TCC To Live In Health

In the U.S., we have explored if the mind can make us physically ill. The obverse was popularized by Norman Cousins in Anatomy of an Illness – that is, if the mind can make a healthy person sick, can the mind make a sick person healthy? My understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that this is not questioned, that there is no separation of the mind and body when it comes to healing or health management.

I was discussing T’ai Chi Chih with someone who had seen T’ai Chi practiced but had never participated in it herself. She didn’t see what the benefits could be since it didn’t seem like much exercise was going on. I explained, once again, that perhaps the physical exercise seems very light, but I added, “Try it for a half hour and then let me know what you think.” We know the key to TCC is not physical exercise, but the movement and balancing of the body’s energy. The benefits keep people coming back for more, day after day, over a lifetime of practice.

Bill Moyers, in Healing and the Mind, relays an old saying relating to TCM: “Treating someone who is already ill is like digging a well after you are thirsty.” Living in health is not a matter of seeing the doctor when you are ill or broken, but the result of living correctly in the first place. (This includes proper temperament, thoughts, diet and exercise.) For those of us who regularly practice TCC, we can assert that the underpinning all of these actions is the healthy practice of circulating and balancing our personal energy.

For us, “flowing from the center” and “moving effortlessly, with the effort of no effort” have meaning because we have the tacit knowledge that comes from regular practice. We understand that this experience may not protect us from all illnesses and injury. We all know TCC instructors and students who suffer from disease. But most of us would readily support the idea that TCC bolsters our personal health system and helps us to avoid or minimize the impact of health issues. Trying to prove this to someone else may remind us of the villager who initiates some practice to keep the tigers away. (“There aren’t any tigers around here … See, it must be working.”) Little faith is required to practice TCC. Practicing with a positive, expectant and open-minded attitude will deliver positive results. If you want to see the opposite, stop practicing TCC; you will deliver the opposite results to yourself. The impact may not be overnight, but you will see it.

Jim Rohn, a businessman and public speaker, uses the analogy of an apple a day. You can’t eat one apple and say, “Hey, I don’t feel any better” any more than you can substitute a candy bar for an apple a day, and one day later say, “Hey, I ate the candy bar and I’m not sick.” You’ve got to be smarter than that and recognize the impact of cumulative activity, positive or negative. The cumulative effect of practicing TCC on our health is substantial. It may not protect us from everything, every time, but it is a foundational activity that will differentiate our experience from the average experience. Not to think so is overly modest and underselling the importance of TCC.

We can set the example in our practice and our living, and paint the picture of achievable results. Students will grasp the concepts and experience the benefits once we get them started. Then, as they practice, practice, practice, they will feel what words only attempt to describe.