COMMENTARY: How to go Asian? Why do black people often resist alternative medicine? Even when it works.

by Marcinho Savant,
Staff Writer
 
We are off the plantation. There is a universe of information, research, anecdotal evidence, and empirical proof that Chinese Medicine has benefits, yet most of us immediately wince, “I ain’t doin’ that!”--- instead of considering the evidence, and blazing personal proofs, and investigations. Why do we choose to be stuck on “Lock” when it comes to something new?

Afrikans, and Original (Native) Americans also have medicinal practices which pre-date Western medicine by centuries. Yet we reject anything we don’t understand, immediately. Don’t we?

According to Wikipedia, “Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM; simplified Chinese: 中医; traditional Chinese: 中醫; pinyin: Zhōngyī) is a style of traditional Asian medicine informed by modern medicine but built on a foundation of more than 2,500 years of Chinese medical practice that includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (tui na), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy. It is primarily used as a complementary alternative medicine approach. TCM is widely used in China and is becoming increasingly prevalent in Europe and North America.”

On Mother’s Day last weekend, I sat at a table and watched a relative of mine receive the attention of a Chinese traditional medicine practitioner --- not only that, the entire table of people witnessed the ministrations and procedures with their own eyes --- including the recipient’s statements of: “I feel much better,” “It stopped hurting,” and seeing the visible amount of relief the treatments provided the guest. Within moments. I trust my ear and eyes. My family member, long-suffering from things that caused discomfort, got relief on the spot, witnessed by a room full of intelligent minds.
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"Cupping" Therapy: A Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine is nearly three thousand years old. It is based on logic, nature, and the science of the medicine provided by Mother Earth’s bounty. If one believes that God created all things, then it fits that within those seven days, God also created the potent healing herbs on the planet as part of giving mankind all that they would need in order to survive.

This writer also experienced, for the first time, some treatments personally untried before. I too felt better. I knew, and believed, that all human illness is not rooted in the “symptoms” like pain, high blood pressure, diabetes, and the like. Rather, “natural” medicine relied on herbals, and centuries-old logic to treat the conditions at their root, as opposed to the symptoms that disease exhibited. As I said, Afrikans, and every ancient civilization understood that. If they didn’t, we would not all be here, as we would have all died off from the diseases they faced.

​I’m no doctor, and I’m not offering any medical advice. I only ask that people consider opening their minds to other, reasonable, timeless truths in other forms. It is clear that the industrial complex is not eager to “push” treatments that could interfere with profitability, right? Big pharma has skin in the race, even though the curative agents of plants of ancient herbal medicine are extracted by them to create the products they sell to the public.

Acupuncture is the placement of very fine needles into the surface of the skin to achieve desired relief.

Chinese medicine advocates make the connection between knowing that it is not the symptoms that need to be treated, but rather, that it is the entire system of the human body, being out of whack, which provides a place for disease to grow. Therefore, knowing which herbs have the ability to rectify, and restore abnormalities because of what they do, and how they affect the body --- in order to remove the imbalances, and eliminate any places for disease to manifest ... Because the “soil” it requires to take root (the body’s perfectly-balanced system) will no longer allow the damaged soil to be around.

Disease needs a breeding ground, and incubator, in which to grow. When a system becomes “broken,” it often manifests this problem by creating inflammation. This inflammation is a “warning” sign of the larger problem in the body’s system, sort of as a warning that there’s a situation in great need of attention. See?

​It makes, perfect, sense to me --- but what matters is, does it make sense to you? 

www.discoverhongkong.com

Western medicine is a valuable, life-saving, critically important tool. With each century it’s increased development, and progress, make our lives livable, survivable, and keeps us alive in the face of very serious health problems. Doctors, and western medicine save lives. I wouldn’t suggest that people under Doctor’s care should run out and buy a juicer, and stop taking their medicines! I only ask whether it isn’t worth the investigation that alternative medicine, under a doctor’s advised supervision, should not be considered as a complementary enhancement to the care already being received.

Several members, nearly a dozen, and many friends of mine all have benefited from TCM. I was intrigued.

One thing is promised. We are all going to leave this life at some point. Shouldn’t we desire to seek the strongest options by which to make a life as healthy, enjoyable, enriched, and fulfilling as possible.

Isn’t life so precious that it deserves every possible chance at success and strength? Isn’t it even worth the investigation?

If you’d like to learn more about alternative medicine practices, such as Chinese herbal remedies, a simple explanation of the concepts can be found at Psychology Today (http://bit.ly/TCMconcepts ). Search the internet for listings, and information about practitioners in your area. Make no changes without consulting your physician, and learn about “life.” The world is a much better place with you in it.