Traditional

Herbal medicine, also known under the names of phytotherapy and herbalism, is a well-defined branch of the ancient alternative medicinal system that involves the use of plants and plant extracts to cure diseases and alleviate symptoms. The great healing powers of many medicinal herbs and herbal supplements can never be contested for thousands of years plants have been successfully used to fight against a wide spectrum of diseases and disorders, and many of these ancient natural cures are still being used today, sometimes in combination with modern medical treatments.


According to recent archeological findings, herbal medicine dates back ever since man had first walked on this earth, more than 60,000 years ago. For ages, man has continued to perfect the ways of herbal medicine and has been permanently looking for new medicinal herbs with strong curative effects.


The ancient character of herbal medicine is also revealed in the Bible, which suggests the strong relation between man and nature, as well as man’s timely preoccupation with herbalism: “…Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine…” Ezekiel 47:12. Another Scriptural view on herbal medicine can be found in Ecclesiasticus, chapter 38: “…Honor the healer for his services, for the Lord created him. His skill comes from the Most High, and he is rewarded by kings. The healer’s knowledge gives him high standing and wins him the admiration of the great. The Lord has created medicines from the earth, and a sensible man will not disparage them…”


Anthropologists speculate that over the ages, early tribal communities had acquired a good level of knowledge on herbal supplements and medicinal herbs through simple processes of trial and error. This accumulated knowledge was passed from one generation to the other and has been gradually expanded and polished, carrying the print of many distinctive cultural influences: Western, based on Greek and Roman medicinal wisdom, the Ayurvedic from India and Oriental, particularly Chinese influences. Unfortunately, many secrets of the ancient herbal medicine had been lost, and nowadays herbalists are constantly aiming to recover reminiscences of our ancestors’ medicinal wisdom. At present, herbalists, botanists, pharmacologists and microbiologists from many corners of the world have joined forces in an attempt to discover lost medicinal herbs and herbal supplements, as well as new specimens of plants which could be developed for treatment of various diseases in the near future.


In recent years, herbal supplements and medicinal herbs have been extensively used for treating diseases in non-industrialized societies of the world, but also in well developed urban societies. Many people have realized the great efficiency of herbal supplements and medicinal herbs and have decided to use them as substitutes for synthetic drugs or as enhancements for modern medication treatments.


Used wisely and with care, the right herbal supplements and medicinal herbs can successfully protect against diseases and help in curing already existent health problems. Nature has supplied us with so many natural ingredients with great curative effects, and it would be foolishness not to take full advantage of its offerings. We should make efforts to discover nature’s mysteries and use its provided ingredients to create efficient, safe cures and remedies.


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One Traditional Chinese Medicine practice that Westerners may find intriguing is the breathing discipline called Qigong (also dubbed chi kung by others.) This Traditional Chinese Medicine practice is related to the concept of the role of your body energies play in influencing the actions of your body in coordination with specified breathing patterns. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, ailments may result when bodily energies are trapped or constrained in a certain way and need to be released so that your body remains in a state of balance or wellness. This Traditional Chinese Medicine belief is related to the concept of Yin and Yang, which is said to be integral to how the elements of the universe are made up within your body â?? when Yin seems to be too strong, for instance, then Yang becomes too weak. To achieve wellness, you need to bring both Yin and Yang energies back into harmony within your body. Qigong is the Traditional Chinese Medicine practice that aims to facilitate harmonization of your energies which seem to be (as the Westerners put it) â??out of whack.â?

Qigong as a Traditional Chinese Medicine discipline may be a bit complicated for Westerners to fathom since it is not a single body of knowledge practiced by just one group of Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine advocates. There are estimated to be over 3,300 styles plus schools that propagate this Traditional Chinese Medicine discipline nowadays. The commonality between styles and schools is that they all advocate the role of qi or chi in Traditional Chinese Medicine â?? meaning, your breathing can affect how energy is distributed throughout your body and in connection, how ailments can be relieved through proper breathing coupled with the right body movements so that your body is brought back into harmony. The name itself (Qigong) means qi (or breath) and gong (or the discipline itself) â?? taken together, Qigong then is the art of adjusting your breathing to achieve optimal health benefits.

It should not surprise newcomers to Traditional Chinese Medicine that Qigong is closely related to Oriental martial arts, where proper breathing is necessary to achieve the right results. From a Western medical perspective alone, Qigong is a pretty good Traditional Chinese Medicine discipline because it has been scientifically proven that altering breathing patterns can result in better stress reduction treatment and facilitates improved exercise practices. Qigong can be likened to another Traditional Chinese Medicine practice which is meditation (that incidentally is also integral to some Oriental martial arts as well.) To believers in Qigong though, this art of breath work goes much further than just Traditional Chinese Medicine health benefits â?? it is their way to tap into their oneness with the universe and even connect to those universal energies that they believe all exist within us.

In the past, the discipline of Qigong was a closely guarded secret of Oriental martial arts practitioners and other believers in Traditional Chinese Medicine as well. But now that the Orient and its secrets have been opened to Western students as well, we may find this Traditional Chinese Medicine practice is now being explored and even accepted by Western medical arts practitioners too. Chinese hospitals have been advocating use of Qigong practices as part of normal Traditional Chinese Medicine procedures in treating their patients since year 1989 onwards. Even major Chinese universities are now offering studies in Traditional Chinese Medicine practices like Qigong to their students. And fortunately for Traditional Chinese Medicine advocates, even the current government in China has adopted Qigong as an integral component of the National Health Plan, thus putting Qigong under formal government regulation. This allows Traditional Chinese Medicine like the Qigong discipline to be practiced openly rather than force advocates to practice Qigong in secret.

