What is a symptom?
In Chinese medicine the body is viewed holistically. It is seen as an ever changing/evolving form of energy or qi that relates to the external world. Through the rhythms of life including sleeping, breathing, eating, drinking, moving, emoting etc, this cluster of energy which includes the self, the spirit, the physicality, thoughts, emotions and the enormity of everything else including memories, perceptions, relationships, experiences (the list is endless)... is a live and flowing entity ever in unison with the expanding universe.
It is normal for this being or this person to experience every emotion, even those that we often detest including fear, sadness and anger. Even joy is seen to be pathological when it is too prominent in one's life. It is also normal for someone to get colds and to suffer environmental stresses. All of these things that happen to us and fill our daily lives with ups and downs are customary and are part of what it means to be alive and relating to the world around us.
When however things start to go awry and problems start to arise and don't seem to go away but become more chronic as time goes by, then we can start to recognise this as a symptom of that person. Someone might be very healthy and living well however one day something happens to them that triggers the offset of imbalance. Perhaps a relationship that they are enamoured by ends abruptly which begins to cause an internal conflict and a feeling of frustration and anger. This may in time turn to headaches, and then migraines Which debilitate the flow of health and life for that person. The route of this problem was the relationship ending which led to that person becoming misaligned with their internal life where thoughts and emotions began to stagnate without resolve. Most importantly here is that this life event was powerful enough to create such a conflict that disabled that person to find peace within themselves and reconnect to their flow and health.
When looking at this case study, one might say that migraines are the primary symptom. However when you begin to look at the route of this problem, it opens up a vast timeline and story of that persons life that led to them being unable to deal emotionally with the closing of a relationship that they held dearly. This is by no means an easy obstacle to pass and it probably one of the most common reasons for heart ache however what is essential here is for that person to learn how to let go of someone and move into another phase or direction in their lives. Simply taking pain medication may take some or all of the migraines away, but this person will be healed once they come to an understanding within themselves that allows them to move on. When this has been achieved, their migraines will likely disappear as the stagnation of internal emotion and thoughts will have resolved.
Contemporary medicine such as acupuncture deals with problems like this in a much more holistic way and always tries to find the route of the imbalance. I practise from clinics in East Grinstead and Croydon. Visit my website for more information www.elemental-acupuncture.co.uk
