MODERN ADAPTATION of Ancient Chinese Medicine.
Chinese medicine has already reached maturity long time ago before the birth of Western medicine. Many ailments nowadays such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, etc. depend on modern scientific instruments and blood tests for detection and monitoring. Does ancient natural healing have a role to play? Can Chinese herbal knowledge be adapted to treat these ailments? The answer is yes of course, if the herbalist knows how. Nature always provides us with the things we need, but it may not be in a simple direct way.

This video is an attempt to explain how the adaptation can be done. With the ancient knowledge of herbs, the herbalist must employ good skills and reasoning to make it work in the modern world. This requires an understanding of the nature of the illness, and equally important, the cultural and historical context of Chinese medicine. The following are some illustrations:

CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol is a relatively recent discovery by modern scientific methods. This Western name has no equivalent in classical Chinese medicine. The Chinese could not possibly have known that cholesterol existed at that time without the benefit of blood tests. That is why there is no cholesterol herb in the herbal dictionaries, except in rumors or advertising. Has there been any lab test nowadays to confirm a cholesterol herb? The businessman will always say yes but he cannot cite a truly reliable or authoritative source.

Since most cholesterol comes from the food you eat, especially fat, the logical approach for treatment is to strengthen the stomach and the liver with the appropriate herbs so that the cholesterol will be broken down and pushed out of the body more effectively. This approach relies on two major organs to do the work with the herbs as ammunition (A separate video will be published later).

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Your blood pressure can be measured easily with a simple modern instrument nowadays. In the old times, people relied on the feeling of a “rushing pulse” or “swollen head” which were far from accurate. The fact that high blood pressure can easily lead to a stroke was not well understood. That is why we have the term “zhong feng” ????, which means being hit by the wind. This shows that the Chinese in the old times were not sure about the cause of a stroke. The use of the wind factor to describe a stroke was convenient and puzzling, but not accurate enough.

The herbal approach to high blood pressure is to calm the body especially the liver, to enhance blood circulation, and to regulate water in the blood. There exist plenty of herbs for application when the right approach has been defined this way (A separate video will be published later).

DIABETES
In the old times when flush toilets were nonexistent, urines and excrements were collected and picked up every morning from each family and used as fertilizers. In some families with diabetic members, people always saw ants around their urine containers. This led to the term “sugar urine” ???? because everybody knew ants loved sugar. It did not take them too long to identify the diabetics and their symptoms. However, the causes of diabetes still remained vaguely understood except being linked to sugar and something wrong with the kidneys.

Since diabetes means sugar content in the urine, the Chinese herbal approach is to strengthen the kidneys, to nourish the blood, to regulate the water content, and to boost blood circulation so as to burn off the excess sugar (A separate video will be published later).

FLU
The idea of contagious disease was first discussed in “Shang Han Lun” ????? circa 200 A.D. However, the existence of the flu virus never occurred in classical Chinese medicine without the benefit of the microscope, which was invented much later. The Chinese term for flu is “gan mao” ????, which means catching something risky.

Even without knowing the existence of the flu virus, the Chinese were able to understand the flu quite well long time ago by carefully studying the symptoms of the disease. They have also derived a logical approach for treatment, which has proven very effective. Chinese herbs for flu and cough can help a person recover within a few days by purging all the “disease poisons” ???? from the body. As a comparison, Western medicine focuses on antibiotics to kill the flu virus. One thing we all agree is that the body is capable of killing the virus because of our inborn immune system. Should we kill the virus for the body, or should we help the body to kill the virus? It all depends on which approach you want to take (See separate videos on flu and cough already published by same author).

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In part two of the Traditional Chinese Medicine series Dr. Mahanian explains how a diagnosis is made, prescriptions are made and taken.

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Thenar Massage, Chinese Medicine DVD, English Subtitled

Learning Chinese medicine requires good understanding of its basic approaches. The materials to be discussed here are related to my previous videos entitled “Balance”, “Modern Adaptation”, and “Hot and Cold” (Parts I and II). You may like to review those videos first.

