Traditional Chinese medicine as a way of life

Bonny Williams, director of the London College of Traditional Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (LCTA), lives by what she preaches.

"I practise qigong. I eat according to Chinese medicine principles. I understand my body in terms of the Chinese medicine clock, for example, at certain times of the day, I have lower energy than others and I understand what that's about. I see my acupuncturist maybe every couple of weeks just as a means of maintaining my health rather than curing illness and she gives me herbs or massage when necessary. It's a commitment to a way of living that once you've seen how well it works, you can't go backwards," she says with a laugh.

Williams says that the attitude towards Chinese medicine in the UK has changed. "When I first started this job, we had to always say in the press, for example, 'acupuncture (the insertion of fine needles to effect...)' Whereas these days, when you see acupuncture talked about in the press, it's never explained anymore. I think that acceptance is indicated that change in the press. The public knows what Chinese medicine is now. They know about herbs and acupuncture and they've really got a sense of what it does. I think most people understand it's a very ancient system and it's got very deep roots."

No longer just alternative

For years, oriental medicine has been seen as an alternative to Western medicine, but according to Williams, that point of view has gone out the window. "These days, people see Western and Oriental medicine as complementary, if not integrated. I think it would be arrogant of either side, the West or the Eastern professions, to think that theirs is better. That's just not the case."

"There are certain strengths of Chinese medicine that Western medicine can't touch, for example, in treating skin conditions. Chinese medicine is way above also in treating certain gynecological conditions. Having said that, Chinese medicine can't touch Western medicine when it comes to emergency care. In the emergency room and operations, Western medicine is just the best thing. That's what you need. So for me, there's a place for both and I use both in situations where I feel they're appropriate."

"Chinese medicine is also slowly but surely becoming accepted within the National Health Service (NHS). It's a rare thing for an NHS doctor to prescribe Chinese medicine, but it happens. And some general practitioners (GP's) are more open-mined than others. Some of them are very convinced of the benefits of Chinese medicine and often will refer their patient to a practitioner."

Learning acupuncture

Students of acupuncture at LCTA learn needling within the first year of their training. "They start to practise on one another, and always under supervision. As they go through the course, it gets more practical, more hands-on, involving much more work with people."

Final year students treat members of the public under supervision at LCTA's teaching clinic. "All our courses have a clinical component at the end," Williams explains. "In the acupuncture clinic, the students would go in at the beginning of year 3, having learned all the theory of Chinese medicine and the practical knowledge to do with point location, anatomy, physiology and pathology. So they understand how the body works and in theory, the essence of building a relationship with the patient."

"When a student first goes to the teaching clinic, he would be supervised taking the case study from the patient, asking questions. Then he would go out of the room and talk to his supervisor, talk through what he considers the diagnoses to be. The supervisor would give him pointers on things that might have been overlooked. Then, the student would go back into the room, mark the points they're intending to treat on the patient, which the supervisor will check. When the supervisor has agreed, the student would do the needling, always under supervision, to make sure that the needling is done properly. The patient will be left to relax for a little while before the needles are removed."

The pharmacy is the core of the Chinese herbal medicine program. (Image: Radio86)

"At the beginning of the clinic, all that the student does is supervised. And as they go through, they get less and less supervision. Basically, by the end of the year, it's really just a case of the student takes the case study and makes the diagnosis. They will have a look at the tongue, take the pulse, make a diagnosis, make a points prescription, tell the supervisor what they're going to needle and the supervisor would simply oversee the needling."

"In the teaching clinic, the ratio of students to supervisors is 4:1, so there's really quite close supervision."

Those with needle phobia, Williams says, could try tui na massage instead. "Tui na is a Chinese style of massage, which uses the radiants of energy that you would use with acupuncture needles, but instead of using needles, the practitioner uses massage techniques to affect the balance of energy within the body."

Chinese herbal medicine

Williams believes that access to herbs is very important to students of Chinese herbal medicine. "One of the most important parts about learning Chinese medicine is that you need to feel it. You need to be able to touch the herbs, taste them, smell them, see what they look like and understand their quality. That's why we have a pharmacy here on the premises, which is very unusual in the UK. Most of the teaching courses for Chinese herbal medicine don't have a pharmacy anymore because of financial cutbacks. So the courses that are run at universities, they don't have pharmacies. I think that's a big loss from the point of view of the students."

"We've really fought hard to keep our pharmacy even when we were moving and didn't have much space because all our supervisors and teachers on the herbal medicine course feel that the pharmacy is the core of what we do with herbs."

"Having an in-house pharmacy means that we are able to fulfill the prescriptions here. When a student sees patients in the herbal medicine clinic, he could fill a prescription for them or they can buy their herbs from us."

The importance of maintaining qi

Williams also emphasizes the importance of qigong to a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. "When you're a therapist, if you consider the transaction that happens between you and the client, you do a lot of listening and you're also using your energy to an extent to heal that person."

"When you insert an acupuncture needle, you don't do it just like you would put a nail into a piece of wood. You're actually using your intention, using your qi to put the needle in and to affect the qi of the patient. But that, obviously, over time, could actually use up and deplete your own energy as a practitioner. And the importance of maintaining your qi shouldn't ever really be underestimated. It's absolutely vital. In order to keep yourself well and to keep yourself energetic, it's important that you make sure you maintain your energy with qigong."

"I think qigong is really the basis of making sure your energy functions well. While acupuncture or tui na, for example, can correct it once it's gone wrong, if you practise qigong and do it daily with a very committed attitude, it will defend you against so much illness."

Bonny Williams is director of LCTA, UK's largest school of Chinese medicine. (Image: Radio86)

Williams, who has herself been practising qigong for a couple if years now, mentions a stage of frustration that comes after doing daily qigong for a while. "I've noticed that our students often go through this phase where they feel utterly furious with the whole thing. They feel like nothing's happening. They have a hundred questions and their teacher won't answer any of them. They're just told to do it. It's just very frustrating really when you first learn something like that. But then over time, they realize why the teacher doesn't answer the questions, because essentially, qigong is about the Dao and the Dao that can be spoken is not the Dao."

"This is the essence of what we do and it's important to keep bringing people back to it. When you run quite academic courses like we do, they're not easy, and I think it's easy to get stuck in the academic point of view and forget the energetics. But actually, of course, the energetics is the basis of everything.