Chi

Chi is basic vital energy; there is no parallel concept in modern conventional Western medicine. An understanding of chi is so important that you won't be able to use ginseng or other Chinese tonics effectively without it, because ginseng and the tonic herbs build chi. And they will work only in the context of a lifestyle and activities that also support and cultivate the chi.

Chi and Chinese medicine

The reality of this life-force, or chi, is the center around which Oriental medicine is built. The atom and the cell are the starting points for the Western view of reality and medicine, but this vital chi is the starting point for the traditional Oriental view. It is chi that animates everything that lives, grows, and evolves-plants, animals, humans, even atoms and stars and unites them in one living whole. Western physicists see the universe as composed of matter and energy, and recognize the interaction of the two. Einstein's famous formula E=mc2 states that matter and energy can be transformed into each other in predictable ways. In traditional Oriental philosophy, both matter and energy are expressions of chi, and it is chi that governs their transformation into each other.

The traditional Chinese physician will acknowledge that we have cells and molecules in our bodies, but will say that it is the chi that moves them and makes them alive, and not the other way around. If the chi is strong and vibrant, the person will be in good health, be able to withstand stress, accomplish much in life, have a vital sexuality, and be more likely to live a long, natural life. If the chi is low and depleted, the person will be tired, run down, and in poor health. If chi is completely absent, the person will be dead.

Herbs, foods, lifestyle, and Chi

Just as the Chinese define chi by observing it at work, they observe that some plants and animal substances (ginseng and some other tonic herbs and foods) increase the chi or help it circulate in the body, improve health, and prolong life. Over the centuries, they did not worry much about exactly how it does this or what chemical reactions were involved. They paid more attention to the way in which plants affect the chi, observing how plant selection, harvesting, preparation and dosage affect the herbal chi-building properties.

They have also observed the effects of different lifestyles arid exercises on the development, maintenance, and circulation of chi, and these practices are interwoven with Chinese culture. Even traditional Chinese cooking, with its small, easily digested portions of fresh seafood or freshly butchered meats mixed with stir-fried vegetables, has evolved at least in part because of its chi-building properties.

Where Chi comes from

The Chinese say that chi comes from three sources:

• Prenatal chi. This is the chi that we are born with, that we receive from our parents at conception. Different individuals may have more or less of it, which at least partly explains why some people naturally have more vitality than others, even at the earliest age. This chi resides in the lower abdomen.
• Food chi. This chi is developed through the digestion of food. Healthy or poor digestion can have an immediate impact on this chi and on our overall energy level.
• Air chi. The air we breathe is the source of this chi. Deep, full breathing and at least light aerobic exercise are necessary in order to have a healthy amount of air chi.

How Chi moves

Chi moves and circulates through the body in much the same way that blood does: it moves through channels. Known as acupuncture meridians in the West, these channels carry the chi from its sources in the digestive system and lungs, and circulate it to every organ and cell in the body. Needles inserted at points along these meridians can affect the flow of chi through them. An acupuncturist primarily uses needles on these points to increase or decrease the flow of chi to an organ or other part of the body when that flow has become disturbed. Ginseng and tonic herbs, when combined with other herbs in formulas, may also direct the chi to specific organs and regions of the body. Like chi itself, these meridians are defined functionally. Some may correspond to nerve pathways or blood vessels, and others may have no apparent physical counterpart. But the Chinese have observed their function, and the effects of needles at various points on the flow of chi.

Chinese practitioners have also observed that chi does not flow evenly through the organs at all times. Each organ has a daily cycle with several hours of peak chi, and a natural depression or resting of chi at the opposite time of day. The chi of the digestive function, for instance, peaks in midmorning and is at its lowest several hours before midnight. In China, acupuncturists may select a time for treatment -even in the middle of the night-in order to take advantage of this ebb and flow of chi.

