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Healing & Alternative Health:
The Ancient Way of Chinese Medicine
by Kevin O'Neil |
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Carefully, I removed the thin needle from his back, covering the spot with a cotton ball afterwards. Looking at the cotton, I was pleased to note that there wasn't any trace of blood and that no hole was visible. He had reported no discomfort during the treatment, even though he was grimacing in pain when he first walked into the treatment room. After talking about his injury for a while, noting his inability to bend more than 5 degrees without seizing up in pain, I had him lay on the table for the acupuncture treatment.
We started with massage, which let me feel how rigid his lower back muscles were. After a few minutes of massage, it became clear where the "trigger points" were. Combining these with traditional acupuncture points for low back spasm, such as in the center behind the knee and in the middle of the calf, I gently inserted several acupuncture needles. When it was clear that the insertions were comfortable, I began applying moxa, which is heat therapy from a smoldering mugwort cigar held near the needles. About 20 minutes later, I removed the needles and asked him to stand up. Standing, he gingerly tried bending. The surprise on his face (and mine) as he bent to tie his shoes without pain was priceless.
That was my first treatment as an intern at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. While not all patients have had such immediate results, enough do that my respect for acupuncture has continued to grow over the decade I've been involved with Chinese Medicine. Since then, I've helped people with everything from heart problems to mental illness, who have been told to go home and die by mainstream medicine or found the side effects of drug therapy to be worse than their diseases. I still blush when patients introduce me as someone who "saved their life" yet I know by now that this medicine has done so for thousands of people in the past several hundred years.
Believe me, I never imagined I would make my living by sticking needles in people. Hypodermic needles have terrified me since I was a young child and had a bad immunization experience. It was mainly the combination of herbal medicine and Taoist philosophy which drew me to study Chinese Medicine. The needles came later.
Since I was very young, I had a sense that the two opposing forces in the Universe existed within me. That was a good thing, I thought, as balance was necessary. Specifically, I remember deciding that my right hand symbolized the destructive force (the stronger, sword-wielding hand). My left hand was the creative and healing hand. Instead of a battle between Good and Evil, where Evil should be permanently vanquished, I felt there should be a balance between creation and destruction. After all, if you don't clear out the old, how can you create the new?
Years later, I came across Paul Reps' book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, which is a collection of Zen Koans, or paradoxical stories aimed to break through rigid mental patterns. These delighted me. In my first year of college I was magnetically drawn into a bookstore and bought Ni, Hua Ching's Complete Works of Lao Tzu, which contains the Tao Te Ching and a lesser known work, the Hua Hu Ching. The Hua Hu Ching lays out the training program for becoming a well rounded Taoist. These practices include acupuncture, herbology, exercises such as Qi Gong and Tai Chi, meditation, fasting, and even proper sexual techniques. At the time, I didn't expect that within 3 years I would make learning these systems my all-consuming goal, even moving to Victoria, B.C. and later China, Taiwan, and Thailand to pursue top instruction from authentic teachers such as Henry C. Lu and Mantak Chia.
Fighting was never something I was attracted to as a youth, yet after I started studying Chinese Medicine, I joined a classmate's Kung Fu class. The stretching, low stance training, meditation, and discipline from memorizing forms were fabulous, and I noticed a wonderful series of changes in my body and mind. Deepening that with meditation practice, I began to understand that the vast majority of people almost never feel "radiantly healthy" and that one of the gifts of the Chinese healing arts is to unlock the potential vitality of both the body and the mind. "Smart drugs" are not a new thing, and neither are nutritional supplements. Taoists have been making supplement pills from ground up herbs, shells, minerals, honey, etc. for thousands of years, and benefiting from them. As with modern drugs, they experimented with some substances which had unexpected results, not all of them positive. However, the Chinese doctors of the past did an excellent job of writing everything down-herb effects, clinical experiences, cautions and contraindications, etc. When evil emperors burned books in China, they always spared the medical texts, leaving us with an unparalleled record of a medical system refined over centuries of experience.
