The Yin and Yang of the Healthy Individual

The Chinese believe our bodies are complete halves, one side being the passive and the other being the aggressive, and it only through the successful union of the halves, that we have the healthy whole. Western medicine has so far, not subscribed to this theory, in whole. There is compelling evidence to support many of the Chinese theories on the joining of the body's energy forces and balancing our flow of energy through the entire body. Chiropractic and acupuncture philosophies base their entire practice on the successful correlation of the body's energy flow, nervous system impulses, and skeletal alignment. What we do know, about individuals is that the entire system must be in balance for attainment of true wellness and health. Our physical, mental, and spiritual existence must be aligned and working as a whole. To better understand this principle, we need to take a closer look at some of the ancient healing techniques and philosophies. Perhaps then we can develop a better understanding of how our body works with itself to heal. In the tradition of acupuncture, the vital energy flow occurs along pathways known as meridians. These meridians connect over 2,000 acupuncture points along the body. There are 12 main meridians, and 8 secondary meridians. Although traditional western medicine does not completely understand how acupuncture works, the proof that it does work has been shown in several studies conducted by western medical facilities. The very nature of chiropractic care is the belief in the body's own healing properties. Quite often, we can have small problems in one area of our body, and not even realize it until the effect is felt in a much larger way, somewhere else. The practice of chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between your spine and your nervous system. The spine is the structure, and the nervous system is the function. Chiropractic believes these two systems work in unison to keep and then restore your body's health. The word "chiropractic" is taken from Greek, and means "done by hand". If you take the basic premise from each form of healing, and apply it to the knowledge that we have about the interaction of the mind, body, and spirit, you can see that these ancient healing philosophies are very accurate in their belief about treatment and how the body works. They were able to discern this hundreds of years before science could actually provide the proof. The amazing part thing to me is that with all of this knowledge, and all the opportunity for self-help and healing that we have available, we still have individuals who suffer simply because they aren't willing to put forth the effort to learn and participate. We have every possible venue for healing options available, for the low-income, for the middle-income, and for the wealthy. There is no bias when it comes to availability. We simply need to take advantage of the yin and yang of our opportunity. Part of the halves is in place, now we just need the participants.