Traditional Chinese Medicine For Beginners

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-When you think of the term
traditional Chinese medicine,

what probably comes to mind

Or maybe you have a friend
going to a local acupuncturist

for in vitro, or something like that,

or for physical pain.

But bigger than acupuncture

is a system
called traditional Chinese medicine

that's been practiced
for thousands of years

and is an incredibly rich,

both philosophical
and clinical natural science.

In this video, I want
to share the first in the series

behind what
is traditional Chinese medicine.

Hey, I'm Doctor Alex Heyne,

author of the health book
"Master of the Day".

I'm also a licensed acupuncturist

and have a doctorate
in Chinese medicine.

I've also included two very
important links beneath this video.

The first down below there

is for a free guide for daily rituals

that can help you add years
to your life

with traditional Chinese medicine.

And the second is a link

if you'd like to become a patron,

either locally or via telemedicine.

You can find that down there below
as well.

Now, Chinese medicine
is a natural science

dating back thousands a
nd thousands of years.

Ancient Chinese physicians,
philosophers,

and often even mystics or sages

were interested
in describing all of the cosmos

through these universal principles.

So almost like how Einstein
spent his life

looking for those one unifying,

that one unified field theory,

or how Nikola Tesla
was trying to understand

these various laws of the universe.

These ancient naturalists and physicians

were trying to do the exact same.

For example, all ancient people,

not only in China but outside of China,

made close observations

between the relationship
between astronomy,

cosmology and the seasons,

and it was obvious
that certain stars were present

at certain times of the year,

or even that certain seasons
had certain illnesses

that were more common
during that season.

A lot of these connections
meant life or death

for these agrarian societies.

Harvesting crops, when to plant,

the kind of animals
that would be available,

as well as for hunter-gatherers.

Now in the Yijing, the Book of Change
or the Book of Changes,

Dr. Heiner Fruehauf says
when describing the characters

that the character "yi," change,

was originally a pictogram
of the sun and the moon,

while the character "jing"

means both "universal path"

and "classic,"

depicting the warp
and woof of their movements.

So the ancient Chinese observed
and believed

that these macrocosmic forces influenced

or maybe even created
the way our daily lives played out.

And so it was important,
it was essential,

to understand these macro

or maybe these invisible laws
of the universe.

So tools like the Yijing,
the Book of Change or Book of Changes,

were used to establish what
are the many different possibilities

that could end up happening
so that I can live a harmonious life.

And it continues with a quote
from Stephen Hawking.

He said that he once described
the science of quantum mechanics

in that it never
predicts a single definite result

for an observation.

Instead, it predicts a number
of different possible outcomes

and tells us how likely
each of these it is.

The second very important concept here

is that when it comes to medicine

and the human life in between,

in order to stay healthy
and live a long life,

we need to live in harmony
with these natural laws

and these natural principles.

For example,
in chapter 25 of the Daodejing,

it says that, "human beings
follow the laws of the earth.

"The earth follows the laws of heaven.

"Heaven follows the laws of the Dao,

and the Dao just is."

So from these philosophies

came the idea of aligning oneself

with these guiding laws of the universe.

And this became one
of the other foundational concepts,

which is yin yang theory,

which is balancing ourselves

or counterbalancing ourself

with not only the laws of the cosmos

and cosmology and the seasons,

but also the microcosm,

which is within the human body,

and balancing all these various factors

and imbalances that can come up.

And in one of our most important
medical texts, an ancient text

called the Huangdi Neijing,

for example, look at some
of the first chapters

and the topics that they cover.

Neijing chapter 1
describes a mythical dialog

where the Yellow Emperor
asks a physician, Qíbó,

why did the people in ancient times

used to live
to be a hundred, but be stronger?

And yet now by 50, they
are already old and worn out?

And he goes on
to describe yin yang theory,

lifestyle practices,
and methods of longevity.

Now in the second chapter
of the Huangdi Neijing,

in this chapter
it describes how to regulate oneself

and one's affairs,

how to live,
and how to adjust our lifestyle

based on the four seasons.

So these periods
of changing yin and yang

indicate natural periods
where we should align our own lives

with what nature
is already doing for proper health.

The third chapter of the Neijing

talks about the origin
of what's called "yangsheng,"

or nourishing life
or preventative medicine,

and this is all about the concepts
of balancing yin and yang,

and not in an abstract sense,

but in a pragmatic, practical sense,

like balancing work and rest.

Or if you have certain disease patterns

or organs that are weak,

what flavors to eat to counterbalance

that pathological process.

And then it goes on
to describe pathological factors

in our environment that make us sick.

And finally, the fourth chapter
of the Neijing.

This chapter goes on
to describe the relationship

between climate and seasons
and the correlation

between various illnesses humans
are susceptible to,

people are susceptible to
during those seasons.

It describes how these affect the yin
and the yang of the body,

and how certain illnesses
are more likely to show up.

And then it even shows the relationship

between our five essential organs,

you could think of them
as the "solid organs,"

and their relationships
to the resonance of that season.

One final thing worth mentioning here

is that another distinct feature
of Chinese medicine

is what most people mentally
associate with acupuncture,

which is the meridian
or channel system, acupuncture,

and the use of the concepts
called the five phases.

Now the channels
are related to a concept

called organ manifestation theory,

which, as some people have translated,

these mean that the inner state
of physiology and the organs

reflect themselves on the channels

or in external signs
and symptoms in the body.

For example, a patient
with gallbladder disease

may have referral pain up
into the shoulder

or up into the neck area.

Now, ancient people observed this link

between gallbladder disease
and some weird pain up here.

I would say most practitioners today

would say that that is referral pain

from the phrenic nerve
that goes up to this area.

Ancient people may not have
been aware of that nerve,

but they knew that for some reason,

the gallbladder channel
goes to this area.

Now you can treat a gallbladder issue

on the gallbladder channel,

or you can treat it through channels

that seem seemingly unrelated.

And that's also based
on these relationships

between certain organs
in Chinese medicine.

Five phase theory
is also another theory

closely tied
to ancient Chinese medicine,

where each organ in the body

is associated with a certain phase,

certain season of the year,

and even certain pathologies.

So, for example, placing the lung

within metal
and also the season of fall;

this seems abstract
until you realize the correlation

between people with asthma

having more issues going into the fall,

as well as for many people
in the temperate climates,

that fall equinox is the transition

between the summer
and the colder seasons, the drier times,

and that's frequently one
of the first times

where the first round of cold
goes around.

So some of these
were just clinical observations

based on observing patterns in nature,

and they ended up
becoming a systematic method

of how everything relates.

So again, the organs and how they relate

and nature and how the seasons relate.

Now that is a very brief
or maybe long winded introduction

to what traditional Chinese medicine
really is.

Some distinguishing unique features,
and a bit of the history

and the philosophy
of where it comes from.

In the next video in this series,
we are going to continue

through this "what is
traditional Chinese medicine" roadmap.

Again, if you'd like to stay in touch,

check out the first link
below this video

for the free guide for daily rituals

that can add years to your life,

and if you'd like
to become a patron of mine locally

or online via telemedicine,

you can check it out
below this video as well.

Before you go,
check out two related videos

on this topic right here.

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