Classical Chinese Medicine 101
“If you give a hungry man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Lao-Tzu
Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) is whole-person healing.
We all possess a divine spark called Shen / Consciousness. This spark is the aliveness that pervades our experience of life. This experience of being alive extends to every cell in our body.
The information or energy that powers life is called Qi. It conducts and co-ordinates the extraordinary functioning of the body from the level of the DNA and beyond (Jing). Qi infuses the spark of life through every aspect of the physical body such as cells, enzymes, organs, nervous system, digestion, brain activity, hormones etc. It’s important to note that all these remarkable processes, like all things in the natural world, occur without our knowing about it and is beyond our control. This doesn’t mean that we are powerless since we can choose to live in alignment with this force and hence return to our wellbeing and strengthen our health.
This holistic healing model is expressed elegantly in Chinese medicine as Shen - Qi - Jing. I prefer to express this as Mind-Life force-Physical body. The importance of these three components to your overall wellbeing & health is roughly in the ratio of 70-20-10. So if you only focus on the physical body whilst ignoring the rest then you only get a possible 10% of the outcome. When you involve energy healing with physical methods, you get a possible 30%. When you involve your Shen / mind you can max out the potential for the deepest level of healing. This is the premise that I begin when assessing with all my patients/clients and guiding them to uncage their maximum potential to heal.
Through the process of impactful conversations, I point you to what is already there so that you can arrive at your own insights. It is only really through insights that lasting change to your life and health can occur. This is impacting the most important dimension, Shen (consciousness/spiritual).
Healing at the energy dimension (Qi) is guided using a number of modalities such as acupuncture, qigong, dietetics, and guided meditation to affect the healing of the physical signs and symptoms (Jing)
This is not a replacement for the advice and care of your family doctor or specialist. However, most people seek my expertise when other methods and techniques have not been so helpful.
The Principle that Powers Life
Consciousness is the principle that underpins Life. It is the ground of Being if you will. We are alive because we are conscious. When begin to heal deeply when we start to live life from the inside out.
When we take consciousness as the starting point, we will understand that we actually live inside the experience of our thoughts, not the experience of circumstances. Feeling is a barometer to thinking, it indicates the inner weather. It guides you back to the fact it’s your thinking, not circumstances, that create the feelings.
The usual reaction to this is to control thinking, overlaying negative thinking with positive thinking. Yet this works for a while. Then you need to keep adding further thinking to prevent you from slipping back into negative thinking. This method is like moving around the furniture and only works up to a point.
The inside out way is simply to know that it’s just a thought. This thought arises from the boundlessly creative expanse of consciousness. And there are plenty of thoughts that are created.
So you do not need to control your thinking with further thinking - ie putting more thinking on top of thinking, aka overthinking. Just acknowledge it’s the presence and wait for it to pass. It will. It always does.
Just knowing this you become aware of space and immediately experience to peace in the presence of mind. Within this space is the possibility for fresh and new thinking or insight. This insight changes everything. Just be present and wait for the apple to fall…it will…it always does.
As we deepen our awareness and marvel at this principle that directs Life, we shall discover other remarkable things about life and our experience of peace, satisfaction and contentment deepen. There ensues better health, heightened performance, and evolution.
Why we get sick
The smooth and harmonious flow of Qi determines the healthy functioning of all the organs and all the complex processes necessary to maintain health. Qi is governed by the mind, or specifically, it depends upon where our mind is focussed.
If we make a habit of constantly pushing our way through life and do not make space and time to relax and just be, then the life force is tied up in making the body geared to survival, not to repair and definitely not healing. Also, painful thoughts and feelings that were imprinted earlier in life and not yet let go, are carried and stored in various areas of the body. These also disrupt the repair and healing of the body since it blocks the smooth and harmonious flow of Qi.
So we get sick because we ignore the signs and symptoms of dis-ease. This dis-ease arises from the fact that we rarely truly experience a sense of coming home, being at peace, feeling that we’re good enough. These conditioned and largely habituated way of living cut us off from being present to and marvelling at the miracle of life itself. So it always feels that though we’re several steps behind the life we truly want and so we fervently chase it, thinking that it’s someway in the future.
Despite everything, we have always been and will always be part of the divine and limitless spark of consciousness that powers life. At any moment we can awaken from the sleep of habituation and conditioning. We can choose to look beyond the thinking into the limitlessly creative space of consciousness itself. This is our true home, the source of abundant wellbeing. When we’re plugged into this space we can then start to heal every aspect of our life.
Implications to Health & Healing
Classical Chinese Medicine knows the relationship between mind, life force and physical health intimately and has mapped out how the divine spark of consciousness, Shen, plays out in our physical body. The relationship between divinity and humanity creates a dynamic relationship that has a quality of creative movement called Qi. This Qi animates all the physical processes and is transmitted through the energy channels of the body.
When this dynamic is functioning well, there is a state of homeostasis or normal physiological functioning.
The channels that govern moment by moment normal functioning are called the Primary Channels. You see these channels depicted in all the charts associated with acupuncture. These primary channels govern the transformation of food & drink into the creation of fluids, blood, hormones. They are responsible for the maintenance of normal function of the organs and circulation of these substances to nourish and sustain life.
The Channels that maintain Humanity
The channels that protect the primacy of life, supporting the essential function of the primary channels, are called complement channels.
They consist of the Sinew, Luo, Divergent and 8 Extraordinary Channels.
