With so much talk and debate about health reform in the news lately, it may help to broaden your views of medicine by watching this eye-opening documentary by Bill Moyers. My mum has been showing this video to her first year Chinese medicine students for decades and it’s sure to make you re-think what you know about Chinese medicine and our western values and attitudes towards health care.
“Health is not just the absence of illness, it’s a philosophy of life.”
Chinese medicine is an independent system of health care that has developed from a continuous process of observation, critical thinking and practice for over two thousand years. It originates from the philosophy of Taoism, and is influenced by the belief that the life and activity of individual human beings have an intimate relationship with their environment on all levels.
The principal ideas of Chinese medicine are part of the fabric of Chinese culture and civilisation. They are not complex and reflect a world-view of health and disease that is understood by many ordinary members of Chinese society as part of their upbringing. Health care is viewed as one of several means to a good life, and is seen as an individual’s harmonious interaction with the community and with the physical and spiritual environment.
You may also be interested in reading Harvard Magazine’s The New Ancient Trend in Medicine to learn more about the story of Dr David Eisenberg who features in this documentary.
