In addition to ginger and lemon, there are many herbs and teas that help the well-being of a new mother. (Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

While researching herbal teas for postpartum mothers, I called a midwife, Tisha Graham, CPM, from The Family Life Center in Albany, New York. She made it clear that drinking herbal tea was only a small consideration in the well-being of a new mother and baby.

The whole process of childbearing, starting with conception, must be taken into account. Graham is a homebirth midwife and services mothers throughout their pregnancy, labor, and the subsequent six weeks after birth.

Homebirth midwives treat any problems that may arise during the prenatal and postnatal periods by holistically using alternative healing methods such as herbs, homeopathy, nutrition, Bach Flower Remedies, chiropractic, and yoga.

For instance, if a mother gets high blood pressure, she may be given passionflower tea or be advised to eat cucumber. A nervous or fearful mother is given Rescue Remedy or chamomile tea.

These alternatives cannot be recommended by hospitals or by medical doctors, who usually haven’t been trained in herbology, homeopathy, or other alternatives that are not included in the obstetric standard of care.

A homebirth midwife meets the whole family. She teaches everyone what to do for a harmonious, healthful outcome. “We encourage the mothers to be proactively healthy,” Graham said.

Midwives make various recommendations to accomplish this feat. One is to buy and read Susun Weed’s book “Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year,” about medicinal and nutritious plants and their application to childbearing situations, which are described in detail. Susun Weed is a famous herbalist who also lives in the Albany area.

Women’s Blend Tea

A tea blend that Susun highly recommends is called Women’s Blend. It is a combination of oat straw, red clover leaf, raspberry leaf, nettle, and spearmint.

Oat straw is very good for reducing the effects of stress and promoting sleep because it has B vitamins and zinc, both tonics for the nerves. Oat straw’s ability to decrease water retention can give relief to those swollen ankles that may occur toward the end of pregnancy.

Red clover leaf tea is rich in magnesium, calcium, and B and C vitamins. It is said to balance the hormones, purify the blood, tone the uterus, and increase the milk supply in new mothers.

Raspberry leaf tones the uterine and pelvic muscles. Raspberry leaf contains vitamins B1 and B2, calcium, magnesium, and iron. Raspberry leaf also promotes the flow of milk.

Nettle tea should be taken during pregnancy, as it can prevent heavy bleeding during childbirth, perhaps due to its vitamin K content. It also has folic acid, an important nutrient in spinal chord and brain development in the fetus. It can prevent anemia in the mother and increase lactation.

Nettles have many nutrients that strengthen the adrenal glands. Strong adrenals prevent allergies and allay anxieties and fears.

Spearmint enhances the overall taste of the tea and improves digestion.

Looking online for what these herbs can do, I found some cautions regarding pregnant or nursing mothers, especially for nettle and raspberry leaf. However, the midwives in upstate New York use them. If one has questions about this advice, one can do the research or ask one’s professional caretaker.

Because the scope of this article is limited to new mothers, only certain aspects of these herbs are emphasized. Their usefulness goes far beyond what is described here.

In science today, we analyze what a substance does by isolating it and feeding it to cells in a test tube or to animals. Plants are much more holistic. All the chemicals in a plant work synergistically and can vary within the species depending where and how it is grown.

Ancient traditions used today are helping people enjoy health again. (Jeff Nenarella/The Epoch Times)

“Violent rage and fury is harmful to yin, while sudden and excessive delight damages yang,” according to an ancient Chinese proverb.

In both modern and traditional Chinese medical practices, emphasis is placed on preventing unhealthy habits. For instance, it is generally believed that those suffering from coronary ailments should not get excited, and those with liver problems should not get angry.

In the view of traditional Chinese medicine, the heart is affected by happiness, the liver by anger, the lungs by sorrow and anxiety, the spleen by thoughts, and the kidneys by fear.

These “five symptoms” are the respective reactions of the five organs to the various emotions we experience. Ongoing strong emotional reactions will produce harmful vital energy and blood flow and will have grave consequences for the body.

Modern medical science has also found that constant changes in a person’s disposition will lead to different responses of the body’s endocrine system, which may result in severe adverse effects on the body.

Unlike our ancestors, many of today’s people are extremely competitive, jealous, tense, and depressed. We can be very ambitious, possessing little self-control and exhibiting strong desires for self-expression.

If we become full of resentment, we may find ourselves continuously finding ways to come out of life situations as a winner, harming those around us and, in the long run, harming society.

Furthermore, modern people are chronically worried about personal loss and gain, which will have a negative effect on their psyche. Such unhealthy sentiments cause disorder to the endocrine system and will, without exception, result in illnesses.

On the other hand, the ancients were very particular about etiquette and morals and maintained self-control. Their behavior was governed by what they understood to be the will of heaven. They were at ease with themselves. They had no high aspirations, did not ask for what was not possible, and did not worry about injustices. Therefore they harbored no resentment.

Also, in ancient society, competitiveness and self-promotion were non-existent. It was a less-stressful environment. The ancients did not exhibit nervous, anxious, or worried behavior, nor did they have feelings of indignation. Thus, we can safely say that the ancients were not harmed by their thoughts or behavior.

Today, however, people engage in harming each other and committing countless karma-inducing acts. In Buddhism, all human actions result in either good karma (“de” in Chinese) or bad karma (called simply karma). The benefits and misfortunes in life, such as wealth or illness, come from the de and karma one has accumulated.

In reality, the naked eye cannot see the entire universe. There are many dimensions that mankind cannot see. The main and collateral energy channels, as well as the acupuncture points discussed in traditional Chinese medicine, do not exist in the body in this dimension. Therefore, modern tools cannot find them. Yet they do exist.

De and karma are also two substances that are part of the body but exist in another dimension. When one does a good deed, one will obtain de. When one does a bad deed, one will obtain karma. A person’s de and karma follow one’s primordial spirit forever.

Modern science is unable to detect other dimensions and cannot confirm the existence of enlightened beings. Modern mankind, under the influence of modern science, will do everything for personal gain with very little consideration for the consequences. People thoughtlessly harm others and thus obtain karma. They do not know that karma is the root of all diseases, sufferings, and tribulations.

One can find the above expressed in many ancient books. Sun Simiao pointed out in his book “Valuable Prescriptions for Emergencies” that the reason that doctors are needed is that people fall sick as a result of their behavior and minds going astray.

Human beings are very stubborn and restricted within the frame of their own perception. They are powerless to address the wrongs in their minds and let go of their preconceptions. They are not willing to improve their morality, despite being sick.

The wind is the cause of all illnesses. When one is quiet, one’s flesh will be tight and will not be harmed by strong winds and disease, according to traditional Chinese medicine.

In modern medical views, “wind” means all pathogenic microorganisms and the symptoms of diseases that develop rapidly, change quickly, and are prone to spasms (earlier referred to as the tightening of the flesh).

This writer believes that wind means karma. When one is quiet and calm, one naturally will not commit bad deeds, will not be afraid of accumulating karma, and will not be affected by poisonous and evil influences. Therefore, not committing bad deeds is regarded as more important than simply observing healthy habits of living.

Continued on next page: Material comforts …

People in China traditionally used wooden, clay, and bamboo containers to store things. Today, the excessive use of plastic is destroying the earth. (Photos.com)

From the beginning of the industrial revolution, human beings have accelerated the destruction of the environment. Since drilling for and utilizing petroleum, humanity set about destroying and polluting the environment in earnest.

In the past, people stored things in vats, wooden containers, and willow and bamboo baskets. Vats are made from heating molded clay and do not pollute the environment. Wood, willow, and bamboo do not pollute the environment either since they grow naturally and will return to the earth when they are no longer needed.

But today, plastic products are very popular. Plastic boxes, bags, and wraps are chemical products and do not disintegrate easily. The residues of waste oil from machines, petroleum products, and detergents pollute the natural environment because they do not naturally disintegrate. These chemical products seriously pollute the water, earth, and air.

Animals and plants ingest pollutants. Additionally, man cuts down trees and damages plants, seriously hurting the environment. Consequently, countless animal and plant species are vanishing rapidly from the earth. The speed is quite amazing.

Those large animals and humans that are able to adapt to the polluted environment are unable to perceive the changes in themselves. But the poisons ingested into their bodies can be debilitating.

Some of these changes have been observed through scientific tests, but most of them cannot be found with today’s scientific tools. People are unable to comprehend the devastating effect of foreign chemicals in their bodies and how they will affect their bodies.

However, we can be certain that daily use of chemicals that we believe to be beneficial will have a harmful effect on the environment and the human body in the long run. We just cannot recognize all the harmful effects at this time.

Medicine: 30 Percent Poison

There is a Chinese saying that medicine is 30 percent poison. It is obvious that certain chemical combinations in medicines are known to medical science to have a negative long-term effect on the body.

It is very difficult for nature to accept, break down, and absorb artificially produced products. These things start to pile up in nature and continuously harm not only the human body, but also everything in the environment.

Many illnesses have been found to be the result of such pollution. For example, several decades ago, a strange disease was discovered in Japan. Finally, the source of the disease was found to be fish from a polluted river.

In ancient medicine, this kind of situation is classified as a poisonous invasion.

—Pure Insight

Ancient Chinese people emphasized eating a variety of grains and legumes; for example, they talked about including "the five grains" in the diet. (Photos.com)

Ancient people believed that the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth compose all matter in the universe, including that of the physical body.

Ancient people believed that the five flavors must be balanced, and one cannot get attached to any single one. The five grains provide the main nutrients. The five fruits provide assistance. The five types of livestock provide benefits. The five vegetables provide supplements.

This means that the body needs to be fed a balance of nutrients, and one should not favor one particular food.

If any of the five flavors are not balanced, it will cause a certain ailment. If one eats too much salty food, the pulse will be blocked, and one’s complexion will change.

If one eats too much bitter food, the skin will be withered, and the hair will fall out. If one eats too much spicy food, the tendons will protrude and the hands will atrophy.

If one eats too much sour food, the muscles will waste away, and the lips will become pale. If one eats too much sweet food, the bones will ache, and hair will fall out.

Nowadays, people emphasize a balanced diet, but the food they take in is already imbalanced. For example, ancient people talked about the five grains: wheat, broomcorn, millet, rice, and beans. How many people today can find all five of these grains? Actually, the five flavors mentioned by ancient people were a basic concept for ancient nutritional science. Its concepts are much broader than those of today’s nutritional science.

Modern nutritional science understands that there are more than 20 nutritional elements, many vitamins, trace elements, protein, calcium, phosphate, and so on. Actually, the composition of lives in the universe is very complicated and is not as simple as what is known by modern science.

Modern nutritional science refers to unidentified nutritional elements as unknown factors. There are many unknown nutritional factors. It is believed that a number of physical symptoms are caused by an imbalanced diet. Simply supplementing with certain nutrients, such as calcium, zinc, or the like, cannot cure them.

Ancient people believed that the human body constitutes a universe. From the macroscopic perspective, we can understand and deal with the human body based on yin, yang, and the five elements.

We can explain the physical phenomena of our body based on the movements of qi, blood, and energy channels, as well as the interaction between the five elements and the balance of yin and yang.

Ancient Chinese medical treatments did not target surface phenomena, but rather the mechanisms at a deeper level of the human body. This is truly scientific.

Modern medical science knows that the human body is a very complicated system, but it only studies the surface and the associated phenomena. Its understanding of the human body is discrete and superficial. Its treatments are also very direct and shallow.

Because it targets the surface, the effects are seen on the surface and easily accepted by people. But it cannot cure the root causes of illnesses.

In modern society, everything focuses on productivity and efficiency. In agriculture, there are many new hybrid crops and livestock. These usually have a short life cycle and grow very fast. Both crops and livestock are mass-produced.

People often say that free-range chicken is tasty and rich in nutrition. Industrially produced crops or livestock are all distorted.

Based on the principle of “mutual generation and mutual inhibition,” with accelerated growth, other properties, such as nutrition, must decline. Thus the nutritional level and overall quality of such food can never match that of naturally produced food. As the cycle of mass production continues, the differences will become even greater.

Similarly, cultured ginseng can never be compared to natural ginseng. If people continue to eat artificially engineered foods, what will be the consequences?

This is Part II of a two-part series. You can go here for Part I.

—Pure Insight

Acupuncturists need to be able to see the body through “quantum glasses” in order to understand this ancient system of treatment. (Credit: Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

Many people wonder how to find a good acupuncturist. To answer this simple question, it is important to understand what acupuncture is and how it works.

Acupuncture is a treatment modality of ancient Chinese medicine. Along with the modern version of traditional Chinese medicine, ancient Chinese medicine is a complete medical system passed down to us from an unknown prehistoric civilization. Traditionally, Chinese people believed that the art of Chinese medicine was a gift from the divine.

This medical system recognizes the anatomy and physiology of the human body as modern medicine does; yet it also maps out and explains the energetic network of human beings. Although this level of human existence is still invisible to us, we are always experiencing it throughout our lives.

The energy that traditional Chinese medicine has mapped out is called qi, a vital life force that keeps the body functioning well physically and mentally. The system of qi circulation is referred to as meridians—a network of energy pathways centered in the major internal organs. Today’s imaging technology has not yet been able to see these meridians.

A sufficient, smooth, and directional flow of qi keeps the body functioning normally. Any physical, chemical, or emotional stress will compromise the qi and block the meridians.

Consequently, this stress causes dysfunctions and symptoms affecting the areas of our body, mood, and mind associated with these meridians. The compromised qi can manifest as chemical, physical, and even structural abnormalities that modern medicine can detect and attempt to treat.

There are specific points or tiny areas on the surface of the body that are connected with specific meridians and organ systems. If we stimulate these points with the insertion and manipulation of fine needles, we will be able to open the blocked meridians, redirecting and facilitating an adequate flow of qi. Thus, we can reduce the dysfunction and symptoms the patient is feeling.

The treatment will prevent the symptoms from developing into serious illness and disease. However, the most important work is done before needles are inserted. It is the diagnosis and evaluation of what meridians are involved and how the qi is imbalanced.

The diagnosis and the qi evaluation determine the selection of the points and techniques of needling. This diagnostic process requires clinical skills, including tongue and pulse readings that are unique and powerful diagnostic tools in Chinese medicine. The doctor needs a solid and comprehensive knowledge of the energetic systems and their functions to diagnose the patient well.

Although the symptoms and dysfunction may respond to the acupuncture treatment immediately after the first session, any chronic condition will require a course of daily treatment to achieve significant improvement. (However, in the United States, patients usually can only afford and commit to two or three sessions per week.)

Thirty sessions of treatment are needed to significantly improve most chronic cases. Furthermore, the acupuncturist should be able to recognize and address the causes of the qi imbalance, provide tools for self-care, and help patients make lifestyle modifications.

Just as in choosing any professional for a service, referrals are important. The best types of referrals are ones from your friends and people you trust who have had a positive experience and outcome with the practitioner.

If you do not know anyone who can refer you to a practitioner nearby, you may want to find a few different acupuncturists in your local area and set up some time to interview them.

Some good questions to ask them would be how they diagnose their patients and what their treatment plan would entail. You may also want to ask what their experience has been in treating conditions like yours.

The bottom line is you want to see if they care about their work and their patients and if they are confident about what they know. A good acupuncturist will use acupuncture as a tool of a complete medical system, rather than use it as a simple needle for simulating your skin, muscle, or nerves based solely on the modern understanding of anatomy.

A good acupuncturist is no different from any other health care professional in terms of having a caring heart, sound knowledge, clinical skills, and the ability to communicate effectively. The acupuncturist needs to be able to develop a therapeutic alliance with patient.

In addition, a good acupuncturist must be able to appreciate the energetic system of the human being as ancient Chinese medicine describes. Because there are no external tools to be able to see this system, the practitioner has to be able to “see” it with a pair of “quantum glasses.”

Understanding the energetic nature of a human being is critical for the treatment process. The human body is an open system that constantly exchanges its energy with that of the natural environment and people around it. An acupuncturist can advise patients to be mindful of their surrounding climate changes, behaviors, and interpersonal relationships.

Since energy circulates in the meridian systems in an orderly and timely fashion, the acupuncturist should advise patients to maximally live a life congruent with the energetic flow of nature. This includes clear instruction on a good time to rise, rest, exercise, eat, and cleanse.

Ancient people were attuned to nature, and this connection gave them a sense of balance and peace. (Sun Mingguo/The Epoch Times)

Modern science strongly influences people. Today, people enjoy modern civilization while suffering from new diseases. The basis of modern science is direct observation. Founded on tangible objects that we can see, modern science applies qualitative and quantitative methods of examination.

As advanced as we are today, if we calmly look at the history of human civilization, objectively analyze archaeological discoveries, and carefully reconsider the unknown phenomena, we will conclude that the present-day scientific research is only one of many possible paths of exploration.

It is a fallacy to believe that ours is the only human civilization that ever existed. Many discoveries have demonstrated that other prehistoric civilizations existed. To more thoroughly explore and understand our surroundings and the universe in which we live, we must acknowledge that other scientific methods exist, probably completely different from our own.

