Anmo/Tuina and Qigong vs. other modalities

[Guest guest]

Hi Tan Jit Kiat,

 

First of all, thanks for coming up with these comments. Let me share

with you may ideas:

 

-

> Hi Rich,

>

> It may be your own experience that QiGong and Tuina is superior to

> herbal medicine and accupunture. Perhaps QiGong and Tuina are more

> suitable for you. Perhaps you are lucky to meet an expert QiGong

> master. However, it cannot prove that QiGong and Tuina are indeed

> superior for the following reasons:

 

I believe I was quite explicit in my original comments which were,

that in my expeiences, and in the experiences of my family and

friends, the combination of anmo (the term that my pracititioner

prefers) and qigong is far superior to acupuncture and herbs. The

proof for us is that with this combination we no longer need

acupuncture and herbs, whereas the reverse is not true. What's more,

anmo/qigong was able to clear up very severe chronic problems which

were several acupuncturists in our area (all very highly trained and

skilled) were unable to treat and ultimately gave up on. These are

Chinese trained acupuncturists with over 30 years experience.

 

>

> 1. It does not prove anything from a statistical perspective. To

> establish any mathematical basis, you need to provide credible

> statistical result, not just words like " my family and all my friends

> think so " or " my teacher cures so many cases that herbs/accuputure

> are unable to solve " .

 

This is true, but the same can be said for acupunture and herbs when I

first starting using these modalities 20 years ago. Even today, the

Western medical profession does not accept the validity of acupuncture

in the vast number of cases. Does this mean that experiences should

not be shared or talked about? My family and friends who first started

using Chinese medicine two decades ago, did so because it worked - not

because of any studies. Anyway, Western Medicine has tons of studies

that prove that their modalities work - only the modalities do not.

:-) So I gave up on " studies " and statistics a long time ago. :-)

 

>

> 2. QiGong requires a master/teacher who can constantly advise you

>and QiGong require a lot more personal effort to learn.

 

Yes and know. The same can be said for acupuncturists and particularly

herbalists, the best of whom, I believe develop their own skills over

many decades. But everyone has to start somewhere. Just because

someone has graduated from a TCM school, does not mean that they have

" mastered " the modalities of herbs and acupuncturem, yet he/she still

starts a practice. In fact, when I was first exposed to herbs, I was

told that it was by far and a way the most complex modality to

" master " and it takes 30 years of study and apprenticeship. Nowadays,

people are prescribing herbs with just a few years of classroom

training. So times have changed. :-) In my view, based upon my

experiences with the different modalities, the use of medical qigong

is far easier to master than herbs - because of the underlying actions

of the modalities and the way the operate.

 

 

>Herbal medicine

> and accuputure are more scalable, practical and acceptable for busy

> city workers who do not have time and tendency to learn QiGong.

 

Yes. I mentioned in a previous post that acupuncture and herbs are

more practical for large populations where everyone is getting sick

because they are not taking care of themselves. A good doctor will try

to propogate healthier practices but this is often not what the

patient is looking for. Instead they are looking for something that

will clear up the symptoms so they can get on with the " business of

life " . People, it seems would rather spend lots of time behind a

computer screen, getting ill, and then use the money they earned to

pay someone else to give them pharmaceuticals or herbs so that they

can make more money. But as they get older - their viewpoint may

change. Especially when they become immobile and spend more time in

the hospital than at home. It's life :-)

 

>

> 3. If QiGong/Tuina are indeed is the only way to go. Herbal

> medicine/Accupuncture would have died in the long history of chinese

> medicine by means of natural selection.

 

It certainly isn't the only way to go for a given culture, and I do

not think I ever said this in any of my posts. Different strokes for

different folks. People love western medicine, they love lots of other

things that I do not. I recognize the practical aspects of Chinese and

Western culture. The same argument is made for Western Medicine - that

is it should be made available and I, of course agree. People should

be free to injest any thing they want. It is their life not mine. Only

in the U.S. I end up paying for their medical insurance because they

are too sick to pay for their own. :-)

 

On the other hand, just because something has a long history - and

truly TCM only has a 30 year history in its " book form " - does not

mean it is the best approach for everyone. I think that people should

be well informed of other modalites underneath the TCM umbrella

including anmo, tuina, gua sha, cupping, etc. Heck, we have

" profesionals " on this forum who equate herbalism and TCM and never

talk about alternative modalities such as qigong and anmo. This, I

believe is far too strong a bias. Practitoners, like Tom Tam, have

written that there are cases that they have managed where the

blockages are so substantial that anmo and qigong are the preferred

modalities (over acupuncture) - and that he never use herbs. There do

exist alternative approaches to health maintenance.

