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Traditional Chinese medicine herbal classifications glossary

TCM glossary chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a comprehensive and holistic health system incorporating herbal medicine, acupuncture, diet, lifestyle, meditation, massage and exercises that appreciates the connection and interplay of mind, body and spirit and takes into account a person’s individual constitution and the unique presentation of their health condition.

It is based on a philosophy of binary forces, the most fundamental being yin and yang. This concept of polarity further extends to form the eight principles upon which TCM diagnosis is made (the ba gang bian zheng), which ask the questions: Is the condition in the interior or exterior? Is it hot or cold in its nature? Yin or yangExcess or deficient? With this information, a herbal formula may be carefully constructed that aims, where possible, to address both the root (ben) and branch (biao) (i.e. the underlying cause and its symptomatic presentation) of a condition, to restore the individual to a state of physical, mental and spiritual equilibrium.

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