If we stubbornly reject other possible methods, we are allowing our emotions to restrict us rather than having a truly scientific mindset. If we break through our postnatally acquired notions, concepts, and conditioning, we will surely find a more evolved science.

Modern science furthers the destruction and pollution of our living environment and helps poison our bodies. In return, it gives people short-term pleasure. The inventions of modern science teach people to struggle for material goods, which they pursue for indulging themselves.

Some people say that our lives are so much better than those of ancient people. It seems that we cannot fathom that people were happy in ancient times.

Actually, ancient people were happy. Ancient people were attuned to nature—the green mountains, the blue water, flying birds, and white clouds. They were carefree. They experienced a kind of liberation, existing in a realm in which one is attuned with heaven’s plan.

That was real happiness—deep, continuous, peaceful, and comfortable. Such happiness solidly nurtures one’s heart and body.

But modern people struggle painfully, stay busy, and never enjoy the happiness of reaching the other side of the mountain. Many modern people have lost human virtue, including prudence, diligence, tolerance, peacefulness, and courtesy.

The five flavors must be balanced; one cannot get attached to any single one.

In modern civilization, human beings have been weighed down with increasing numbers of modern diseases. How do we approach this issue? Only by letting go of attachments to modern science and modern civilization will we be able to understand and solve the problem.

Imbalances in Yin and Yang

Ancient Chinese culture believed that the interaction between yin and yang created the universe and all matter.

The movement of the universe, including all matter, follows the rule of mutual-generation and the balance of yin and yang. The human body is a small universe. While it has its own pattern of movement, it is also related to the entire universe.

The ancients had many sayings that were meant to instruct people about the relationship between fostering life and the changes of the seasons. Here are a few of the sayings:

• Man follows heaven and earth and harmonizes with the sun and moon.
• Follow nature, prevent evil qi from entering from the outside, nurture yang in the spring and summer, and nurture yin in the autumn and winter.
• It harms the liver if one opposes the qi of spring, harms the heart if one opposes the qi of summer, harms the lungs if one opposes the qi of autumn, and harms the kidney if one opposes the qi of winter.

Life must be orderly and in harmony with the changes of yin and yang every single moment.

The ancients also said that a person who gathers the qi of yang should spend his time outdoors during the day. As the sun rises in the morning, qi appears. Qi is at its height at noon and fades out in the afternoon.

The qi gate is closed after dark, so one should not be active and disturb the tendons and bones after sunset. If one reverses this time schedule, one’s body will suffer.

It is clear that if one’s activities are against the laws of the seasons and the yin and yang of the day, the human body will be in turmoil. The result is an imbalance of qi and blood and may result in illness. Aren’t today’s nightlife and other pleasures all out of harmony with the changes of yin and yang in the universe?

The ancients said that most illnesses are caused by being alert in the early morning, drowsy during the day, stimulated in the late afternoon, and active at night.

This means that one’s symptoms have a certain relationship with the changes of yin and yang. Many people have experienced this, which is also confirmed by modern medicine .

The ancients knew the Dao, followed yin and yang, and abided by metaphysical rules. They were restrained in their eating habits, awoke and slept regularly, and never strained themselves in their work. They lived their lives to the predestined time, frequently living more than 100 years.

Many of today’s people are different. They drink alcohol and indulge themselves in abnormal activities. When they are drunk, they exhaust their vital energy.

This is Part I of two-part series. You can go here for Part II.

—Pure Insight

Sometimes releasing old trauma can be the cure for chronic pain, and sometimes all it takes is an intensive series of acupuncture treatments. (Courtesy of Photos.com)

As a psychiatrist, I have seen patients who make their doctors feel helpless. They complain of a series of nonspecific symptoms such as pervasive pain, headaches, dizziness and vertigo, fatigue, digestive disturbances, elimination problems (urinary and bowel function), and the like.

Doctors often end up telling their patients with these chronic complaints that they can’t do anything more for them and suggest that they see a psychiatrist for hypochondria. 

These patients tell me everyone thinks their symptoms are all in their head. You can imagine how they feel about this—sad, angry, defeated, and often hopeless.

— Jing Fang, M.D.

When these kinds of patients come to see me for treatment, they will usually tell me that everyone thinks their symptoms are all in their head. You can imagine how they feel about this—sad, angry, defeated, and often hopeless.

Many of these patients have experienced some sort of trauma in their past. They may have suffered from neglect and abuse (emotional, physical, or sexual). They have gone through life feeling violated and invalidated by others. When even their doctors cannot validate their suffering, they lose hope and often have suicidal thoughts.

One of my patients came to see me with complaints of neck, shoulder, and back pain, severe fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and suicidal thoughts. She suffered from this pain for over 10 years after she experienced an injury while working. 

She said she came to me because I am an acupuncture practitioner in addition to being a psychiatrist. She had been taking pain medication for years, but it stopped working. She was hoping I could help her get out of pain. She came to me as her last hope. 

She chose not to talk about her past and only told me she had experienced some negative events during her childhood. She said she just wanted me to treat her pain, fatigue, and insomnia with acupuncture.

I did what she asked me to do. Ideally, one should come daily for acupuncture (which is the custom in China) or at least two to three times a week. But she could only come once a week. She had never had acupuncture before.

She responded very well to acupuncture. Before the treatment, she could hardly move her arm above her ears. Within a few weeks, she could lift her arm more freely. Gradually, her fatigue subsided, and her sleep improved. 

She told me that she had not felt this well for many years. This is a common response patients experience after receiving acupuncture treatments. Not only do they experience symptom relief, but also feel varying degrees of improvement in their sense of well-being. In other words, they simply feel better and happier.

As I continued treating this woman, she started being able to do more housework and had the energy and motivation to go out for dinner, a walk, a bike ride—to have fun.

One day, the patient informed me that she had to move out of state because of her husband’s work. During our last session, as she lay on the acupuncture bed, we chatted about her upcoming move, and suddenly she started to tell me about her past.

Her father was addicted to alcohol and was physically abusive to her mother and her brother. He was also abusive to her but to a much lesser extent. One of her experiences was watching, helpless and in horror, as her father dumped hot water over her brother’s head.

When they were older, her brother joined the Army and went to fight in the Vietnam War. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, became an alcoholic, and eventually died in his early 40s, perhaps of suicide.

She cried as she told me her story and told me how she appreciated my help. The acupuncture greatly alleviated her pain and other symptoms. 

Because I agreed to treat her through acupuncture instead of psychiatry, I validated her pain and didn’t make her feel as though her pain was all in her head. Acupuncture was an important tool I used to help her.

Dr. Fang is a board-certified psychiatrist and doctor of Chinese medicine. She works for The Tao Institute. Read more about her at http://taoinstitute.com/team/fang.php 

The “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon” is an ancient Chinese medical text that is still referred to today.

Cancer treatments were documented in ancient times. The principles behind traditional Chinese medicine encompass both the traditional Chinese value of moderation when treating illnesses and the practice of coexistence.

Dr. Zhou Lizhong, founder of the Hong Kong Institute of Chinese medicine, was born into a family of Chinese medicine practitioners. Since the 1970s, he has painstakingly researched cancer and other incurable diseases over the past 40 years. He applies traditional remedies in his clinical treatments.

“Contracting a disease is related to a person’s mental state, lifestyle, and many other issues,” Dr. Zhou said. “Chinese medicine links disease to both internal and external elements. The internal elements are joy, anger, worry, obsession, sorrow, fear, and terror, which in Chinese medicine are called the ‘seven internal emotional damages.’

“The external factors are the wind, cold, heat, wetness, dryness, and fire, known as the ‘six exogenous elements,’ including modern pathogens [such as] bacteria, viruses, and parasites, plus chemistry, physics, and other risk factors.”

Traditional Chinese medical physicians often say: “Joy damages the heart, anger damages the liver, sorrow damages the lungs, anxiety damages the spleen, and fear damages the kidneys.” They are referring to how emotional disorders directly damage the internal organs.

Dr. Zhou said, “A person’s mental state can affect the function of his internal organs, thereby affecting the person’s immune system.”

The “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon” says: “Qi must be exhausted before evil forces can gather.” Dr. Zhou explains: “If a person lacks righteousness, evil forces will invade. Causes for cancer are complex and involve multiple areas, but studies have shown decreased immune function leading to the mutation of genes.

“Mutation results from disease and damaged ‘righteousness essence.’ Elderly and frail people tend to become victims of cancer. Right now, young people also can suffer from that ailment. It probably relates to radiation, drug abuse, air pollution, chemical toxins from food, stress, and other factors,” he said.

Dr. Zhou believes that once some people are diagnosed with cancer, they become very nervous and fearful; they cannot eat or sleep, and thus their immune systems become worse and cause them to die. When a person’s seven emotions are unbalanced, their conditions are further aggravated.

The majority of patients die from treatments rather than diseases. According to the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon,” one should not overly accumulate or eradicate something. One should stop after the majority of it has been removed, otherwise, one would suffer.”

“In Chinese medicine, when treating a tumor, the goal is to eliminate more than half of it,” Dr. Zhou explained. “Overdoing it would result in damaging both positive and evil forces in the body, and both may perish in the end.

Continued on next page: “From ancient times to …

Walking

It is said that calmly walking 10 to 20 minutes a day can bring the blood circulation to the surface of the body and thus help our skin maintain itself after falling asleep.

Before sleep, be sure to avoid reading news and avoid thinking about big issues once we lie down because it’s necessary to reduce the activity of the brain. Doing so will enable a person to fall asleep rapidly.

Rubbing the Feet

There are Chinese sayings about the benefits of caring for the feet: “Washing your feet with hot water is much more effective than taking sleeping pills when you are ready for bed.” “If you want to protect a tree, you should protect its roots; if you want to protect a person, you should protect his or her feet.”

Many Western medical scientists regard the feet as “the second heart of the human body” or “the pump of the heart.” They all praise the role of foot care.

Chinese medical science believes there are more than 60 acupuncture points on the feet that have strong ties with the internal organs. If we use warm water (104 F–122 F) to wash our feet and rub the soles and toes of our feet, we can promote blood circulation, relax the muscles, and balance the yin and yang of the body. This can also help heal wounds and maintain fitness for older people.

Room Ventilation

It is important to keep the bedroom air fresh, even on windy or cold days. We can still open the windows for a while, especially before going to bed, as fresh air is helpful for sleeping well during the night. Do not to cover the head when sleeping.

Cleaning the Teeth and Body

It is more important for us to brush our teeth before going to bed than to do it in the morning, as this not only helps us clean away oral sediments, but it protects our teeth so we can sleep well during the night.

It is also very helpful to wash the face and clean the body before getting ready for bed. This will keep the skin clean and help us relax and sleep comfortably.

Brushing the Hair

Ancient Chinese medical scientists found that there are many acupuncture points on the head, so while brushing the hair, we can massage and stimulate them to open those acupuncture points, relieve pain, and brighten the eyes.

It is said that rubbing the scalp with our hands until it is warm and rosy two times a day, in the morning and again at night, is beneficial. Massaging the scalp may clear the blood flow to the head, improve the thought and memory capacity of the brain, promote nutrition to the hair follicles, reduce the loss of hair, eliminate brain fatigue, and make it easier to fall asleep.

Source: Kan Zhong Guo

Insomnia happens occasionally to people who are experiencing very stressful life events, consuming too many caffeinated beverages or alcohol, or suffering from pain or other physical discomfort. Once the contributing factors are dealt with, these people will no longer suffer from insomnia.

Modern Treatment

Chronic insomnia affects the quality of life, mood, memory, and cognitive functions, and it impairs work performance.

Doctors may prescribe sleeping pills like Benzodiazepine receptor agonists that affect brain neurotransmitters. In addition to the possibility of developing physical and psychological dependence, long-term use of these medications often produces side effects such as residual daytime sedation, cognitive impairment, inhibited motor skills, and rebound insomnia.

Natural Supplements

According to traditional Chinese medicine, insomnia is a symptom of an underlying imbalance. (Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland, normally starting in the mid or late evening and diminishing in the early morning. It helps regulate sleep-and-wake cycles.

People take melatonin for conquering jet leg and insomnia. People should use only man-made melatonin with the guidance of their doctors rather then purchasing it on their own.

Melatonin may help immune functions as well. However, melatonin has side effects such as daytime grogginess, lowered body temperature, and vivid dreams.

Valerian root is an herb that has been used for centuries for relieving anxiety and initiating sleep. People with insomnia should take it right before bedtime. Valerian root needs to be used for a period of two to four weeks if the insomnia is chronic.

Possible side effects of valerian root include mild headaches or indigestion, abnormal heartbeat, and even insomnia in some people. Unfortunately, valerian root smells like sweaty socks.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

According to the theories of ancient Chinese medicine, insomnia is the result of imbalanced chi, involving multiple organ and meridian systems. The organ and meridian systems commonly involved in chronic insomnia are the heart, liver, kidney, and spleen.

Patients with chronic insomnia might have different types of chi imbalance or problems with a variety of organ systems and meridians.

Susan is a 40-year-old woman who had trouble falling asleep and often woke up around 2 a.m. It was difficult for her to get back to sleep. However, she also suffered from occasional migraine headaches, pain all over her body, heartburn, and PMS. She complained about her irritable mood and had a chronically bitter taste in her mouth.

According to Chinese medicine, Susan suffered from stagnated liver chi and accumulated heat that affected her heart and liver. After roughly 30 sessions of acupuncture and customized herbal remedies during a three-month period, Susan was finally able to sleep through the night without sleeping pills.

Mary is a 50-year-old woman who started suffering from insomnia after she entered menopause. She felt anxious, irritable, and hot all the time. She would sometimes sweat profusely during the night.

Mary also suffered from lower back pain, and her heart would often beat fast with palpitations. Mary was suffering from “kidney yin deficiency” and had lost control of “heart fire.” Her acupuncture and herbal remedies focused on replenishing “kidney yin energy” and eliminating the heat in the heart meridian.

As result, her sleep improved as well as her mood, hot flashes, and night sweats.

John is 35 years old, works a stressful job that requires extra time in the evenings and weekends. He worries a lot about his work and family. He has trouble falling asleep and wakes up frequently throughout night. His muscles ache, and he has trouble losing weight. He looks pale and tired. He feels foggy-headed and has heart palpitations at times.

John was diagnosed with “spleen qi” and “heart blood deficiency.” Therefore, his acupuncture and herbal remedy treatment was designed to enhance his “spleen chi” and “heart blood.” He also has to make changes in his diet and work hours.

Everyone who suffers from chronic insomnia is somewhat different in the traditional Chinese medical perspective. The best course of action would be to be evaluated by an experienced Chinese medicine doctor and follow the treatment plan faithfully.

Insomnia is a just a signal of an imbalance in the human body. Treating insomnia does more than improving sleep; it improves health and prevents more serious illnesses from happening.

Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. His website is taoinstitute.com.

A combination of sleep hygiene and sleep timing are essential for quality sleep and good health. (The Epoch Times)

This is the third of a three-part series by Dr. Jingduan Yang. You can start the series HERE.

Sleep is the best medicine. It restores, repairs, and rejuvenates the body. Therefore, a good night’s sleep is key to one’s level of function, health, and longevity. Healthy sleep habits involve regular sleep and wake cycles providing quality sleep at night and alertness during the day.

To ensure a good night’s sleep, modern science has some excellent suggestions based on researchers of sleep medicine. These suggestions are referred to as sleep hygiene. These are key components of sleep hygiene:

• Maintain a regular bedtime and rising time. Even on the occasions when you get to bed late, try to wake up at the same time the next day in order to keep your set rhythm. 

• Plan enough time to get seven to eight hours of sleep per day. Avoid spending too many hours in bed when you are not sleeping.

• Use your bed for sleep only. Avoid watching television, calling friends, or reading books in bed. The body needs to associate bed with sleep, nothing else.

• Avoid eating big meals, using stimulants like tea, coffee, or chocolate, doing vigorous exercise, or having emotional conversations close to bedtime.

• Make the bedroom a relaxing and quiet place. Keep the room temperature consistently comfortable. It should not be too hot or too cold.

• Get enough exposure to sunlight during the day, and keep the evening light dim.

Right Time for Sleep

In classical Chinese medicine, a good night’s sleep is also considered critical to health. In addition to the suggestions modern medicine offers, classical Chinese medicine emphasizes the importance of the time of night we should sleep.

The ideal time for sleep is 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. It is the time when the body’s energy (qi) circulates to the triple-burner (“san jiao”) meridians, a unique concept from Chinese medicine. The triple burner involves the organ functions in the chest, abdomen, and pelvis.

The upper burner spreads oxygen and blood to the rest of the body. The middle burner absorbs, metabolizes, and transforms the food into nutrients for the body. The lower burner reabsorbs water and gets rid of waste from the system. Therefore, the triple-burner function determines normal body functions. It is extremely important that we take good care of the triple burner.

Energy circulates through a different organ system every two hours.
Since there are 24 hours in a day, there are 12 stages of energy cycles. During the last phase of the 12 stages, the body enters the phase of restoration. People should keep their minds quiet, emotions calm, and activities minimum. Some experts of Chinese medicine suggest that people should be asleep by 10:30 p.m.

