Chinese medicine is known as a mix of art, spirituality and science that evolved over hundreds of years. Perhaps this is the reason that this collection of knowledge is so mystifying to Westerners who have all but forgotten what was once known as the wise women who also accumulated information about herbs and the effect of nature on the human body. To this end it is not surprising that so many of the tenets of this discipline are entering the mainstream understanding of Western medicine and even find a following among those who otherwise would not be involved in the practice of medicine at all. Quite possibly the most commonly referenced practice hailing back to the mystic aspects of Chinese medicine is the manipulation of bodily energy.

Let the buyer beware when purchasing creams allegedly used in Chinese medicine! Many of them contain harmful chemicals known to cause severe physiological setbacks. Even as there is no surefire way to tell at a glance if you are about to make a risky purchase, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

* Check for a list of ingredients. If it is missing or not available in English, do not buy the cream. Even though it may be harmless, the failure to showcase any and all ingredients listed is a method employed by ruthless manufacturers who might cut their products with substandard substances.

Achieving harmony equates to wellness. Disharmony equates to disease. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has 3 main areas that is looked to for the cause of disease. These 3 main areas are external causes, internal causes and then there is a small group of miscellaneous causes that are attributed to the patient's lifestyle.

External Causes:

There are 6 external causes of disharmony according to TCM. These 6 external causes (6 evils) are wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness and also summer heat. All 6 causes have to do with climatic conditions that are of extremes. These extremes cause terrible effects on the environment and can seriously throw off the balance necessary within our bodies that helps us maintain the flow of qi to our organs. When this balance is out of whack qi is blocked or decreased to the point of the manifestation of disease.

Many treatments found within the modalities of Chinese medicine date back to dubious lore which quite often makes for great story telling but by and large is not always as reliable as a historic source ought to be. Nonetheless, a story stemming from Chinese folklore speaks of a goat herder who noticed that his bucks came into rut more frequently when grazing on a certain patch of land. Similarly, the does seemed to be in heat in keeping with the bucks' rut more often at that location, and therefore the enterprising goat herder went to investigate. After all, sexually active goat flocks translated directly into wealth, as the one with the most goats was able to make the most money.

Choosing a practitioner of Chinese medicine is not as easy as it sounds. Regulatory bodies – albeit working hard to enforce rules and regulations – have not been successful in stemming the tide of frauds and self proclaimed healers. While it is only too easy to trust governmental entities to protect the American consumer from the medic who is practicing in his or her field without a license, when it comes to alternative forms of medicine the patient is by and large the best source of defense. Yes, this does place the individual in a position of the utmost responsibility when it comes to the quality of their healthcare. Even as in Western medicine many of the accreditations are automatically checked by insurance companies who will include the physician in their directory only after she or he is found to be fully licensed, the same standard is not applied to the practitioner of alternative and thus Chinese medicine and still many a person in search of an alternative healer will not pick up the slack and do the leg work.

As soon as you even begin to scratch the surface of Chinese medicine, you will come face to face with yin and yang. References to these forces are found everywhere within the application of modalities to the understanding of symptoms. Westerners have in some ways simplified this concept to be akin the Star Wars idea of the force – one being good the other evil. This is not only an oversimplification, but also inherently wrong.

Chinese patent cures in many ways resemble the snake oil salesman of old when the traveling seller of tinctures, herbs, pills, and balms would convincingly promise that his formulas were the answer to anything form baldness over infertility to unrequited love. Quite often being a confidence man, he would have a plant in the audience, an individual who would drink or otherwise use the mixture and then suddenly display the most astounding results. Then this individual would loudly praise the substance and disappear into the crowd once more, never to be seen again – until he and the snake oil salesman set up shop in the next village.

What springs to mind first when you think about Chinese medicine? Is it the acupuncture needle? Do you envision the dark herbalist shop that is little more than a hole in the wall? Do you recall the many television specials that speak of the destructive practices which contribute to endangerment and possible extinction of a variety of animals, including the tiger? Have you read about the swiftlet's nest collection procedures that have cost many a collector his life? If so, then you probably are only privy to one small aspect of the discipline that is known as Chinese medicine.

No other animal is as closely knit to the lore of Chinese medicine as the tiger. As a matter of fact, tigers by and large are now considered to be endangered. Even though it is the largest wild cat and truly has not predators and natural enemies other than man, the numbers are now estimated to be somewhere around 2,500 in the world.

The reasons why Chinese medicine endangers tigers are plentiful:

* From a spiritual point of view, the tiger's ribs are associated with good luck. Fashioned into a talisman, they are sometimes worn together and sometimes individually in an effort to ensure a person's overall fortune.

