Philosophy
When we are unwell, it is easy to feel discouraged and despondent. However, illness, pain and discomfort need not be viewed as a negative part of life. Instead we could look at them as an opportunity inviting us to know our self better and make changes that will lead to greater life satisfaction, peace and prosperity.
When we are experiencing a health challenge it can mean that our body is trying to tell us something that we cannot hear in any other way. Perhaps we have worked for too long without adequate rest, perhaps our diet is missing some vital nutrients, perhaps we are carrying emotional burdens without finding an appropriate release or perhaps we have simply been doing too many things at once without any space or time to process our experiences. Even in the case of an accident, we can use the healing process to explore what is going on inside us and emerge from the situation healthier and happier than before.
Sometimes it is not possible to completely remove an illness or injury from our life but it is always possible to learn how to live more comfortably with our situation.
In our current western medical model, many illnesses are not offered a voice to tell us why they have occurred nor are we given practical advice as to how we might relieve our symptoms and avoid them worsening or occurring again. Often drugs or surgery are presented as our only option. Of course in some situations this intensive medicine is a vital part of health care but in many cases we can avoid dealing with further trauma to the body and uncomfortable side effects of drugs which often require further drugs to moderate them and so the cycle continues.
The Traditional Eastern Medicine model of health care views a health concern in relation to what is occurring elsewhere in the body or in the patient’s environment. Careful questioning and observation of the patients skin, pulse and posture leads the practitioner to develop a treatment specific to the individual. The root of the disease or discomfort is addressed as well as offering symptomatic relief. Often symptomatic pain is a way that the body uses to grab our attention and turn it inward to the deeper workings of our body and mind. In treating both the symptom and the cause (known as the Branch and Root of the disease) you are attending to your health on a very deep level and allowing illness to have it’s place as a catalyst for positive change.
Illness is the most heeded of doctors. To goodness and wisdom we make only promises; pain we obey.
- Marcel Proust