Chinese+Medicine


 * Mind-Body Medicine**

Herbal Medicine By:Taylor

There are many ways to try and heal someone, one tradition is very common in the Chinese Culture. Some people do not believe in the fact that twigs, flowers,and herbs could heal someone, but the Chinese strongly believe in Herbal Medicine. Herbal Medicine is an ancient Chinese method that is the art of combining different types of medical herbs. There are three different methods: the four natures, the five tastes, and the meridians. The practice behind herbal medicine is much more complex than people think, because there are many different types of herbs used. Herbal Medicine The four natures is the first method in herbal medicine. The four natures come from the four seasons. The four different seasons are so different yet they are all beautiful. You combine many different type of herbs such as a hot herb with one that would make you cold. " The four natures also consists from yin and yang also known as the yin yang sign. Yang is the hot you need and yin is the cold. Everyone needs a balance." (Adams) Yin-Yang Sign The five tastes is the second group that has to deal with herbal medicine. These tastes were founded by a chinese doctor named Ehuag who dedicated his life to the study of medicine. "The five tastes are pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty." ( V. E. Tyler) They use these different tastes to figure out what type of sickness or disease you have. They are sorted and then your treatment is placed. If someone was having heat rashes spread throughout their body a doctor would apply the pungent sense. The most common thing a doctor would do if they had a patient with this would be to apply the herb called Calendula or borage. Calendula (Borage) The third group that has to do with herbal medicine is the meridians. The Chinese discovered and identified twelve acupuncture meridians where the energy travels in the human body. Meridians also have to do with yin and yang like the four natures. The meridian technique has may different techniques to it. " The meridian cycle you can use the study of acupuncture, the meridian wheel, the meridian body clock, and the movement of Ch'i" (Kerrie Broe) The meridian clock, wheel, and movement of Ch'i all connect together. The Chinese saying is that the movement of Ch'i follows a daily routine. The routine is known as a daily clock-like-pattern. Which makes herbal medicine easier to follow, with this clock and wheel people that are not professionals in herbal medicine can figure out which herbs and spices goes with whatever disease or symptoms the patient has. Meridian Wheel body clock Body Clock For centuries Chinese have been using these techniques to heal the body,soul and mind. The four natures, five tastes, and the meridians are the three most commonly used methods when practicing Herbal Medicine, but they are not the only three used. Even though the practice of medicine is becoming for advanced, Herbal Medicine is still used in China today.

By Mee Hye 

When you are running, do you get cramps in your sides? Sometimes, they hurt so bad that you have to stop running. Surprisingly, the cramps in your side aren't really there, it's just your brain sending messages to your body. Your brain sends these messages to protect you, so that you don't hurt yourself. In China, doctors tried to heal sick people by helping them to use their brain to tell their body that they didn't feel any pain. This way of healing someone is called mind-body medicine, where you think very hard, and relax, and try to imagine that the pain you are feeling is not really there. Mind-body medicine has been around for hundreds of years, it was first discovered in China. Mind-body medicine can be performed by thinking very hard that you are not in pain, and eventually, your brain will believe you, and you won't be in pain anymore.

Mind-body medicine has existed for many years, but it was first founded in China. Old Chinese doctors would treat their patients by helping them to believe that the pain that they were feeling was not really there. They would help that person to tap into their mind and change the way that they thought so that they wouldn't be in pain anymore.

There are many ways that you can try and do mind-body medicine. One of these ways is to relax, be alone in a very quiet room, lay down with your eyes closed, and focus very hard. You need to think about your body, and think about the part that hurts, and imagine that it doesn't hurt, and keep thinking that. If you think hard enough, it is believed, that the pain will not be there anymore.

Mind-body medicine is still used today, so if you wanted to, you could even do it too! If one day your stomach starts to hurt, just lay down on your bed, close youe eyes, and imagine that it doesn't hurt, and maybe, with the help of mind body medicine, the pain will go away! Mind-body medicine is a great way to save money, because you don't have to pay the bills for the hospital. Mind-body medicine is not guaranteed to work, but it's worth a try! So the next time that your stomach hurts or you slip and fall, try to use mind-body medicine!