The basic healing approaches have been developed according to the nature of the herbs discovered, and the understanding of various kinds of ailments. There are six distinct approaches as follows:

1. Expel Heat. Heat is absorbed into the body due to hot weather, or by eating too much Hot food. Heat may also be generated due to infection resulting in a fever, or overwork leading to an overactive liver. The body feels it when the heat reaches an excess level. Excess Heat is usually a short-term problem unless being constantly created. Symptoms: fever, pimples/skin rash flare up, agitated state, mouth sores, sleeplessness, hemorrhoid flare up. Heat is expelled by resting, Cold food, or Cold herbs.

2. Expel Cold/Wind/Damp.
These are absorbed into the body after too much exposure to the weather. Once absorbed, they cannot be easily expelled, and can only
be done effectively by enhancing the blood circulation. This becomes a long-term problem when the individual reaches 40 or over. Symptoms: joint/muscle pains, swelling, headaches, or fatigue. Cold/Wind/Damp are mostly expelled by enhancing blood circulation through exercise, massage, or Hot herbs. Hot food or rest will help.

3. Cleanse “Undesirables”.
Undesirable materials can be absorbed through excessive eating, or exposure to polluted environment. These include hard-to-digest food or fat, cigarette smoke, or various toxins. Symptoms: indigestion, bloating, gases, constipation, toxins, fat, Cholesterol, or high sugar in blood.

4. Strengthen.
This is a unique feature of Chinese medicine. A variety of herbs are used to address long-term general body weakness or localized weakness related to a specific organ. Blood circulation can be enhanced as well. Strengthening herbs are also used for recovery from long illness.
Symptoms: low energy, slow recovery from illness, weak body, low immunity, low fertility, cold/sweaty hands and feet.

5. “Run” ?
This is a mild strengthening feature also unique to Chinese medicine.
“Run” means to soothe, to moisturize, and to nourish. This approach is used where too strong a strengthening package may produce negative results. Many Chinese women employ this approach to beautify the skin and to promote the Yin.
Symptoms: cough, phlegm, dry throat, nasal allergy, dry skin, unhealthy nails, sleep difficulty.

6. Balance
This is another unique feature of Chinese medicine. The balance
approach is also a mild form of strengthening. The herbs employed have the ability to heal from either direction. The best example is menstrual irregularity. Whether it’s early or late, too much or too little blood, pain or no pain, the same kind of menstrual herbs can be used to normalize the menstrual condition. For instance, “Four Treasures ??” (Chuan Xiong ??, Dang Gui ??, Di Huang ?? and Chi Shao ??) are commonly used with other herbs added. After taking the regimen for a few weeks, the body will reach a balance point when the herbs can be discontinued for a sustained period.
Symptoms: menstrual irregularity, emotional problems, conditions with ups-and-downs irregularity.

The following examples illustrate how to apply the basic approaches. In many case, a combination of them are required to produce better results:
• Skin rash: cleanse, expel Heat, and “Run”.
• Joint/muscle pains: expel Cold/Wind/Damp, and strengthen.
• Fertility: strengthen and balance.
• Sleep: balance and “Run”. Depending on the patient’s condition, either strengthen or expel Heat may be combined too.
• High blood pressure: “Run”, balance, and expel Heat.
• Diabetes: cleanse, balance, and strengthen kidneys.
• Cholesterol: cleanse, balance, and strengthen digestive system and blood circulation.
• General prevention: cleanse, strengthen, “Run”, and balance.
• Cancer recovery: cleanse, strengthen, and balance.

For further information, go to www.herbsandtea.com
Raw herbs or capsules can be tailor-made for your conditions.

Dr. Maryam Mahanian takes us on a trip through a traditional chinese medicine store and explains some of the most commonly used medicinal herbs.

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