"Traditional
Eastern medicine treats the whole body as one; not as a collection of
individual parts. A sincere and serious attitude are essential for
positive results."
A basic tenant of
Eastern philosophy, which in turn provides a basis for both Eastern medicine and
martial arts, holds that nature has already provided each of us with everything
we need in order to promote and maintain healthy natural conditioning. A
famous saying illustrates this point:
"If a man
is far from nature, he is close to disease; but if a man is close to nature,
he is far from disease."
Eastern medicine and
martial arts simply serve as secondary tools that support the natural abilities
and body structures we have already been given.
According to Eastern
philosophy, man is made up of three different elements:
While western medicine
concentrates solely on the body, the Eastern medical doctor views each patient
as an equal combination of these three elements. In other words, the
Western medical doctor sees a person as merely a conglomeration of tissues,
cells, etc. - only as a body. The Eastern medical doctor sees a
person as a unique whole and attempts to treat the entire person. The
Eastern medical doctor concerns himself with the notion of balance and harmony
between each of these three aspects, never limiting himself to one or the other
exclusively. Both Eastern medicine and martial arts help one naturally
return to and maintain a healthy state of being, not just physically, but
completely.
The best example of
this perfectly natural health conditioning can be found in any normal
infant. Indeed, in the East, infants have been carefully investigated in
order to further both Eastern medical studies as well as those of the martial
arts. When studying an infant's conditioning, we notice several important
signs that can serve as a guidebook for anyone who wishes to improve their own
health.
-
The first sign that
demonstrates healthy conditioning in infants is their mental state.
The infant mind never contains any negative thoughts. It possesses
only a positive and generally happy attitude.
-
The second sign is
their breathing. Infants use only the abdominal muscles to breathe.
As one ages, the breathing, if left unchecked, will rise up out of the
abdomen into the chest and then into the shoulders. This rise in
breathing exemplifies the deterioration of the human anatomy that comes with
age and is very unhealthy.
-
Finally, an
infant's physical condition shows extreme flexibility. Flexibility is
also an important sign of good health. Again, as we age, we become
notably stiffer. This stiffness is also a sign of physical
deterioration .
Therefore, both Eastern
medicine and the martial arts seek to understand and imitate the infant stage of
human development, for it holds the keys to proper general health conditioning.
