Tonification

There are eight main priniples within Chinese Medicine ( Interior/Exterior, Cold/Heat, Xu (Deficiency)/Shi (Excess), Yin/Yang). These principles generally intermingle when you are looking at patterns of disease. So you may have a yin deficiency which creates heat on the interior causing an excess syndrome (i.e. nightsweats for example). The term tonification is used as you state to strengthen the energy in a system. This can be quite broad as in some cases you are talking about using tonification techniques with needling (generally needling with the flow of the meridian), and in others you may be talking about a set of points or other treatments to raise the persons immune system in biomedical terms.

And, yes, there are limits - hence the yang excess patterns. Generally it is difficult with acupuncture to over tonify as the body will only allow so much of a change (it is possible however). As you get into herbs, however, those with strong tonification properties (ginseng, for example) can be over used which will eventually cause harm to the person. Over tonification generally raises the yang principle and adds heat into the body - too much and the person loses yin and tissues may dry up, heat may rise causing acne, or anger, or any number of imbalances... Chinese Medicine is all about creating balance within our bodies and over doing anything (i.e. clearing too much heat, adding too much energy, etc.) can cause the patient to not respond well to treatments.

As you are finding within the "What is Qi" article, there are various types so discussing "Qi" can be difficult without using all of the proper terminology - and even then it can still be difficult.

The concept of Jing and Yuan Qi (they get mixed to some degree) is that there is some aspect of our qi which is present at birth and that is all we get. Strong initial deficiencies would lead to conditions such as mental retardation, strong learning disabilities, poor physical and/or mental development, etc. In theory, other than building the post-natal qi there is little you can do about this initial deficiency - it cannot be built up.

Now a strong initial level of Yuan Qi does not necessarily mean that you will have a healthier life or a longer life span, it just means that you will have more reserves to draw from over a longer period of time. Yuan Qi cannot be in an excessive state, in theory.

For an example, someone with strong yuan qi faces a bout of cancer and survives - the amount of yuan qi that their body had to pull from to get through this period of illness was small in relation to the total amount so their overall lifespan may not be affected much. Someone who starts with very low yuan qi and experiences a stomach virus that takes a month to clear up may have greatly lowered their lifespan.

Now to continue the example, the person with low yuan qi decides to practice Tai Chi everyday for the rest of their life strongly building their post-natal qi and rarely utilizing their pre-natal qi - they may offset any changes to their lifespan through healthy living. And the cancer survivor decides to travel the world and go out drinking and dancing every night getting little sleep and strongly using their pre-natal qi to survive may use up their pre-natal blessings and pass on early.

The way I usually explain this go as follows: You are born with a fixed amount of yuan qi. The yuan qi is a catalyst for all of the functions in your body. The vast majority of these functions can run on any qi if it is available, but some require only yuan qi and if you have low energy then your body will pull from the limited resource of yuan qi. When the yuan qi is used up there is no more catalyst, so you die. Life preservation, then, is about maintaining usable amounts of post-natal qi in your body so your "need" to dip into your fixed amount of yuan qi is minimized.

The concept of strength, then, does not apply directly to yuan qi in the sense that you can build this aspect up - what you really want is preservation.

To answer your other questions, you would have to define "strength". This term can mean any number of things. Certainly you want adequate amounts of qi and to preserve them as well as you can. So building them with proper diet, exercise, acupuncture, etc. and preserving them with moderate lifestyle habits, staying healthy, etc. should be the focus. Having strong or plentiful qi is in and of itself not a problem. But how you build, or strengthen, this qi can be. And there are downsides to physical strength within Chinese Medical terms as well.

What it really comes down to is that you cannot just take tonifying substances and expect to live longer - if it was that easy we would find life increased by simply taking ginseng everyday. Your body has to be able to assimilate your qi into a usable format and store it when necessary. You could, for example, take tonifying herbs everyday but have excessive amounts of sex and physical activity and never build a surplus leaving yourself open for deficiency issues. On the other hand you can have adequate amounts of qi, and lead an immobile lifestyle and develop serious health problems and low energy due to poor circulation, physically and energetically. Also physical muscular strength constricts circulation so generally does not lead to longer lifespans per se.

Consider Yuan Qi as a fixed entity where the level of which in and of itself doesn't mean anything to your health other than you probably have more possibilities of not being greatly harmed by long term illnesses, periods of sustained stress, all of the things that weaken our post-natal qi and require us to tap into our resources.

Is there an effect from natural child birth or breast feeding on the child's qi? Also for the Mom does it increase her post natal qi to have gone thru the birthing process with as little "interference" as possible? Is it that much of an equation where one's actions produce more or less qi?

Hi Chad (or anyone else who would care to comment),

I've been undergoing very regular acupuncture treatments for almost 6 years for chronic anxiety/depression. I was addicted to neuroleptic, antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication for many, many years. Thanks to acupuncture (I also take Ginseng sporadically and homeopathy daily, and I also meditate daily), I quit the meds and now have a better, freer, healthier, more open and rich life. I'm a kinder, more balanced and more empowered person than I ever was.

TCM has changed my life and is changing me on a deep level. I'm now interested in Chinese medicine, Chinese philosophy and Buddhism. I'm also growing spiritually.

Problem is that I was addicted to neuroleptic and anxiety medication for many years. I'm now, psychologically at least, addicted to acupuncture. I started out with 3 sessions per week (I had withdrawal symptoms from having stopped my latest neuroleptics and was suicidal) almost 6 years ago, 4 years ago reduced to 2 per week, and now I'm at 1 session a week.

The homepathic meds and daily detox baths allowed me to reduce the frequency while holding a stressful and demanding job. I'm very proud of what I've achieved thus far, only problem is: my body is slowly getting hotter every year. For the second summer in a row, I get slightly depressed, feel a burning sensation within my body, and have to rely on detox baths and cold showers to get me through the hot summer days. Winters, on the other hand, are great, I even get in a better mood as fall and winter approach!

Any reasonable person would suggest spacing out the sessions even more, once every 10 days for instance, then twice a month. This scares me, to be honest. I was so addicted to the meds that I replaced this addiction with an acupuncture "addiction", much less harmful but it remains an addiction nonetheless. My acupuncturist (a good man but not a true TCM specalist, he's an MD and does acupuncture on the side) thinks I should space out the sessions.

My question is: is there an alternative to spacing out the acupuncture sessions? I read on this forum that too much tonification can result in excess Yang and overheating. But can acupuncture also be used to disperse chi, not just tonify chi, and if so, could this be an alternative to spacing out the sessions? I'd like to avoid the extra pressure of absolutely having to reduce the sessions if I can, to keep all my options open. There are times when I feel I'm not ready to go more than 7 days without acupunctute, especially in regards to my job.

Thank you in advance to ANYONE who'd care to give an honest, thoughtful answer or comment.

Kind regards,

Ed