You want the real herbs, so you ask for a consultation at the back of the shop. You are going to have your pulses and tongue read, among other measures. The trained Chinese herbal practitioner, with years of experience, will have sized you up in many ways that are beyond Western medicine, without instrumentation. Here are the things you can expect:
You sit in a chair opposite a narrow desk, while your file is prepared. Your name, which usually you write yourself, and phone number, for the filing system (that are kept by month or sometimes by phone number are the start of your file. The paper is most often plain old looseleaf paper. The multiple pages of your file will be stapled together or even put together with a paperless staple - a tear and fold system - that can be used anywhere, even in the most remote villages, when staples are not at hand...
Your blood pressure will be taken, and duly noted at the top of the page, with the date. You are asked for your complaints - fatigue? cough? constipation? stomach pains? - and these are duly listened to, so that the first thing to be treated is what you came for, but the underlying problems will also be addressed, from the beginning. In truth, you could say nothing and be treated, for most of the diagnosis is done via pulses and tongues.
Now for the Chinese diagnosis process. Your 'shen' or level of vital energy will already be noted from your demeanor as you come into the office - color of your face, animation, breathing rhythm, posture, gait and voice. Soft voice, rapid speech, loud voice, red face, pale face are all indications of underlying conditions. You won't want to hear this, but you also have a distinct odor that gives off clues.
The next step is the pulse and tongue diagnosis. The weathered experienced face across the desk will remain silent, and it is best if you do as well, while the pulses are taken. There are thirty-six measures in the pulse that are like reading braille for the Chinese medicine practitioner. Thirty six, all read through the fingers, 18 in each wrist. The health of your liver, pancreas, heart - all through the nature of the beats of the deep pulses. Descriptors (I only know the English for these) such as full, empty, wiry will describe what is going on inside your body. This takes a few minutes, as each one is read, and then little notes made in the file. The last thing is to read your tongue. You are asked to 'show your tongue', after which an uncharacteristic expression may flee across the normally calm expressioned face opposite you. All is written in the tongue, that contains the condition of the digestion, the heart, the liver. Your tongue may be pale and flabby, with a light white coating, which means depletion of some kind, or cardinal red, with thorns, and white spots, which means heat or extreme depletion, depending on the state of the coating (moss).
I find this fascinating, and always have. Oh, and the expression opposite you will just be an involuntary 'oh' of how westerners get themselves so depleted, for example, which in the Chinese community would be caught at a much earlier stage.
Based on this minutious examination, your herbal formula will be written in your file. Each herb for warming, cooling, dispersing or tonifying a specific organ system is noted carefully. This herb for the hot stagnant liver, that one for coldness in the stomach, this one for wandering thoughts or lack of concentration and so on. The last thing is the quantity of each, little notations beside each herb.
I have been doing this for years, since 1987, when I was first exposed to it, and before I studied myself, and then throughout the years as a practitioner (using only patent formulas like most Western practitioners) since 2004.
Your herbs are then weighed and packaged, and off you go. You need a ceramic pot, also sold in the shop, for boiling them up. One package makes one or two days' herbal tea. Soak for at least two hours, then boil for two, first on high, then on simmer. Your demonstration may be in a back room with a tiny burner, first pointing to hot, then moderate heat. The amount of water is usually 6 cups. This will make two cups of tea if boiled long enough, a little more if shorter.
Drink the herbal tea, the tang, in a draught two hours after eating and two before bed. A healthy Chinese schedule is to have finished supper by 7 and take the herbs by 9. I always notice a difference the following morning, immediately, when I have a new formula. Oh yes, your formula will change as you go, every two weeks or so, as your condition improves.
Hope this helps for those of you in the beginning of this journey. Enjoy! The bitter taste of the herbs, by the way, is part of the healing process - forget where I know this from, but our entire body kind of perks up with bitter roots and shoots, energetically. Quite the opposite from its reaction to white sugar. But that is a discussion for another time.
Do something good for yourself every day,
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