Wellness East & West. Kathleen F. Phalen

healing considers the whole person and his or her relationship to the universe and all living and spiritual things. Although Oriental medicine is grounded in Chinese culture, there are variations in methods and therapies throughout Asian countries. Many of these most ancient approaches to health—acupuncture, herbalism, acupressure, qigong, and Oriental massage—are widely used throughout the world today. Many of the world's healing practices borrow or refine on the traditions of Oriental practitioners.

      By the beginning of the Han dynasty, Oriental medicine was already a well-documented and practiced form of medical care. As the Han era ended, Chinese medicine was promoting prevention, diet, and the concept that medical practices should be judged by patient results. Chinese thought and practice continued to evolve through the Middle Ages and Western Europe's Renaissance, but during the colonial times, contact with Westerners pushed Oriental medicine into folk and religious realms. And it wasn't until the Communist regime of the People's Republic of China gave Oriental medicine credence that Chinese medicine experienced a resurgence and renewed growth. Since 1949 medical training, research, and advances in Oriental medicine have been great.

      There are currently about 6,500 acupuncture practitioners and 1,600 practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese massage in the United States. As acceptance of these modes of treatment grows, so does the number of practitioners. At this time, licensing varies by state; New Mexico is the most progressive, in that acupuncturists have a legal scope to practice that is similar to that of a primary care physician.

      THE CONVENTIONAL WESTERN MODEL:

       YOUR BODY AS A FINELY TUNED MACHINE

      The eclectic blend of Native American, African, Eastern, and European traditions, all of which claimed a piece of this country's soil in colonial and postcolonial America, eventually were all but replaced by Western biomedicine, which continues to dominate our health care options today. Although Hippocrates saw medicine as involving the whole person—including diet, lifestyle, and environment—the discovery of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi led to the germ theory of disease which changed the way doctors looked at diagnosis. By the time of the American Industrial Revolution, Western doctors had developed new theories about the body and ways to repair it. Other medical traditions and modes were marginalized. Western medicine has evolved into a mechanistic discipline made up of doctors specializing in one bodily system or another and concentrating on using machines and drugs to treat symptoms, rather than seeing the disease as an imbalance in the whole organism. Just like factory managers, physicians began to value the importance of fixing parts and keeping our bodies working like finely oiled machines. From the late nineteenth century, biomedicine evolved quickly.

      Principles of Chinese Medicine

      THE SIX EVIL QI, THE SEVEN PASSIONS, AND THE FIVE ELEMENTS