| Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) services at Lilac Wellness Center include the Eight Branches explained below. These include acupuncture, dietary recommendations, herbal medicine and qi gong. Qi gong (literally 'energy work') can be specific exercises, self massage, meditation or breathing techniques. We offer classes on Qi gong, Tai Chi, meditation and self-care, and provide recommendations for individual clients.
Contact us if you would like to arrange a workshop for your group or workplace.
Acupuncture Basics
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a comprehensive medical system based on its own system of diagnosis and treatment, separate from western/allopathic medicine, and has endured over 2,000 years. To understand Chinese medicine one needs an introduction to words and concepts. The practitioner strives to understand the complex interrelationships, and correspondences between yin and yang, the organ networks and the fundamental substances within the client. In contrast to the Western tradition which identifies illness as a result of an isolated agent, TCM looks at disease as created by an imbalance of the life force of the person. The Chinese word "Chi" (or Qi) refers to this invisible but profound life force. Yin and yang are dynamic polarities, always viewed in relation to one another, in varying degrees of harmony.
Chi is electro-magnetic energy which flows in an ordered way through pathways in the body, not unlike rivers flowing through the land. These pathway, or meridians, are connected to various organ networks which have psychological and physiological functions. Traditionally there are fourteen main meridians through which Chi circulates in the body. After an assessment discerning the pathological pattern, or imbalance, the acupuncturist inserts and manipulates the needles to promote the flow of Chi and restore balance. Simply put- treatment principles aim to balance of the Chi by using TCM modalities to tonify the deficient, clear the stagnant, warm the cold (yin), and cool the heat (yang).
Acupuncture helps regulate multiple systems in the body including the endocrine, immune, digestive and neurological systems as well as other physiological processes. Acupuncture helps the body facilitate its own healing mechanisms. The National Institutes of Health is sponsoring research into scientific, Western/allopathic mechanisms to explain how acupuncture works more thoroughly. Neurotransmitters, or brain chemicals, which include endorphins -- the body's natural pain killer, and opioid peptides may trigger other chemicals and hormones that help the body's own internal regulating system.
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