What is TCM?
Traditional Chinese Medicine explained
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a holistic approach to achieving health and wellbeing.
TCM views the body as an entire energetic system, which includes the mind, body and soul. All aspects must work harmoniously with one another to achieve health. Naturally then, it makes sense that an unhealthy body equals an unhealthy mind, and vice versa.
TCM also refers to the term Qi.
This is our ‘life force’ or ‘flow of energy’ - it moves through the body via meridians. And to these meridians - organs, emotions and ailments are all attached.
Therefore it is essential for Qi to move and flow harmoniously. If Qi is blocked, it has a domino effect on the body; remembering that TCM requires the mind, body and soul to function in harmony in order to achieve wellbeing.
Imagine a tree has fallen across a river. The flow of the water changes, the quality of the water downstream changes, the backlog of water before the tree changes. Indeed, a simple blockage can cause a multitude of chain reactions.
Everything we do impacts our Qi, but none more so than digestion.
When our digestion suffers, our Qi suffers the most. Because the nourishment we receive from food goes deeper than just fuelling our bodies. The Stomach and Spleen work closely to transform the food we've eaten into Qi, which is then sent to the Lungs and Heart and transformed into blood. When blood is under nourished, Qi is deficient, so too is our energy (life force), and we start to see ailments show up in areas along the meridian where the Qi is lacking.