From 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., energy circulates through the gallbladder and liver, as discussed in Part 2 (http://tinyurl.com/TCMsleep). In Chinese medicine, the gallbladder and liver organ systems regulate digestion, nurture the connective tissues (such as sinews and ligaments of joints), regulate mood and sleep, support bone health, and regulate menstruation and reproductivity.

They are in charge of vision and help strategic planning skills and execution. Having a good sleep during this time will prevent a number of health problems from happening, particularly for people who suffer from migraines, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, infertility, fibroids in the breasts and uterus, and esophageal reflux.

From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., energy circulates through the lung meridians. Therefore, having a deep sleep during this time is also very important. The lungs, in Chinese medicine, are responsible for breathing, spreading qi and oxygen to the rest of the body. They also help regulate water metabolism and are connected with the function of the large intestines.

Lung energy makes people physically strong and very sensitive to sadness and grief. For people who have frequent upper respiratory infection, allergy, loss and grief, skin issues, and frequent urination or abnormal bowel movements, it is important to have a good sleep at this time.

Sleep well. Sleep on time. Live long. Live healthy.

Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. His website is taoinstitute.com.

This is the last article of this series. You can reach the beginning of the series HERE.

"Sleep is a result of the natural rhythm of energy circulation. At 11 p.m., the yin energy (qi) is at its strongest. This is the ideal time for the body to return to rest, restoration, and replenishment." (Photos.com)

This is part two of a three-part series by Dr. Jingduan Yang. You can start the series HERE.

Classical Chinese medicine is a complete medical system that has been passed down to us. It offers additional information about sleep health.

Sleep is a result of the natural rhythm of energy circulation. At 11 p.m., the yin energy (qi) is at its strongest. This is the ideal time for the body to return to rest, restoration, and replenishment.

People should therefore not stay awake past 11 p.m. This is also the time for the body to build up yang energy (qi), which provides the energy we need for physical and mental activities during the daytime.

The body’s qi and blood pass through and nurture each organ system throughout the day and night. Different times of night have a greater impact on different organs. For example, between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., blood and qi are strongest in the liver organ and its meridians (an energetic network fulfilling liver function). Therefore, sleeping during this time is critical for liver to be able to function normally.

In Chinese medicine, the liver bears an incredible amount of responsibility— physically, mentally, and emotionally. Liver energy regulates one’s mood, digestion, menstruation, dreaming, the sleep-wake switch, vision, and the smooth flow of energy throughout the body. It is in charge of strategic planning and execution and nurtures all of the connective tissues, from ligaments to nails.

The liver is extremely sensitive to negative emotions such as anger and resentment. If the liver is not being cared for well, people will be very irritable and agitated. Now you can see how serious the consequences to your health will be if you do not sleep at the times you should.

The other important organ system that is nurtured by qi and blood is the lungs (strongest from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.). The lung system is responsible for providing oxygen to the body, defense against infection, and nourishment to the skin, and for assisting in the regulation of food and water metabolism.

Being emotionally distressed, eating the wrong kinds of food, or exposing oneself to environmental toxicity or infections disturbs the organ systems and meridians and can create sleep disorders.

For example, when the kidney energy, (our major source of cooling energy) becomes too deficient to balance the heart energy (our major source of heat energy), people cannot fall into sleep due to over-active heat energy. Thus they get insomnia.

When the liver yang energy is not balanced by the liver yin energy, people may get nightmares, sleepwalk, and experience restless leg syndrome. When the spleen and lung qi are deficient, the body accumulates fat as well as phlegm that can block the airway, causing obstructive sleep apnea.

Therefore, from the Chinese-medicine perspective, sleep disorders are a superficial manifestation of underlying imbalances of body energies. These imbalances cause health issues that are often improved by modifying our life style, including getting healthy sleep, eating properly, meditating, exercising, and reducing stress.

For those who have more troublesome symptoms, receiving courses of treatment with acupuncture and herbal medicine is very important and most helpful. The last thing you want to do is to mask the symptoms by simply taking medications.

Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. His website is taoinstitute.com.

This is Part 2 of a series. Part 3 can be found HERE.

Healthy sleep habits help ensure a healthy body. (The Epoch Times)

This is the first of a three-part series by Dr. Jingduan Yang. Links to the second and third parts are below.

People spend almost one-third of their lives sleeping. Good-quality sleep plays a very important role in having a healthy life.

What Happens During Sleep? The body relaxes, restores, and rebuilds itself during sleep. After having a good night, people wake up feeling refreshed. This is because many things take place during sleep that restore and rebuild the body. For example, during sleep, the body produces more growth hormone, which is important in burning fat and developing lean muscles

Sleep is also the time when the body goes through a complicated regulation of immune system functions. Studies show that when people are sleep-deprived or have their sleep chronically restricted, their T-cells go down, and their inflammatory cytokines go up. They become prone to getting colds or the flu.

During the deep level of sleep, muscles relax and blood vessels dilate, promoting better blood circulation, and the brain processes information. Therefore, sleep is not a passive process but an active, integral part of our lives. People who think sleep is a waste of time and try to use artificial means to cut down on sleep will suffer a significant decline in health.

How Much Sleep?

How much sleep we should get depends on our age. The older we get, the less we need. An infant needs 14 to 15 hours of sleep; a toddler needs 12 to 14 hours of sleep; school-age children need 10 to11 hours; adults need anywhere from 7 to 9 hours of sleep.

People who are chronically sleep-deprived, those who chronically have poor-quality sleep, and pregnant woman may need an increased amount of sleep. Older people may have interrupted sleep and need naps during the day.

In general, adults who sleep less than six hours and more than nine hours may have a shorter lifespan.

Early research focused on what happens if someone is sleep-deprived for 48 to 96 hours. Symptoms included sleepiness, hair loss, irritability, agitation, and psychosis.

Today, researchers have shifted their focus to sleep restriction, studying what happens to people who sleep less than six hours nightly. Some people tend to become hyperactive and restless during the day, others tired and sleepy.

Doctors wondered if they should give these patients mental stimulants to keep them calm and alert. Another question is, what have these patients actually lost in terms of their health?

Best Time to Sleep

Current sleep-hygiene guidelines advise people to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time, yet very few researchers address what time people should go to bed.

Dr. Chritian Gulleminault, of Stanford University, conducted a preliminary study of eight men who spent one week in the sleep laboratory. His research tracked their behavior and level of function while simulating driving and taking memory tests and tests for staying awake. They were allowed to sleep for eight and a half hours for two nights and only four hours for the other seven nights.

One group slept from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. for seven nights, the other group from 2:15 a.m. to 6:15 a.m. As you can expect, sleep restriction affected all participants. Results of the wakefulness tests taken the day after eight and a half hours of sleep differed greatly from results on the last day of sleep deprivation.

But the results also differed between the two groups. The early morning sleep group’s score on the wakefulness test was significantly better than the late-night sleep group. The early morning group also had better rates of sleep efficiency (the percentage of time spent sleeping in the four-hour window) and sleep latency (the amount of time spent falling asleep).

These results are not enough to tell when the best time to sleep is, but they do indicate that sleep at different times produces different results.

Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. His website is taoinstitute.com.

This is Part 1 of a series. Part 2 can be found HERE.

Portrait of Li Shizhen (A.D. 1518–1593) collecting medicinal herbs. He was also known as Li Dong Bi and was the author of “Compendium of Materia Medica.” (Courtesy of Zhang Cuiying)

“Nowadays, medicine is integrative—not quite Western and not quite Eastern,” says traditional Chinese medical doctor Mr. Yu Hong Chao, who believes that the Chinese regime is forcing the development of Western medicine upon the Chinese medical system.

“Half of the teachings are Chinese medicine, and the other half are Western medicine,” he says, adding that this will eventually eradicate traditional Chinese medicine.

“We will have quasi-Chinese medicine,” Mr. Yu says. “It [the current practice] is only about teaching others how to prepare the herbs or how to study the books, but without real clinical experience. Those who really understand diseases and are capable of treating them are few and far between.”

The ordinance that is quickly changing the face of traditional Chinese medicine became effective in 1999. Like Mr. Yu, many practitioners possess great knowledge and skills but fail to meet the requirements of the regulations. This is why the disciples of great masters are often registered medical practitioners, but their master is only listed as a medical practitioner.

According to the Chinese medical regulatory system, “a listed Chinese medical practitioner” cannot provide a document for sick leave or write a prescription. His status is like an LPN in the nursing industry. Mr. Yu is very concerned that traditional Chinese medicine will soon disappear for good. Unfortunately, many Chinese are not even aware of what has been happening to their own culture.

Mr. Yu describes what he regards as real medicine: “One has genuine skills in Chinese medicine. There is a sincere intent to treat patients, and there is the sincerity to recommend patients to other medical practitioners when one’s ability is limited.”

“If a practitioner can cure 6 out of 10 patients, he is a first-class medical practitioner,” Mr. Yu said. “If he cures none or only one, he does not know how to cure diseases. If a doctor cannot cure illnesses, what good is he?’’

According to statistics, in 2010, Hong Kong ranked second in the world for average life expectancy. Mr. Yu thinks that is because Hong Kong had true Chinese medicine practitioners.

“For example, I sent 10 patients to a practitioner, and he cured them all. That is a first-class Chinese medical practitioner,” he said. “A condition like ankylosing spondylitis is not treatable with Western medicine, but true Chinese medicine can help to improve the condition by more than 80 percent.”

“There are many good Chinese medical practitioners, but unfortunately, they have no certificates and thus cannot practice.” It is sad for Mr. Yu to see many patients looking everywhere to find a real Chinese medicine practitioner but failing and having to suffer adverse consequences.

Genuine medical practitioners have the goal of saving people instead of making money. On the wall of Mr. Yu’s clinic, his master’s teachings are clearly written: “Discount or free for the poor.”

Mr. Yu said that he must follow his master’s teachings, but he also lamented the moral decline of people nowadays such that some people do not even make a phone call to express their gratitude when their illness is cured.

Serving the Community

According to statistics, in 2010, Hong Kong ranked second in the world for average life expectancy. Mr. Yu thinks that is because Hong Kong had true Chinese medicine practitioners.

“Many other countries have better environments, food, and air, but they cannot compare with Hong Kong. When Chinese medicine practitioners disappear, the life expectancy of Hong Kong will also decrease,” he said.

In order to continue his ancestors’ legacy of ancient Chinese medicine, Mr. Yu founded “Preserving Ancient Chinese Medicine Association,” a nonprofit, charitable organization. He hopes to preserve and pass on the torch of 5,000 years of traditional Chinese medicine.

When the association was first set up, Mr. Yu had black hair. Now, only a few years later, his hair has turned gray. It is hard work for an elderly physician to go to meetings and protest in the streets. But an elderly Chinese medical practitioner cannot stay at home and enjoy life, for he needs to spread the news and serve the community.

For the last 10 years, Mr. Yu has stood up to clarify distorted reports on Chinese medicine. He hopes that the residents of Hong Kong will appreciate the true value of Chinese medicine. “Some diseases cannot be cured by Western medicine, and life is definitely better with more options,” he said.

Source: Kan Zhong Guo

Read part one HERE.

The secrets behind the art of mixing Chinese herbal remedies have been passed to chosen disciples for thousands of years and have not been made public. (Amal Chen/The Epoch Times)

In Chinese medicine, the tradition of passing knowledge down from master to disciple has lasted for thousands of years.

In 1999, two years after Hong Kong’s sovereignty was transferred, the Chinese Communist Party promulgated the “Regulations of Chinese Medicine,” which made it very difficult to continue this style of teaching Chinese medicine. Once the ordinance has widespread effect, the “from master to disciple” tradition will be gone.

The Chinese medicine legislation will destroy Chinese medicine, according to Mr. Yu Hong Chao, president of the Association of Preserving Chinese Ancient Medicine and heir to the ancient treatments of bone injuries. “This is the main reason why the real Chinese medicine is gradually disappearing,” he said.

For thousands of years, Chinese medicine has been passed down to disciples from masters like Li Shi Zhen and Hua Tuo, renowned physicians in history. A master would pass on the knowledge he gained from his experiences accumulated for decades. He would also pass on secret formulas to his disciples or his own children.

What is in the books are only formulas with no effect or slight effect, but my master’s hand-written formulas are very effective.

— Yu Hong Chao

“What is in the books are only formulas with no effect or slight effect, but my master’s hand-written formulas are very effective,” Yu said.

These formulas could not be understood without a master’s verbal instructions. “These prescriptions are written separately. In order to be effective, one has to add one formula to the other. And the master only imparts the information to qualified disciples,” he said.

There is a predestined relationship between a teacher and a student. “Before my master accepted me as his disciple, he observed my behavior for many years. In the end, he decided that he wanted to teach me,” Yu explained.

Before the master died, he told Yu, “You must accept a few good disciples and do not let this knowledge be lost. … ”

“However, I cannot fulfill my responsibility as his disciple,” Yu said, expressing sadness and frustration.

After “The Chinese Medicine Ordinance” became effective in 1999, in order to be a registered Chinese medicine practitioner and practice legally, Chinese medicine practitioners must first pass qualifying examinations. In addition, one also has to complete all the undergraduate courses or equivalent trainings approved by the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong.

In a eulogy to his master, Yu wrote: “Master, before you died, you could take anyone as your disciple. But now, this is impossible. This person has to be a graduate of the Chinese medicine college with a certificate. Otherwise, it is useless. I can teach him, but he cannot practice medicine because it is illegal.”

Yu has tried to take on apprentices and recruit academic or registered Chinese medicine practitioners, but in vain. “They considered themselves as students of professors and thought that they are the orthodox medicine practitioners. Why should they take me as a master?” he said. Watching the art of ancient treatments of bone injuries about to disappear, Yu expressed a sense of helplessness.

Source: en.kanzhongguo.com

Next week, Part 2, Preserving genuine Chinese medicine in Hong Kong

An ancient Chinese engraving of women of the court performing music. (Public Domain Image)

The history of performing arts is as old as the history of human beings. It is simply because performing arts activities—singing, dancing, painting, playing musical instruments, and composing—are an integral part of human life.

People will tell you how much happier they are when they can participate in performing arts, and many will tell you how much healthier they have become since they could sing, dance, paint, or play music instruments.

Chinese medicine has a theory that may explain how the performing arts can be healing and nurturing to human life.

Five Organ Systems

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) looks at the human body beyond the structural level. It is capable of visualizing and mapping the human body on an energetic level. TCM practitioners can see a connection between the body’s organs and how we think, feel, and react to things beyond what modern medicine has recognized.

Chinese medicine sees the organ system as an energetic network centered on the five major organs: the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

Each organ is physically and mentally connected. For example, we know from modern medicine that the liver metabolizes and detoxifies food and medications. However, according to Chinese medicine, it is also in charge of our vision and mood. The liver is responsible for planning, decision-making, and judgment.

We know that the kidneys produce urine and cleanse body fluids, but according to Chinese medicine, they are also in charge of brain function, hearing, bone health, fertility, sexual function, bowel and bladder control, will power, and motivation.

The spleen is a major organ in charge of digestive and metabolic processes. Thanks to TCM, we also know that the spleen is in charge of our ability to analyze, reason, and process information.

Visualized at the energetic level, the human body is an open system that has constant interaction with energy from the environment. Therefore, everything we look at, hear, and feel will have an effect on an organ’s health, as well as how we think and function in life.

Sound Affects Health

Chinese medicine has identified five major sounds. Each one has a different impact on the organs and their functions. These five sounds are called “gong,” “jiao,” “shang,” “zheng,” and “yu.”

When the five sounds are composed in a smooth, balanced fashion, they positively affect the five organ systems. As a result, this smooth, balanced sound composition helps to balance the energy of the body and mind.

It makes sense that the healing power of music has long been recognized throughout history. People can feel its effects.

When Yo-Yo Ma was asked about the healing power of the music, he responded simply, “Isn’t it all that music is about?”

Today, many hospitals and health and wellness centers are using music as therapy. Elderly patients with depression gain self-esteem and improved mood after undergoing music therapy, as Stanford University scientists found.

Research shows that listening to good music lowers blood pressure, stabilizes heart rate, relieves depression, reduces pre-treatment anxiety, enhances concentration and creativity, lessens the need for sedatives and painkillers (during and after surgery), reduces nausea after chemotherapy, and also improves stability of people with Parkinson’s disease.

No wonder that in Chinese the character for music is the center part of the character for medicine. In fact, legend has it that this Chinese character for medicine was based on a historic event involving music. The Yellow Emperor, or Huangdi, defeated a war deity named Chi You by using the powerful beating of his soldiers’ war drums.

At that time, drums were often played to inspire bravery and gain the advantage in a fight. In this battle, the soldiers’ drumming knocked their enemies unconscious.

The merciful Yellow Emperor created a string instrument designed to heal their defeated souls, thus bringing them back to life. Music, therefore, was used for healing. Later, herbs were used as well, thus the characters for music and herbs were combined.

