At Advanced Acupuncture & Herbal Clinic in Toronto we offer holistic, natural therapies based on Traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a combination of different practices including nutritional therapy, Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (TuiNa), moxibustion (艾灸), cupping (拔罐), and qi-gong (气功).

Traditional Chinese medicine is different from conventional medicine in two important ways:

• it treats patient holistically, and
• treatments are based on analyzing, differentiating and recognizing disease syndromes presented by each patient, rather than on anatomy or the disease itself.

Holism means unity and integrity. In the case of Chinese medicine this means paying attention both to the unity and integrity of the body, and the interrelation between the human body and nature.

Traditional Chinese medicine recognizes that the human body is composed of organs, tissues, blood and nerves which all have their own respective individual functions but which also interact with each other to make the whole body function and which can likewise influence each other in the case of disease.

At the same time, TCM views humans as just one intrinsic part of nature and considers that therefore any changes in nature may directly or indirectly influence the body, and accordingly cause physiological or pathological reactions.

Unlike modern medicine that treats anatomy or the disease itself, TCM treats the specific disease syndromes that a patient presents. These can change at different stages of a disease, and different diseases may present the same syndrome and so be treated in the same way. In addition, each disease may present differently depending on each patient, and so patients suffering from the same ailment will not necessarily receive the same treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine aims to ensure that qi (pronounced chee) is able to flow unimpeded throughout the body. Qi is the life force or vital energy that warms us, protects us from external pathogenic factors, promotes the body functions and holds our organs and tissues in place. Qi, together with blood and body fluids, flows continuously around the body to provide energy for the physiological activities of the organs, tissues and meridians. At the same time qi, blood and body fluids are dependent upon the normal physiological activities of tissues, organs, and the meridians for their own healthy existence and function. Chinese medicine seeks to prevent and remove any blockages that may impede the flow of qi, blood and body fluids and that may be indicative of, or the cause of, disease.

It is easiest to understand the abstract concept of yin and yang by looking at concrete examples. We all know the differences between opposites such as hot and cold, light and dark, sweet and sour etc. We also know how temperatures can rise and fall and rise again, how day turns to night and back to day, how there is a whole range of degrees of sweetness before a substance can actually be thought sour. In the same way, yin and yang represent both the complementary opposite faces and the overall unity of the same thing. Nothing can ever be absolutely yin or yang because everything is in a constant state of change and one cannot exist without the other.

According to TCM, everything in our universe has these dual, mutually dependent, interconnected, ever changing characteristics, including parts of the human body and body functions. Ailments and disease are thought to occur when the harmony between yin and yang forces and elements becomes out of balance in some way.