The Nature of Nature
With the advent of comic book heroes and Kung Fu movies, it is possible to see that the mystery surrounding TCM could lead one to believe that its focus is on making humans better than they naturally are capable of being. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are plenty of movies depicting acupuncture needling and the consumption of exotic herbs, resulting in super human powers. These are just that, fantastic (and if you like them) entertaining movies. The real focus of TCM is on restoring health through balance. It cannot increase human potential as in the case of steroids.
While it is true that TCM's exotic pharmacopeia and acupuncture system, when placed in the hands of an experienced practitioner, can create profound changes in human health, it is still not capable of making you more than you are. Why? Because you are made of skin, bone, flesh and blood - not diamonds, titanium and oil! Your physical matter can only be pushed so far, and even at its limits you will not find comfort.
It is the nature of nature to seek out balance within a limited parameter, not to exceed it.
For example, if I we're approached by an individual seeking to solve a problem with physical fatigue, I may recommend a single herbal such as AMERICAN GINSENG (Panax Quinquefolium) or an herbal combination such as BU ZHONG YI QI WAN (Central Qi Tea Pills).
These herbs will be used in order to recharge the individual’s battery, but they cannot create two batteries where only one existed before. Once the problem is solved, it is either useless or unsettling to keep on using therapeutic doses of such tonic herbs.
It would probably be wise to use these herbs in a maintenance fashion, so as to keep the "battery" at full charge, but the individual would probably not be able to tell whether they are working for them or not.
The case of physical fatigue is one of deficiency, where an individual is lacking energy, but the same is true for cases of excess. For example, an individual’s condition of high blood pressure may be classified as one of excess, requiring of the practitioner to reduce this pressure. In other words, take the excess away and restore balance. To take more than the excess away would lead to low blood pressure, which again is not what is comfortable or healing to the patient.
Herbs can and often are used and even formulated in high doses to create drug like states within the body, but this is not TCM, even if the herbs used are from its pharmacopeia.
I often come across misused Chinese herbs for the purpose of weight loss or athletic performance. The end result of such misuse is seldom health affirming and, once again, is not in the intended spirit of TCM.
Whereas the "culture" or "pop culture" may create unnatural expectations from the Chinese Medical Tradition, it is still the tradition’s focus on creating the health which is of most value to us. Perhaps more important than this is TCM's ability to restore an individual’s full potential.
AMIT S.KATZ is the owner of Lifestyles Nutrition Center in Palm Desert and La Quinta California. He is the author of the book The Frontline Of Nutrition - 50 Treatment Remedies And Cures You Can Find In A Health Food Store.
Amit has been working with the public and their health concerns since 1992. Through years of experience he has obtained a rare knowledge of the use of supplements and their ability to treat health issues and address disease.
From The Needles Point
Acupuncture is somewhat of an exotic modality to westerners, even in this day and age. Think about it, I insert a needle into an arm or leg and this particular needle point may create change within the body’s organs, stopping pain, heart palpitations, speeding the recovery from cold/flu, etc…
When you really think about it, what am I needling, exactly? The appendage, the skin, the muscles, the nerves? If I were to tell the average person that I am actually needling invisible energy pathways, which can not be seen by the naked eye, viewed through a microscope or detected by any scientific method, chances are they would not believe it could be effective at all.
And yet, it is not what we cannot see which determines if a modality is effective or not, it is the result itself which does. When we search for the invisible pathway, it is not there. When we needle it, the body responds.
It is this apparent dichotomy, between the visible/tangible/rational mind and its inability to grasp that which it cannot understand using its senses, which allows for acupuncture to remain exotic or shrouded in mystery.
This phenomena was expressed over 2 millennia ago by Lao-tzu in the eleventh chapter of the Tao Te Ching:
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable.
We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
AKEMI NAKAGAWA BISCHOFF L.Ac is a graduate of Emperor's College in L.A.
She has worked in the UCLA Arthur Ashe Medical Center and is currently the director of The Dragon Clinic in Lifestyles Nutrition Center Palm Desert.