The Importance of Color

Color, transmitted as light, is energy. It speaks to our body, mind, and soul. Color therapy, also called chromo therapy, has been used for healing since ancient times. Clinical evidence suggests that color therapy can alter emotions and even blood pressure.

There are five primary colors recognized in Chinese medicine: green, red, yellow, white, and black. Each color corresponds to a specific organ system:

• Green for the liver
• Red for the heart
• Yellow for the spleen
• White for the lungs
• Black for the kidneys

Emotions

All of this relates to emotions. If sound and color affect the energy of the human organ systems, they will also affect human emotions. Each organ system pertains to a particular emotion:

• The liver to anger
• The heart to joy
• The spleen to worry
• The lungs to sadness
• The kidneys to fear

Normal human emotions are healthy. However, when emotion becomes excessive and out of one’s control, it will have a negative impact on our mind, body, and soul by disturbing the energy of our organ systems.

On the other hand, when the energies of our organ systems are disturbed by other reasons, we tend to have mood problems as well. Therefore, anything that helps people remain on an even keel emotionally will have healing power.

In order to promote good health and natural healing, take time to go to performances with soothing and beautiful music and colors.

Acupuncture chart from the Ming Dynasty: The Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin.

Qi is no longer a strange word to many in the West, thanks to people like Dr. David Eisenberg. His book, titled “Encounters With Qi,” describes his experience as the first American physician allowed to visit China after President Nixon’s efforts to open communication between the United States and China.

Bill Moyer’s TV series exploring healing arts in the East has also contributed to Western awareness of the concept of qi.

Still, many people have asked me, “What does qi really mean?” Well, in the Chinese language, qi has multiple meanings.

Definition of Qi

First, it means the energy that circulates around us. For different seasons, different qi is dominant. For example, there is wind for the spring, heat for the summer, dampness for the late summer, and dryness for the fall. In the winter, we feel there is a cold qi in the air.

Second, it refers to the energies that manifest inside our bodies. We can feel them. Blood and fluids circulate in the body as if there is wind moving them around. Some people feel coldness in their extremities, sometimes to the point that they have to wear socks to sleep.

Some people feel heat as if they are having a fever, menopausal hot flashes, or the heat that follows chemotherapy for breast or prostate cancer. When people have too much dampness in the system, it manifests as swollen joints, a thick greasy coating on the tongue, diarrhea, or a sense of heaviness in the body.

Third, qi means emotions. When someone is very angry, we say this person has a “sky-rocketing anger qi,” and when a person is very happy, we say he is bathed in the joyful qi. Indeed, the emotions are forms of energy, and therefore forms of qi.

Fourth, it means the air. When people breathe, we say they breathe in qi and breathe out qi.

Fifth, it means the energy that maintains the functions of every organ. Therefore, the heart has the heart qi, the liver has the liver qi, the blood has the blood qi, and the digestive system has its qi. When it moves in the right direction, sufficiently, and with balanced properties, we have a healthy body and a peaceful mind.

Trouble With Qi

The forefathers of Chinese medicine had the ability to visualize and map the energetic level of human existence.

When qi is in trouble, the body gets sick and becomes dysfunctional. For example, when qi moves in the wrong direction or becomes rebellious, people may feel nauseous and short of breath, or they may vomit, wheeze, and cough.

When qi is collapsing, people may have trouble controlling their bowels and bladder, or have prolapsed organs. When the properties of qi are out of balance, people experience all kinds of symptoms, including chills, fever, tremor, swollen joints, night sweats, high blood pressure, depression, mania, or agitation and anxiety.

Qi circulates in every level of our bodies, from the surface to the inside; it reaches everywhere and leaves nothing untouched. It moves inside channels that we call meridians. The structure of meridians is still too microscopic to be visible using modern technology.

But the forefathers of Chinese medicine had the technology or the natural ability to visualize and map this energetic level of human existence. They discovered that if we experience emotional distress, our internal energy is affected, causing blockages and misdirected qi.

If the condition is not corrected, it may cause further damage by developing into severe pain, a tumor, blocked arteries, cancer, or degenerative changes, and the like. As you can imagine, the human body has many places where energy can get blocked.

When qi is deficient, it may cause weakness, slow metabolism, aging, and organ failure. And when it finally disappears, we die.

Therefore, to promote good health, prevent illness, and slow down the aging process, we must take good care of our qi.

There are two kinds of qi. One is inherited from our parents at the time of conception. It is called prenatal qi and is mostly stored in the kidney meridians. Prenatal qi is used in reproduction and then passed to offspring. The second is postnatal qi, which is mostly obtained from food and air, thanks to the functioning of the lung and spleen meridians.

To maintain prenatal energy, protect, preserve, and replenish it as much as you can. To maintain postnatal energy, one should eat a healthy and balanced diet, avoid excessive eating or drinking, sleep well, and adopt a moderate level of physical exercise. Consider meditation and appropriate qigong practice. Managing one’s emotional stability is the key to keeping the energy channels open and energy flowing smoothly.

So ask yourself, “Did I take good care of my qi today?”

Dr. Yang is a leading physician, board-certified psychiatrist, and international expert on classic forms of Chinese medicine. He is a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), specializing in acupuncture.

Bama centenarians. (KanZhongGuo.com)

Bama, recognized worldwide as the land of longevity, is located in the Bama Yao Autonomous County in Guangxi, China. As of January 2010, there were 90 centenarians living in Bama, making 36 centenarians for every 100,000 people—five times the international average.

In the past decade, Chinese and foreign researchers have studied the Bama residents to try to find out what is responsible for their longevity. Aspects such as genetics, geography, climate, environment, and food were studied. Researchers found the sun, air, water, magnetic field, and food to be the main contributors to their longevity.

Sun. The Bama sunlight index is special. The intensity of its infrared and ultraviolet lights is just right. The reason the elderly in Bama suffer no cardiovascular diseases has much to do with the sunlight index in that area.

Studies found that Bama has different sunlight indexes in different seasons. In order to get the best effect, one must engage in outdoor activities on a specific date, at a specific time, or during specific weather conditions. 
 


Air. Bama’s air has a high concentration of negative oxygen ions. According to measurements, along the Bama Panyang River, there are up to 20,000 negative oxygen ions per cubic centimeter. In villages around the Panyang River there are up to 5,000 ions per cubic centimeter, many times higher than that of other industrial cities and rural areas.

Negative ions can effectively eliminate free radicals within a human body and maintain body fluids in a weak alkaline condition. As a result, the body is protected against chronic diseases, especially cancer.

Water. Bama’s water is unique. The water is naturally filtered through rivers and caves and forms in hexagonal crystals under a specific magnetic field. Hexagonal water is composed of six individual water molecules held together by common hydrogen bonds. This unique water enters the cells easily, enabling healthy metabolic activities. 
 


Magnetic Field. Medical experts believe that the area’s geomagnetism is an important contributing factor in Bama’s longevity. The proper magnetic field can promote blood circulation, reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, increase immunity, coordinate brain waves, and improve the quality of sleep. 
 


Food. The food grown in Bama provides not only the right nutrients but also beneficial lactobacillus bacteria. This is why experts from all over Asia like to obtain bacteria from Bama.

The diet there is low in protein, fat, and cholesterol. People eat two meals a day. Some even eat only one meal a day. Most long-lived folks in Bama eat 1,400 to 1,500 calories per day.

In the Bama area, locally grown hemp seeds, tea, pumpkin, bamboo shoots, yellow corn, beans, potatoes, and whole grains provide organic and pollution-free green food for its residents.

Source: En.KanZhongGuo.com/health_science/bama_--the_land_of_longevity.html

Falun Gong practitioners meditating. (The Epoch Times)

Office staff members are always tense. They end up with backaches, anxiety, and sallow complexions. Although they may have gym memberships, they hardly use them. When they do, they frequently exercise excessively.

Meditation is also an exercise. During meditation, one’s brain becomes quiet; one’s mood becomes calm; one’s meridians are open and energy flows freely; and one’s body relaxes. As a result, one can sleep better and stay healthy.

Meditation Improves Memory. Many people think only disciples of Buddha or Tao meditate, which is not the case. Wang Yangming, a famous philosopher from the Ming Dynasty, said that he regained his health by meditating.

Associate professor Wang Yong from the Third Xinan Hospital’s Military Medical College said, “When we sit crossed-legged, we open our hip joints to the maximum and the abdominal cavity will become spacious. When the blood and energy circulate into the abdominal cavity, all the inner organs in the cavity will be nourished. 



Refuel Yourself for Half an Hour Every Day. Human vitality is like a tank of gas—it can be used up. Meditation can refill the tank. It is a source of energy.

Wang Yong also said that meditation is very suitable for busy office staff.

It is also easy: Put the right foot under the left leg, the left foot on the right leg, the hands on the calves with palms facing up. Breathe through the nose with the neck naturally straight. Then you will feel an ache in the legs and back because you are exercising parts you don’t usually use.

A key step in meditation is to pay attention to your breath. Breathing should be gentle and slow, not rapid. You can meditate on an imagined picture or a sound or just on your breath, which will help you collect yourself.

There is no restriction on location. It can be done at home, in the office, even on a train or on a plane. It is good to start with 15 to 30 minutes, gradually increasing to one hour. It is all right to look at the time once or twice during meditation. With more and more meditation, a biological clock of 30 minutes will naturally be set.

If you can’t calm down, you can try listening to gentle music.

Source: En.KanZhongGuo.com/health_science/nourish_your_heart_and_mind_with_a_half-hour_meditation.html

Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo, two great Chinese doctors during the Han Dynasty. (KanZongGuo.com)

The extraordinary abilities of a Russian girl named Natalya Nikolayevna Demkina have been reported. She can see through human bodies and look into the organs. She also gives treatments. After her diagnoses, it was found that people really suffered from the diseases she saw.

A reporter who works for the daily newspaper The Sun obtained the consent of the girl’s parents to research her in England. This made quite a splash in the medical field in the U.K.

This kind of ability is also known as “divine vision.” Someone with this ability can see through walls and inside human bodies. Nowadays, there are very few people with divine vision, but many ancient doctors had this supernatural power. Divine vision has also been recorded in ancient books.

There is an article in “Shih Chi” (“The Records of the Grand Historian”) written by Sima Qian about a doctor called Bian Que, also known as Qin Yueren. He met Zhang Sangjun, a man who had supernatural powers.

This man gave Bian Que a secret recipe and urged him to take the medicine with water “that has not touched the ground,” such as dew. Thirty days after following Zhang Sangjun’s advice, Bian Que saw through walls and inside human bodies.

One day, he passed through the state of Guo and saw a funeral. An official told him that the royal prince had suddenly died, and they were going to put him into a coffin.

While standing at the door to the palace, Bian Que claimed that the prince was not really dead and would come to himself soon. The official did not believe him.

Bian Que insisted: “Just try it. Ask a doctor to make a diagnosis. When the prince hears voices, he will twitch his nose and mouth. You may find that his groin is still warm.” Bian Que’s ability was truly amazing then and is still a mystery today.

Hua Tuo is known to be the founder of traditional Chinese surgery. He invented anesthesia. The information on anesthesia was first seen in “Hou Han Shu”: “If acupuncture and medications cannot heal the disease, we may ask the patient to take the anesthetic with wine. When he becomes numb and loses consciousness, we can then cut his belly open and remove the tumor.

“If the illness is in the intestines and stomach, we cut and rinse it, remove the ill part, and then sew it up. After putting ointment on the wound, he will recover in four to five days and may totally regain his health in one month.”

Hua Tuo operated on people’s bellies, but without X-rays, how could he have known where to cut? It was therefore postulated that Hua Tuo also had divine vision. Otherwise, he could not have been a surgeon.
Zhang Zhongjing, regarded as a sage of Chinese medicine, also had this ability. It was written that Zhang Zhongjing met an official named Wang Zhongxuan. Zhang Zhongjing, who was then 20 years old, knew a lot about medical science.

He said to Wang Zhongxuan: “You are suffering from a disease. When you’re 40, you’ll lose your eyebrows. When all your eyebrows have fallen off, you’ll die in half a year. You need to take ‘five-stone powder’ to prevent this.”

Wang Zhongxuan thought Zhang Zhongjing’s words were offensive. He accepted the medication but did not take it.

Three days later, Zhang Zhongjing met Wang Zhongxuan and asked, “Have you taken the medication?”

“Yes, I have,” answered Wang Zhongxuan.

Zhang Zhongjing replied: “It looks like you didn’t take it. Why don’t you care about your life?”

Wang Zhongxuan did not say a word. Twenty years later, his eyebrows fell off. He then died after 187 days, just as predicted. 


The examples above have been recorded in history. Those doctors cultivated their moral character. Thus, they had supernatural power. It is understood that they gave supernatural medical treatments. It was necessary for doctors in ancient times to take up cultivation [spiritual practice]. They used their supernatural power to cure people and to predict good or bad luck. 


Later, fewer traditional Chinese medical doctors practiced cultivation. Doctors in ancient times were unconcerned with fame and profit. They were able to quiet their minds. Being quiet results in deep concentration, and being in deep concentration results in wisdom. They therefore had high-level skills.

In modern society, people may live a good life materially. However, as time passes, their desires and attachments increase. There’s bustle everywhere. How can people cultivate themselves under such circumstances?

Current “traditional” Chinese medical doctors use stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, X-rays, microscopes, ultrasound, and other modern medical tools. Their diagnostic speed is considered fast. Yet ancient, traditional Chinese doctors knew a person’s health from just seeing it.

“Traditional” Chinese medicine today has become similar to Western medicine, such as using frequent laboratory tests and modern medical technologies. Only the heritage of experiences and the art of prescribing are left from ancient, traditional Chinese medicine.

The essence of traditional Chinese medicine has been lost.

Source: En.KanZhongGuo.com/health_science/doctors_in_old_times_have_supernatural_power.html

Throughout history, over thousands of years, no matter what disease, Chinese medicine has not changed its principles of yin and yang in treating illnesses. (KanZongGuo.com)

Chinese medicine has been around much longer than what is documented. It is said that the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing) has been around more than 2,000 years, and some even say more than 3,000 years.

There are many more books, such as Typhoid Fever and Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing. However, no matter how many books there are, their contents have not deviated from the principles of yin and yang. 



Throughout history, over thousands of years, no matter what disease, Chinese medicine has not changed its principles of yin and yang in treating illnesses. Due to the rapid development of modern empirical science, people try to understand the principles of yin, yang, and the five elements as philosophical concepts, but fail to apply them.

Today, the study of Chinese medicine includes only the superficial. For example, what ingredient in a particular formula is effective instead of what the interactions among yin, yang, and the five elements are. Thus, today’s Chinese medicine is not nearly as good as it was in ancient times.

What is the foundation of Chinese medicine? It is the Tao. People in modern times know very little about the Tao, but there are many explanations.

In ancient times, human nature was good. If one just mentioned the word Tao, people knew immediately its inner meanings. People’s daily activities and behavior would follow the principles of the Tao: They did good deeds and accumulated virtue. 



Chinese medicine theory originated from the Tao. Therefore, its yin, yang, and the five elements are the foundation of Chinese medicine. If Chinese medicine were to deviate from the principles of the Tao, it would be lost. Similarly, if we use modern science to guide Chinese medicine, the results will not be as good as Western medicine. 



Since yin, yang, and the five elements are the manifestation of the Tao’s principles on a certain level, within this level, no matter how things may change, they all originate from yin, yang, and the five elements. As a result, yin, yang, and the five elements can resolve anything on this level.

According to traditional Chinese culture, principles like these are not under the control of human beings but were passed down by divine beings. This is why Chinese medicine has been sustained for thousands of years and is everlasting.

Source: en.kanzhongguo.com

German sisters practice Falun Gong (an advanced form of qigong also known as Falun Dafa). The exercises are relaxing and enhance self-healing. (Clearwisdom.net)

Nancy (a pseudonym) is a 30-year-old woman who has had pain in her lower abdomen for three months. It gets worse every time after she eats something oily or drinks anything cold.

She then has diarrhea for a couple days. Her pain is localized in her left side, and she feels better if she puts pressure or heat on the area. She is easily fatigued and is sensitive to cold. She has bad cramps and heavy menstrual flow. She has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

Nancy had such an episode not long ago and was frustrated that no medical investigation could reveal any detectable cause for her symptoms. She began to worry if something more serious was going on but had no way to find out.

Her doctor recommended some medication that might relieve the symptoms, but she wondered if something could be done differently this time because her symptoms always returned when she discontinued her medications.

The human body is a perfectly designed, self-modulating, sustainable system. Feedback is a mechanism that can be found in almost every system of the body. For example, when someone is taking in too much sugar from food, the body will produce insulin to transport sugar from the blood to the cells in order to keep blood sugar at a normal level.

The body is able to self-balance, self-repair, and self-heal when it functions normally. When its functions are challenged, unwanted physical and mental symptoms may occur. So any symptom we experience is a message from our body that something is wrong and that we should pay attention to it.

At this point, the worst thing that anyone can do is to give medications to relieve the symptoms without addressing the underlying issues. It is equivalent to silencing the whistleblower and masking a bad situation.