As I was training, several teachers pointed out that Western science was no longer looking at "if" Chinese Medicine worked, but "how" it works. From meditation to herbs, it is clear that these techniques can help people, probably now more than ever. It is also clear that our high technology culture has increased the toxins we're exposed to and, for many people, the stresses of daily life-commuting in traffic, dealing with computer problems, etc. Few people plan on giving up electricity and cars to live as hermits in a cave. While that can be a nice escapist fantasy, it is not what I recommend or plan on doing. We are creating a new culture, where we do Yoga and Qi Gong stretches to counterbalance our time in front of the computer, and where we add Ginseng and tasty Lycium berries (Gou Qi Zi) to our antioxidant protocols to keep us on top of the pollutants in our environment. Taoist longevity practices are used to keep "Arthur Itis" away from our joints. And when we get in a fix where our own stretching, relaxing, and meditating can't keep us from feeling the effects of stress and tension, we seek help from our friendly neighborhood acupuncturist, massage therapist, etc., hopefully before the situation gets too bad.
Some of the Taoist ideas about diet and longevity are being born again in contemporary medical literature and seem to be "new" when they are, in fact, among the oldest ideas and practices. For example, the "low carb" diet. The early Taoists often practiced going without the "Five Grains" for the grains were said to feed the "Three Worms" which caused disease. One of these "worms" is very analogous to the common parasitic fungus Candida, which feeds on grains. One famous Chinese doctor, Hua Tuo, of the 2nd century AD even performed an appendix surgery! There are many fascinating pieces of Chinese medical history I look forward to sharing with you in future columns.
I have been asked by the Meta Arts Magazine editors to write this column to share information about Traditional Chinese Medicine and related practices. Over the months, I will be writing about a number of issues. For example, how do you know what conditions to use acupuncture for and which to use herbs for? What herbs are safest and best to use in a preventative lifestyle program? Which Chinese Patent Medicines (the premade pills) are best for the home medicine cabinet for treating common complaints such as colds, flus, sleep problems, indigestion, etc.? What is a simple stretching/self-massage routine which doesn't take years of study to benefit from? What do some of the esoteric claims regarding meditation translate to in terms of modern brain chemistry? What herbs are dangerous, and should they be banned? You're also welcome to e-mail me with questions and suggestions for future columns. My e-mail is Kevin@AncientWay.com.
I've chosen to live in a small mountain town in Southern Oregon. Klamath Falls is definitely not a New Age mecca, but you'll find a wide range of people here. As I write, a potato farmer is relaxing on my treatment table, being treated for chronic pain due to rodeo injuries of his youth. Just a little while ago, I treated an 82 year old woman who had gone to the doctor with severe chest pains and been told, "we don't find anything wrong-you have to die of something!" and had traveled up and down the West Coast looking for a diagnosis. Well, the Chinese diagnosis was energy and blood stuck in her heart area (she has scar tissue from a bypass surgery) and the acupuncture and some hawthorne with other herbs has totally taken the pains away and increased her energy and vitality.
I hope that you will follow my columns and learn more about Traditional Chinese Medicine for your own use and also so you can responsibly recommend it to people you know who may believe that they should "learn to live with it."
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Kevin O'Neil,
Licensed Practitioner of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine |
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Kevin O'Neil, Licensed Acupuncturist, began his Chinese Medicine training in Chinatown, Victoria, B.C. at the International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with Henry Lu, Ph.D. .
After one year, Kevin transferred to the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, where he spent 3 years completing his Master's Degree of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Upon graduation, Kevin went to China and interned in the HeiLongJiang Chinese Medicine University Hospital, before moving to Tainan, Taiwan to continue his studies of Chinese Medicine, language, and culture.
Upon 'repatriation,' he chose to embrace the Taoist tradition of living in the mountains where the pace of life is more relaxed and the air is clean and clear. Finding Klamath Falls, Oregon to suit these characteristics, Kevin opened his clinic there in Spring, 1999.
Ancient Way Acupuncture & Herbs, Inc.
Medical/Dental Building
905 Main St #409
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
541-884-6377
www.ancientway.com |
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