Science today is held up in high regards and spirituality is considered a belief. Science is based on experiments , proofs , data , hypothesis and antithesis whereas spirituality is based on notions , faith and inheritance from older generations. But there was a time hundreds of years ago when the two were not considered separate. Be it Traditional Chinese medicine ,Ayurveda or any ancient medicine , any illness was an outcome of imbalance between body , mind and spirit and complete healing would need remedies at all these levels.Our ancestors did not have the luxury of advanced sophisticated tools and relied on the primary human tool of observation . Years and years of acute observation, understanding and inferences have given birth to the vast store of knowledge that we have today. As they looked around , they saw everything in nature is dual - we have 2 eyes , 2 hands , 2 legs , birds have 2 wings , there's day and night , male and female etc and so was born the concept of yin and yang - opposing yet complementary forces . Yin and yang can be associated to feminine and masculine characteristics in nature and also the concept of cold and hot . There is always a subtle transition between them which explains so many naturally occurring phenomena - as the day progresses into night the yang energy decreases and yin increases , as so with the seasons summer being the peak for yang and winter the peak for yin . Again we have five fingers on each hand , five seasons , five senses , there were five planets visible through the naked eye - and thus were born the five basic elements of life . The elements differ between the Japanese , Chinese and Indian systems but the basic notion remains the same . As with Yin/Yang , even the elements undergo gradual transitions . We as humans are also composed of the basic elements along with yin and yang energies and thus a perfect harmony between all would be required for individual well being . Illness is considered a by-product of imbalances between these subtle forces . One such primary source of imbalance is the food we eat - the ancient medicine advises us to eat right for the season and time of the day so that our internal energy is in sync with the external world . But we seem to have lost interest in such ideas - we eat cold food in winter , hot food in summer , might skip breakfast and eat a heavy dinner . There is a reason why a particular fruit / vegetable grows in a particular season - but with frozen or preserved foods available all year round , we disregard notions of eating as per the seasons .
I have had a very scientific and proof oriented approach till some time back - unless there was a scientific formula and explanation associated to it , I was not willing to consider it . We believe in stress which again cannot be measured nor can be seen . We have tools with limitations - they can only measure upto certain wavelengths and frequencies - which do not prove that higher forms of energies do / don't exists . There is an increasing acceptance of the eastern knowledge in the western medical world .And with my personal experience I have now come to truly appreciate the ancient sciences - its definitely worth a try !!
Another concept of ancient science that fascinates me is their concept of balance and harmony eg lets take an example of TCM : the physical body is considered to be symmetrical and perfectly balanced . So the left side of the body is identical to the right side . Same is the case with the upper and lower side of the body - shoulder and hip joints match so do the arm and legs - elbow to knee , wrist to ankle , thumb to toe and fingernails to toe nails . And with these observations and lot of research they came up with energy paths , pressure points etc .So if you have pain in a particular area, there are multiple other accompanying points in the body where if pressure is applied can relieve the pain .
The above was just one of the concepts of Acupuncture - there are meridians , energy paths , diagnosis of pulse and tongue and so many other fields and studies that seem so well researched and logical . I have had a very scientific and proof oriented approach till some time back - unless there was a scientific formula and explanation associated to it , I was not willing to consider it . We believe in stress which again cannot be measured nor can be seen . We have tools with limitations - they can only measure upto certain wavelengths and frequencies - which do not prove that higher forms of energies do / don't exists . There is an increasing acceptance of the eastern knowledge in the western medical world .And with my personal experience I have now come to truly appreciate the ancient sciences - its definitely worth a try !!
