SKYE

When we look up at the sky, we are not looking outwards – but back to the origin. For in Chinese medicine, humankind is a mirror of heaven (天) and earth (地). We are not separate beings, but part of a whole: part of the cosmos.

Part of nature.

Part of a System.

S systemic

The body doesn't think in terms of its individual parts – it is a network of all our organs and cells which together form a unique system.

Only when we consider ourselves as a system – as a whole – can we truly understand each other.

K context

A symptom never exists in isolation and is never static. It is embedded in a larger system:

Time and space, climate, age, constitution, lifestyle, emotions, gender, etc.

A system within a system.

Y yin & yang

All dynamics in nature, and therefore also our bodies, are subject to the principle of Yin and Yang: activity and rest, heat and cold, building up and breaking down. Two poles that balance, consume, build up, and transform each other.

E energy

Qi energy – an abstract concept – flows in the pathways (meridians) of our body. If it does not flow properly or is deficient, this forms the basis of all illnesses.

a medicine –
which thinks in systems

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as in technology, software only works if it is compatible with the hardware and the system. A prescription only works if it suits the constitution and the current pattern.

Because we live in a system – and are ourselves a system – we also need a medicine that thinks in terms of connections. Not just the symptom. But the person in context . Because health is relative – and always relational.

Health isn't black and white. What's good for one person isn't good for another. Everyone has an individual system, which in turn exists within an individual context.

effect arises from fit –
not out of perfection