The 8 Branches Of Asian Medicine
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
The 8 Branches of Asian (Chinese) medicine is a list of practices to create a strong foundation of holistic health and living, and preventative medicine in one’s life. This is a literal hierarchy of willful creation of awareness and cultivation of skills for living well. These principles can be applied to all aspects of life from nutrition and physical ailments to making life decisions and interacting with others.
As a cornerstone of my practice, I focus heavily on teaching these principles. How do we care for ourselves? And by extension, how do we live in the world and engage with others?
1 – Meditation – By meditating we are able to connect with the deepest aspects of our being, and therefore be able to engage in our lives with greater purpose and direction. It provides the opportunity for deep introspection, creates connection with life and greater space within ourselves. Truly, this is the first step in answering the 3 major questions.
Who am I?
Why am I here?
How shall I live?
Regular meditation also has innumerable physical benefits such as lowering blood pressure and helping to manage emotions. It is not uncommon in our culture to hear people say they have tried meditation and simply ‘can’t do it.’
I’ll call BS here. First, let’s look at the self defeating narrative. Please use the term ‘can’t’ only for that which you can not change – like who your birth mother is or your ethnicity. Applying the term to things that can change leads to you restricting your own potential. The practice of meditation is simply that – something that you need to continue to practice. Sitting in stillness for 15 minutes a day of focused breathing is a fantastic start. Though there are many forms of meditation I use two main forms – meditation with seed like focusing your thoughts on your breath or a candle, and meditation without seed – sit still, focus on nothing. The thoughts and emotions that flow in and out of your awareness are merely the weather, just let them float on by, in time you slip out of time. Again, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of meditation in one’s life. Begin again if you’ve dropped it. Seek out guidance if you’ve never tried it.
2 – Exercise – Appropriate exercise is a key to maintaining body and mind health. A lack of exercise or over exercising is detrimental to overall health. Finding the correct exercise (or combination of exercises) takes into consideration your age, gender, constitution, and your current state of health. Yang (very active exercise) like vigorous martial arts, power yoga, marathon running and mountain biking, may be appropriate for a person with a strong constitution and physical strength. Yin (restorative and calming exercise) like restorative yoga, and gentle Qi gong or T’ai Qi are great for those needing to replenish, stretch, and deeply nourish. For the overall healthy individual you need a little a bit of both, but for someone recovering from serious illness, gentle Yin activity is the start. For the person with collapsed Yang (chronic fatigue, exhaustion, post viral syndrome) needs to start very gently and slowly build – no boot camp style workouts, please. Seek guidance if you are unsure of what type and level of exercise may be beneficial for you. Walking is a great start.
3 – Nutrition and Tonic Herbs & Foods – How we nourish ourselves is a direct reflection of our state of consciousness and willingness to nourish ourselves at the deepest of levels. Here we are not treating acute disharmonies, rather we are flowing with the seasons and their bounties, and awareness of our state and stages of life. It’s not just what we eat that is important, our state of mind and habits around what we eat are equally important to our ability to transform food into vital energies. Choosing foods vibrant in Qi, that are mostly local, organic, sustainable and seasonally appropriate sustain not just our bodies but support our communities and our planet. When I first started this line of work, I was highly aware of the issues surrounding our culture’s practices of food growth, production and management. In the last 30 years, this has reached a crucial point for our world. Personally, I try to eat local, organic, seasonal, and sustainable whenever possible. It influences the recipes. I share and the recommendations I make for healing with foods and herbs. I encourage it even more as my ethics and integrity will not allow me to overlook the issues facing our world and this awareness is reflected in my recommendations and considerations for clients.
4 – Astrology – Know who you are. Stars aside, knowing what makes you tick is key to learning how to live with joy and vitality. Astrology here refers to understanding your nature from both the physical and spiritual nature. Evolving and self improvement through education, guidance, spiritual enrichment and self-exploration fall into this category too. Where do you start to learn yourself? Meditation and contemplation. The homework I give students and clients are 3 questions to help get you rolling. Who am I? Why am I here? How shall I live?
5 – Geomancy – Know where you are. Geomancy, including feng shui, refers to your place in the world. Not just your physical location, but your work environment and your relationships. Do they support your life, personality, goals and values or do they create excessive tension and stagnation that hinders growth? Perhaps you should move your desk around or maybe you need to move cities or countries. This category is considered frivolous by some. While this can be true for some, like all things there are levels of nuance from the subtle to the gross. From having the luxury to move to a new home that suits your needs to having to pack up and migrate for socioeconomic and environmental reasons.
6 – Bodywork – Before there were acupuncture needles (or bones) there was bodywork. Least invasive of the 3 major limbs of Asian medicine (bodywork, acupuncture, herbs) bodywork moves the Qi, stimulates the immune system, calms the nervous system—and so much more. Ideally, bodywork forms including Amma therapy are used as preventative medicine. Aiding the client in maintaining health through treatment, lifestyle and nutritional recommendations. But Asian medicine is not limited to prevention. It shines with treating acute and chronic conditions as well. Amma therapy, is a unique form of bodywork that utilizes the meridians of Qi in the body and pressure to points based on what the client has going on and what the practitioner assesses through tongue, pulse and other Asian medicine observation tools.
7 – Medicinal Herbs & Foods – We have to use a little nuance here to understand the difference between this category of food and herbs and #3. In this category we are talking about using out herbs and foods, often of strong clearing natures, to treat specific illness or conditions, for short periods of time. Nearly every culture has some form of its own herbal medicine and medicinal foods. The study of Asian (Chinese) herbs is highly refined and a lifelong study. Ideally, tonic herbs and foods are to be used in times of wellness to strengthen and maintain. Is it time for you to start that Gan Mao Ling formula and drink strong citrus peel tea and ginger to fight off the cold?
8 – Acupuncture – Acupuncture inserts hair fine needles into specific points along channels of Qi in the body. The acupuncturist chooses these points based on assessment from tongue, pulse and other methods to treat the individual needs. Both powerful and gentle, acupuncture can be used to move stubborn blockages of Qi and pain and/or used to treat psycho spiritual imbalances.
Be Well!
April
