Medicine Health

Western medicine is an established way to get rid of diseases. However, there has been an increase in the number of people who use ancient Eastern medicine to heal a variety of ailments. Western medicine requires lab work-ups and diagnostic procedures, surgeries, and pharmaceutical drugs. Eastern medicine in contrast focuses on curing the soul, mind and body.

A number of alternative therapies have mushroomed during the last several decades. A common denominator in several of these modalities is the concept of energy manipulation. Putative energy medicine is a form of complementary and alternative medicine which is guided by the belief that a healer can channel healing energy into another individual. One example of this kind of alternative therapy is bioplasmic healing.

What is bioplasmic healing?

This alternative medicine modality is founded by Choa Kok Sui and it involves a number of therapeutic approaches based on the belief system that disorders are caused by deficiencies or disruptions in the life energy, known as prana.

The two fundamental tenets of bioplasmic healing is that the human body can heal itself and that the healing process can be accelerated by improving prana. This healing approach does not involve drugs, gadgets, nor physical contact with the individual.

Several therapies used in bioplasmic healing

Traditional healing approaches

The notion of prana is shared by Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. In both modalities, use of herbs and foods that are loaded with vital force, acupuncture, therapeutic exercise and massage help promote and balance the flow of prana.

Pranayama

Advocates of pranic healing believe that prana can be taken in by way of breathing, and therefore, breathing exercises can facilitate healing. Pranayama, also referred to as yogic breathing, can help in soothing the mind.

Exercises

It is thought that certain postures and movements, when carried out every day together with breathing exercises, can encourage optimal prana flow. This is why yoga and t'ai chi are considered forms of bioplasmic healing.

Meditation

Meditation utilized in pranic healing is a blend of breathing, chanting, specific postures and mental exercises to generate an improved or altered state of being. Meditating helps relax the mind and helps increase the flow of cleansing and healing life energy.

Learning how to perform pranic healing

It is quite empowering to understand how to handle simple illnesses effectively on your own. Different training courses on pranic healing are available in many countries. With these courses, you will learn how to scan, sweep and increase prana so you can manage your health better.

During a casual chat with a dentist friend, we had a difference in opinion on the efficacies of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (or "TCM" as it is more popularly known). Neither can she bring herself to concur on my suggestion that Chinese Astrology studies like Bazi (or 4 Pillars) and Zi Wei Dou Shu (ZWDS) are useful towards maintaining good health.

To most people, Western Medicine is scientific, more widely accepted and belongs to the main stream tools toward health and wellness. Hence, it is the defacto choice for them. While I have utmost respect for the advancement Western Medicine have made until today, I have come across enough cases that makes me convinced that TCM is the superior choice to Western Medicine when it comes to achieving good health. I will say TCM is more effective at keeping people in the pink of health while Western Medicine is better in treating sick people. When people are severely ill, naturally Western Medicine is the better choice of treatment.

What is my basis for concluding so? Western medicine treats symptoms but do not get to the root of the problem. For someone suffering from headache they usually prescribe pain killers but falls short of addressing the real cause of the headaches. When a patient has fever, sometimes they ask the patient to dip in cold water or stay in cold air-conditioned rooms to combat the rising temperature. Proponent of Western Medicine may challenge me to say why make a fuss when the illness is "cured". I will say the symptoms may be cured but the root cause of the illness is merely subdued. The result of which is a weaker health constitution in the long term.

TCM is very different as it seeks to identify the underlying health deficiencies. TCM acknowledge that the body consists of organs that are all interlinked and their yin & yang composition determines how the energy flows within the organs of the body. TCM thus goes right to the root of the health problem instead of just treating the symptoms. Rome is not built in a day, and neither should we expect our health problems to be fully cured by a TCM practitioner within a short period of time. For those that have developed to a critically late stage of illnesses, I still advocate they rely on Western Medicine as the short term cure but use TCM as the longer term fallback solution.

When do Bazi and ZWDS come into play? They hold the key towards a comprehensive diagnosis of the health problem and medical prescription. I am a firm believer of the adage that "prevention is better than cure". Bazi and ZWDS will be able to identify the inherent health deficiency and medical problem of a person even way before the symptoms or the illness sets in. They can also help to identify the Fengshui aspects of the house or environment that the person lives in that will prevent such illnesses from setting in. An understanding of Bazi and ZWDS also holds the key to prescription of a comprehensive cure. This is because the patient may not articulate the medical problem clearly enough and an effective cure can only be achieved when the TCM practitioner understands how the energy flows within the organs and their yin & yang predisposition.

Opponents may still claim that I am bigoted against Western Medicine. In my next article, I will share a few examples of how Western Medicine failed or how TCM + understanding of Bazi/ZWDS cured a problem that was not satisfactorily resolved by Western Medicine.

Few would argue that the medical system in the United States is in a healthy place. We spend more money in this country than any other country, but only rank 37th in the world in the quality of our health care according to a report by the World Health Organization. Other studies have consistently put us at the lower end of life expectancy among industrialized nations. It is important to ask why our health care system is not serving the needs of many of our citizens.

We have, as a society, made enormous leaps technologically in the past thirty years. We have developed amazing new techniques to heroically save persons from the brink of death. We have invested large amounts of our healthcare resources to these new technologies. This has, however, occurred at the expense of relatively low cost interventions aimed at preventing diseases. Much of the health care resources of European countries are aimed at preventative medicine, in order to keep people healthy so that they do not need these expensive, technological interventions. Consequently, these countries spend much less than we do and have higher quality of care.

Integrative medicine involves the combination of the best of conventional medicine with other healing traditions to improve overall patient care. As more and more research comes out, we learn that techniques from Chinese medicine, nutrition, massage, naturopathic medicine, psychological counseling, and others do have a place in the medical system. These tools are useful both as an adjunct to conventional treatments when disease is present, but also tend to be much more preventative in nature than Western medicine.

Proponents in integrative medicine often speak of seeing improved results when diverse practitioners work together for the benefit of the patient. One aspect of integrative medicine is giving the patient information about all the options available so that he/she can make an informed decision. Often times, safer interventions with less possibility of side effects can be tried first in many illnesses, reserving more aggressive/expensive intervention as a last resort. For example, with obesity, dietary and lifestyle changes should be the first attempted intervention. This can be combined with counseling, acupuncture, and/or herbal interventions focused on improving metabolism. Surgical options should be the last resort, only when a person's weight is becoming a serious risk to their health.

Integrative practitioners also tend to focus on preventing illness. True preventative medicine goes beyond just doing screening bloodwork, mammograms, and colonoscopies. While these are all very important, empowering a patient to take charge of their health is one of the main goals of integrative medicine. Teaching patients to eat well, exercise, get quality sleep, focus on their emotional health, be creative, and become active participants in their communities are just as important. Research continues to confirm that all these areas are important aspects of true health.

The trend toward integrative medicine will continue to grow in this country. In urban areas, such as Seattle, numerous integrative clinics have arisen where medical doctors, naturopathic physicians, massage therapists, acupuncturists, counselors, and others all work together. The results achieved are often much better than can be expected by only utilizing one of the interventions. Another benefit stated is that the practitioners in these clinics often talk about enjoying their work and the benefits of working together.

Integrative medicine may not be the only change that is necessary in our ailing medical system, but it does mark another option. By working together, often improved results are observed and health care costs can be lowered, which is a positive step.