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THE WAY OF RESTORATIVE LIVING
There are three main factors that create illness. The first two are relatively easy to correct: The third component, which lies at the root of all illness, is often neglected in treatment approaches, yet it is the key to alleviating suffering.
CHINESE MEDICINE ONLINE addresses all three causative factors. The aim of treatments is to provide you with the skills to not only identify the patterns which are creating mental, emotional, and/or physical difficulties in your life, but what you can do, on a daily basis, to bring about lasting change.
The three main factors that create illness are
- The External Environment: Perhaps one of the greatest offerings of Chinese medicine is its precise understanding of nature’s seasonal shifts. So precise were their observations that they divided the year into seventy two – five day segments, giving indications of how to harmonise with the external changes so as to remain free from contracting illnesses. External illnesses are usually acute disorders. as seen in the common cold and other viral infections, yet they also aggravate, and sometimes dangerously many other types of chronic issues, such as pain syndromes, respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, neurological, genito-urinary conditions etc.
- Nutrition & Lifestyle: There are five flavours of food, Pungent, Sweet, Bitter, Sour, and Salty. Each flavour has a specific ‘direction’ and affects the mind/body in different ways. An excess or deficiency of one flavour will lead to problems. One of the easiest ones to witness is an excess of the Sweet flavour. The sweet flavour provides energy, strengthens the muscles, allows for flexibility in the connective tissues, relaxes tension, and strengthens the digestive system. The Sweet flavour primarily relates to sweet vegetables, grains and meats, as well as herbs. The Sweet flavour as in refined sugar is very strong, over consumption results in feelings of heaviness, reduced digestive capacity, lethargy, pensiveness, melancholy and depression, amongst a myriad of other manifestations. Lifestyle in a nutshell relates to a balance of activity and rest. We are chronically ‘overactive’ in western style society, leading to premature exhaustion and loss of vitality. This is also the cause of many chronic illnesses.
- Desires of the Heart: This third component, which lies at the root of all imbalance, is often neglected in treatment approaches yet it is key to alleviating suffering. How do we work with ‘Desires of the Heart”? This is not an easy thing to answer in a short space, but ultimately it is a process of education, identification of what is not conscious, compassion to all the components that makes up the personality and towards others, understanding of what is humanities role and purpose, and the vitality to gently persevere.
There is no separation of body and emotion, if one is out of balance it will cause the other to also be imbalanced. ‘You cannot separate a red face from one who is angry’, so to speak. The mind is a little different and can be divided into what is automatic/unconscious, and what is chosen/conscious. The mind can support as well as hinder the smallest and largest events of life. A therapeutic approach that does not have the ability to understand the trinity of Mind/Emotion, and the Physical will never lead a person towards self-autonomy … So choose wisely.