Disorders of Chi

The major disorders of chi are deficiency, and stagnancy. Chi must be able to flow and circulate throughout the body freely. When it becomes blocked for any reason, disease may result. Imagine a garden hose with water flowing through it. If the hose becomes crimped, the water pressure above the crimp increases and the hose swells there. Below the crimp, the flow is decreased. Similarly, stuck chi can result in too much chi in one place and not enough in another.

Chinese physicians consider stuck chi to be one of the major causes of pain and tension in the areas of the body where chi has become stagnant, like the part of the hose above the crimp. Organs or tissues below the site of obstruction may also not function properly due to a local deficiency of chi, like the end of the hose with its diminished water flow. Physical or emotional trauma, improper diet, exposure to extremes of weather, lack of exercise, constitutional weaknesses, or other factors may cause stuck chi.

Chi obstruction is very important to consider when taking ginseng or other chi-building herbs. To build up the chi when it cannot flow freely would be the equivalent of turning up the water pressure in a hose that is crimped. For this reason, chi-building herbs are not taken when pain, tension, inflammation, emotional frustration, anger, high blood pressure, or other signs of chi obstruction are present.

What Chi does

To understand chi deficiency-the condition for which ginseng and tonic herbs are appropriate -let's look at exactly what chi does. You'll need to understand how to diagnose deficient chi in order to determine whether ginseng is appropriate for you, or even which variety of it to use.

The functions of chi in the human body can be summarized as follows:

• Chi is responsible for all movement in the body. The involuntary muscles -for example, those in the heart, the arteries, and the intestinal wall- all move because of the presence of chi. Likewise, the muscles used in voluntary movement are animated by chi. If chi is depleted, the breathing may be depressed, the digestion sluggish, and the body lethargic with poor endurance and weak lower back, knees, and legs.
• Chi supports mental activity. Thinking, remembering, planning, learning, and mental growth all rely on chi. If chi is deficient, the mind may be dull and inefficient.
• Chi transmutes food and air into energy and the various substances of the body. If chi is deficient, and this transmutation is not effective, the energy will be low and deficiencies may appear in the tissues and substances of the body.
• Chi warms the body. With insufficient chi, signs of cold may appear, such as a feeling of chilliness, lowered body temperature, or cold hands and feet.
• Chi protects the body. A layer of chi circulates at the surface of the body between the muscles and the skin. This layer ensures proper functioning of the immune system at the surface of the body, protects the body against external cold and heat, and regulates the sweat glands. If the chi is weak, a person may get frequent colds or infections, may feel aversion to cold and wind, and may sweat spontaneously, even without exercising.
• Chi holds the organs in place and ensures their proper functioning. If chi is seriously deficient, the organs may become prolapsed (they may collapse or fallout of place). Organ function may also be deficient if it is not receiving sufficient chi.

Note that not all of the above symptoms are necessarily present when the chi is deficient. Chi deficiency can affect different functions selectively. A general pattern of the above signs indicates that ginseng or other tonic herbs might be appropriate for you. On the other hand, the opposites of these conditions-over activity and excitation, feeling of heat rather than cold-would indicate that ginseng is not appropriate for you.

Chi and blood

In Oriental medicine, chi and blood are intimately connected. The blood arises from the mixing of chi derived from food and chi derived from air. So blood is dependent on chi. Circulating blood then nourishes the entire body. But throughout the process, chi and blood remain inseparable, almost like two sides of a piece of paper. The chi of the heart pumps the blood, and the chi of other organs and vessels contains the blood and maintains blood pressure. So the Chinese say that "chi is the commander of the blood." But chi is also dependent on blood, because the tissues require adequate nutrition for chi to function in them. So the Chinese also say that "blood is the mother of chi."

Some tonic herbs, such as ginseng, are primarily chi tonics. Others are primarily blood tonics. Because of the interdependence of chi and blood, a deficiency of one is often accompanied by a deficiency of the other, and chi and blood tonics are often combined in formulas. Many people in China take ginseng by itself. But in formal Oriental medicine, it is almost always combined with other tonics, usually blood tonics. The list below shows some of the symptoms of blood deficiency. Ginseng and other chi tonics are often used in China to treat anemia, the Western term for some of the symptoms of blood deficiency.