Chinese food therapy is very old, it dates back to 2000 BC. and has been documented since 500 BC. The Niejing was written around 300 BC and documents Chinese food therapy. This document classifies food into four food groups. The groups are and by the five tastes and also be their natures and characteristics of the foods.

There are four pillars of health according to the Chinese people. The four pillars are lifestyle, food, exercise and mind. The food is the most important pillar because it is believed that food is the major cause of disease as well as the source of good health and long life.

There are four main steps taken when arriving at a diagnosis when practicing Chinese medicine. The four steps are observation, listening and Smelling, Questioning, and Palpation. All of these steps give the practitioner clues as to how the patient's life force is doing.

Have you ever wondered why so many youngsters these days seem to have more than enough piercing on and around their ears to hold up your average household shower-curtain? A tongue in check response may claim that they are trying to kick the tobacco habit or stop chewing gum!

Seriously though, the fact that manipulations of the ear's pressure points may lead to desirable health effects is not a new finding. In Chinese medicine there are many references to emperors who chose to wear heavy gold earrings in the hopes of curing a vision problem Acupuncture of the ear is also a rather common practice in this form of medical practice. It is termed auriculotherapy and a practitioner who specializes in this form of acupuncture is known as an auriculotherapist.

Do you remember the questionnaire you filled out the last time you were at your doctor's office? It was most likely lengthy and asked you a number of detailed questions with respect to the symptoms you may have been experiencing. At times these questionnaires are so detailed that it takes longer to fill them out than to consult with the doctor! Interestingly, in Chinese medicine the collection of symptoms is much less detailed and instead is cataloged into the fiver outer symptoms which every person knows to look for and to describe.

The online world of multi level marketing is abuzz with the latest and greatest supplements. Each and every day it seems that a new company is up and coming, while another goes by the wayside. Selling Chinese medicine wellness products is one of the up and coming business opportunities that are currently touted online by many a manufacturer and company head alike. Many of those who are hoping to build a company on the wellness products associated with Chinese medicine are heavily promoting supplements themselves, and in some cases there is some danger associated with this practice.

The diagnosis of mesothelioma for many is a death sentence. Traced back to a person's exposure to asbestos fibers which were permitted to invade the lungs, the cancer is a slowly ticking time bomb that may take years to build but will strike suddenly and with a vengeance. Frequently it is not only the exposed individual who will succumb to the illness, but close family members who came in contact with her or him and by default the asbestos fibers that may have been carried on the clothes also have a chance of developing cancer.

Open up the medicine cabinet in virtually any American home, and the odds are good that you are greeted by a plethora of bottles containing pills, capsules, tinctures, and sprays. Only a few of them pertain to the beautifying of the person who owns the cabinet, the majority of these bottles contain – usually over the counter – medicines that help her or him to sleep, stay awake, shed water gain, decrease weight, increase weight, cause virility, increase fertility, decrease fertility, and so on. Most of the ingredients on those bottles are so complicated that it would take a degree in chemistry to truly understand the contents.

Chinese medicine is a careful compilation of the restorative effects of herbs. Attempting to keep the body's life force flowing freely and unfettered, many conditions are sought to be eliminated by freeing the bodily energies with nutritional intervention, acupuncture, massage, and more localized manipulations of acupressure points, such as is the case with fire cupping. Westerners are eagerly learning more about these practices they often consider somewhat novel, but many who are disenchanted with the harsh chemicals used in commercial medications, or those who refuse to put themselves at risk for side effects that are sometimes worse than the conditions the drugs purport to cure.

The art and science of Chinese medicine is well known for seeking to treat the human body in its entirety rather than dicing it up into individual chunks and seeking to treat them – a practice that has come into disfavor in the Western world over the course of the last few decades. The goal of much of the treatments employed in Chinese medicine always focuses on an increase in the free flow of the qi, the life force or bodily energy that is thought to course throughout the living body.

Acupuncture for a variety of ailments is almost common practice in today's United States. As a matter of fact, a new movement to look to auriculotherapy – the use of acupuncture on the ear – for the treatment of nicotine and a variety of drug addictions is currently underway. In the same vein, the use of acupuncture to help with weight loss and even the fear of flying is becoming a practice that is rapidly entering the mainstream.

The Chinese people believe that each season has different foods and activities that best fit to enhance the body's needs for that season.

During the season of Spring Qi is moving upward and outwards so it is a good time to produce and to transform blood and body fluids and to nourish Yang Qi by stimulating metabolism. Spring is a good time to do food or herbal liver cleanses. Individuals are encouraged to spend more time outside doing activities that are good exercise. In the spring the food to eat are those that are spicy, sweet and lightly warm.