This pamphlet outlines the Chinese medicine explanation of how the body works, what acupuncture can treat, and how herbs can help.
Within Chinese cosmology, all of creation is born from the marriage of two polar principles, Yin and Yang: Earth and Heaven, winter and summer, night and day, cold and hot, wet and dry, inner and outer, heavy and light, body and mind. The harmony of this union means health, good weather, and good fortune, while disharmony can mean disease, disaster, and bad luck. The strategy of Chinese medicine is to restore harmony.
Each human being is seen as a world in miniature, a garden in which doctor and patient together strive to cultivate health. Every person has a unique terrain to be mapped, a resilient yet sensitive ecology to be maintained. As the gardener uses methods such as irrigation and compost to grow vigorous plants, the doctor uses acupuncture, herbs, and food to recover and sustain health.
You can order Chinese Medicine: How It Works from Redwing Books.
ISBN 0-9673034-1-9
Published 1991, revised in 2000 by Complementary Medicine Press