If you have ever been for acupuncture or some form of traditional Chinese medicine, or are planning to go, as a patient, you may wonder what the practitioner is doing with your pulse! A TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) practitioner will use pulse diagnosis as an important tool in their practice.
Pulse diagnosis is part of the training for a TCM practitioner and acupuncturists who practice traditional acupuncture.
However many students of TCM struggle with information which conflicts, from the classical texts about pulses.
Pulse reading is somewhat of a combination of an art form as well a scientific examination.
If you go to a TCM practitioner and experience this for the first time, it can be quite amazing to have the practitioner tell by this diagnostic technique issues that you may already be aware are going on, or at least suspected.
Basic Positions And Principles The six positions for pulse diagnosis can be divided into three on the right and three on the left which are read using the index, middle and ring fingers at the radial artery.
There are twenty seven basic pulse states according to Li Shizhen (Shiz-hen).
To make pulse reading a little less complicated you can consider that it is based upon four main principles which are: • Floating • Sinking • Slow • Rapid Also if you were to sit in on a series of consultations with a TCM acupuncturist, after a while you may observe that many of the health problems can be reduced down into over simplifications such as dampness in the spleen or stagnated liver energy.
This has been one of the issues with TCM and the difficulties in interpreting pulses with the aid of the conflicting classical texts.
Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis Today contemporary Chinese pulse diagnosis is an evolving method which aims to give an insight into patients by offering a sophisticated, exquisite means of understanding the person holistically.
Based on the work of Leon Hammer, MD, and John HF Shen, OMD, it can provide insight on these various levels about patients: • Previous diseases • Constitution of the patient • Early insults affecting normal physiology • Traumas • Emotional conditions • Behavioural patterns • Effects of patient's lifestyle • Environmental stressors Mastering It Whatever way a practitioner undergoes training, this aspect of TCM takes a very long time to master properly and even if ten practitioners have undergone the same training to qualify, out of these ten, some will have the capability to listen deeply to their patients' pulses in a way that the others will attempt to truly master over many years, or even decades and some may say lifetimes! This ability to listen is an energetic ability that comes naturally to some, although it can also be developed using a variety of practices to do so.
If it does not come naturally it can be challenging to master, as part of this energetic sensitivity is the ability to trust one's energetic sensitivity! Therefore for those who wish to "learn" this, the catch 22 of overcoming the doubts can place, a sometimes insurmountable, obstacle in their way.
However an intimate grasp of the art of pulse diagnosis puts a practitioner in a very privileged position to help patients with a wide range of diseases and health issues.