By Sungho**
 * Acupuncture

Imagine a medicine that gives pain relief by puncturing needles into the body. This is called acupuncture. Acupuncture is a unique medical operation because it does not have a medical or scientific basis, it has a long history behind it, and it cures difficult illnesses. Acupuncture has many scientific hypotheses; however, it does not have real proof behind it. Reasons why acupuncture is unique and special are because of the theories and beliefs from the Chinese culture about why acupuncture works. Acupuncture is more of a cultural medicine, not a scientific medicine with drugs or chemicals. Consequently, “Rather than accepting the Chinese explanation of qi and the lines of energy in the body, Western culture needed, and still is searching for, hard evidence to support or reject acupuncture” (Acupuncture and the Western World). “Chinese culture blames the “Chi” for causing any pains in the body. Acupuncturists trace the energy paths to the “Chi” and place needles at the most precious spots. By so doing, many Chinese believe that the body realizes what is going on within it in order to respond. They feel that acupuncture can actually change how the body perceives itself” (How acupuncture works?). Acupuncture is unique from other medical operations done in the world because it requires needles and the knowledge of chi. Yet, this operation works well. With such cultural operation that does not require any science behind it, there must be a long history to it as well.

The birth of medical science with the use of drugs, chemicals, and knowledge of the human body was born during the nineteenth century. However, “In China, the practice of acupuncture can perhaps be traced as far back as the Stone Age, with the Bian shi, or sharpened stones. Stone acupuncture needles dating back to 3000 B.C. have been found by archeologists in Inner Mongolia. Clearer evidence exists from the 1st millennium BCE, and archeological evidence has been identified with the period of the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD)” (Acupuncture). Unlike the medicines people mostly use today, acupuncture is one of the oldest medicine used to treat people. The treatment must work if the procedure has been used even to modern times. Acupuncture is a unique medicine because its history is greater than the science in medicines from about two or three centuries ago. This “non-normal” medicine traces back in history in the Stone Age, but it becomes even more special when it can heal illness that medicines today cannot.

Illnesses such as depression cannot be easily cured by any medicine that contains drugs or chemicals. Instead, a daily visit to the physician for a while can help cure this; however, the cases studies of acupuncture finds, “that the first group had as much improvement as if they received medication. The other two groups fared less well but had a little improvement. This study and other studies for acupuncture and depression was reviewed by the Cochrane Group, a scientific group that is looking for evidence concerning acupuncture, decided that none of the acupuncture and depression studies were sufficiently convincing to advance medical science’s approval of acupuncture and depression. While science continues to study the efficacy of acupuncture and depression, many anecdotal stories tell of happy patients” (Studying Acupuncture and Depression: Cause and Effect). Acupuncture is an operation that can cure these almost un-curable illnesses such as depressions. Having an operation one time is better than going to a physician once a week. Again, the medical operation of acupuncture can be demonstrated because it cures something that cannot be cured with science. Acupuncture is a medical operation for pain relief that would puncture the body with needles and disturb the qi or chi, and making the body react. Acupuncture is an interesting and a unique medical operation because it contains a very unique explanation, it has a long history, and it can cure some illnesses that modern medicine cannot. Take the operation and see how it feels to under-go an operation that is traditional in a different country that does not contain chemicals or scientific materials, an operation that contains history from the Stone Age. So please visit your local acupuncturist.


 * Works Cited**

Acupuncture.(Online Image) Available http://www.painfoundation.org/Images1/PM0305acupuncture.jpg, March 25, 2009. "Acupuncture -." __Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia__. 22 Feb. 2009.  "Acupuncture and Western Culture." __ Macalester __ __ College ____ : ____ Private __ __ Liberal __ __ Arts __ __ College __. 22 Feb. 2009  Acupuncture Needles.(Online Image) Available http://www.topnews.in/healthcare/sites/default/files/acupuncture.jpg, March 25, 2009. Chi points.(Online Image) Available http://www.primealternatives.com.au/cart/images/acupuncture.jpg, March 25, 2009. __ How Does Acupuncture Work? __ 22 Feb. 2009 