The human being is a complex whole. Maintaining your balance depends on a healthy lifestyle, both psychological and physiological, but also depends on many other factors. As Eastern philosophies have taught for millennia, everything in the universe is interconnected. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a way of seeing the universe and its interrelationships. It can become a tool for getting to know each other better. And, who knows, help to achieve this harmony to which the human being aspires.

A few thousand years old, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a “system”, that is to say a set of theories (explanations) and practices (techniques) concerning humans and their health. Its relative complexity, for Westerners, is mainly due to the following facts:

• It has its own philosophical and symbolic basis.
• She sees the body, the heart and the spirit as a whole.
• It developed not by dissecting the dead, but by observing the living. Therefore, nothing is seen as static.
• It considers the phenomena not in themselves, but on the basis of the relations between them. Therefore, the health of an organ or a person depends on multiple factors which are all interrelated.
• It uses several common terms in a different sense from what we usually hear in the West.

The general principle: harmony

Traditional Chinese Medicine aims first to maintain the harmony of energy inside the body as well as between the body and the external elements. Health is linked to the body’s ability to maintain the dynamics necessary to face aggression. On the other hand, the disease manifests itself when the organism has lost its capacity to adapt.

Each individual has a particular constitution where the different elements interact, according to a balance that is specific to him. This is called the terrain. In two people, the same symptom (headache or difficulty digesting, for example) is not, a priori, the same cause, but an imbalance specific to each of them.

In order for health to be maintained, harmony must reside in each of the elements of the whole, as well as between the various elements. And on all levels: in each of the organs of the individual, and between these organs; within the individual, and between the individual and his environment. TCM does not treat the symptoms (as mechanistic medicine would), but the person, holistically.

The different practices of Chinese medicine

To ensure well-being in humans, Traditional Chinese Medicine uses 5 main practices. Each is presented in more detail in our fact sheets.

• acupuncture
• Chinese pharmacopoeia (medicinal herbs)
• Chinese dietetics
• Le massage Tui Na
• Energy exercises: Qi Gong, tai chi

People trained in the 5 practices have the title of Doctor of Chinese Medicine. Only trained in one or a few of these practices, they have a specific title, acupuncturist, herbalist, etc.

The balance is never static, but constantly in motion between the two opposing, complementary and interdependent forces that are Yin and Yang (represented in the symbol of Tao).

Yin represents forces of the passive type, shade, cold, depth, humidity, etc. Yang refers to forces of the active type, light, heat, surface, drought, etc. Since a garden needs rain (Yin) as much as it needs sun (Yang), all organisms need both forces. Yin and Yang are always in a dynamic relationship: when one grows, the other decreases. In all natural cycles, Yin and Yang follow each other without ceasing, as day follows night, action at rest, inspiration on expiration and vice versa.

In a healthy individual, the movements of Yin and Yang are harmonious. But when one weakens or misses, the other takes over and manifests itself through its own symptoms. A lack of Yang, for example, results in a pale complexion, chilliness, loose stools (pallor, coldness, sluggishness being Yin characteristics).

Let us mention that, according to Chinese thought, the principles of Yin and Yang are found both in nature (water / fire, night / day, contraction / expansion, etc.), and in anatomy (internal / external, Liver / Heart, left / right, etc.) and in physiology (female / male, structure / function, descent / rise, etc.).

It is also important to know that for Traditional Chinese Medicine, the organs and the elements represent phenomena which go beyond the sole function that we recognize in our anatomy and our traditional thought; that is why they are written with a capital letter.

According to the Chinese view, which is both symbolic and practical, everything in the universe is moved by a fundamental force, an energy called Qi (pronounced tchi). It is Qi that circulates electrons in atoms. It allows cells to multiply, plants and living things to grow. It also animates the movement of the wind and the stars. You can’t see or touch it. As is the case with electricity, one can only perceive its effects. In humans, Qi supports both body and mind functions: walking, digesting, thinking, feeling are all manifestations.

This continuous energy flow circulates throughout the body by means of an intangible, yet precise, network of pathways called meridians. On the path of the meridians are points of the skin, called acupuncture points, from which the flow can be regulated.

