There are six major healing modalities in traditional Chinese medicine. Acupuncture is the one most people are familiar with. Each can be applied individually or in combination to achieve healing results. To understand how TCM modalities address breast cancer prevention, occurrence or reoccurrence, it helps to describe the framework in which it operates and the healing treatments themselves.

TCM Healing Framework

• Everyone is born with self-healing ability.
• Destructive energy patterns like cancer can be interrupted and broken.
• Prevention is the best cure.
• The human body is an organic whole, not a machine to be treated in parts.
• The human body has an inseparable connection with Nature and the Universal.

TCM Treatment Principles

• Treat the root cause.
• Strengthen the body’s immune system.
• Balance the function of individual organ systems.
• Harmonize the function of the body’s organ systems.
• Adapt treatment modalities to the specific needs of the individual—
  Who you are (body type, genetics); Where you are (geographical location); How you are (physical condition and lifestyle), and When you are (age, time of day, season, time of symptom)

TCM Healing Modalities

• Foods
  For thousands of years, food for healing has been prescribed by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.
  
  
• Herbs
  Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has thousands of years of study and practical experience in herbal therapy. In the West, herbs are often selected in accordance with symptoms, e.g., dong qai is helpful for menstrual problems, ginseng is good for low energy. You can end up taking many herbs at the same time based on your multiple symptoms.
  
  Instead of single herbs, TCM has a very sophisticated, extensive herbal formula apothecary. Its purpose is to help stimulate your own self-healing program as well as increase the healing ability of specific organs so they perform their functions better. When internal organs heal and work better together, you gain maximum nutrition from a minimum amount of food. This is especially important during breast cancer treatment, when chemotherapy and radiation adversely affect the digestive function.
  
  
• Acupressure
  Classical acupressure is a medical treatment that is also called Tuina. It is not the same as body massage. Acupressure uses special hand techniques, and sometimes tools, to stimulate meridians, or energy pathways, as well as acupoints—energy points on meridians, or energy pathways. Acupressure can be as effective as acupuncture. For some conditions, it is more useful and easier on the patient. Sport injuries respond better to acupressure. Acupressure and acupuncture can be used together to accelerate healing benefits.
  
  
• Acupuncture
  Acupuncture is a unique treatment. By stimulating meridians, or the body’s invisible energy pathways, it can help the body function at a consciousness level to regain its healing ability. Acupuncture uses very thin needles to stimulate a specific point or points to help Qi or vital energy flow throughout the body. While acupuncture treatments can help you unblock energy stagnation from a functional perspective, a well-trained practitioner can actually help you gain energy.
  
  
• Qigong
  It is difficult to say how old Qigong (chee-kung) is. Some believe it goes back more than five thousand years. The word means “energy work,” but the practice and its extraordinary healing rewards are much more than its description. Qigong is a self-healing practice that allows an individual to gain control of and direct his or her own life force. The Wu Ming Qigong on our site traces its lineage back to the ancient masters Lao Tzu And Chuang Tzu.
  
  Qigong can help treat many health conditions including obesity. Today, in hospitals and clinics across China, Qigong is routinely prescribed for many conditions including arthritis, bowel problems, diabetes, ulcers, and more. It is also successfully used as a prescription to reduce or, in some cases, eliminate, the debilitating side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. One of its special benefits is that it develops your intuition and allows you to see the world from a different perspective. It helps open up your sixth sense.
  
  
• Chinese Psychology
  For many millennia, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has supported healing based on the body-mind-spirit connection. It recognizes that balanced emotions are essential to well-being. Different emotions—fear, stress, anger, frustration, overthinking, overworry, grief—can cause their corresponding organs to become unbalanced, and vice versa. You can familiarize yourself with the five major organ systems and their associated emotions by exploring TCM’s Five-Element Theory. If an illness is emotionally based, then skilled practitioners of TCM were trained to treat its root cause with emotions. Unfortunately, this form of high-level treatment has almost disappeared today.
  
  

Five Major Organ Pairs and Their Emotions

• Liver/Gallbladder pair: anger and stress
• Stomach/Spleen pair: overworry and overthinking
• Heart/Small Intestine: joy
• Lung/Large Intestine: sadness and grief
• Kidney/Bladder: shock and fear

You can familiarize yourself with the five major organ systems and their associated emotions by exploring TCM’s Five-Element Theory. If an illness is emotionally based, then ancient practitioners of TCM were trained to treat its root cause with emotions. Unfortunately, this highly-skilled form of treatment has almost disappeared today.