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When you hear about Traditional Chinese Medicine, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Odd stuff in jars in dark smoky rooms where equally odd old men mutter strange incantations in Chinese as they burn incense in a pot? Actually, there may actually literally be such places and maybe they do practice some form of Traditional Chinese Medicine too â?? but in these modern times, Traditional Chinese Medicine can also mean medicine that is practiced by even Western followers of the traditional ways of treating patients as the Chinese have learned all these centuries. And for such Western practitioners, Traditional Chinese Medicine may not mean burning incense as well but rather keeping rather immaculate and clinical treatment rooms where any modern patient would feel comfortable being treated for whatever is ailing him.

One part of Traditional Chinese Medicine that many Westerners may have heard of is acupuncture which is closely related to acupressure. Both acupuncture and acupressure are based on the premise that throughout our body certain points exist at which energy might be strongest. When the Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner finds some energy points to be â??blockedâ?, he might prescribe a round of acupuncture (meaning, sharp sterile needles are inserted at such pressure points to release your vital energy that has been blocked there), or simply press down on the pressure points in a prescribed way so that the blocked energy finds itself flowing again through your body and the ailment is relieved. Though some Westerners may find this Traditional Chinese Medicine belief to be a bit strange, many other Western medical practitioners now advocate these two Traditional Chinese Medicine practices and may even use them in their own clinical practice.

Depending on who you talk to, Traditional Chinese Medicine may be considered either a form of alternative medicine or a form of complementary medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine may be a type of alternative medicine in that you can opt for Traditional Chinese Medicine practices rather than the conventional Western style of medical treatment â?? thus you chose an alternative. Traditional Chinese Medicine practices become complementary medicine when you allow both a Western style of medical treatment and the Traditional Chinese Medicine practices to be used side by side at the same time when you are undergoing treatment for your ailment. It may be easier to determine the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine when you opt to have it by itself, rather than mixing it with other forms of treatment. This is because the symptoms of your ailment might get relieved under a complementary medicine type of treatment program so you might get confused as to which treatment option really worked for you.

Not surprisingly, many people of Oriental lineage are strong believers in Traditional Chinese Medicine and may eschew modern ways of treatment so that they can favor Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment options alone for themselves and their loved ones. Is this good? It depends on the ailment â?? there are some ailments that modern ways of treatment seem to have been very effective at treating (such as cancer) for which there is little evidence that Traditional Chinese Medicine can cure. If you want to be sure of getting well, you may want to pursue Traditional Chinese Medicine only after modern scientific ways of diagnosing an illness have failed to show what you are really ill with. There is some evidence of a so-called placebo effect when complementary medicine methods are used where modern treatment practices have failed to give the desired cure.

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Become a licensed acupuncturist, Tuina therapist, or Oriental medicine doctor when you choose to pursue some of the unique careers in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Boasting rich, ancient medical traditions rooted in Eastern philosophies, principles and applications — careers in traditional Chinese medicine offer individuals fascinating perspectives in natural medicine and energy healing including the Five elements, meridian therapy, yin and yang, Chi, Tai Chi, Qigong, and more.

Dependent upon which one of the Oriental medicine career paths you choose to pursue, you can expect between a few months to a few years’ training and education. For example, if you are primarily interested in Eastern massage techniques, there are some careers in traditional Chinese medicine like Tuina therapists, acupressure practitioners, and meridian therapy practitioners. While no two healing arts schools offer the exact same curricula in these fields, individuals can anticipate educational programs that range between 200 and 1,000+ hours. In addition to earning your diploma or certificate of completion, there are some training courses that meet national certification requirements in which you may be eligible to earn.

Professional careers in traditional Chinese medicine like Oriental medicine practitioners must be substantiated by three to four years of in-depth training in an accredited acupuncture and Oriental medicine program. In many cases, these 3,000+ training hours consist of academic and clinical studies in biomedicine, Chi cultivation, Oriental massage (i.e., Shiatsu, acupressure, and/or Tuina), theories of TCM, acupuncture theory and practice, Chinese herbology, and associated professional studies.

Individuals, who have successfully completed all educational and training requirements to become a licensed Oriental medicine practitioner, find that these careers in traditional Chinese medicine offer a plethora of healing services to clients and patients. Some of the many natural health services that Oriental medicine practitioners provide include treatments in acupuncture, herbal remedies, Eastern bodywork, Tai Chi and Qigong, moxibustion, cupping, and holistic nutritional counseling, among others.

High-level careers in traditional Chinese medicine like Doctors of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (D.A.O.M.) can be achieved through educational commitment and a sincere desire to help in healing. This is one of the highest degrees awarded to TCM practitioners, and is one profession that requires a substantial amount of academic and practical training.

In order to become a successful D.A.O.M., interested individuals should carefully research prospective acupuncture schools or Oriental medicine colleges to determine if they are accredited by the ACAOM (Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine), tuition costs, program length, and what prerequisites are necessary to apply. These particular careers in traditional Chinese medicine typically require a minimum of Master’s level training in acupuncture and Oriental medicine prior to enrollment (into a D.A.O.M. program).

According to the NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), over eight million U.S. adults have used alternative medicine like acupuncture to help in healing. As natural healing medicines like TCM, massage therapy, and acupuncture continue to grow in demand, students who have chosen careers in traditional Chinese medicine can anticipate both personal and professional rewards for a lifetime.

If you (or someone you know) are interested in learning more about these or other TCM occupations, let professional training within fast-growing industries like massage therapy, naturopathy, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Reiki, and others get you started! Explore careers in traditional Chinese medicine near you.

Careers in Traditional Chinese Medicine

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