Oriental Medicine the Basic Concepts

Acupressure For Common Ailments
by Chris Jarmey

Finally, the remarkable healing power of acupresssure is made accessible to everyone. This book shows you how the simple application of finger pressure to specific points on the surface of the body stimulates subtle energies that can alleviate many common ailments.

Acupressure for Common Ailments demystifies the Oriental origins of this therapy. It enables you to treat conditions that may otherwise require sophisticated forms of drug treatment. Clear illustrations make the body's pressure points easy to locate.

This self-help guide enables anyone, from a complete beginner to practicing therapists, to treat ailments from arthritis to asthma, and other health problems such as sinusitis, sore eyes, colds and influenza, indigestion, nausea and acidity, menstrual pain, cystitis and sciatica, depression, anxiety, and shock. It will appeal to all those who want to implement the healing powers of the body without recourse to the prescription pad.

• Learn how to use the body's natural healing processes

• Understand the importance of the holistic approach to healing

• Replace drug therapy with gentle healing techniques

• Boost the immune system and relieve ailments such as postviral syndrome, hemorrhoids, and earache

Chapter 1

Understanding why acupressure works requires an appreciation of tile Chinese system of diagnosis and treatment, where the fundamental approach to medicine bears little resemblance to that in the West.

Oriental medicine and Western medicine are able to treat the same conditions, but practitioners from East and West diagnose an ailment in completely different ways. Western doctors try to isolate an agent such as a virus, seen as the direct cause of an ailment, and then aim to eradicate it. Where the cause is not so simple or clear, as with the degenerative diseases, for example, Western medicine will tackle only the symptoms. Oriental practitioners, by contrast, look for a complete picture of their patient. This is known as the "pattern of disharmony". This pattern is built up by close observation of the patient's complexion, general demeanour, colour of urine, voice quality, and so on (see p. 21). The patient also answers a series of questions, including how external influences such as eating, touch, or heat affect the symptoms. A total picture is produced, and the diagnosis then made. The information in this book will enable you to understand how this is done. It takes many years to master the art of diagnosis, but you can offer helpful treatment by looking up a symptom, such as headache, asthma, or indigestion (see Part Two, Treating common ailments), and following the suggested treatment plan. These treatments are designed to cover the most likely causes of the symptoms.

The most fundamental concept of Oriental medicine is that your body, mind, and spirit are all interdependent. They affect one another at all levels: an ailment of the mind will be reflected in the body; similarly, any physical symptoms must affect the emotions and the psyche. The Oriental doctor does not see a physical ailment in isolation, but as a reflection of disharmony within your whole being. In addition to treating you, the doctor would also recommend that you consider the way you live, and evaluate your own weaknesses that are disrupting your body's equilibrium. Thus acupressure treatment helps to restore the harmony of body, mind, and spirit.

The functions of the organs
This holistic approach in Oriental medicine is also seen in the wide interpretation given to the functions of the organs. For example, the anatomical organ "kidney" referred to in Oriental medicine has a much broader meaning than in Western medicine. An Oriental doctor takes into account the work of the kidney not only in water metabolism, but also in providing a link between sources of energy and growth, the bones and brain, willpower and memory. For this reason, the Oriental medical concept will be presented with an initial capital letter — Kidney — to differentiate it from the strict anatomical meaning used by Western doctors. Similarly, an initial capital letter for other organs indicates a wider connotation. You will find other terms throughout this book that also take an initial capital letter. Oriental medicine interprets these all more widely than in the West.

The importance of Energy
The flow of vital Energy is essential to our health and fundamental to the practice of acupressure. The Chinese call this Energy "Qi", or "Chi". Qi supplies our Organs, Blood, and other Body Fluids, as well as the Mind. It is also responsible for the life processes, from conception through birth and growth, until death. When your body is in good health, your Qi flows abundantly and smoothly. If your Qi becomes deficient or blocked in any way, disease may result. Acupressure can unblock congested Qi, strengthen weak Qi, and calm overactive Qi.

The Channels
According to Oriental theory Qi circulates along Channels close to the body's surface. Many Channels have been identified, 12 of which link points that are connected to a particular Organ in the body. The Channels are named after the Organ to which they are linked — Liver Channel, Gall Bladder Channel, Large Intestine Channel, and so on. Located along these Channels are the specific points, known as pressure points, where you can most easily manipulate Qi using acupressure (see p. 20). By applying pressure to these points you can unblock, strengthen, or calm the flow of Qi, depending on the technique used (see p. 29). For example, there is a pressure point located four finger widths below your kneecap, outside the tibia (or shin bone), known as Stomach 36, on the Channel related to your Stomach. Correct pressure on this point will strengthen your Stomach and Spleen and aid digestion.

Yin and Yang
Good health depends on the smooth flow of Qi along the Channels, and this in turn requires the body and mind to be in harmony. A balance in all the aspects of your personality and of your physical body will provide this harmony. The Chinese use the idea of Yin and Yang to express this idea of balance. Yin originally meant the shady side of a slope. It is associated with such qualities as cold, rest, responsiveness, passivity, darkness, interiority, downwardness, inwardness, decrease, and femininity. Yang, by contrast, originally referred to the sunny side or a slope. It implies brightness, and is associated with qualities such as heat, stimulation, movement, activity, excitement, vigour, light, exteriority, upwardness, outwardness, increase, and masculinity. Yin and Yang are complementary opposites (see p. 17). Everything in the universe has both Yin and Yang qualities — nothing is completely one or the other. It is the interaction between these two opposite forces that creates Qi. If your body Energy is well balanced your Qi will have both Yin and Yang aspects. If the balance of Yin and Yang qualities in any aspect of your mind or body is disrupted, then so too will be the Qi in your body, and ill health may result.