When the Qi is in sufficient quantity and circulates well, the organism is healthy, the thinking clear and the reflexes sharp. When it stagnates, is constrained or blocked, one feels weak, heavy and without vitality. Qi can be disturbed by several factors, internal or external.

In any phenomenon, the alternation between the Yin state and the Yang state does not happen instantaneously, but through a constant process of transformation. The Chinese have identified 5 key phases (called movements) in this process. Each of the 5 movements has its own energy of growth or decrease; it is also named after an element. When a phenomenon leaves Yin to enter Yang, it is the movement of birth, dawn, spring, awakening, identified by Wood. At the top of the Yang, it is the entry into adulthood (Fire). Then come ripening (Earth) and aging (Metal). With death (Water), the phenomenon is found again in Yin.

The 5 movements come to life in a precise order, according to the principle of generation: Water generates Wood, which generates Fire, which generates Earth, which generates Metal, which generates Water. As for the principle of control, it works in the same direction, but not linearly: Water controls Fire, which controls Metal, which controls Wood, which controls Earth, which controls Water. The cycles of generation and control together form a balanced system. It is used to classify all natural phenomena, but also to study human tissues and the relationships of elements between them.

The theory of 5 movements also applies to a person’s temperament, to his own behavioral dynamics. Wood temperaments, for example, possess expansive energy and are stimulated by challenge and action. They are nourished by the Water types, and nourishing for the Fire types, but easily clash with the Earth and Metal types. As is the case with any other system of classification of temperaments, no individual corresponds to a pure type. It is a bit of everyone, in a particular balance, with a more or less accentuated predominance. To find out what your “Chinese temperament” is, take our Are you Metal, Earth, Fire, Wood or Water? Test.

If the main objective of Traditional Chinese Medicine is to maintain health and prevent disease, it also makes it possible to treat most health problems (occasional or chronic), including skin, musculoskeletal, neurological, digestive and respiratory disorders, genital, hormonal, as well as certain infections and emotional problems.

An exhaustive review of the scientific literature shows that Traditional Chinese Medicine is a coherent health system, but very different from the Western system.

In 2009, researchers identified all Cochrane systematic reviews (examining medical interventions made from controlled and randomized trials) published on Traditional Chinese Medicine1. Seventy reviews have been carried out in recent years, including 26 on acupuncture, 42 on pharmacopoeia, one on tai chi and one on moxibustion. According to the authors, the results of most of these systematic reviews are inconclusive, mainly due to flawed methodologies. However, they mention that a few reviews have provided preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in certain populations. They underline the importance and relevance of carrying out more in-depth research.

However, there are several specific clinical studies, of varying quality, on the specific therapeutic applications of each of the branches of TCM2 (acupuncture, Chinese dietetics, Tui Na massage, Chinese pharmacopoeia and energy exercises – tai chi and Qi Gong). The most commonly assessed problems are constipation3, type 24 diabetes, dementia5, attention deficit disorder6, epilepsy7, cardiovascular disease8, endometriosis9, depression10, and bowel syndrome irritable 11.

Traditional Chinese Medicine sees disease first and foremost as the result of an imbalance: imbalance between the fundamental Yin and Yang principles, blood or Qi energy, emptiness or fullness of an element, disruption of the cycle of the 5 elements …

Its therapeutic efficacy results from its ability to regulate these imbalances, without treating the disease as a symptom to be eliminated. It heals the Whole, the human being as a whole, rather than treating locally. This is what makes its strength.

The patient usually comes monthly, or at least at the change of seasons to balance the energies. This makes it possible to maintain and strengthen its land. On an acute problem, I could give close sessions at a rate of 2 or 3 days between each.

In practice, I commonly use it on the 3 levels of the human being:

• Physical: locomotor (including local pain), hormonal, digestive
• Emotional: stress, anxiety, anxiety; Dependencies
• Psyche: difficulty overcoming an event, accompanying chemotherapy, atypical symptoms

Sometimes the symptom is not classic, it is not recognized by Western medicine (for example: feeling of heat but the skin is cold to the touch). This generally directs me immediately towards Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in particular through the reading of ancient texts.