The Tao of Medicine
The Tao of medicine is the quest for a healthy longevity. Learn how to make natural health and healing an enjoyable way of life.
The Search of the Ages
The world’s oldest, safest, most comprehensive system of medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine focuses more on health rather than on disease. The ancient Taoist masters who developed Traditional Chinese medicine were on a quest to find the secrets of healthy longevity and the vigorous energy of youth. The Center for Disease Control estimate that 88% of population over 65 have at least one chronic condition that they battle with on daily basis. TCM offers a gentle and safe option to alleviate and prevent many of these health problems, such as chronic pain, depression, arthritis, memory loss, heart problems, diabetes, osteoporosis, insomnia, bladder and kidney problems, impotence, and many more. TCM encompasses a variety of preventive techniques that can help. Traditional therapies such as acupuncture and massage; Chinese herbal medicine; and exercises like tai chi and qi gong are ideal for aging bodies.
Chinese Medicine is Prevention
"The sages of antiquity did not treat those who were already sick, but those who were not sick. When a disease has already broken out and is only then treated, would that not be just as late as to wait for thirst before digging a well, or to wait to go into battle before casting weapons?" (Nei Jing)
Traditional Chinese doctors were rewarded for preventing disease, and punished for allowing their patients to get sick. In the modern world if no one got sick, most of our health care industry would quickly go out of business. If a Chinese doctor became the Emperor's personal physician or doctor to an aristocratic family and someone got sick, the doctor could end up executed. To the physician in China preventive medicine was a matter of life and death!
Sound Science and Ancient Wisdom
Over 10,000 Western doctors now use acupuncture themselves, simply because it is safe and it works! According to research in the journal Health Services Research, 76 percent of health care workers including doctors and nurses reported using practitioner-based alternative medicine for their own health care. The best scientific review study on acupuncture for the treatment of pain done to date and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine included 29 high quality, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for chronic pain on a total of 17,922 patients. The review found acupuncture to be effective for the treatment of chronic pain and indicated that acupuncture is more than just a placebo and is a reasonable referral option for patients with chronic pain. Using acupuncture anesthesia for surgery being the best example of acupuncture’s efficacy in the treatment of pain (see video).
Western medicine works well in the case of emergencies (you don't call your herbalist if you get hit by a bus), it doesn’t work so good when it comes to prevention, chronic disease, pain, and in addressing the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of an individual. These are precisely the areas where Traditional Chinese Medicine excels.