Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the oldest systematic form of medicine in the world, developed thousands of years ago and outlined in the ancient “Classic of Internal Medicine.” It treats body and mind through the stimulation of points which access the blood, fluids, nerves, hormones, cells and other anatomical and physiological structures. It is only in recent years that modern biophysics has elaborated a scientific understanding of this ancient practice tracing the meridian energetic processes in the body through the illustration of Einstein’s energy-matter equation and the quantum wave-particle relationship as it unfolds in the human body. While acupuncture’s successful treatment of the mind is harder for modern science to conceptualize, its proof is undisputed as controlled studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in treating depression, anxiety and other psychological imbalances. While acupuncture’s true method is to treat the deep roots of the whole person, the World Health Organization itself has published a list of literally dozens of specific conditions and symptoms for which acupuncture is effective.
Oriental Medicine
All cultures possess a rich history of traditional medicine which is based on remarkably similar principles of balancing and nourishing the body’s natural ability to heal. Oriental Medicine is the most scientifically elaborated and articulated form of traditional medicine in terms of its research documentation and continued practice for centuries as well as the most completely preserved into modern times. Traditional Chinese Medicine – or TCM – is a modern integration of of East-West medicine developed in the People’s Republic. By augmenting this with other traditions of classical medicine from China, Japan, India, and Tibet we now have an even more crucial body of medical practice to draw from.
Naturopathic Medicine
All traditional medicine is essentially naturopathic in its focus on harmonizing and tonifying the natural healing or wholing abilities of the human being. The West has its own history of traditional naturopathic medicine going back to the Greek, Roman, Persian, and European cultures of Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and Paracelsus. Samuel Hahnemann brought this concept up to date by recognizing the disappearance of these practices and restoring them through his creation of Heilkunst – or Healing Art. The true physician practices the complete medical art of Physick which affects both the life-sustaining principle of the bodily vehicle and its vital energy, and the life-generating principle of the dynamic mind or spirit. While Oriental Medicine remains the most complete historical form of naturopathic medicine, modern naturopathic medicine is currently elaborating traditional practice through scientific developments in nutrition, dietetics, orthomolecular pharmacy and vitamin therapy, cleansing and detoxification, and other modalities.
Homeopathic Medicine
While Homeopathic Medicine was formally developed some 200 years ago by Samuel Hahneman, its roots extend thousand of years back in Eastern and Western Medical systems. The allopathic medical model which currently dominates orthodox medicine treats symptoms mechanically with their opposite, for example reducing a fever with anti-inflamatories or killing microbes with antibiotics. The homeopathic approach attempts to stimulate the immune system and vital energy with micro-doses of natural remedies, based on their similarity or “resonance” with the overall symptoms and constitution of the patient.
While homeopathic pharmaceutical formulas are specially prepared for this as internal medicine, treatments such as acupuncture and psychoanalysis are homeopathic in that they work alone the same lines. Rather than suppressing symptoms which can lead to deeper damage, a homeopathic approach seeks to express layers of suppressed symptoms so that they can be acknowledged and released expanding the vital energy and drive of the organism and psyche.
Allopathic Medicine
Allopathic Medicine refers to the practice of treating disease by means of the opposite rather than by the same – as in homeopathic medicine. All traditional medicine contains aspects of allopathic, homeopathic, and naturopathic principles while they are not always articulated as such. It is only in modernity that these generally coexistent principles have been separated into radically diverse practices of medicine. Allopathic medicine sometimes refers to the current dominant paradigm of Western medicine which has only been so for one century and is essentially biochemical and mechanical in practice – sometimes also referred to as biomedicine. Allopathy is used in Oriental medicine and in Heilkunst – Hahnemann’s complete method which contains homeopathy – but is recognized as a last resort when the patient’s own mind, body and immunity cannot be supported or stimulated to heal itself.
Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis is often called depth psychology or dynamic psychiatry as it explores the unconscious mind and vital spirit beyond rational cognition and behavior. Today there is a growing interest in psychoanalysis, and yet a great confusion about what it is. Sigmund Freud gave birth to psychoanalysis – and modern psychotherapy – a century ago. By giving voice to the domain of the “psyche” or “spirit” which had been severed from science and medicine for so long in the West, this physician was able to develop a more integrated mind-body approach to human experience and healing.
Most psychotherapies of today owe their existence to Freud’s original methods, but unlike those practicing techniques of symptom treatment, Freud and his followers – Jung, Reich, Lacan – sought more from psychoanalysis: a completely transformative process. Freud was well versed in the behavioral and biological therapies of his day, and recognized that – like similar methods of today – they only provided temporary relief with the return of new symptoms which left the underlying dissatisfaction untouched.
Part of the confusion over psychoanalysis is that it has remained a uniquely transdisciplinary field linking the domains of medicine, science, and the true art of healing. Psychoanalysis is in fact the original integrated approach to bodymind healing which bridges the gap between physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual transformation. Jung demonstrated this by linking the birth of analysis to the traditional practices of Alchemical Taoist, Zen, and Yoga Psychology as well as the origin of analytic philosophy in Ancient Greece.
Psychoanalysis is not the symptom adjustment, but the opportunity for a complete reworking of the bodymind system. It has always been “client centered” and “present oriented” – focused on the ongoing transformation of immediate experience. Dreams, fantasies, desires, fears, obsessions, and traumas are only so many opportunities for a client to reinvent their world.
Sexuality and Fertility
New Clinic is a community clinic devoted to fostering relationships. To that end we offer natural obstetric and gynecological services including fertility treatments, child, family and relationship counseling, and homeopathic pediatrics. Infertility is a growing problem today and we take a multi-factor approach. Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine has proven to be one of the most effective treatments for this condition as it is able to nourish the aspects of deficiency causing this condition for which there is no pharmaceutical or surgical medicine. Ancient and modern methods of chronobiology enable us to reestablish biological and environmental rhythms balancing gynecological and hormonal cycles. In difficult cases relationship counseling and homeopathic constitutional treatments are able to remove unseen blocks to pregnancy. We also maintain a natural obstetric network of midwives, doulas, and birth centers. This integral approach has provided an unmatched success rate.
Children are extremely sensitive and even more affected by the bioenergetic treatments than adults. Their immune system is in the process of learning and facilitating it with natural medicine can help them develop more robust health and abilities to process disease. Subtle acupuncture without even the need of needles and minute homeopathic doses of mineral and plant based remedies serve them better than synthetic biochemicals which suppress symptoms unnecessarily.
Community Medicine
Community medicine refers to the return to the traditional approach where the physician is in contact with his community on an ongoing basis. The oldest form of medicine in humanity is shamanic where healing the body is done through the mind in rituals with the community. In this approach the physical and social environment is not separated from the individual disease of mind or body. While some developments in community acupuncture and network chiropractic have meant a larger quantity of cheaper treatments, this is not necessarily how healing takes place. Community medicine can be a collective, participatory, and interactive approach to health and transformation where each patient finds a unique relation through time, money, and desire for change.