Chinese and Tibetan healers use herbs and apply ancient cures to treat all conditions. Each culture's medicinal practices reflect their philosophical systems and botanical knowledge. Chinese and Tibetan healers practice their healing arts and sciences around the modern world.
Chinese Healing
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practices can be alternatives for, or adjuncts to, traditional Western medicine. According to Dr. George Lewith, TCM practitioner in the U.K., some illnesses are caused by yin and yang imbalances, which affects internal organs. In other cases, the qi, or energy, and blood may be blocked. The latter conditions usually include painful symptoms. Some conditions, such as asthma and neurasthenia, are combinations of yin and yang imbalances and blocked qi. Migraine is an example of this category. Each TCM diagnosis determines points in the body to which acupuncture is applied. TCM healers use acupuncture, cupping and herbs to treat and prevent illness. Acupuncture involves the use of needles, positioned at points of blocked qi on the body. Cupping is a simple practice by which cups are attached to points on the skin. Healing occurs as blood stasis forms under the cups. TCM practitioners combine herbs. to precisely resolve complaints.
Tibetan Healing
Tibet, once known as the Land of Medicine, has doctors trained to respect material, psychological and spiritual causes of illness. According to the Dharma Haven Web site pages on Tibetan medicine, Tibetan doctors recommend diet and behavior changes. With its Buddhist roots, Tibetan medicine always includes prescriptions to guide patients toward compassionate living. Dharma Haven cites Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche, who teaches that Medicine Buddha's image symbolizes the use of botanical medicines with emphasis upon ending physical suffering by enlightenment. For millennia, Tibetan doctors and patients have approached healing with this two-fold vision.
Chinese Herbs
Research continues into the effectiveness of Chinese herbs for medicinal purposes. Acupuncturists prescribe traditional Chinese herbs to assist patient recovery. Chinese healers use herbs to help blocked qi and to balance yin and yang. According to Herb China 2000, Chinese herbal remedies can be combined to restore complex physical imbalances as well as imbalances between human beings and the world. TCM can create herbal recipes uniquely targeted to individual causes of ailments. For example, a TCM practitioner may treat acne with fruit of forsythia suspensa for its antibacterial properties, combined with cortex moutan radicis for skin infection.
Tibetan Herbs
Tibetan medicine includes a primary herbal component. Tibetan herbal medicine focuses on preservation of botanical and animal species necessary for ingredients in Tibetan medical practice. Subhuti Dharmananda, Director of the Institute for Traditional Medicine in Portland, Ore., explains that Tibetan herbs are grouped according to six tastes. The six tastes include, but are not limited to, acrid (spicy), bitter and astringent, examples of which include ginger, beriberis and sandalwood, respectively. Tibetan herbalists further consider the eight properties and seventeen effects of herbs. Herbal properties include heavy, light and soft. Herbal effects include cold, warm, and moist. According to Dharmananda, Tibetan healers traditionally prescribed spicy, aromatic and warming herbs, which reflect the cold, dry Himalayan climate. Herbs balance the conditions in which people live. Examples of Tibetan herbs include terminalia chebula, used for eczema and emblica officinalis, used to treat hypertension. Similar to TCM herbal blends, Tibetan medicine combines herbs for maximum effectiveness.
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