Some symptoms of blood deficiency:

• pale complexion
• dizziness
• spots before the eyes
• pale tongue
• pale lips
• pale nails
• insomnia
• palpitations
• poor memory
• poor appetite
• mental fatigue
• menstrual irregularity
• emaciation

Vital energy in the history of western medicine

The central role of a vital energy in health and disease is not a completely foreign concept in the history of Western medicine, but it has been lost in modern conventional medicine.

The Western concept of vital force is not as well developed as the Chinese concept of chi. Vital force, as seen in the West, is a vague but important energy that animates the body, coordinates bodily functions, and produces symptoms in an attempt to heal any imbalance. Western vitalist systems include homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, and medical herbalism. The essential aims of these vitalist systems are to create a context in the lifestyle that supports the vital force, to use medicines or methods that help it to express itself in the body, to remove obstructions to its harmonious expression, and to never suppress symptoms that the vital force produces in attempts to heal the body. Conventional medicine, on the other hand, systematically suppresses symptoms as they arise, usually at the expense of a patient's overall vitality.

Until about 300 years ago, most of Western medicine was vitalist. Even a hundred years ago, homeopathy had a strong position . Here are some of these vitalist systems that become very popular:

Homeopathy

Homeopathic doctors use highly diluted substances, that have no direct physiological effect, in order to influence the vitality of the patient. With increased vitality, the patient's own body and unconscious intelligence can throw off the disease from within.

Naturopathic medicine

Practitioners in this profession employ diet, exercise, medical herbalism, spinal manipulation, hydrotherapy, homeopathy, some principles of Chinese medicine, and other methods to enhance the vital force and restore its activity in the body.

Chiropractic

Chiropractors adjust misalignments of the spine that impinge on the functioning of the nerves passing through the spine. This is a vitalist system, because it is essentially the flow of vital force that is blocked. Some chiropractors may be overly dogmatic about the spinal misalignments being the sole cause of disease. But whether you call it nerve force that is blocked in the spine, or see it as chi blocked in the meridians along the spine, or even say that the soft tissues around the misalignment block the flow, many millions of people have experienced healing and increased vitality following a course of spinal manipulation.

Medical herbalism

Some medical herbalists use herbs the same way that conventional physicians do. They will give "this" herb for "that" condition without looking at the overall picture of the patient. Other herbalists, however, use a vitalist approach, and select their herbs and other methods to support the vital force in the body.

Oriental Medicine

Acupuncture and Chinese herbalism are spreading rapidly.

Ayurvedic medicine

This medicine from India, like Chinese medicine, relies primarily on diet, herbs, and exercises (yoga) to restore balance in the body and support the vital force.

An advantage of vitalist and tonic medicine

This is the great strength of Chinese medicine and other vitalist systems. It's also the great strength of ginseng and tonic herbs. About half the people visiting a regular M.D. leave the office without a diagnosis, because there's not yet anything "wrong with them." They feel run down, sick, tired, or anxious, but nothing objectively abnormal shows up in their blood tests or physical examination. They are actually in the first stage of chronic disease, but nothing has become noticeably deranged in their bodies yet. Sometimes an M.D. will give such a patient an antidepressant or a sedative medication, or refer them to a psychiatrist saying, "it's all in your head." Such a patient would surely receive a prompt and detailed diagnosis from a Chinese practitioner, and receive treatment -often with tonic herbs -based on that diagnosis.

This well-developed analysis of "pre-illness" states arises from the goal of traditional Chinese medicine: to treat disharmonies before they become serious diseases. An ancient Chinese text says: "To treat disease after it has already arisen is like digging a well when you are already thirsty, or forging swords after war has already broken out." Oriental medicine can certainly treat the whole range of advanced illnesses as well, but it is early-stage harmonizing and tonic therapy that sets it apart from conventional Western medicine.