Classical Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medicine
Yesterday, a woman called my office and asked me to tell her about “my program” for a particular problem. This is a common and understandable question in a time when “evidence based medicine” is prevalent, and people expect there to be a proven, standardized approach for their symptoms or illness. While this approach has value […]
Decoctions (tang) are one of the primary methods of administering Chinese herbal medicine. Making a decoction involves boiling herbal ingredients together until a strong medicinal liquid is created. In modern times, another method of making a decoction is to use herbs that have been previously decocted (boiled) and formed into dried, concentrated extract granules. These […]
Chinese medicine describes 12 primary organs and bowels, that form the basis of our physiology. Each solid organ (zang) is paired with an associated hollow bowel (fu), and these are categorized according to elemental quality. The Kidneys and Bladder are part of the Water element in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine describes the functions of each […]
To act in accord with one’s nature is called the Dao. –Psychology and Self-Cultivation in Early Taoistic Thought, by Harold Roth The highest level of healing in Chinese medicine is to make contact and act in accord with one’s nature. This article discusses the role of dreams and dream therapy in this endeavor. In my […]
Painful menstruation is a common complaint, and one that causes many women to seek treatment with Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine – both acupuncture and Chinese herbs – effectively treats painful menstruation. There are myriad pathomechanisms that result in painful menstruation. There will by definition always be Qi and possibly Blood stasis, according to the Chinese […]
The cycle of seasonal nodes is one of the easiest to understand and accessible systems of Chinese Cosmology. This cycle is relatively consistent with regard to the Western calendrical dates on which they occur, varying only one day in either direction each year. They are tied to the astrological constants of solstices and equinoxes. According […]