Many people come to me with emotional complaints. Some people have medical diagnoses like depression or anxiety. Others just talk about being tired a lot, feeling sad about a recent loss,feeling stressed out or wishing they could get rid of that sour feeling in the pit of their stomach.
Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the whole person. As a practitioner, I assess people's health on 4 levels - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. That doesn't mean that a client has to believe the same things I do, or even that we include all of these levels in our conversation. When asked, I often joke and say "A leaf doesn't have to believe in photosynthesis, but a scientist will study it to fully understand the leaf." For me, the words people use to describe how they feel are all clues to me in how I am going to work with them.
No one word tells me exactly how to best treat a person. A full assessment is necessary at the first visit and a brief conversation helps update the assessment at any subsequent visits. For example, "depression" is a medical term that has a specific meaning to doctors and psychologists. With Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we have a different perspective. I listen to how a person talks. I look at how they present themselves and move their bodies. I take their pulses (yes, it's plural because I pay attention to various aspects of 12 pulses). I look at their tongue. I ask questions, some of which may seem very strange, such as "How do you feel about wind?" My treatment is tailored to what I find in that person. Again, using "depression" as an example, I may work to restore the fire element in a person or address a yin deficiency or calm the liver meridian - and these are just a few of the possibilities.
In summary, I would say that the TCM view of health is that the body, mind and spirit are all connected. We help people create wellness on many levels so that they feel great.
Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the whole person. As a practitioner, I assess people's health on 4 levels - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. That doesn't mean that a client has to believe the same things I do, or even that we include all of these levels in our conversation. When asked, I often joke and say "A leaf doesn't have to believe in photosynthesis, but a scientist will study it to fully understand the leaf." For me, the words people use to describe how they feel are all clues to me in how I am going to work with them.
No one word tells me exactly how to best treat a person. A full assessment is necessary at the first visit and a brief conversation helps update the assessment at any subsequent visits. For example, "depression" is a medical term that has a specific meaning to doctors and psychologists. With Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we have a different perspective. I listen to how a person talks. I look at how they present themselves and move their bodies. I take their pulses (yes, it's plural because I pay attention to various aspects of 12 pulses). I look at their tongue. I ask questions, some of which may seem very strange, such as "How do you feel about wind?" My treatment is tailored to what I find in that person. Again, using "depression" as an example, I may work to restore the fire element in a person or address a yin deficiency or calm the liver meridian - and these are just a few of the possibilities.
In summary, I would say that the TCM view of health is that the body, mind and spirit are all connected. We help people create wellness on many levels so that they feel great.
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