In China, they are concerned with “getting cold”, “poor circulation”, “unregulated organs” and supplementing weakness. In the States, the concern is inflammation, allergies and stress.

In China people talk about having a stuffy feeling the chest and dizziness.

In the US we talk about anxiety, and depression.

We all have that about which we are concerned. We all have symptoms and difficulties that to us make sense.
Regardless of which side of the pond upon which we live, I suspect our experiences of ourselves is not that different. We just give it different meanings.

This sometimes makes practicing Chinese medicine in the West a particular kind of challenge. There are experiences which in China are taken for granted. Language, culture and the shared understanding of what is assumed without words. Those words however, slipped into English don’t even begin to make sense.

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Wind invasion, receiving cold, rising fire, these all in Chinese make sense. But, wiggling them into English requires a translation not just across language, but through culture and habit as well.

Being bi-lingual helps. But, some things just don’t lend themselves to translation. Fortunately, listening to the people who come to see me for acupuncture often have exquisitely perfect ways of describing their symptoms and issues. It usually begins with “I tried to tell my doctor…”, or “the tests were all negative, but I still feel…”. There are experiences that we all have as humans that go beyond language, culture and medical theory.

Getting to those roots, often opens the path to healing.