Most well-trained doctors would not do that, but unfortunately many still do. The doctor who tried to investigate the cause of Nancy’s symptoms still ended up prescribing medications that just relieved the symptoms. He did so because he did not find any signs of inflammation, infection, cancer, or other detectable cause of Nancy’s symptoms.

If he had found inflammation, he would have prescribed antibiotics. If he had found a cancer, he would have suggested surgery or chemotherapy. The problem is that he did not address the causes of the possible infection or cancer but focused only on how to deal with the symptoms. He did not get the message!

What are Nancy’s symptoms trying to tell us? As my discussion with her continued, the answer surfaced.

First, she has ignored how much stress she has been under in the last five years. She left China to go to graduate school in the Midwest and has moved three times to different cities. She entered a law school on the East Coast and after three months of intensive study following graduation, she took the bar exam.

This prevented her from having adequate sleep, regular meals, and exercise. She was constantly worried about the outcome of the exam. Two weeks ago, she started her first job at a law firm, which is a blessing and a stressor at the same time. On top of all that, she is grieving the loss of a long-time friend.

Secondly, Nancy’s diet has affected her negatively. She enjoys a couple of cold drinks with her meals or at parties and frequently eats hot, spicy Sichuan or Korean food. She loves red meat and is allergic to seafood. Her dining hours are still very irregular.

Modern medical science has recognized that stress can cause imbalance in neurotransmitters, pro-inflammation cytokines, and hormones. The diet that Nancy is eating is also known to increase inflammation.

From the Chinese medicine perspective, cold food and drinks congeal energy channels and blood vessels, thus causing pain and dysfunction. Grief and sadness weaken the normal energy of the lungs and large intestines. Anger and resentment cause energy and blood blockage in the channels of the liver and gallbladder, which causes insomnia, indigestion, mood swings, dysmenorrhea, and pain.

We got the message. Nancy agreed to receive a course of acupuncture treatments to unblock the energy channels in her large intestines, lungs, liver, and gallbladder and to have moxibustion, which involves burning an herbal stick on selected acupuncture points to warm up the cold energy that produces blockages.

I recommended a couple of Chinese herbal remedies to increase energy in the affected meridians and reduce the cold and damp energies in her stomach and intestines. I advised Nancy to talk to a therapist who specializes in relationships to improve her coping skills.

She agreed to participate in meditation and qigong practices to improve her body’s self-healing capacities and relax herself mentally and physically. I suggested that for the present, she eat only steamed vegetables and rice porridge with a couple of herbal ingredients.

She also agreed to refrain from any cold drinks, alcohol, and red meat. She is trying to rearrange her schedule so she can have meals in a more regular fashion.

Treat symptoms as your friends, not your enemies. Do not silence them or kill them. They are trying to give you important messages. We should respect them and listen to them. We then can make changes in our lifestyles, treat the root causes of problems, and live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

Dr. Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and is a fourth-generation doctor of Chinese medicine. He has a private medical practice in New York City. His website is TaoInstitute.com

Chinese philosophy identifies 5 different ways that Qi manifests itself in the universe as the five elements. (KanZhongGuo.com)

In Chinese medicine, a human body is divided into five systems: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Human organs and tissues correspond to the five elements. The body’s five systems not only automatically self-regulate according to the laws of yin and yang but also coordinate with the five elements from the outside world in order to achieve health.

In the outside world, people react to a few things, such as climate, color, and sound. [All of which correspond to the five elements.] The climates are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The colors are red, yellow, white, black, and green. The sounds are do, re, mi, fa, so, and la. Even moral and ethical elements correspond to the five elements. For example, benevolence is wood; righteousness is gold; propriety is water; wisdom is fire; and trust is earth. 



There are five windows connecting the outside world to the major systems in the body. Traditional Chinese medicine calls these “apertures” or “mouths.” For the spleen, it is the mouth. For the lung, it is the nose. For the liver, it is the eyes. For the heart, it is the tongue. For the kidneys, it is the ears. Human beings learn about the outside world through these orifices. The relationship between the five systems and the five elements are as follows:

Five elements: Earth, metal, wood, fire, and water.
Five orifices: Mouth, nose, eyes, tongue, and ears.
Five colors: Yellow, white, green red, and black.
Five notes: Do, re, mil, so, and la.
Five inner organs: Spleen, lungs, liver, heart, and kidneys. 

Five hollow organs: Stomach, large intestine, gall bladder, small intestine, and bladder. 

Five principles: Trust, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and courtesy. 


The five colors, the five notes, and the five principles all convey the same thing: Only when the notes are pure can they inspire people to connect to the Tao and awaken their conscience.

How do the five elements affect each other? For example, metal is the daughter of earth, which has fire as its parent. Earth’s subjects are water and its official is wood. If all these were employed in a metaphorical relationship in human beings, it would look like this: A virtuous man is loving and kind to his children, honors his parents, cares about his subjects, and is a sincere, righteous official.

Every element is closely related to the other four elements. For example, when the ears, the orifice of the kidneys, hear wonderful music, the other four organs also benefit. When the eyes see something elegant, the other four organs share the beauty. When the inner meanings from the sounds and colors pass through the inner organs, they awaken our moral elements. In other words, it helps a person to follow universal principles and behave like a righteous human being.

Source: En.KanZhongGuo.com/health_science/five_elements_and_human_body.html

ACUPUNCTURE: This form of Chinese medicine is used to restore normal meridian energy flow. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that some people suffer after seeing or living through dangerous events that generate fear. This fear triggers fight-or-flight responses to defend against the danger or to avoid it.

In PTSD, this reaction is generalized and sustained. As a result, people who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.

People with PTSD may have the following symptoms:
• Flashbacks: reliving the trauma repeatedly, including physical symptoms such as a racing heart, sweating, nightmares, and frightening thoughts. Anything that reminds a person of the event, such as thoughts, words, objects, or similar situations can trigger these flashbacks.
• Avoidance: avoiding places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience; feeling emotionally numb; a strong sense of guilt; depression; worry; losing interests in previously enjoyed activities; and having trouble recalling the dangerous event or trauma.
• Hyperarousal: being easily startled, feeling tense or anxious, having difficulty sleeping, or having angry outbursts.

Many people with PTSD also have more physical health problems of the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems.

Traditional Chinese medicine has the capacity of viewing the human body at its energy level. This form of medicine developed the meridian system, also called Jing-Lo.

There are 14 regular meridians and 8 extraordinary meridians that are responsible for optimal mental and physical functioning. Each meridian system centers in specific organs, has a specific distribution, and is in charge of specific physical and mental functions. As an energy system, meridians are very sensitive to emotional distress, and each meridian system is particularly sensitive to specific emotions.

For example, the kidney-bladder meridians are very sensitive to danger and generate fear. When danger is present, the physical functions of the kidney and bladder meridians will suffer.

The patient will experience pain in the large bones like the lower back, hips, and knees as well as dysfunction in the brain, poor production of blood, sexual dysfunction, and compromised fertility. Early-morning diarrhea and poor bladder control can also be seen.

When people have been repetitively traumatized, anger and resentment accumulate. These emotions primarily affect the liver and gallbladder meridians. As a result, symptoms may appear such as chest pain, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, neck and shoulder pain and spasm, premenstrual syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), uterine fibroids, and breast tumors.

Patients may also suffer from anger outbursts, depression, or panic attacks, and have trouble planning and making decisions.

The above disorders occur at not only the physical level but also at the energy level. The energetic level is most affected, and this results in both physical and mental abnormalities. Therefore, interventions targeting the energy level are needed. In other words, the therapy needs to reach not only the heart and the gut but also the mind.

An integrative approach is required to adequately treat people with PTSD.

First, we need to clearly identify and diagnose the condition and
recognize its primary causes through a thorough evaluation.

Second, a trusting therapeutic relationship between the treating physician and the patient has to be established.

Third, any cognitive distortion and maladaptive behaviors have to be recognized and corrected using cognitive behavior therapy.

Fourth, mind-body techniques like neuro-emotional techniques (NET) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) will help reveal and remove the energetic and neurophysiologic consequences of the trauma.

Fifth, patients need to learn how to reduce stress through meditation and exercises such as tai chi, qigong, and yoga.

Acupuncture is a great tool that unblocks and rebalances the energy dysfunction of the meridians in PTSD patients.

As result of the above interventions, patients should follow healthy dietary advice and eliminate addictive, maladaptive behaviors.

Last but not least, establishing support systems, learning new coping skills, and looking at life from a spiritual perspective can help patients maintain physical and emotional well-being, allowing them to become more resilient to future traumas.

Medications targeting symptoms should be used with caution and on a case-by-case basis. Nutritional supplements can also be helpful.

Dr. Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and is a fourth-generation doctor of Chinese medicine. His website is TaoInstitute.com

An elderly woman looks on as her skin bruises on her shoulder during treatment with a traditional Chinese medical technique known as 'cupping' at a community health center in Shanghai on September 24, 2009. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)

The main difference between Chinese and Western [allopathic] medicine is that the former is rooted in traditional culture, while Western [allopathic] medicine is a branch of modern empirical science.

In today’s society dominated by Western [allopathic] medicine, people tend to doubt the efficacy of Chinese medicine. Even in today’s China, Chinese medicine is often debated.

In fact, in the past 5,000 years, Chinese people have been dependent on Chinese medicine to cure diseases and to protect themselves against epidemics. Consequently, Chinese medicine has contributed to population growth throughout history.

Among the over 300 types of traditional medicines on the globe, Chinese medicine has become increasingly popular. The effectiveness of Chinese medicine can be seen from the growing number of people around the world who choose to study it.

First of all, Chinese medicine is a set of practical skills targeting a full array of diseases, from the common cold to more serious ones, such as tumors and heart disease. Many Chinese rely on these skills in daily life.

Professor He Yumin from Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute said: “Take pancreatic cancer as an example, where the international prognosis is 4 to 6 months. However, 20 out of over 100 patients here in Shanghai who received our treatment have lived for 3 to 5 years. Most of them were either unable to go through surgery or chemotherapy and radiotherapy.”

An ironic folk saying says, “People seeking treatments in Western medicine usually die knowing the exact reason why; People seeking treatments in Chinese medicine usually live not knowing exactly why.”

An ironic folk saying says, “People seeking treatments in Western [allopathic] medicine usually die knowing the exact reason why; People seeking treatments in Chinese medicine usually live not knowing exactly why.”

Western [allopathic] medicine focuses on removing the symptoms using direct methods, so-called “fix the head when the head hurts; fix the foot when the foot aches.” Yet Chinese medicine emphasizes a dialectical analysis of the human body as a whole, where it is viewed as a collection of interconnected and interrelated systems. Therefore, the holistic approach inherent in Chinese medicine shows great potential in treating more complex illnesses such as cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer's.

The World Health Organization defines the sub-health condition as a state between health and disease when all necessary physical and chemical indexes test negative, but the person experiences all kinds of discomfort and even pain. Western [allopathic] medicine is at its wits’ end when dealing with sub-health conditions. But Chinese medicine shows its strength in dealing with sub-health problems through examining the overall body conditions and derivative analysis of the symptoms.

Conventional Western medicine does not recognize the existence of meridian or energy channels in the human body, because anatomy cannot prove it. With a special camera used in Kirlian photography developed in 1939, where no films or emulsion are required, pictures showing the “biological plasma body” can be taken with the flash of light between electrodes. Such a picture was taken by a group of scientists at the Kirov State University and showed many brightly lit areas throughout the body correlating well with the meridian/acupuncture points.

For Chinese people, cherishing Chinese medicine also has a cultural aspect, for it is the manifestation of traditional Chinese culture in areas related to human health. Western medicine advocates “seeing is believing.” Chinese medicine follows the principle of Yin and Yang and the philosophy of mutual generation and mutual subjugation. Chinese medicine believes in the existence of energy channels and acupuncture points even though they cannot be seen with human eyes.

Furthermore, Chinese tradition holds that any matter in this universe has its physical side and its spiritual side. Both sides work together to form a complete entity.

For example, when one catches a cold, Western [allopathic] medicine says it is due to a virus infection but Chinese medicine says it is due to the imbalance of Yin and Yang resulting from blocked energy channels. Western [allopathic] medicine is like the warriors in a computer game fighting the virus at the front line. Chinese medicine is like the person behind the scenes killing the virus with an invisible hand.

Authentic Chinese medicine is rooted in the divinely inspired Chinese culture; it is so sad to admit that the essence of Chinese medicine has been lost. What is being passed down is merely the recipe or prescriptions. In China, Chinese medicine students receive training in Western medicine, but are not taught the essence and backbone of their own culture.

Published in New Epoch Magazine.

One evening, a mother brought her 2-year-old son to see me. His thumbnail had become inflamed the week before. A Western [allopathic] medical doctor had told her that her son needed an operation.

She told me that after his thumbnail had become inflamed, she had taken him to the hospital for an injection. After several days of taking medicine, the symptoms became worse, and the whole nail was raised. Her son cried all the time and also had a fever.

They went to see the Western medical doctor again, and he told her that her son needed an operation, but he couldn’t guarantee that her son's thumbnail would be saved. Her son was scheduled to have the operation the next day, but she thought that maybe she would try Chinese medicine before she took him for the operation.

I took a look at the boy’s thumbnail and found that it oozed with pus at the slightest touch. According to the principles of yin and yang and the Five Elements as taught in Chinese medicine, I treated his nail with a pencil-sized stick. [A means of stimulating acupressure points.]

Then his mother took him home to have a rest. I told her to bring the boy back if he still didn’t feel better and that now the boy wouldn’t need the operation. The mother, feeling doubtful, took the boy home.

Later, the mother told me that the boy fell into a very deep sleep as soon as they got home. The next day, his thumbnail was in perfect condition.

The mother was so glad that her son received Chinese medicine treatment!

Translated from: Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/9/17/54891.html

SPECIAL WATER: Ganlan water is used in Chinese medicine. The water has been scooped up 1,000 times. (Photos.com)

Water that has been “raised up” a thousand times is called Ganlan water in traditional Chinese medicine.

Ganlan water was invented by Zhongjing Zhang, a famous doctor in the Ming Dynasty. In “Jin Kui Yao Lue,” the book of Chinese medicine, there is a prescription that is made from poria (a kind of fungus), cassia twigs, licorice, and jujube. This prescription needs to be decocted in Ganlan water.

This prescription is for used for curing “bentun qi,” which is not a serious illness, but is a symptom of gas rushing up from the stomach to the throat. Because Ganlan water has the characteristic of rising up since it has been raised up a thousand times, it can help bentum qi.

There is a story about an old man who was dying. His son called on a very experienced Chinese medicine doctor. The doctor said that the disease was difficult to cure.

The son kneeled down and asked the doctor to save his father’s life. The doctor was moved by the young man’s filial piety, so he wrote a prescription and said the prescription must be decocted with water that had been raised up a thousand times.

The doctor put a big vat of water beside the old man’s bed. The son used the water ladle to repeatedly raise up the water in front of his father. His father was deeply moved because his son stayed up the whole night to raise up the water in order to cure the father’s illness. After the old man took the decoction, he recovered quickly.

Ganlan water was not the key to curing the old man’s illness. It was the son’s filial piety that cured his father.

The ancients thought highly of filial piety. They regarded it as a virtue that human beings should have. A sincere and kind heart really can change one’s environment.

Japanese scientists conducted research and found that when a person’s heart was purely kind, his voice could make the formation of water crystals very beautiful. (See “Messages From Water” by Masaru Emoto) The scientists used this method to purify water that was impossible to purify using modern technology.

As society has developed to the present day, people no longer think highly of virtue. Bad thoughts are everywhere and pollute people starting in childhood. As the society becomes increasingly worse, more diseases emerge.

Although the modern medical scientific establishment invests a lot of money in research, it can’t find the cures for new, modern diseases.

Only when people live according to the highest moral principles can their minds and health improve and society become better.

Translated from Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/12/10/56502.html

MEDITATION: Falun Gong practitioners meditating. (Anoek de Groot/AFP/Getty Images)

The method of zhuyou was mentioned in Huangdi Neijing (The Inner Cannon of the Yellow Emperor). Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, heard that in ancient times, ethereal substances could be transferred into the body and help heal illnesses using the method of zhuyou.

Where did the name zhuyou come from? According to The Book of Changes, zhu means to please the gods, and you means the source or reason. Taken together, zhuyou means to worship gods for blessings to eliminate disasters.

I used to have a book on zhuyou. There were about 10,000 verses, and each illness required different verses. It was very hard to remember. It is hard to learn skills without genuine teaching, so I only read a few pages before putting it down.

I realized then that there were too many illnesses beyond curing with zhuyou. No wonder there is a separate division of zhuyou within Chinese medicine. In addition, some illnesses are very powerful, and the verses may not work.

I once heard a story that a qigong master was attempting to cure a patient suffering from uremia caused by kidney failure. Someone with his third eye open saw a specter that looked like a piranha on the head of the patient. The qigong master did not have the capability to drive away the specter.

