When things feel so out of control - as they have for some time now - I often turn to Chinese Medicine (CM) to help make sense of things. CM has a rich history that relies heavily on philosophy and observation of the environment to help us understand the world around us, which in turn provides insight into our bodies on a deeper level. There’s even a proverb for this: as above, so below.
The Nei Jing, which informs all modern practitioners and has been around for over two millennia, is the seminal Chinese Medicine text. However, it is much more than a medical text, as Edward Neal, MD, MSOM states: “it is a manual on how the universe works.” So to discuss the Nei Jing is to understand it functions as a medical text by discerning patterns in the natural world and creating a language for those patterns. In doing so it seeks to help us better understand nature, the environment, and thereby ourselves. This explains why many discussions around Chinese Medicine involve environmental terms, such as “Damp”, “Wind”, “Hot”, and “Cold”. Chinese Medicine practitioners view the body as an extension of the world and its environment.
Bearing this in mind, when I turn to CM for guidance during difficult times, I see the correlation between ourselves and the world at large; just as the universe expands and contracts, we inhale and exhale. The Nei Jing infers from this: if we consider the universe as taking a breath, when breath is moving outward, is when things are coming into being or generating. When breath is moving backwards, is when things are going back to their source to be regenerated - the generation/regeneration cycle or the life cycle.
It’s interesting, then, that COVID-19 is a virus which affects the lungs primarily and affects our ability to take a full breath. That gasping for air is a signal we are in the regeneration period; the period of change and transformation. The Nei Jing demands of us to understand that you cannot have generation without regeneration. Make no mistake, nature seeks balance just as our bodies seek homeostasis and will do what is necessary to maintain that balance. What follows regeneration is a rebirth.
This, then, is an entreaty to understand this basic principle of Chinese Medicine. If we are doing too much, producing too much, using too many of our resources, nature will invoke transformation and change. If we can think of something good coming out of this, it’s that we use this moment as a point of change. So what will you do with this moment? What will I? What changes are out there waiting for us?
(This post was inspired by a talk Dr. Edward Neal, MD, MSOM did in April 2020, titled, “The Neijing Perspective on Epidemic and Pandemic Diseases and the Current COVID-19 Situation”)