture doesn’t require any immense preparation or planning, a key feature is that acupuncturists review the client's healing progress, and assessments can be made about whether any adjustments in technique or positioning are required. This can be understood through the analogy of a car trip, as when driving on longer trips, road signs display the phrase “Stop, Revive, Survive”. Similarly, after multiple sessions of acupuncture any changes in your body should be reviewed before treatment is continued, to ensure improvements are being made to effectively balance your body along your healing and wellbeing journey.
Today, acupuncture is a popular therapy and treatment in Western and Eastern societies. However, in ancient times, Eastern societies developed and used acupuncture due to a lack of equipment and to effectively focus on the body’s pressure points to work through the meridians and maintain the flow of energy or qi. Now, acupuncture and acupressure are often combined for a more thorough approach. With acupuncture, needles are inserted into key points of the body for a certain amount of time and then taken out to relieve tension. Whereas, acupressure applies pressure onto those same points of the skin. Bodies are different from the outside, as our skin forms a unique identity, and protection from external elements, and acts as a boundary and way to differentiate between each other. Acupuncture penetrates through this skin barrier; hence, it penetrates our individual identities. The needles don’t go deep enough to dramatically impact the body, such as with intrusive procedures such as surgery, and there are no chemicals, such as those associated with injections. Instead, acupuncture focuses on intrusion and insertion into the skin. What are acupuncture therapists looking for when they do this technique? This process isn’t just for stimulation at certain points; rather, it acts as a form of communication to the body to help identify patterns of problems within the body and observe how the qi and tension flow throughout the body. By doing this, acupuncturists aren’t trying to provide a disease diagnosis as within the medical world. Instead, they are finding out the identity of issues and how they relate and communicate with the rest of your body. When talking solely about pathological diseases, it is limited to focusing on a particular issue at a certain stage instead of the overall body, where long and short-term changes can be made to affect your health.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) there are five primary methods of healing. These can be categorised into acupuncture, massage, moxibustion (or moxa), cupping therapy, and herbal medicine. These treatments can be connected with the five elements (earth, wood, fire, metal, and water) to assist in understanding the holistic healing approach to the body. This is one healing approach in TCM that connects specific therapies to the elements. Linking these body elements to the TCM therapies can look like: Fire being connected to the heart. The overall cardiovascular health of the body and the mind is also targeted. Wood being connected to the liver. This is also responsible for anti-stress, and increased balance and flexibility. Earth being connected to the spleen. This element also focuses on the muscular and digestive systems, as well as influencing disciplinary thinking. Metal being linked to lungs. The respiratory system, as well as skin and hair health are influenced by this element. Water being linked to the kidneys. This element can also have an influence on the bones, sleeping, and mindfulness. Interestingly, each of the five methods of TCM healing can be linked to the body elements and can help support or improve upon the key areas of healing within these categories. Although, it is important to note that this approach is just one way of thinking in TCM. The therapies involved in TCM are important and beneficial for the body, mind, and soul holistically as the energy involved in each of these therapies helps improve and balance the flow of qi throughout the body’s meridians. However, these therapies can also be found to have benefits on specific, connected aspects of the body. This means that: The herbal medicine in TCM, and the importance of its bitter taste, can help to improve the cardiovascular health of individuals, whilst providing cleansing properties (as well as contributing to the overall health of the mind and body). Massage is connected to the element of wood, as the skin contact can assist in balancing the senses, nerves, and body signals to support decreased stress, and improve the overall balance of the body. Cupping is linked to the earth element, as the process of suctioning and releasing the skin relaxes the muscles and body which is good for the muscular system. Acupuncture is related to metal, meaning that the acupuncture needles can support stress-related issues. When the needles are applied quickly and effectively, they can pull out negative tension from the medians within the body, which can balance the flow of qi. Moxibustion and the associated heat of the treatment are connected to the water element in TCM. The special herbal balance can relax the body and treat water-related issues, such as coldness. The holistic healing approach, which is integral to TCM, is also applied to each element and associated treatment option. This elemental thinking doesn’t rely on a point-to-point treatment that immediately expresses benefits, but is beneficial on a broader scope. The holistic approach doesn’t just focus on a specific issue, but treats the body as a whole, interconnected system where no symptom or issue is treated in isolation. This means that as symptoms arise in specific places, the root causes of these health concerns can be addressed by focusing on the rest of the body so that no aspect is neglected and the issue area isn’t being overtreated. This holistic approach to treatment creates balance within the body and improves health issues from the inside out. The five elements of this healing concept can be given to clients as a method to mind-fully address their health concerns in a relatively stress-free environment. This is recommended instead of a disease and pathological methods approach to diagnosis, which can lead to stress, enhancing the present sickness and symptoms, and affecting the healing and balance of the problem. This approach can empower clients as they can take charge and initiate their health journeys at home and throughout their daily lives, to either improve or support chronic conditions. By doing this, clients can exercise assertiveness and feel less helpless in the medical and health environment. Written by Lili Henderson-Clark
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