There are many reasons why some illnesses are hard to cure. For example, there used to be a qigong master who had practiced for many years and developed a method for curing cancer. However, later that qigong master himself died of a brain tumor.

After being a Chinese medicine doctor for many years, I am able to tell which illnesses cannot be cured after just a brief interaction with the patient. But if a doctor insists on curing such illnesses, he may get sick himself and even bring trouble to his family members.

I am really amazed how profound Falun Gong is. I am indeed very fortunate to be living during this period in history.

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/12/15/56604.html

FALUN GONG: Practitioners in Atlanta at the foot of Stone Mountain. (Zhang Ming/The Epoch Times)

In Chinese medicine, it is believed that the human body has 12 main meridians, 15 main collaterals, and 8 extra channels. All these are all connected with the organs.

Collaterals connect the meridians. It is believed that qi circulates within the body constantly. As to when the qi arrives at which acupuncture point and when to put pressure on that point, the ancient people have explained this with terms such as the “Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow Acupoint Selection” and the “Method of Flight” and “Eight Methods of the Intelligent Turtle.”

Among the eight extra channels are two special channels called “ren” and “du.”

The ren channel starts from the “huiyin” point (in the center of the perineum), goes upward, and ends at the “chengjiang” point below the lower lip. The du channel also starts from the huiyin point, goes upward from the back, crosses the top of the head, and ends at the “renzhong” point, above the upper lip.

According to Chinese medicine, as soon as the small heavenly circuit is opened, one will be free from illnesses. In reality, it is cultivation practice, not acupressure, that opens the small heavenly circuit. But both views share the same understanding that the opening of the meridians and collaterals can bring about good health.

The “Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow Acupoint Selection,” “Method of Flight,” and “Eight Methods of the Intelligent Turtle” are healing methods that use pressure on the acupuncture points during certain times each day. Making good use of these methods can increase their healing effects. I used to use them a lot to improve my own health and found them very effective in the past.

Later on, people told me about Falun Gong. I read the book “Zhuan Falun” and found it amazing that Falun Gong opens all the energy channels as soon as you start practicing, while it can take more than a decade to achieve this in other practices. Therefore, I started practicing Falun Gong.

From then on, I felt myself change. I became very energetic. Although sometimes I didn’t feel well, I knew I was transforming karma, rather than being ill. But since I had done so many years of Chinese medicine research, I found myself unknowingly putting pressure on my acupuncture points in an attempt to ease the discomfort.

However, it wouldn’t work for me regardless of how hard I tried. Strangely, the discomfort was gone as soon as I did the Falun Gong exercises.

I wondered if my medical skills had become rusty, but when I worked on non-practitioners of Falun Gong, my acupuncture treatments worked better than before. I finally understood: Falun Gong practitioners’ energy channels are constantly becoming wider, and ultimately, all the energy channels will join together and turn one’s body into one without any energy channels or acupuncture points.

I also understood that for Falun Gong practitioners, discomfort is not caused by illnesses, and is only something to endure while our energy potency is growing.

No wonder acupressure wouldn’t work on me!

Translated from Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2009/1/18/57322.html

FATHER AND SON: Both benefit from the treatment of one. (Photos.com)

Xiao Chuan has an 8-year-old son, Xiao Yue. Xiao Chuan loves him very much. Recently, Xiao Yue had nasal congestion and could sometimes not sleep well. Seeing Xiao Yue suffer made the father feel even worse than his son.

The nasal congestion seemed like a cold, which led to blockage of Xiao Chuan’s sinuses and respiratory passages. When I treated Xiao Yue, his father also felt his nose was better than before. Since then, each time Xiao Yue was treated, Xiao Chuan felt as if his nose were also treated.

Xiao Chuan recalled having nasal congestion when he was young. Since growing up, although the situation improved, periodically he still felt it. While Xiao Yue was being treated, both he and his father improved.

Xiao Yue’s nasal congestion seemed to be due to a cold, which then led to respiratory-system problems. Looking at the son’s symptoms, we can deduce that his condition was inherited.

Current Western medicine recognizes that many illnesses are inheritable and that such conditions might skip a generation. If Xiao Yue’s illness was inherited from his father and since both of them benefited when Xiao Yue was treated, this might imply an invisible link to things in other dimensions—beyond the genetic code that connects father and son.

Doesn’t this imply the existence of a substance connecting them—something beyond illness in this physical world? If so, what kind of substance could it be?

The book “Zhuan Falun” states: “The community of cultivators believes that a Primordial Spirit does not become extinct. If a Primordial Spirit does not become extinct, one probably had social interactions before this life. So one might have owed something to someone, bullied someone, or done other bad things, such as killing, which would induce this karma.

“These things add up in another dimension, and one always carries them; the same is also true with the white substance. This is not the only source, as there is also another situation. Throughout the generations in the family, ancestors may also accumulate karma for later generations.” (Lecture Four, “Transformation of Karma”)

The real cause of an illness is karma, and various symptoms are merely the appearance in this physical world. The treatment methods of Western medicine have no effect on karma, just as automotive repair tools are inappropriate for fixing a watch.

The father-and-son example also teaches us that a person’s fortune and fate are based at least in part on the parents’ and even grandparents’ conduct. The parents’ wrongdoings will negatively impact the children. There are many examples like this in China, especially regarding those who persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

In contrast, a person doing good deeds not only brings his children blessings but also benefits his parents. There are also many stories of people in China acting in accord with their conscience and standing up against the oppression of others.

Translated from: ZhengJian.org/zj/articles/2010/4/6/65386.html

PRACTICING FALUN GONG: Falun Gong is one form of qigong that improves health. (The Epoch Times)

People try their best to avoid illnesses. That is why we have so many pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals. There are three main ways to prevent or treat illness: Western allopathic medicine, Chinese medicine, and qigong.

Western allopathic medicine (distinct from homeopathy, which has been practiced in the West for more than 200 years) is currently the most popular method of the three. It consists of a set of clinical theories and a suite of treatment strategies that include injections, pills, surgery, and radiation therapy.

By treating the symptoms, Western allopathic medicine offers direct and sometimes mechanical treatments to treat a patient. For example, fever is treated with antipyretics, inflammation with antibiotics, and a tumor often with surgery.

Chinese medicine, after flourishing in ancient times and declining in modern times, is now on the path of resurgence. Instead of taking the direct cause-response approach like that of Western allopathic medicine, Chinese medicine views the human body as an integrated system and uses such traditional knowledge as the meridian system, the yin and yang theory, and the theory of the five elements.

For example, physicians of Chinese medicine see that strong emotions, such as anger, can cause liver damage, while panic damages the kidneys. Therefore, effective prevention and treatment of illnesses involves not only medicine but also self-adjustment, ranging from controlling mood swings and a bad temper to choosing a balanced and harmonious lifestyle.

I have a good friend, a college professor, whose menstruation suddenly stopped. She felt uncomfortable and went to see Western medicine doctors many times. The doctors considered it a gynecological problem and prescribed a number of different medicines, but the treatments did not work.

Later, someone recommended that she see an experienced elderly doctor of Chinese medicine. After examination, this doctor attributed her malaise to inadequate stomach energy. He prescribed Chinese medicine, and it worked immediately.

This may appear unusual—that the cause of a gynecological symptom could be found in a stomach issue. But from this, we can see that a doctor of Chinese medicine with a deeper understanding of health and illness of the human body can provide an alternative remedy with a successful outcome.

Qigong, a seemingly modern term, actually refers to cultivation practices that have a history of thousands of years. When neither Western medicine nor Chinese medicine works, people, especially Asians, tend to seek out qigong.

For beginners, qigong may seem to involve movements or a type of exercise that regulates qi, or vital energy. A deeper understanding, however, indicates that illness has its roots in karma created in the past. Therefore, to fundamentally cure an illness, one needs to pay off these karmic debts. In addition, one must be kind, truthful, and tolerant. These three virtues provide the most fundamental way to cure illnesses.

I saw a patient in Taiwan—a middle-aged woman who had breast cancer. After she began practicing Falun Gong, a form of qigong, one day during sitting meditation, she saw a silver fish with deep hatred for her. It came to her that in the past she had killed this particular fish, and the fish hated her so much that it had showed up as an illness in this dimension.

Since she has begun cultivating the three virtues, her breast cancer disappeared.

Traditional Chinese medicine includes the concept that karma is accumulated in this and former lifetimes as a result of doing bad deeds or harming others. Suffering is one means of eliminating this karma.

Translated from: Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2010/12/20/70407.html

iabetes, according to IDF (International Diabetes Federation), is a global problem with a devastating impact on people, both socially and economically.

WHO estimates that more than 250 million people worldwide are living with diabetes. Each year, 7 million people develop the disease, and about 300 million are at risk.

Given this data, there are many who consider this disease one of the major epidemics of the past century.

So why is the number of cases increasing even when the information and research are more extensive than ever? Is it possible that society as a whole is contributing to diabetes?

Will the current human science discover the cure? Or will science continue to find ways that simply allow those affected to live with diabetes for the rest of their lives?

Preventing Diabetes 

Removing items from the diet such as sweets, candies, cookies, soft drinks, and junk food are helpful means to prevent diabetes.

But there is a fundamental factor that modern medicine does not pay much attention to—the relationship between the pancreas and the mind.

Chinese Medicine

According to the theory of five elements of Chinese medicine, the spleen-pancreas group houses the energy associated with different physical mechanisms, such as digestion, lymphatic circulation, regulation of fat storage, reproduction, and mind activities. 



Chinese medicine speaks of the capacity to digest bitterness. It’s generally believed that an obsessive mental state is a functional imbalance from the energy of the spleen-pancreas.

Based on the theory of five elements, diabetics would be more prone to obsession. They would tend to be stubborn, emotional, and prone to be controlling. Diabetes can also be the result of burning the energy of the pancreas from wanting to achieve more in life than material success.

Diabetics are often highly intelligent and mentally active. Journalists, businessmen, professors, lawyers, writers, directors, and politicians are at high risk.

Diabetics may find much benefit in holistic treatments for the body and mind, such as acupuncture, meditation, qigong, and yoga. 



From the perspective of Chinese medicine, diabetics should not be overly analytical or too worrisome. Otherwise a blood-glucose imbalance in the brain may set in, eventually producing irreparable injury throughout the body and the exhaustion of the pancreas itself. In turn, this requires a calm and generous heart, a liver without worries, and some kidney patience to support it.

As my professor of acupuncture, Dr. Hoon Cho, once said: “Why do we think this way? Why do we always worry ourselves about becoming smarter? Then we will be smart diabetics. I say it’s better to be healthy instead of overly clever!”

HAPPINESS: Being happy benefits others. (Photos.com)

A Harvard University study demonstrated that an individual’s happiness is actually an outcome of group actions and largely depends on whether a person’s friends are happy or not. The study also found that a person’s happiness will propagate like ripples on the surface of water.

Moreover, the study found that the power of happiness is subject to time and space: The closer in proximity one is to the happy person, the higher the chance that he or she will be influenced by the other person’s happiness. By living next door to a happy person, one’s rate of becoming happy will increase by 34 percent.

People who have deep social ties and live in the center of social networks are normally happier than those who live on the fringes. Furthermore, happiness can take at least one year to spread!

From this study, we can see that positive messages that are beautiful, honest, kind, and tolerant, such as decent behavior, upright thoughts, integrity, and high morality will spread to people and objects around us and change everything toward a positive direction, just as happiness does.

Ancient people were much smarter than we are and long ago realized the power of morality and courtesy as well as their effectiveness in being carried on and absorbed in the culture. They developed sayings such as “acquire imperceptibly” and “be the guiding role,” which have been passed down for thousands of years.

In ancient China, people conducted themselves this way, and they passed down this rich cultural heritage of morality and virtue. Even in war, both sides knew that a benevolent army would be invincible because it could win a victory without firing a shot. At that time, everyone knew of these invisible moral laws.

Chinese people are familiar with the Mencius story “Mother Moving Three Times.” Realizing that the surroundings and environment are far more important and powerful in influencing a child than preaching and setting examples, the mother didn’t stop moving until her family lived near the academic center of Zou City.

She saw that the area had lots of scholars and realized that their noble bearing, calm manners, and graceful behavior would influence the residents imperceptibly, especially the children, who could be seen imitating the scholars bowing to each other. The children looked solemn and serene, and their actions were quite realistic.

She was finally satisfied and settled down in that area. This story conveys how important environment is.

In the agricultural society of ancient China, most women were totally illiterate because it was believed that “a woman without literacy is virtuous.” But this belief didn’t stop women from doing a good job in bringing up their children because, according to ancient sayings, traditional values, family reputations, and paternal instructions had been deeply imprinted into everyone’s mind and melded into their everyday conduct and behavior.

These values have been passed down by example, in stories and parables from older generations. In ancient times, it was serious if someone was regarded as lacking family discipline. This is an example of teaching moral values without words.

When a society upholds moral standards in this way, the health of its citizens is bound to be good.

Translated from: Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/12/15/56600.html

NEEDLING: Physicians get different results from using the same acupuncture point. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Image)

An old Chinese medicine doctor once told me that during the late Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), a Chinese doctor who could cure any disease with only a single needle came to Beijing. I found it hard to believe, but I admired that old doctor so much that I believed him a little.

A few years later, qigong became very popular in China, and many people with extraordinary skills emerged. I witnessed a Chinese folk medicine doctor curing any disease with only three needles, regardless of whether it was a stroke, chronic fatigue syndrome, or paralysis. It didn’t matter how long the illnesses had lasted.

Some patients could walk right away, and others fully recovered in only a couple of days. Shocked by what I saw, I found it was indeed possible for someone to cure a patient with only one needle. But I still couldn’t understand why the same acupuncture point worked differently for different doctors, and I wondered if there were some secrets behind it.

I came to understand that Chinese medicine comes from the Tao School, and in “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Alchemy, the opening chapter, “The First Discussion of Ancient Nature,” directly discusses the relationship between Tao and virtue.

Since Tao is the founding principle of Chinese medicine, the doctor must adhere to moral principles. Moreover, since Chinese medicine was passed down by gods, a doctor’s capability of curing illnesses will surely be determined by the doctor’s moral level. There is an old saying: “Passing down things to the wrong person is wasting heavenly treasures.”

Think about it. Would a doctor without high morality be able to do good deeds and save people using the methods that were passed down by gods?

Translated from: Zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/12/29/56892.html 

amous Zen master Shi Xiqian, of the Tang Dynasty, had a peculiar recipe for the secrets of good health and longevity: “One part is the stomach; another is a kind and merciful heart. A few grams of tenderness. Three pieces of wisdom. Sincerity and honesty are important. One hundred percent filial piety and honesty and proper use of all the virtues.”

Recently a Brazilian doctor named Martins, after 10 years of studies, found that most long-lived people were good and respectable.

Good people are kind to others, often visit other people, and rarely fight with others for fame and fortune. They respect the elderly and protect children. They are naturally respected by the people around them. Their minds are calm. They have good relationships and are happy.

In this atmosphere, the neuroendocrine system is quiet and orderly. The physiology functions so that the body performs well; immunity and good bodily health occur naturally.

In his research, Martins discovered the relationship of certain acts with the proper functioning of the body. Selfish people always think about their own good, are extremely jealous, compete to profit more, and often live on the alert.

These intangible factors psychologically push the boundaries of the cerebral cortex to a high state of tension, resulting in organ and immune system dysfunction and leading to various diseases. A selfish mentality does not lead to a long life.

Thin needles are used for acupuncture. (Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

Experimenting with mice, researchers at the University of Rochester learned how acupuncture activates receptors that suppress pain.

The levels of adenosine, a natural painkiller, increased in the tissues near where acupuncture needles were placed. Adenosine plays several roles in the body: regulating sleep, reducing inflammation, and acting as a natural painkiller.

Researchers conducted a 30-minute procedure on the knees of mice that caused them discomfort in the legs. In mice with normal levels of adenosine, the pain was reduced by more than 60 percent as measured by sensitive nerves.

Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, the scientist who led the research, said that although acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, it is not well understood. The study, which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, showed how acupuncture reduces pain in the body.

People practice Tai Chi exercises at a park in Thailand. (MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese meditation practice with gentle physical exercises, can help alleviate fibromyalgia symptoms, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Fibromyalgia causes insomnia, depression, fatigue, and pain throughout the body. According to the Centers for Disease Control, around 5 million Americans have the disorder, the majority being women.

Of the 66 fibromyalgia patients in the small study, half participated in a one hour Tai Chi class, twice a week for twelve weeks. The other half attended a basic stretching and wellness program.

Symptoms were significantly eased in the patients practising Tai Chi compared with the other group. Also, one out of every three student in the Tai Chi group could stop taking medications, while only one in six was able to stop in the stretching group.

White peony. (Suyufen/The Epoch Times)

Since ancient times, the Chinese have formulated many secret recipes for beautifying the skin and nourishing the hair.

It is said that beauty obsessed some of the imperial concubines who regularly took recipes to remain young and beautiful even when they were in their 50s.

