Note #2 　　　　 Magic of Herbal Medicine

As a Japanese person from Japan, I occasionally have felt the difference of understanding when I use the terms “Herbal Medicine” or “Japanese/Chinese Herbs”.   For up to today, the name and its value have high credibility in Asian countries. It is a part of all the medicine that is available today.  In the U.S., on the other hand, I don’t feel that much of an understanding and appreciation towards Oriental Herbal Medicine. It feels to me that they are in the categories of “alternative medicine” or “health supplement”, and such.

  The history of the medicine is old.  For your reference, if you are interested, you can go to; http://www.taoistsanctuary.org/pages/Chinese%20Herbal%20Medicine/intro.htm

What I do in the clinic is see your body as a whole and bring it back into balance.  So if you are new to our clinic, first I will try to determine what element(s) is causing the disharmony of your body.  There are five elements and they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.  One small disharmony among them can cause from small to big illness.  Then I will also take a look at the balance of your Blood and Qi.  They are both very vital substances in your body from the Oriental Medicine point of view.  But not only that, if there is any disturbance from Wind, Dryness, Dampness, Phlegm, Heat and Cold, they are also the aspects that I will be working on.

These kinds of theories and concepts might sound very strange to people from a modern culture. This medicine has a strong influence from the Asian culture where people lived with nature and its balance while the West saw that there is one almighty creator behind all those happenings. But the point is that this medicine still has strong value.  Because it does work.

This medicine may not all be explained by modern science yet.  And this medicine might get accused or be called unscientific.  But it has been built based on theory that was made a few thousands ago.  And that is why it still has the value by being different from modern medicine. This medicine is still effective in treating many conditions, such as when Western medicine does not have better solutions (i.e., chronic conditions which are difficult to treat with Western medicine, allergy to Western medications, side effects from Western medications, and so on). That is not really magic, to tell you the truth. It is merely the healing ability of your body that was not doing well due to the imbalance of the elements, for instance. Therefore, the better statement will be the magic of the human body and its own potential ability to recover.  What I really think is not that there is only one way or the other. We can combine to take advantage of both for the best.