Understanding Chronic Illness
A Classical Chinese Medicine Perspective.
Through Western medical acculturation, we generally understand illness as something going wrong in the body. But what if illness is actually the body’s attempt to make things right? Classical Chinese Medicine reveals the innate intelligence of the body and how it is never actually working against us. It explains the inherent mechanism that the body uses to preserve itself, shedding light on chronic symptomatology and the natural capacity to heal.
Classical Chinese Medicine has not only changed my effectiveness as a practitioner, but has also supported the way I relate to my own body. The mentality of this medicine instills trust over fear, illuminating the innate gnosis of the body and its inclination towards life. It offers a foundational shift in the way we think about preventative medicine as well as ways for practitioners to effectively intervene at different stages of disease. To best understand the wisdom of this medicine, we have to first look at its origin.
Classical Chinese medicine first originated as a purely shamanic practice that didn’t involve needles. It is a medicine predicated on directly perceiving the body as a field of energy, knowing that any disruption to that field affects the flow of vitality and therefore health.
The original text on acupuncture manifested approximately 4,620 years ago—The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic of Medicine. Over the years, this medicine was subject to much modification, especially during the cultural revolution in China when it was fundamentally reformed so that rural people received medical care. This is where the more broadly disseminated Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] comes from—a filtered, more relevant version for that time.
Luckily, unbroken oral traditions of the Classical Chinese Medicine system exist today, though they are fewer. The one I received comes through the globally celebrated practitioner, Jeffrey Yuen, whose lineage traces back to the genesis of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic. I’ve had the good fortune to learn from two of his esteemed students and colleagues, Ann Cecil-Sterman and Sean Tuten, both of whom are exceptional practitioners and human beings.
With the above being said, I’m going to do my best to briefly impart what I find most essential from the Classical Chinese Medicine way of thinking in relationship to chronic illness. My hope is that this especially serves those of you who have struggled to make sense of chronic symptoms in your own bodies.
Classical Chinese Medicine renders a total of 68 energy channels which fall into two categories: the Primary Channels, responsible for the function of the internal organs, and the Complement Channels, responsible for keeping illness away from the organs. While the Complement Channels are far less utilized and understood in modern, traditional acupuncture, Classical Chinese Medicine sees them as invaluable for the treatment of chronic disease. They are the main conductors for the human body’s preservation system.
In the face of any potentially life-threatening disease, the Complement Channels engage different strategies to create a less serious, slower disease. They mainly do this through the strategy of “latency.” Latency is the mechanism by which the body stores pathogens to keep illness from the organs. Classically, pathogens include climactic or environmental factors, diet, toxins, trauma, and emotions.
The Complement Channels typically move pathogens into the densest places of the body where they can be kept as quiet as possible (joints, muscles, glands, bones, teeth etc.) without disrupting organ function. For example, the body sees chronic joint or muscle pain (as seen in Rheumatoid Arthritis or Fibromyalgia) as less worse conditions than organ disease.
Clinically, I’m accustomed to witnessing the myriad display of confounding pains and auto-immune-like symptoms that chronic illness patients present with. The mechanism of latency is an explanation why. The range of symptomatology that a person experiences depends on where and how the body attempts to maintain latency and with what physical reserve. The body needs to be physically and psychologically resourced to resolve latency on its own. Otherwise, it’s likely to play “hot potato” with pathology until a more serious illness ensues.
What can be most frustrating for people who experience chronic pain or other symptomatology is that often times bloodwork and other biomarkers remain normal despite the “mystery” symptoms they are experiencing. This can be maddening and I have compassion for those who have experienced this. It’s especially challenging to assess the role of latent viruses, bacteria, and toxins (part of why I like functional stool and blood tests). I think that the latent activity of these organisms play a massive role in the development of chronic disease–far more than we give them credit for.
Through consistent treatment of the channels, diet, herbal or supplemental therapies, and psycho-emotional support, I am seeing first handedly how the body can resolve latency and therefore heal completely. It is designed to do so! Sometimes resolution is a long haul, especially when someone has been accumulating pathology over many years or is under stress. In other cases, healing is utterly spontaneous. The key to this medicine is understanding a person’s unique physiological and psychological holding pattern in order to usher pathology up and out the channel system.
Perceiving the body in this way creates impetus to consider health in a different way—one that is based on awareness. What we consume, are exposed to, and repress doesn’t just go away. The body is constantly managing external and internal influences to preserve itself. Maintaining health requires us to be aware and responsive when the body is trying to get our attention! It urges us to appreciate that our bodies are always communicating with us and that health depends on befriending ourselves. The kindest thing we can do is listen.