Here is a prescription for nourishing qi and blood and for abolishing freckles: “Take 5 grams of white peony root, 5 grams of large-head Atractylodes, 5 grams of China root, and 2.5 grams of licorice. Heat in water and drink it when it is warm.” This is suitable to use for rough skin, chloasma (brown spots), and pigmentation.

The Chinese believe that the skin is closely related to abdominal function. Therefore, the prescription that reconciles qi, the blood, and five internal organs can also be good for a fair and healthy skin.

The above herbs used as traditional Chinese medicine to moisturize skin. Accompanied with licorice, they can also help to stay young.

In Chinese medicine theory, white peony root tastes sweet and sour, its nature is a bit cold, and it has the effect of nourishing blood.

Large-head Atractylodes tastes sweet and bitter, its nature is warm, and it has an anti-aging effect.

China root tastes sweet, its nature is calm, and it can make the skin fair.

Licorice tastes sweet, its nature is calm, and it has the effect of a deodorant.

This model helps a trainee find and memorize acupuncture points. (Cat Rooney/Epoch Times Staff)

Acupuncture is thousands of years old and is one of the five pillars of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Needles are inserted in points on the human body to alleviate illnesses and pain.

Philosophical and theoretical bases of acupuncture were formulated 2,000 years ago within the framework of TCM. Central to these is the image of the body’s vital force, also called life energy, “qi” in Chinese, on which everything in one’s life is based.   

Life energy is always in flux. That includes the functions of our internal organs and body rhythms, such as breathing, digestion, the immune system, and the workings of our muscles.

Similar to how rivers course through a landscape, energy meridians traverse the body and supply it with vital energy. Along these meridians lie acupuncture points that can be used to influence and regulate the body’s energy flow.

A healthy person’s energy (qi) flows harmoniously, is strong, and is unimpeded. According to Chinese medicine, illnesses arise when these energy paths are impeded either through an overabundance or a blockage.

Acupuncture research has made some advances. However, to date, the efficacy of acupuncture is only explained by the presence of adenosine, a compound responsible for many bodily functions, at the points of needle insertion. Acupuncture has an immediate effect on the immune system and on pain perception.

Studies have since verified adenosine’s positive effects of lowering blood pressure and heart rate. Adenosine also promotes sleep, decreases inflammation, and can disrupt undesirable nerve impulses that trigger pain.

Acupuncture works differently in different individuals. U.S. researchers at the University of Rochester, N.Y., found a possible explanation for individual variation. Their laboratory experiments isolated a protein called A1 that appears to play a decisive role in the effects of acupuncture. If the body lacks this protein, acupuncture efficacy is weak.

Nevertheless, needling works harmoniously, promoting an unhampered energy flow. The West, though not quite convinced of acupuncture’s health-promoting results, increasingly recognizes the practice.

Many renowned physicians in ancient China possessed acupuncture skills, but they had one thing in common: According to ancient writings, they were Buddhist or Taoist cultivators.

These individuals were endowed with great wisdom and had supernatural faculties that enabled them to diagnose and treat illnesses.

Source: epochtimes.de/articles/2010/06/09/586671.html

The healing effects of ancient Chinese medicine are impressive. (The Epoch Times)

There were numerous approaches to curing illnesses in ancient Chinese medicine, some of which are hard for today’s people to accept. However, official historical archives have documented many inconceivable medical cases.

The elimination of parasites is an example. Many recorded cases are not easy to explain from the perspective of Western medicine.

The History of Ming states that Dai Yuanli was an imperial court physician and disciple of Zhu Danxi. Dr. Dai was in the court of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who ruled from 1368 to 1398. Dr. Dai treated the King of Yan, the emperor’s fourth son. Other doctors had treated the king’s illness without success.

Dr. Dai asked the king what his favorite foods were. He answered that he enjoyed eating uncooked celery. From that information, Dai diagnosed his illness and prescribed treatment. After taking the medicine, the king had diarrhea that night and passed a large number of tiny, grasshopper-like parasites. His illness was cured.

Black Plum Soup

“A New Compilation of Bencao,” by Chen Shiduo, a renowned Chinese herbal physician in the Ming Dynasty, included a record of Chen’s eliminating parasites by using Chinese herbs.

When he was traveling in today’s Hankou area, in Hubei Province, the captain of a boat he boarded coughed continually. Dr. Chen asked him how he had become sick.

The captain explained that one night when the boat was docked by the Xun River, a strong wind suddenly arose. He called for a helmsman to batten down the boat. As cold raindrops hit his back, he felt chilly and started coughing. The more he coughed, the itchier his chest felt. Only after nonstop coughing and spitting up some blood, would the itch be momentarily relieved.

Dr. Chen told him it was likely that the chill had seeped into his lungs and given birth to parasites there. The captain did not believe the explanation. Soon, he had chest pain and felt that he was about to spit out some blood. Dr. Chen told him to take some black plum soup, which he did.

Once the pain was gone, the captain asked Dr. Chen to explain. Dr. Chen said that the black plum soup did not treat the root cause. It was used to confirm that parasites were present. The sourness of the soup would force the parasites to become less active.

Spitting Out a Parasite

Dr. Chen prepared a juice from Rohdea japonica, an evergreen perennial, and told the captain to drink the juice when the chest pain returned.

By nightfall, the captain was having chest pain again. Dr. Chen told him to drink the juice. The pain became acute. Dr. Chen told him to take more juice. He refused but felt thirsty and wanted to drink some tea.

Dr. Chen did not give him the tea and insisted that the captain drink more juice. The captain’s throat started to itch. The pain became excruciating and his throat even itchier.

Dr. Chen told him that the parasites could not put up with the juice and were about to come out. He drank more and started throwing up blood.

A parasite was flushed out with the blood. It was about the size of a finger. Its body was like that of a cricket, and its legs were like those of a grasshopper. It was purple and looked like flames under the lamp, and it had 2-inch-long whiskers. Its abdomen was not fully formed and was merely a clot of blood.

Elimination of parasites was still practiced by leading doctors of Chinese medicine well into the 20th century. Pu Fuzhou’s “Medical Cases” documented that Dr. Pu, 1888–1975, a renowned Chinese medicine physician, treated his uncle who had the symptoms of liver cirrhosis. After taking Chinese medicine pills Dr. Pu had prepared, his uncle threw up two worms that were several inches long.

Although people avoid discussing these things in mainland China today, these phenomena have been recorded.

Translated from an edited version of epochtimes.com/gb/10/4/17/n2879948.htm

A model used for the study of acupuncture points. (Photos.com)

I was eating breakfast in a cafe near the clinic where I work when a woman who I had treated for hay fever and weight loss came in.

She approached me in an agitated manner and said, “Look Roberto, I am a bit worried!”

While listening, I thought to myself, well, what a novelty! Who is not worried in this day and age?

I asked her what had happened, and she said, “Yesterday after I left my consultation, I blacked out for two hours. After that, I don’t remember anything that transpired during that time frame. I don’t know what could have happened. Perhaps in my Pilates class, I made a wrong move that made me lose consciousness.”

To which I said, “How odd!” I then remembered the previous day’s treatment was directed at the pericardium meridian.

She continued, “In fact, I feel more fresh and rejuvenated. In terms of allergy symptoms, they’ve completely disappeared, and it looks like I have lost weight very quickly! Then what might be the problem?”

Seeing her face ever more alert, I told her not to worry and that everything was normal and good. She appeared thankful and quietly relieved at those words. It seems as if we give more importance to the views of others rather than our own.

What happened to this lady is a very special case of a trance caused by the state of deep calm that one gets after a hectic day at work. At that moment, the subconscious takes over the body to readjust it.

The majority of people achieve a state of deep calm while remaining conscious. This situation is ideal for connecting with the wisdom that lies latent in the human body. This can be explained by the heart and its pericardium meridian.

In Chinese, Xin Bao, or envelope of the heart (the pericardium), also known as master of the heart, is said to be the meridian connected to deep dimensions of being. It is very difficult to know its precise mechanism of action.

Different understandings point to the pericardial sac as being the place where the spiritual aspects of the heart, the state of consciousness, one’s philosophy and thoughts, and all emotional states can be found.

The pericardium is also described as a box of records where every life a person has lived is registered—something like the black box of an airplane. Ancient physicians believed that life experiences were embodied in a specific area of the body.

Treatment of the pericardium meridian has very broad therapeutic results throughout the body, regulating and improving many physical and emotional illnesses, which are difficult to treat by other measures.

Treatment of the pericardium meridian is indicated for serious illnesses, depression, anxiety, asthma, and allergies. It is also indicated for heart problems, hypertension, digestive issues, bleeding from any part of the body, breast or menstrual problems, neurological disorders, and skin problems.

At the top of the back, at the level of the third thoracic vertebrae, where the shoulder ends, there is an acupuncture point called gaohuang. It is where all emotional and mental information of the individual converge to be filtered by the pericardium.

It is a very deep point, where everything is recorded, and it is said that all diseases come through this point, and all diseases can be treated from this point.

The pericardium’s symbolic animal is the serpent. This animal is considered extremely intelligent.

Intelligence and excessive knowledge can on many occasions be a source of lies and deceit. For example, saying one thing and thinking something completely different, giving half-truths for selfish purposes, envy, resentment, cunning, seeking to gain a certain social position, power, or fame, and being excessively ambitious.

These are caused by a deep anxiety of the heart and are the source of all known and unknown diseases of modern science.

The “movie” recorded by human history—built on a foundation of lies using knowledge and cunning to achieve its own purposes—has resulted in an increasing loss of knowledge and collective wisdom, drawing to it all sorts of trials and tribulations.

Humanity needs more than ever a change of consciousness guided by the wisdom of the principles of the universe oriented toward virtue, compassion, and generosity, which govern the balance of life.

Watching the news, we see how each day the Earth trembles. Earthquakes and tremors paralyze cities and roads. Bleeding in the form of volcanoes paralyzes the airways. The pericardium of Earth’s heart is sick.

The body is a world, and the world is a body. Until we heal ourselves, the earth won’t heal.

Despite the serene countenance shown here, sitting in the lotus position becomes painful if done for long. (ClearWisdom.org)

Editor's note: Traditional Chinese medicine includes the concept that karma is accumulated in this or former lifetimes as a result of doing bad deeds or harming others. Suffering is one means of eliminating this karma.

Talking about cancer makes people scared, as if a tiger is approaching. From ancient times until the present day, medicine has failed to find any method that can cure cancer completely.

Modern medicine has found that cancer cells are different from normal cells. Cancer cells are stronger and live longer.

The way Western medicine usually treats cancer is to directly kill the cancer cells. However, the medicine or therapy used cannot distinguish cancerous cells from normal ones. That is why normal cells are permanently damaged during the course of the treatment. No wonder some people say that the majority of cancer patients are killed by the treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) focuses on strengthening the body’s fundamental strength. TCM helps maintain a harmonious state and eliminates bad factors without hurting normal cells. It can also prolong a person’s life. However, it cannot cure cancer completely.

Why do cancer cells have such strong vitality? Where do cancer cells originate? Why do cancer cells exhibit such a destructive nature? They can destroy a perfectly healthy human body in a short time.

Medicine cannot see the true state of things if people’s current concepts and notions are not changed. If one can look at the phenomena from a spiritual point of view, where goodness and evil determine cause and effect, one can see the root cause of cancer.

In the past, I heard a story of a woman who had late-stage liver cancer. The doctor’s prognosis was that she would live no more than two or three weeks.

Then she found a qigong master, kneeled down, and begged him to save her life. That qigong master who said, “If you want to live, you need to die a couple of times.” As he spoke, he forced the woman to double cross her legs (called the lotus position) without concern whether or not she could tolerate the pain.

Anyone who has never crossed his or her legs like that might not be able to endure the pain. In fact, the woman passed out after a loud, agonized scream. After that, the woman sat in the lotus position two to three hours every day and endured the pain.

Her life was extended by doing this. A few weeks passed, then a few months, and then more than a year passed. Her life far exceeded the original two- to three-week prognosis.

Unfortunately, she eventually gave up crossing her legs and enduring the pain. I don’t know whether she could no longer tolerate the pain or if she understood the reason for the pain. Then she died.

The qigong master had taught her how to extend her life through suffering, but he could not eliminate her karma.

Translated from zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/12/19/56715.html

Other remedies cannot touch the healing effects of ginseng. (Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images)

One day an old Chinese medicine doctor said that one of his patients had told him Chinese medicine couldn’t keep up with today’s herbal remedies. Some remedies have dozens of ingredients in them, while many Chinese medicine prescriptions, such as ginseng, have only a single ingredient.

A translator who had been doing oral translation for many years felt a deficiency in his vital energy and was often weak, even to the point of having trouble speaking. He had taken many remedies but had not seen any improvement. He then went to a Chinese medicine doctor who told him to put a piece of ginseng in his mouth. With that, his symptoms were gone.

Why is it that remedies containing numerous ingredients were not able to do as much as a single piece of ginseng?

According to Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, ginseng is “sweet, and slightly cold. Especially good for vital organs.” Modern science can analyze the ingredients in Chinese medicine, but still not reach its true essence. In fact, the essence and ingredients of Chinese medicine are inseparable.

The essence of Chinese medicine refers to the nature of yin and yang (cold, cool, warm, or hot) and its taste (sweet, spicy, salty, acidic, or bitter). Each taste can be further divided by nature and functionality. For example, a sweet taste can remove extravagated blood, improve blood circulation, and improve vital energy.

The nature that ginseng possesses has to do with the environment in which it grows. Wild ginseng typically grows on the slopes of mountains at a height of 1,640–3,600 feet. It is generally found growing in the Changbai Mountains and Xiaoxinganling Mountains in northeast China.

The Chinese character for “mountain” comes from the sign of “gen” in the Eight Trigrams. This sign possesses more yin than yang and corresponds to the cold and shadowy nature of a mountain. Therefore, ginseng has a slightly cold nature. But ginseng grows on the sloped part of a mountain, which is the yang side of a mountain, so ginseng therefore also has a slightly yang nature.

In addition, the gen sign belongs to the element “Earth,” which is slightly sweet, and thus ginseng is slightly to the yang side of sweet. Among our organs, the spleen and stomach belong to the element Earth, which is believed in Chinese medicine to be the root of energy.

Therefore, the yang side of sweetness in ginseng can fortify the yang of the spleen and stomach, thereby sending energy throughout the entire body. This is why other remedies cannot beat the healing effects of ginseng.

Editor’s note: Before taking any herbal treatment, please consult your physician. Due to documented presence of heavy metals in herbs coming from China, it is recommended that the reader avoid consuming herbs grown in China.

Ginseng is traditionally known as the 'wonder of the world' in China. (Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images)

Ginseng has always been shrouded in folklore and magic. Like the rich mountain forests where it grows naturally, it’s use dates way back into the mists of antiquity.

Ginseng is a perennial herb belonging to the genus Panax, which is derived from the Greek word Panakos, or panacea in English, meaning an all-healing remedy.

Both the Asian and American varieties are employed medicinally, sharing the same growth habits and virtually the same appearance, with the only difference being that the Asian variety is larger.

American Ginseng

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is found throughout the deciduous mountain forests of Central and Eastern North America. The first specimens of American ginseng were transported to Europe in 1704.

It should come as no surprise that the North American Indians also knew of and utilized ginseng root for its medicinal qualities. They called it Garantoquen, which translates as "like a man," in reference to its forked root structure, which closely resembles the shape of a man (albeit with the help of a little imagination). Interestingly, the Mandarin name for ginseng, ren shen, shares a similar meaning. In fact, the Chinese character for the “shen” also resembles the shape of the root.

American Indians have a particular method of harvesting the root whereby it is only harvested after the red fruit of the plant has reached maturity. They then bend the stem down to the ground before proceeding to dig the root. This method reportedly increases the germination rate and provides for a greater future yield.

The Sioux Indian women had especially well-developed ways of cleaning and processing ginseng, and were said to collect the finest root of all the tribes.

Asian Ginseng

Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) is found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere and mainly in China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Korea. The Korean and Manchurian species are traditionally considered the most highly prized. Wealthy Chinese will pay up to $200,000 for the vitality-enhancing properties of a premium grade ginseng root.

These highly prized roots are found growing wild in the mountainous regions of Korea and the Changbai and Xiaoxinganling Mountains in China’s northeast. They grow on steep slopes at heights between 500 meters to 1,100 meters above sea level.

Wild ginseng growing in ancient forests with deep loamy soil and moisture-laden air is found to have a much greater potency than ginseng grown commercially out of its natural environment. This bears witness to the fact that the nature a plant possesses is intimately connected to its native environment.

According to Taoist philosophy, ginseng is described as having a slightly cold nature because it grows in the cold and shadowy mountains. It is said to possess more Yin. Ginseng is also slightly Yang since it grows on the mountain slopes, which are considered to be Yang.

Healing Qualities

Of the five elements known in Chinese medicine, ginseng is considered part of the Earth element since its growth habitat is in the mountains. It is slightly sweet in nature.

Each of the five elements has organs that correlate to them. The spleen and stomach belong to the Earth element; therefore, the sweetness in ginseng can fortify the Yang of the spleen and stomach, sending energy throughout the entire body. According to Chinese herbal medicine, a sweet taste can moisten, tone and improve vital energy.

