Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine ia a multi-part article written for those that would like to have a better understanding of the concepts behind Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We will cover basic terminology, briefly describe the differences from Western medicine, describe how TCM treats illness and give examples in the form of case histories to help improve your understanding of TCM. describe how TCM treats illness and give examples in the form of case histories to help improve your understanding of TCM.

Part 1 can be found here

The Five Phases

During its development TCM developed a theory called the WU XING or the "five phases theory". This theory was developed to provide a method of classifying natural phenomena and their inter-relationships.

Over the centuries most things in nature were assigned to a class. Today some of the important things classified form the basis of what is now known as the Five Phases Correspondences.

The following table gives a brief list of some of these correspondences.

The importance of the correspondences is that in combination with the known cycles of the Five Phases they enable us to understand how one substance or item may interact with another.

Cycles of the Phases.

Mutual production. (Sheng Cycle)

In the sheng cycle one phase leads onto another, it is often referred to as the Mother Son relationship. In this cycle the Mother nurtures and promotes the Son e.g. Water nourishes Wood. An imbalance can occur due to a demanding son or a weakened mother.

Control or conquest. (Ko Cycle)

The Ko cycle means control, it leads to the second position following on i.e. Fire controls Metal. This is often referred to as the Father Son relationship. The father provides a check and balance against the actions of the son. An imbalance can occur when the father is overbearing and restricts the son too much.

Insult and rebellion. (Reverse Ko Cycle)

This is a reversal of the normal flow of control. It is the equivalent of a son rebelling against the father. It is always considered as a problem and leads to ill health.

In later instalments we look at how these correspondences and cycles are used to describe body funtions and illness. While in Part 3 we will begin looking at TCM Physiology.