The Wonders Of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis
strength to draw on that was previously lacking.
The Power of Prevention
Susan, a 33 year old female, came to my practice looking for ways to manage a severe anxiety and depressive disorder that had been persisting for several years. At the time I saw her, she was taking two anti-depressants. She complained of fatigue, feeling excessively warm, thirst, and restless sleep. Susan had a classic pattern of yin deficiency, which means that the cooling, calming, and moistening aspects of her physiology had been compromised. Yin deficiency is typically seen in people between the ages of 45-65. It is a sign that one’s constitutional strength is weakening due to over thinking, worry, or anxiety.. To see this pattern in Susan, a 33 year old, suggests that her mental condition was causing her to age prematurely. Given that the pattern would likely continue to worsen over years if it was not treated, my prediction was that Susan would enter menopause in her late thirties or early forties and that her body may give out on her long before she had lived a full life. As I used acupuncture and herbs to nourish her yin, we were concurrently working to heal not only her current symptoms but also her tendency toward premature aging. As her pulse began to relax and soften, Susan began to feel more emotionally balanced than she had in years and she actually began to look noticeably younger. She felt cooler, more energized, and was sleeping more soundly. It was apparent from her pulses and overall presentation that Susan’s general health had improved dramatically and that her potential for longevity had greatly increased due to her course of yin nourishing treatment.
This case study reveals how the pulse serves as an accurate gauge for clarifying our tendencies toward health and longevity or illness and degeneration. Simply put, the pulse clearly shows the acupuncturist which way the wind is blowing. Is the patient cultivating energy through balance and moderation or depleting energy through excessive worry or activity, dietary imbalances, or other lifestyle factors? Each individual organ position conveys that organ’s tendency toward health or disease. Therefore, a skilled acupuncturist is able to not only address the patient’s current health concerns, but also educate them on health trends that will likely manifest in the future as based on the patient’s pulse qualities. Western medicine is only interested in treating disease when it is fully manifest, whereas Chinese medicine, by virtue of pulse diagnosis, is more capable of cutting through the momentum that is leading up to the disease. As stated by many of the leading doctors and medical pioneers throughout history, this latter ability is more truly indicative of the real purpose of medicine: To educate patients so that their lifestyle choices create a state of heightened wellness that makes them impervious to disease..
The Truth Revealed
An astute pulse diagnostician is able to experience the patient’s pulse as a direct line of communication that reveals poignantly honest and emotionally charged material. This is often in contrast to what the patient actually says about their situation, given that language is so often filtered through our subjective sense of what we want others to know about us. For example, a patient may convey a facade of everything being ‘fine’, but their pulse pattern contrastingly conveys a clear state of instability or disharmony. Another common scenario that I encounter is the patient who exudes an image of tranquility, but whose pulses show a deeply confined feeling of suppressed anger. When the acupuncturist can detect the true state of the patient’s inner life, then the potential for a powerful healing experience becomes much more accessible. In fact, one of the ultimate goals of highly developed pulse practitioners is to be able to prescribe very precise herbal formulas purely based on the patient’s pulse pattern. This ability is indicative of a truly holistic form of medicine, in that it sees beyond the patient’s myriad symptoms into the underlying pattern of disharmony that is causing their substandard health. As the pulse begins to balance, the acupuncturist becomes more confident that the patient’s overall health is improving, even if this occurs before the patient actually notices overt improvement. I have had several cases in which the patient’s pulses evidenced drastic improvement before their symptoms actually felt better. After my encouragement to stick with the process a while longer, these patients almost always begin to notice dramatic progress shortly after their pulses reflect a more harmonious state.
There are pulse practitioners who are so gifted at absorbing the meaning of the qualities they feel that their abilities appear to cross into a psychic terrain. The acupuncturist of this caliber, however, will often say that their abilities