about

CHINESE MEDICINE ONLINE is a service dedicated to self-autonomous health maintenance. It is quite clear around the globe that the health systems are failing to support the needs of the people. In spite of enormous funding, incredible technology, and brilliant scientific minds, chronic illnesses, both physical and mental,
are becoming the norm, and the ages for people, disproportionately women, suffering these diseases are getting younger and younger.

Waiting lists for surgical interventions are outrageously long, and in many countries, unless you are relatively well off financially, you are actually denied access to even the most basic of health care.

My name is Paul Chapman, I am sixty-one years of age, and even though I have lived what many may call a very stressful life, I do not take any pharmaceutical medications, nor do I visit the general practitioner/doctor.
From the skills I have learnt from Chinese Medicine, I realise that I have prematurely used my precious reserves of energy, and what that means in potentiality for developing chronic illness: So now I work daily on restoring what I have lost.

I still experience fatigue, aches and pains, mental stress, and I, like many, have fears for the future, what is it going to be like as I age (a 2017 study in the US found 85% of people over sixty had at least one chronic illness), yet at the same time, I realise how vital my state of mind is, and how vital it is to regulate lifestyle and nutrition. Fortunately, these are the skills handed down from classical Chinese medicine, and now that I am older, and perhaps a little wiser to follow what I have learnt, I wish to share these skills with you, so you too may begin to have a greater and greater autonomy as you progress through life.

I learnt the fundamentals of Chinese medicine as an apprentice. One day in the clinic, my teacher said, “to reach a completely different destination requires only a minor adjustment in direction! When this new direction begins, it may feel as though nothing is changing, like a train that changes tracks, it may run parallel for many miles, yet sure enough the distance between the tracks will widen, the scenery will become different, and before you know it, the old track has disappeared into the distance.” I have pondered this statement many times over the twenty nine years since I began studying this most wonderful of medicines, and have found it to be a suitable analogy for both wellness and illness.

Chronic illness, by definition, takes a long time before it shows up in the physicality, and yet it strikes suddenly, often with great force. I understand chronic illnesses to be a result of continually doing and thinking on a track that is leading us to a destination of suffering, this suffering has a purpose, which is to alert us to the fact that we are ‘off track’! Of course we are not consciously choosing to be off track, we are simply responding to the automatic impulses that guide our lives. Where do these impulses come from? Our ancestry, our development in-utero and early childhood, and the guiding structures of society.

WHAT IS MISSING IN MODERN HEALTH CARE?
For me modern medicine shares a parent/child relationship, the doctor being the parent, the client the child. This is fine in some ways, and yet in others, it strips away personal independence and autonomy.

When you visit a doctor you may be given medication, advised to stop smoking/alcohol, drink eight glasses of water a day, eat a balanced diet, get regular exercise, adequate sleep, and manage stress levels, all of which is wonderful advice. You may be referred to a surgeon, medical specialist, psychiatrist/psychologist, nutritionist, physiotherapist, and sent for a multitude of tests, which again is ok. However, how many of you have visited a doctor/specialist because you do not feel right? You know something is ‘off track’, and yet every test says there is nothing wrong! What does this tell you? After almost thirty years in Chinese medicine I have observed that modern medicine’s focus on disease has not allowed it to develop an understanding of the small changes/imbalances that are present BEFORE a pattern develops into physical disease. This is a serious problem in regard to prevention and maintenance.

I have no doubt that modern medicine will eventually catch up to what ancient medical systems know about the small changes, but that time has not yet come. Modern medicine is perfect for emergency/physical trauma medicine, it is reasonable in supporting chronic illness management, but certainly not on its own, and it is disastrous to be in a leading role in regard to helping people prevent disease.

Why am I talking about this? Because we have been trained to blindly trust that the ‘Dr knows best”, which is, in my opinion, one of the major ‘tracks’ that leads us into suffering.

I am not suggesting to stop utilizing modern medical services, as there is much benefit to be found in this system, but I am suggesting that the road to self-autonomy in regard to health maintenance and prevention of disease is far better supported through medical systems such as Chinese medicine. Make use of what is available, because literally, your future health depends on it.

Some will say, where is your evidence, where is the research? Well there is plenty of it and you can search yourselves if need be. The term evidence-based medicine is only twenty years old, and was developed to support modern medical practitioners to become more efficient, at least that’s what the theory says. Unfortunately, due perhaps to some arrogance, evidence based medicine has become the benchmarks for other practices such as Chinese medicine, in Australia this means we have to wait for modern medical science to prove what we already know about our treatment practices before we can talk about it publicly……. Well I consider that a disservice to my fellow man, so I am talking to you about it now.

CHINESE MEDICINE IS A LIFESTYLE – An incredibly beautiful, respectful medicine. It does not promise a life free from disease and suffering, but it does say what to do to maximise the possibility of preventing the severity of such illnesses, whilst at the same time teaching the purpose of being human, and what that actually means!