 

With additional knowledge about alternative modalities, patients may

find, as I did, a strong preference for approaches other than

acupuncture and herbs. With this, maybe the professionals to service

this growing community will also grow. I believe the practice outlined

in Tom Tam's Healing System, is a very powerful approach, combining

knowledge of many different modalities (acupunture, tuina, qigong),

and it is one that I would love to have access to. My practitioner is

overloaded with new patients each week as a result of patient referrals.

>

> 4. One must take into consideration the historical context why herbal

> medicine and accupunture are given priority.

>

> The 1st TCM classic is Neijing (Ling Su, Su Wen) where Ling Su is

> dedicated for Accupuncture and Su Wen for theories on TCM.

> Subequently, Zhang Ji's SHL shifts its foucs to herbal medicine,

> pattern differentiation (Zheng diagnosis) to treat " San Han " . Later

> in Jing Dynasty, Li Dong Yuan made his " Bi Wei Lun " to treat disease

> arise due to weak digestion system - again the focus in herbal

> medicine.

 

As the article that I posted on the history of Anmo demonstrated, anmo

is quite ancient and has been used with families for thousands of

years. It is a " self-maintaining " practice as is qigong. Anyone can do

it and it doesn't require a " licensed practitioner " . I would love to

pose " self-maintaining " health practice questions on this forum and

see how well TCM practitioner do. are you game? See how well you would

do on a desert island? It can be fun.

 

Anmo and qigong may not be as widely " promoted " because it is tough to

create a large commercial market where people are self-maintaining.

The same thing can be said for off-the-shelf herbs vs. prescribed

pharmaceuticals. One is easy to come by while the other is a

government enhanced commercial market.

>

> According to studies, Neijing is written during the 7 Warrior States

> and SHL in the late Han dynasty and " Bi Wei Lun " in Jing Dynasty.

> Many wars were fought during these periods with a lot of sick,

> injured and dying victims. It is difficult to see how QiGong and

> Tuina can be practical during such period of time. Herbal medicine

> and accupuncture offer tremendous value to save lives at such times.

 

Yes, there is the practical aspect of treating soldiers who have not

been trained to take care of themselves but instead to kill others. I

would not recommend acupunture or herbs for our soldiers in Iraq. Not

enough trained TCM personal in the U.S. army. :-) But this does not

mean that the average person in the U.S cannot benefit from access to

Chinese or many other forms of alternative medicines.

 

I believe that people who can take care of themselves and are able to

avoid acupuncture, herbs, pharmaceuticals, surgery, etc. are

practicing the highest form of medicine. Others may disagree. :-)

 

Thanks a lot for your well considered comments.

 

Regards,

Rich

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

It was requested that I provide some clarification to my original posting:

 

I do not believe that qigong is better than TCM. First of all qigong

is part of TCM. So it cannot be better. What I did say is that for my

family and friends, the combination of anmo and qigong has worked

better than acupuncture and herbs. As the original poster suggested,

it may be a combination of factors including our own ability to manage

our care, the practitioner we go to, and a self-supporting community -

e.g. we practice together.

 

I understand the practicality of certain approaches as opposed to

others. In my message concerning the Tom Tam Healing system, I

basically agreed with what Tom Tam said about why he uses acupunture,

qigong, and tuina in his practice.

 

Also, I hope that other members of this forum recognize that Tuina and

Qigong have equal status under TCM with acupuncture and herbalism. No

one branch requires any less mastering than the other. I believe the

original poster suggested that qigong is only good if performed by a

master. This is what I was responding to. Every modality may take

decades to " master " - but this doesn't mean it cannot be employed

immediately by a wide number of practitioners. Every profession is

alike in this regard.

 

We all start somewhere. This was the gist of my response. I believe it

was incorrect to imply this was the sole issue with qigong.

 

I hope this message addresses the voiced concerns.

 

Regards,

Rich