ORIENTAL MEDICINE:
The World as A Garden, the Healer and Doctor as a Gardener

by Saki Lee

"Heaven, Earth and I are living together and all things and I form an inseparable unity." - Chuang Tsu

-Oriental medicine, which has its origin in ancient Taoist philosophy, often uses nature imagery to describe the body-mind-spirit connection. The earth and human beings are observed and respectfully treated as a flowering garden that requires specific attention and care in order to maintain balance and harmony throughout the seasons of growth and transformation.

This perspective also acknowledges that the living earth, all sentient beings and creatures who dwell upon it, the biosphere, and the circle of life are intimately interconnected and not isolated and separate from each other. Whatever affects one part affects the whole, whether positively or adversely. All of the elements (earth, water, fire and air) interact and contribute to the sustenance of the garden as a strong eco-system when there is a balance that promotes rich, growing conditions, and when all the plants are nourished and protected so that they are strong, resilient and able to handle the natural cycles of changes which can sometimes be difficult, disruptive and stormy.

Health in the microcosmic garden of a human being is subject to similar processes and conditions as in nature. As nature changes in cyclical patterns, people and their entire organism change as well. Just as a plant grows from a seed, produces fruits and gathers its energy back to the roots until the next growing season, human beings are all governed by the same laws of change that allow for the processes of birth, growth, maturation, harvest and storage. These are natural processes shared by all living systems. And human beings embody and interact with such universal cycles - on daily, monthly, seasonal, and lifelong phases.

In Oriental medicine, well-being is the ability of any organism to respond to a wide variety of challenges in a way that insures harmony and balance. On the other hand, illness signals a loss of adaptive ability which then progresses to an unstable process of disharmonious relationships. So the source of illness itself can be traced to disruptions in over-all balance and inability to cope with stressors and challenges, whether they are pathogens or harmful substances taken in from the outside or a bad feeling festering inside. The longer this imbalance remains, the more likely that the resources and defenses are further weakened, which then creates deeper patterns of disharmony.

Over millennia, Oriental doctors observed these cycles in nature and conceptualized the body in these terms. A human being is seen as a complete system with constellations of subsystems and processes within it that generate, regulate, and store vital constituents necessary for optimal well-being. So, the Oriental doctor and healer is actually someone who masters the art of gardening, and is skillful in looking, listening, feeling . sensing and inquiring in order to know how to restore balance, integrity, resilience and strength in the garden of the human body-mind. At the same time, he or she helps to weed out those foreign elements that are harmful Like a gardener, the Oriental doctor and healer prepares the ground, plants new seeds, waters and nurtures the roots, removes harmful weeds, observes and interfaces between the environment and the garden, and gives support and nourishment where needed.

From this close attunement with the laws of nature, the Oriental traditions of spiritual and natural life science came into existence. Over the centuries, this was developed and refined as a complete medicinal system of healing that has been used successfully for over 2,500 years to help restore and maintain physical, emotional and spiritual balance and well-being. The Oriental healing arts include acupuncture, herbal medicine, acupressure and massage, energy therapies, qigong, nutritional guidance, and lifestyle counseling.