These channels function to keep pathology away from the primary channels.
These complement channels, therefore, function to maintain humanity.
The Threats to Humanity / Pathogenic Factors
There are numerous pathogenic factors (PF’s) that can threaten our humanity.
These can be classified according to how the body reacts to the pathogens
External
Wind, aka viruses, causes the body to respond with a Cold
Bacteria cause the body to respond with creation of Heat / Acute Inflammation
Fungi, parasites cause the body to respond with the creation of Dampness (sluggish lymph flow)
Environmental toxins (carcinogens, fumes, etc.) create very complex reactions in the body
Lifestyle - Food, drink, poor sleep, stress etc, ie modern life -> depletion of the body’s resources and weakening immune function.
Internal - Overthinking, Unprocessed emotions, Genetics
Layers of Qi in the Human Body
Qi is a subtle form of energy which flows throughout the channels fo the body and integrates all the mental activity with physical processes.
The Qi that is protective or guards us against external pathogens is called Wei / protective Qi.
The Qi that nourishes and contains the medium for feelings/emotions in the body is called Ying / nutritive Qi.
The Qi that conducts the unfolding of our genetic code is called Yuan / Source Qi.
Complement Channels function to maintain humanity
Invasions from external pathogens are met by the Sinew channels which conduct Wei qi. We commonly know this to be the immune system. Yet Wei qi is also involved in the sleep-wake (circadian rhythm), the functioning and repair of smooth muscles (digestive tract, urinary and reproductive functions), and all autonomic process, that is processes that are not under normal conscious control.
Normal immunity is maintained through observing the foundations of health - maintaining a peaceful loving heart, food, exercise, rest and sleep.
When the immune system malfunctions the pathogens invade deeper. So in order to protect the body’s function, the pathogens are held in a state of latency. This means that they are stored away in spaces that neutralise their effects on health.
To make the pathogen latent, the body can create new space - such as new blood vessels, or lumps and bumps, to contain the pathogen and take them out of normal circulation. This creates Luo channels.
Pathogens can also be pushed into the synovial fluids (joints) and gums. This creates Divergent Channels.
Even the genetic material has space to store the pathogens. This can only be accessed by tapping into the Yuan Qi layer via the Eight Extraordinary Vessels (8EVs).
Maintaining Latency to Preserve Humanity
The creation of latency often gives rise signs and symptoms of dis-ease but doesn’t usually disrupt the normal physiology. This is the reasons why laboratory tests and imaging techniques such as X-rays, ultrasound and MRI scans can often appear normal, yet the person can feel that something’s not right inside. This is the amazing role of the channel systems which keep everything functioning despite years of unaware living and often downright abuse of the body. Such is the benevolence of the divine spark that powers our lives.
When latency is lost in the Divergent channels and the pathogen begins to leak out, it gives rise to signs and symptoms of arthritis, chronic relapsing and recurring conditions, autoimmunity.
When latency is lost in the 8EV’s this gives rise to signs and symptoms of chronic degenerative sickness such as dementia, Parkinson’s, cancer, severe autoimmunity etc…
How I diagnose your condition
So everything that you present with indicates the likelihood of how deeply the pathogen has penetrated. This can range from physical signs and mental symptoms, pulse, tongue, quality of speech etc. All these factors give away the probability of where the pathogen could be in your energy system.
What it would look like to work with me
Here's what it would look like when we work together :
Coaching you to recognise the mindsets that keep you locked into this state of sickness, and how to become unstuck
Instruct you in the healing arts of qigong and meditation.
Recommend very clear food plan for you where appropriate
Provide interim support and further recommendations
We can also arrange a course of acupuncture treatments as an additional service to support the coaching. This service is available in person or works just as effectively, and in some cases more powerfully, as a remote session (distant acupuncture).
Why I prefer the bespoke approach
As a medical doctor trained in the NHS, I’d adopted a stress-based system of tending to the ill and sick. It was to see the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time. It was really a fire fighting model, and whilst this was suitable for life-threatening emergencies or life-saving operations, it was not conducive for the vast majority of sickness that patients often presented with. Not to mention the impact on the health and wellbeing of the physician themselves. I observed so much fall out in the health, broken relationships, and addictions to cope with these constant and high-pressure demands in both my own and that of my friends and colleagues' lives.
So it was that I undertook training in Classical Chinese Medicine. This worked so much better since I got to spend more time with patients. I saw a lot fewer patients but the quality and impact on my patients a real game-changer in many instances.
In 20 years as a medical doctor, master practitioner and mentor in advanced acupuncture, I observed that people only ever truly heal when effective treatment is accompanied by a shift in mindset. Sovereign Health is a bespoke consultancy service for those with persistent or long-term health concerns, designed to get to the root of the problem and bring about real change.
Since each person is different, the level of care and attention required is going to vary from person to person. When someone becomes very unwell through chronic sickness it is different from someone with an acute problem.
If we compare to a building project, then treating those with acute issues is like repainting a room in a large house. However, those with chronic degenerative sickness is often like a renovation project as the building has been neglected by long years of living hard, playing hard, or living a less than full life. These people require a lot more input and focussed attention to repair.
Yet if you are motivated to become well and deeply heal then there is a possibility that you will transform your sickness either to become fully healed or to discover a vast resource of inner peace, contentment and wellbeing despite the sickness.
If this is you and you'd like to discover a way to heal from the inside out, then book in for a 20-minute conversation to see how we can work together.