Introduction

The term Chinese Medicine (CM) is also known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The primary focus for you within this unit is to grasp the notion that Chinese Medicine functions as a system of cycles, polarities and energy fields that require harmonious balancing.

Within Eastern philosophy, the Universe is perceived as a dynamic functional system; hence all phenomena are interrelated, interconnected and interdependent.

The Universe itself is seen as self-regulating and, as such, has a natural leaning towards equilibrium. According to Chinese Medicine, this natural equilibrium is maintained and regulated by the 'vital life force' or 'energy' known as Qi/Chi (pronounced as chee).

Everything in nature and the Universe is described as Yin and Yang. Human beings, then, are perceived no differently in Nature to those phenomena that surround them.

Chinese Medicine explains this relationship as the Yin-Yang Theory, which describes the way in which phenomena group in pairs of opposites.

Health, then, is defined as a state of harmony between the body and its internal and external environment. Disease is said to occur when there is an imbalance between the external and internal environments.

Within this concept, health is not an absolute but rather a relative state of Being.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)    What is Qi-Gong     What is Tai-Chi