EAST ASIAN MEDICINE

CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE

East Asian Medicine, also known as Chinese medicine, is among the oldest continuously practiced and recorded medicines of the world. Chinese herbal medicine has thousands of yearsIn 1972-74, the Mawangdui tombs were excavated, included textual references of herbal medicine dating from the western Han dynasty (206-9 C.E.). The oldest surviving dedicated Chinese materia medica is Tao Hongjing’s (456–536 C.E.) version of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing 神農本草經 (Divine Farmer’s Classic of Materia Medica), categorizing 365 herbs. Today we have approximately 2,000 years of written records describing how herbs work in combination for different conditions. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 80% of the world’s population use herbal medicine for primary healthcare. Our practitioners have passed state and national board certification for Chinese herbal medicine.

SHI LIAO: NUTRITION & DIET THERAPY

In Chinese medicine, the concept of "nourishing life" (養生 yang sheng) supports health through seasonal eating, food preparation and choices that support digestion and understanding food as one of the main ways we nourish ourselves. Song dynasty doctor Sun Simiao (d. 682), known affectionately as the King of Medicine (藥王 Yaowang) wrote extensively of the primary importance of a diet and that “those who practise medicine must first recognise the origin of an illness; they must know which violations have caused the suffering. Then they must treat it with dietary means. If dietary therapy does not cure the illness, only then can they employ drugs.”

For more information on Sun Simiao’s writing on Yang Sheng, see Sabine Wilm’s article Nurturing Life in Classical Chinese Medicine: Sun Simiao on Healing without Drugs, Transforming Bodies and Cultivating Life

ACUPUNCTURE, MOXIBUSTION, CUPPING, & Gua sha

Acupuncture stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which allows the body to rest and repair. It is only in this state that the body will be able to heal. Acupuncture is the insertion of sterile needles into points along meridians, pathways of the body where qi flows. 

Moxibustion Used since about 500 BCE, moxibustion involves burning mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris or A. annual) to warm acupuncture points points along your body.

Cupping and Gua Sha are manual therapies used in Chinese medicine to relax muscles, break up fascial adhesions, clear a chest cold, stimulate the lungs, eliminate digestive stagnation, and more. Besides their clinical effectiveness, most patients find the experience to be incredibly relaxing.