Ginseng is indeed the most highly valued of all herbs by Chinese physicians and its use dates back at least 5,000 years. There are many health benefits attributed to it, leading many Western scientists to ponder how one herb can have such wide-ranging therapeutic uses. The answer to this is relatively simple when we understand what the traditional Chinese physicians knew very well: ginseng’s primary effect in the body is to normalized pituitary gland function.

The pituitary and the thyroid gland regulate the production of other hormones in the body

Sex and adrenal hormones are also regulated by a the pituitary. This may be the reason why ginseng has the reputation for acting as a rejuvenator and maintainer of healthy sexual organs.

The Chinese have a traditional and simple method of using ginseng. A piece of the dried root is kept in one’s pocket as a lifelong habit. When an energy hit is required, whether it be due to illness, fatigue, or when the zest for life starts to dwindle, the root is taken out and a small piece is chewed or used to brew a few pots of tea until vitality is renewed. The root is then left unused in the pocket until it is needed for the next challenge. Herein lies ginseng’s greatest usefulness—as a short-term energy booster.

Westerners seeking to benefit from its qualities should use it in the same way. Those of us with a healthy pituitary gland, who already race through our day with energy and enthusiasm to burn, and who carry no excess weight, will not need ginseng. Those heavier people who move a little slower may benefit from an occasional cup of ginseng tea.

Try a small amount, and if you gain a new outlook on life and have more energy, you may understand why the Chinese called it "wonder of the world."

Editor’s note: Before taking any herbal treatment, please consult your physician. Due to documented presence of heavy metals in herbs coming from China, it is recommended that the reader avoid consuming herbs grown in China.

Sun Simiao (The Epoch Times)

Sun Simiao expressed his belief that medicine is an art of kindness. In his book “Da Yi Jing Chen” (“Sincerity and Devotion of Great Doctors”), he wrote: “When a great doctor treats a patient, he must concentrate, calm down, and be free from desires and pursuits.

He needs to have a compassionate heart and devote himself to freeing patients from illness. If patients come for treatment, whether they are of high or low social status, rich or poor, elderly or young, beautiful or ugly, enemies or relatives, the Han race or other ethnic groups, intelligent or stupid, the doctor should treat them the same as if they were all the doctor’s dear ones. …”

He adopted a holistic approach to treating illnesses. He believed that through skillful nursing and caring for oneself, one could be free from illness. As long as “a good doctor treats the illness with prescriptions and acupuncture, the patient’s illness will be curable, and disasters on the earth will be avoided.” He stressed medical ethics and treated all patients equally. He said, “A human life is precious, and more valuable than one thousand liang of gold.”

Sun Simiao also paid great attention to gynecology and pediatrics. He authored three volumes of “fu ren fang” (gynecology) and two volumes of “shao xiao ying ru fang” (pediatrics), which were placed inside of “Qian Jin Yao Fang.”

“Qian Jin Yao Fang” is the earliest encyclopedia of medical subjects in China. It covers a broad range of categories, from basic medical theories to different clinical subjects, and from theories and methodologies to prescription formulas and drugs. One part of the book covers classical material.

Another part details empirical formulas and prescriptions that were circulated among the populace. This book includes the strong points of different schools and is suitable for people of different educational backgrounds. It is still popular today. It is indeed an asset of traditional Chinese medicine.

By summarizing clinical experiences and prescription formulas from the era of Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Han Dynasty, to that of Sun Simiao, the book demonstrated Sun Simiao’s profound medical knowledge and extraordinary medical skills.

Future generations have called “Qian Jin Fang”—the two books of “Qian Jin Yao Fang” and “Qian Jin Yi Fang”—the ancestor of prescription formulas.

Sun Simiao valued preserving health and actively practiced his values. Because he was good at the art of cultivating health, he lived to over 100 and still enjoyed good vision and hearing when he was old.

He combined ideas of the preservation of health from Confucianism, Taoism, and from India with those of traditional Chinese medicine. He proposed many practical and effective ways to cultivate good health, which even today, guide people’s daily lives.

For example: “One should keep a balanced mindset and not solely pursue recognition and self-interest. Be constrained in food intake, and do not eat or drink too much. Pay attention to the circulation of Qi and blood and do not be lazy and motionless. Live a regular daily life and do not violate the laws of the nature. …”

Sun Simiao was also the first to invent a urethral catheter. According to historical records, one of his patients could not pass urine. Seeing that the patient was in extreme pain, Sun thought, “It is already too late to treat him with medicine. If there was a way to insert a tube into his urethra, the urine could perhaps flow out naturally.”

He saw a neighbor’s child at play blowing on a green onion stem. The green onion stem was very thin, long, and soft. Sun decided to use such a tube and gave it a try. Having chosen a suitable green onion stem, he charred it gently, cut the sharp end off, and then carefully inserted it into the patient’s urethra.

He then blew into the tube once. As expected, the urine flowed out of the tube. The patient’s bloated abdomen gradually became smaller, and the patient’s illness was also cured.

By cultivating morality and virtue and by being talented, Sun Simiao became a great figure, whom common people and medical professionals for several generations have greatly respected.

Sun Simiao was an extraordinary Chinese physician. (The Epoch Times)

Sun Simiao, also called China’s King of Medicine and Heavenly Doctor Sun, was a famous Chinese doctor. He also practiced preserving health through qigong.

Sun was born during the Western Wei Dynasty. Legend has it that he lived for 141 years. Sun decided to learn medicine because, when he was young, he often got sick. He was well-versed in the Chinese classics, history, and the teachings of a hundred schools.

He could memorize thousands of sentences daily at age 7. For his skill of memorizing a daily article of over 1,000 words, he was praised as a sacred child.

At age 20, he could expertly discuss the theories of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi and was also good at Buddhist classics.

Sun refused to become a government official during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Shimin visited him in person.

Sun Simiao made a name for himself for having summarized the clinical experiences and medical theories prior to the Tang Dynasty and compiled them into two medical books, “Qian Jin Yao Fang” (“Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Liang [an ancient Chinese unit of weight] of Gold”) and “Qian Jin Yi Fang” (“Supplement to Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Liang of Gold”). “Qian Jin Yao Fang” consists of 30 volumes and covers 232 medical subjects.

Sun Simiao authored over 80 books during his lifetime. In addition to the above-mentioned books, he wrote “Lao Zi Zhu” (“Notes of Lao Zi”), “Zhuang Zi Zhu” (“Notes of Zhuang Zi”), one volume of “Zhen Zhong Su Shu” (“Book of the Bed”), one volume of “Hui San Jiao Lun,” three volumes of “Fu Lu Lun” (“Of Fortunes and Happiness”), one volume of “She Sheng Zhen Lun” (“Advice of Health Cultivation”), one volume of “Gui Jing” (“Canon of the Tortoise”), and others.

Sun Simiao believed “a human life is extremely precious; more valuable than one thousand liang of gold.” Because of this belief, he titled his book with the two characters “Qian Jin,” which means 1,000 liang of gold. The entire book collected 5,300 prescriptions, covering a wide range that is rich in content.

It is a colossal work of medical science during the Tang Dynasty. It had a great impact on and made significant contributions to medical development, especially prescriptions for later generations. The scholarly text also made contributions to medical advancements in Korea and Japan.

“Qian Jin Yi Fang” also consists of 30 volumes. Sun Simiao wrote it in the later stages of his life. It is a comprehensive supplement to “Qian Jin Yao Fang.”

He divided the book of “Qian Jin Yi Fang” into 189 subjects, covering over 2,900 prescriptions. It describes over 800 medicinal drugs and provides ways of treating febrile diseases, strokes, acne, carbuncles, and miscellaneous diseases.

Next week: Part 2, Sun Simiao's medical ethics and further contributions to medicine.

Read the original Chinese article.

In Anhui, during the Yuan Dynasty, there was an extraordinary physician whose name was Xu Wenzhong.

His father-in-law was a prestigious doctor. He saw that Xu Wenzhong was bright, honest, and studious, so he imparted his knowledge to Xu. Soon, Xu could not only treat patients as well as his father-in-law but also, in many respects, better.

Xu was especially good at acupuncture. He could cure many difficult diseases by only inserting a few needles.

He practiced widely and paid very little attention to money. On one occasion, he traveled to Wu City, where a wealthy man was suffering from very painful rheumatism and could hardly get out of bed. When the wealthy man heard that Xu was in the city, he asked Xu to treat him.

Xu did not give any prescriptions, but inserted a few needles in the patient’s legs. The patient promptly stood up, and he could walk right away. The patient’s family was very happy on seeing this.

Word quickly spread throughout Wu City, and many came to Xu for treatment. Wu City’s officials saw that Xu was an excellent physician and had became well-respected, so they asked him to be a city official. Xu initially refused but later accepted the position.

Shortly after, the governor of Wu City became quite ill, and his doctor recommended Xu. As a result of Xu’s treatment, the governor was cured within two days.

Xu frequently told patients: “I have taught many pupils, but their skills are not as good as mine. It is not because I have some secrets but because they focus only on money and neglect the moral aspects of healing. I have traveled for 40 years, and the patients whom I have treated are countless. However, I never asked them for payment. I only want to do my best in practicing medicine.”

Xu’s medical skills achieved extraordinary results precisely because he held himself to this extraordinary ethical standard. Chinese medicine cannot achieve extraordinary results today due to the lack of such high ethical standards.

Only when one puts aside selfishness and personal gain but tries one’s best to be righteous can a person truly understand the essence of traditional Chinese culture.

Dr. Hu Naiwen (NTDTV)

Many years ago, I had a patient who was in the late stages of liver cancer. He had been declared incurable by doctors of Western medicine and was putting his final hope in a Chinese medical doctor.

My first impression was that his face looked dark, indicating water retention in the stomach.

The book The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, in Chapter 63, “Acupuncturing the Superficial Luo,” states that if a person falls from a height, harmful fluid will stay in the stomach, making the stomach full and leaving one unable to bend forward or backward. This can be cured using herbal tea that facilitates urination and bowel movements.

Because the Jue Yin (liver) and Shao Yin (kidney) meridians are hurt, acupuncturing the Ran Gu point (K2), located on the inner side of the foot, is also effective. This allows blood to be let out of the vein at the Ran Gu point. In addition, the artery on the back of the foot and the Da Dun point (Liv1) on the big toe can be acupunctured to release the blood. The effect is immediate. If the disease is on the right side of the body, acupuncture should be applied to the left foot and vice versa.

Based on this diagnosis, when a person falls and harmful fluid stays in the stomach, the stomach becomes swollen, making it hard to bend down. In the cancer case, the right side of the patient’s liver had severe cancer. Isn’t this very similar to the retention of harmful fluid? I thought I could treat the disease using an herbal prescription to facilitate urination and stools, in combination with acupuncturing the left Ran Gu and Da Dun points to release the fluid.

I followed my treatment plan and gave the patient acupuncture once a week, while also prescribing herbal medicine that calms and nourishes the liver. In eight weeks, the patient and his family came to thank me, as the Western medical doctors at the hospital had examined him and found the cancer gone.

Three days later, a relative of the patient came to see me. She told me that the patient had died. I was shocked and asked what had happened. She said there was a minor car accident. The car was hardly damaged, and no other passengers were injured. The patient himself didn’t have any obvious injuries, either, but he died soon after.

When the patient first came to see me, and during the course of his treatments, I consistently told him that serious illnesses are caused by karma accumulated in the past. I also suggested that if he wanted to have the disease cured, he should study an advanced qigong cultivation practice in the Buddha School in order to eliminate the karma that has been accumulating from lifetime after lifetime.

He only laughed and didn’t take it seriously. He thought that the karma and cultivation practice that I told him about had nothing to do with his situation, and he didn’t consider my suggestion at all.

Actually, curing illnesses is just postponing the tribulation to a later time. The karma itself is untouched. The patient didn’t take the precious opportunity to begin the journey of cultivation. Instead, his life was taken away at such a young age. I felt truly sorry for him.

Source: en.secretchina.com/health_science/3531.html

Traditional Chinese medicine uses wolfberry to treat problems related to the liver, the kidneys, and impotence. It is said to promote longevity. (Jan Jekielek/The Epoch Times)

Wolfberry (goji fruit) can be used to nourish a weak body, improve vision, and promote longevity. There are many legends associated with wolfberry.

A famous Chinese physician, Li Shizhen (1518–1593) who lived during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) compiled the Great Compendium of Herbs, also known as Compendium of Materia Medica, which stated, "The Bao Shou herb store recorded an elixir that promotes longevity. A bizarre barefooted man named Zhang passed the formula of this elixir to an elderly person in Yi Shi County, who followed the recipe and lived over a hundred years. The elderly man could walk extremely fast, as if he was floating. His gray hair turned black again. His aged teeth were replaced with new ones. He was very virile in the bedroom. The herb is mellow and can be taken often to eliminate excessive heat in the body, and will also improve vision."

Wolfberry is sweet and soothing. It nourishes the kidneys and liver, benefits the lungs, and improves vision. Traditional Chinese medicine uses wolfberry to treat problems related to liver, kidneys and impotency, as well as muscle aches in the waist and knees, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, excess tears, fatigue, coughs, thirst, and seminal emissions.

An ancient tale states that in the prime of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), a caravan on the Silk Road stopped for a rest at an inn and noticed a young lady reprimanding and whipping an old man. A merchant approached them and asked the young lady, "For what reason are you assaulting and abusing this elderly person?"

The lady replied, "I am disciplining my great-grandson. It is none of your business."

Everyone at the scene was shocked by her reply. Further inquiries revealed that the lady was over three hundred years old! The old person was being punished because he refused to take a type of herb and had started to age.
Amazed at the magic of the herb, the merchant bowed to the lady with respect and asked, "May I be so bold as to ask the lady what type of magical herb do you take?" The lady replied, "This herb has five names. You want to take a different part of the herb each season. In spring you take its leaves, which is known as the essence of heaven herb. In summer you take its flowers, which is known as the longevity herb. In autumn you take its fruits, which is known as wolfberry. In winter you take the bark of its roots, which is known as the skin and bone of the earth, or the staff of the deities. Taking these four parts in the four seasons respectively, will give you a life as lofty as heaven and earth."

Later, wolfberry was introduced to the Middle East and Western countries. It was eulogized as the divine herb from the East.

There are also modern endorsements for wolfberry. In the fifties, the Domestic and Foreign magazine in China reported the story of Li Qingyun, in Sichuan Province, who died at the age of 250 years in 1930. As part of his own account Li said, "When I was 139 years old, and before I met my master, I could still walk and do the power walk, as if I practiced Chinese martial arts. As a result some people thought I might be a deity or an accomplished swordsman.

"At the time I thought it was really amusing. I think the reason that I have lived this long and am still perpetually healthy is because nothing has irritated me since I was 40 years old. Because of that, my heart is very calm, peaceful, and divinely tranquil. That is why I am free from any illness, and always healthy and happy. At the age of 50, when I went on a mountain to collect herbs, I met an elderly man living on a secluded mountain, who appeared to be somewhat supernormal. He took big strides when he walked, as if he was floating on air. No matter how hard I tried, I could not keep up with him.

"Later, I met him again. I knelt before him and begged for his secret. He gave me some wild fruits and said, 'My only secret is that I only eat these fruits.' I took the fruits, and found that they were wolfberries. Since then I consumed three qian [the weight used to measure Chinese medicine. One qian is equal to 0.18 ounces] of wolfberries daily. From then on I became healthy and agile. I can walk a hundred li [1 li equals 0.31 miles] and not feel tired. I became better in strength and stamina than an average person."

Under normal circumstances, disease can be healed not only by medicine but also by listening to good music, enjoying good art, and participating in moderate physical activity. People can also be changed for the better by watching a performance that has good dancing and music.
 
Shen Yun performances have very good effects. There are thought-provoking stories, such as those of justice and filial piety. They portray God's and Buddha's kind deeds, and they portray the results arising from people's kind thoughts. On seeing these performances, a sense of compassion may arise in the hearts of audience members. That would produce favorable physical, physiological, and psychological effects.

When audience members hear good music, they may become healthy. Chinese traditional music has the principle of the five tonalities, which are called “gong,” “jiao,” “shang,” “zheng,” and “yu.” The tonalities correspond to the five organ systems of the human body: the liver, the heart, the spleen, the lungs, and the kidneys. Wherever people are sick, the effects of music can heal them. 

In other words, people witnessing such a good performance will hear the various tonalities of music, and their organs will become balanced.

While watching a Shen Yun performance, people know that what they are seeing and hearing is unlike any other show. As a result of the dancing and the music, their bodies can adjust themselves, and they will become healthier.
 
I have read the experiences of many viewers, and several people's diseases have diminished or even disappeared as a result of watching a Shen Yun show.

Shen Yun shows are performed in world-class theaters where people can feel a good atmosphere. Illness or other problems can be released while enjoying good performances and good music, resulting in a healthier state.

Dr. Hu Naiwen began his medical education in modern medicine and subsequently moved over to traditional Chinese medicine.