Treatment plan
The skilled practitioner diagnoses the Yin and Yang imbalances from the pattern of disharmony and then decides on the treatment plan. First, by recognizing the origin of an ailment in a particular Organ of the body, the practitioner can establish which Channel and points to work on. The summary of correspondences chart on page 21 gives more details of the links between the Organs and the Channels. Second, the practitioner decides on the type of acupressure technique to be used. This depends on whether Qi is blocked, deficient, or in excess. Deficient Qi must be tonified, blocked Qi dispersed, and overactive Qi calmed. When Qi becomes blocked, overactive, or deficient, the symptoms and their link with a particular Organ or part of the body will be recognizable to the trained eye. For example, lethargy is a symptom of a Qi deficiency in the whole body, whereas incontinence or oedema would be the result of a Kidney Qi deficiency. If Kidney Qi were not deficient, but instead blocked or overactive, different symptoms would result. The techniques for tonifying, dispersing, and calming Qi are demonstrated on page 29 and each treatment in the book specifies which technique to use for each pressure point to be treated.

The skill of diagnosing ailments and making treatment plans takes years to master, but even as a beginner you can help restore wellbeing. Part Two, Treating common ailments, gives treatment plans for the most common causes of the conditions and ailments described.

Use this book wisely. Do not try to take over a doctor's role — help where you can and seek medical advice where you cannot.

Yin and Yang

The formal origins of Oriental medicine lie in the philosophy known as Taoism, first developed by Lao Tzu after about 600BC. At the core of this philosophy is the belief that human beings are part of nature. This means that we experience the constant flow and change of nature, and it is this flow and change that is reality. Many of us try to create permanence in our lives and in the objects around us, but, because reality is in a state of flux, we should instead try to maintain a state of balance within this constant change. It is this balance that gives us a sense of harmony and wellbeing, and is the source of our health.

Chinese medical theory looks for a logic in the patterns of change, and the Yin Yang theory was developed to explain these patterns. The terms Yin and Yang are used to describe the qualities of all things, and their relationship to each other and the universe. Everything contains Yin and Yang elements: Yin and Yang are opposite and complementary.

The balance of Yin Qi and Yang Qi in your body is crucial to your health. Four variations in the Yin Yang balance of Qi are common:

1. Normal balance and quantity of Yin and Yang Qi, which represents health.

2. Normal Yin Qi, but excess Yang Qi, which creates Heat and overactivity.

3. Normal Yang Qi, but deficient Yin Qi, creating Heat (especially at night) and a lack of vitality.

4. Normal Yin Qi, but deficient Yang Qi, creating lethargy, chilliness and poor circulation.

The chart opposite illustrates how the possible imbalances (numbers 2-4 above) may affect your health. The acupressure techniques of calming, tonifying, and dispersing are described on page 29.

From the chart opposite you will see that deficiencies of Yang lead to Yin-type symptoms; deficiencies in Yin will produce Yang-type symptoms. Nothing can be wholly Yin or Yang because there are no fixed extremes in nature. The qualities of Yin and Yang are always relative: warm water, for example, is more Yang than ice, but more Yin than steam. Some of these qualities are outlined in the table opposite.

The causes of disease

For you to get the most out of this book, it will help if you understand how traditional Oriental medicine views the causes of disease. Oriental practitioners do not treat the symptoms of a disease, they look for the underlying causes of it, which are always expressed as disruption of Qi, Yin, and Yang in various parts of the body.

According to Oriental medicine the causes of disease fall into three categories: internal (the emotions); external (the weather), and other causes such as germs or poisons, trauma, diet, and the effects of drugs.

The diseases resulting from emotional causes can be very deep-rooted and are the most difficult to treat. The effects of these causes are described below.

The main external factor — weather — is usually only disabling if your resistance is already low. Nowadays, environmental pollution is probably as important a cause of disease as the weather. Some of the specific effects of weather on the body are described opposite.

Ailments caused by germs, diet, and so on are the most easily treated. But the symptoms, if ignored, can produce effects as far-reaching as those due to the weather or emotions.

Recognizing the cause of a symptom will enable you to offer positive advice to support your treatment. Acupressure will help to bring the Yin and Yang elements back into harmony, and restore the circulation of Qi.

EMOTIONS

Each of the emotions affects the harmony of particular Organs. It is natural to feel sadness, anger, or joy when the occasion demands it, but it is harmful if an emotion such as anger is harboured for years. Since fighting these disturbances creates even more conflict, the Oriental way is to observe them with awareness and allow them to be. Through meditation they will naturally quieten and abate.

WEATHER

Extremes of weather can affect people when their resistance is low. The symptoms are usually similar in nature to the weather that caused them.

Copyright © 1991 by Gaia Books Ltd, London and Stroud

About the Author

Founder and Director of the European Shiatsu School, Chris Jarmey has been teaching shiatsu since 1974. He was the first person to practice shiatsu in the British National Health Service, and has taught extensively in the United States, Europe. and the Far East. His medical qualifications include training in physiotherapy.