Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system that takes a deep understanding of the laws and patterns of nature and applies them to the human body. TCM is not "New Age," nor is it a patchwork of different healing modalities. TCM is a complete medical system that has been practiced for more than five thousand years.

TCM includes a range of traditional medical practices originating in China, and has formed a unique system to diagnose and cure illness. Although well accepted in the mainstream of medical care throughout much of Asia, it is considered a complementary or alternative medical system in much of the western world.  TCM practitioners are trained to view the body, mind, and spirit as one system, as opposed to Western medicine practitioners, who are taught to regard each of these elements as separate.  Despite TCM's dramatically different approach, Westerners have been drawn to its practice because of its emphasis on healing the whole person and seeking the root cause of illness.  

TCM practices include such treatments as herbal medicine, acupuncture, dietary therapy and both Tui na and Shiatsu massage.  TCM theory is extremely complex and originated through meticulous observation of nature, the cosmos and the human body.  The underlying basis of TCM is that all of creation is born from the interdependence of two opposite principles, yin and yang.  These two opposites are in constant motion, creating a fluctuating balance in the healthy body.  Disease results when either yin or yang is in a state of prolonged excess or deficiency.