When the two opposing forces are in balance we feel good. In exactly the same way, the body, mind and emotions are all subject to the influences of the Yin and Yang. However, if the Yang (flame) burns too brightly and becomes out-of-control, it can cause an excess of wax which may extinguish the flame. One can easily see how Yin and Yang depend on the other for their existence and how you cannot have one without the other. When the wax (Yin) is gone, the flame is gone as well. Yang consumes Yin, and in that process, the candle burns brightly. Yin (wax) nourishes and supports the Yang (flame) but the flame needs the wax for its existence. The wax represents the Yin while the flame represents the Yang. What most people do not know is that the concept of Yin-Yang is the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Īn easy way to understand the concept of Yin and Yang is to think of a candle. Each side contains a small circle of the opposite color, demonstrating the belief that nothing is never really all Yin or all Yang there is some Yang in Yin and vice-versa. That curved line symbolizes the constant change of balance between the Yin and Yang. Two medicines must be better than one, right?īecause that seems to be the idea the Chinese have adopted.Ĭhina’s “Real” Medical System by Alecia Nichols is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.By Susan Tretakis – Most people have heard or read the words “Yin” and “Yang” many are familiar with the Yin-Yang symbol consisting of a circle, divided by a curved line into a black (Yin) and white (Yang) side. It’s a disorganized system of patient-led medical practice that seems to just “go with the flow”. It’s almost impossible to define what Chinese medicine today really is, because there are both rural and outer-city clinics with bare-bones setups and metropolitan meccas of scientific research. Herbs more your style? No questions asked. You want chemotherapy? If you’ve got the cash, then you’ve got the treatment.

There was never a systematic approach for treating TCM patients, anyways. Patients will often use both methods, ignoring the drastic theoretical differences.

TCM encourages healthy eating according to yin and yang, exercising to help qi flow (ever seen people gathering to do tai-chi early in the morning outside city parks?), and managing one’s lifestyle and body health by the balance of the five elements (metal, water, earth, wood, and fire).īut modern healthcare is slowly marginalizing TCM theory, because of its scientific basis. Chinese herbal medicines and teas photo from MookieLuv on flickrĪnd while, in theory, the herb treatments are as effective as our pill-popping, the Chinese take holistic medicine to another level. From what I’ve heard, they taste disgusting, but are still preferable to the more “unique” ingredients, like bear bile. As accustomed as Americans are to drinking iced water, the Chinese like it hot, and there’s a cultural reason why: traditional medicine is usually administered as a package of herbs that the patient takes home, boils, and drinks. If you’re a patient in the present-day PRC looking for a tried-and-true traditional medicine, you’ll have to start by boiling a pot of water. But although acupuncture is the most recognized form of TCM in the West, it’s only one of many important practices. In fact, the focus of acupuncture is to shuffle the flow of qi along channels in the body (these channels look similar to the central nervous system, but are unrelated) in order to improve the patient’s overall health. And keeping track of qi is the crux of TCM. Yin and yang are natural opposites, according to TCM, that help balance different aspects of one’s body energy, or qi (pronounced “chee”). Yin yang symbol photo from DonkeyHotey on flickr

TCM is different from scientific medicine in that it’s based on Asian concepts, such as the yin yang symbol we’re all familiar with, which are tied to the way that Chinese view healthcare and the human body. Outpatient prescription lines photo from are two main influences on today’s system: traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, as well as the same modern healthcare we are so fortunate to have access to in the States. Or maybe an understaffed, frenzied Beijing hospital without the resources to provide healthcare for the masses flooding in.īut the way the PRC operates, not just with regards to healthcare but also in its approach to other aspects of Chinese life, is much more intricate and sophisticated than the China stereotypes suggest. Let me guess: an image of an old man sticking needles into a patient’s back, in a run-down, family-owned and operated business. What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the words “Chinese medicine”?

Yin and yang theory of health