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TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDECINE PRINCIPLES (TCM)
1- Interconnectedness A system is comprised of everything that creates and sustains it. Everything is interconnected and interdependent. If all of the parts of a system are in harmony with one another, then the whole system is in harmony. Disturb one thing and you create a disturbance that ripples through the whole system. This principle applies to any and all systems. For example, it applies as equally to a human being as it does to a family, community, or the environment. Any system that is in harmony tends towards health, wellbeing, and sustainability. A system that is in disharmony tends towards illness, disease, suffering, and collapse.
2- Qi ("Prana" in Sanskrit) QI is the unseen life force in the body and everywhere. It is universal. It embraces all manifestations of energy, from the most material aspects of energy (such as the earth beneath your feet, your computer, and flesh and blood) to the most immaterial aspects (light, movement, heat, nerve impulses, thought, and emotion). A healthy (and happy) human being is a dynamic but harmonious mixture of all the aspects of Qi. Qi is in a state of continuous flux, transforming endlessly from one aspect of Qi into another. It is neither created nor is it ever destroyed; it simply changes in its manifestation. When cultivated, QI can be used for healing, breaking or self defense purposes. All true strength is a product of Qi rather than muscles.
3 - Meridian A meridian is an ‘energy highway’ in the human body. Qi energy flows through this meridian or energy highway, accessing all part of the body. Meridians can be mapped throughout the body; they flow within the body and not on the surface, meridians exist in corresponding pairs and each meridian has many acupuncture points along its path. The term ‘meridian’ describes the overall energy distribution system of Chinese Medicine and helps to understand how basic substances of the body (Qi, blood and body fluids) permeate the whole body. The individual meridians themselves are often described as ‘channels’ or even ‘vessels’, which reflects the notion of carrying, holding, or transporting qi, blood and body fluids around the body. It is tempting to think of the meridians of the human body the same way as we think of the circulatory system, as the meridians are responsible for the distribution of the basic substances throughout the body just like the circulatory system, but here is where the similarities end. Conventional anatomy and physiology would not be able to identify these pathways in a physical sense in the way that blood vessels can be identified. It is more useful to consider the meridian system as an energetic distribution network that in itself tends towards energetic manifestation. Meridians can be best understood as a process rather than a structure. There are twelve main meridians, or invisible channels, throughout the body with Qi or energy flows. Each limb is traversed by six channels, three Yin channels on the inside, and three Yang channels on the outside. Each of the twelve regular channels corresponds to the five Yin organs, the six Yang organs as well as the Pericardium and San Jiao. It is important to remember that organs should not be thought of as being identical with the physical, anatomical organs of the body. Each meridian is a Yin Yang pair, meaning each Yin organ is paired with its corresponding Yang Organ: the Yin Lung organ, for example, corresponds with the Yang large intestine.
4 - Yin and Yang In the Chinese perspective, given the importance of "taking everything as a whole," all things are relative. A thing can be understood only in relation to something else. This is the essential idea behind the use of the terms yin and yang. These terms used to describe relative opposite qualities or manifestations of Qi. If yin is form, then yang is function. If yin is material, then yang is immaterial. Yin refers to aspects or manifestations of Qi that are relatively material, substantial, condensing, solid, heavy, descending, cold, moist, cooling, dark, passive and quiescent. Yang refers to aspects or manifestations of Qi that are relatively immaterial, amorphous, expanding, hollow, light, ascending, hot, dry, warming, bright, aggressive, and active.
