Can we expect answers to new health emergencies from Traditional Chinese Medicine ? Close collaboration between countries has highlighted the role of Yangsheng methods in preventing Covid-

19 . The collaboration between therapeutic formulas could represent an effective and renewed form of prevention for one’s health. Even in emergencies. Laura Ciminelli , sinologist, trained in Chinese language and Italian literature in Rome at the La Sapienza University and the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East, completing her training in China. She is the Director of the “SinoEnergie” Integrated Training-Art-Health Center and didactic coordinator of the

Superior Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Villa Giada in Rome.

Since 2016 she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Medical Education Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine (EIC – Education Instruction Committee –   WFCMS World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies ). On behalf of this Committee, you have translated the COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment plan into Italian.

Certain of the seriousness of her sources, we ask her how she is living this period and what information is coming to her from China.

Can we talk about the prevention and treatment of the pandemic?

All these deaths and the terrible conditions in which they occurred, I believe they will always remain in our feeling as a terrible test and an extreme warning to our consciences for the safeguarding of life on planet Earth.

In this period I took the opportunity to approach the Yoga philosophy and finding a powerful common root with the Qi Gong  techniques that I already knew, I tried to cultivate the art of breathing.

At the beginning of the epidemic infection in Italy, I had already been involved for two months by what was happening in China, and having access to Chinese social media and media, I had received a lot of news about the prevention and treatment work with traditional Chinese medicine .

Initially, out of guilty naivety and incurable optimism, I had hoped that under the threat of emergency Chinese herbal compounds could be taken into consideration for our Italian patients , given their effectiveness above all in terms of prevention, but also in the treatment of light cases. and medium, to stop the evolution of the disease towards serious and critical outcomes. However, we know that many obstacles hold back a peaceful examination of the effectiveness and practicability of natural methods.

What tools does Chinese Medicine offer for the benefit of prevention?

Naturally, the Covid 19 pandemic has turned a spotlight on issues that had lagged behind others, first of all prevention, which now stops being a concept and asks to become action. We therefore understand that it is even more necessary today to insert new behavior patterns for individuals , aimed at preserving a good condition of health and attention to one’s immune system.

Chinese Medicine offers many tools and in this sense, it stands as preventive medicine, not only in terms of remedies and techniques, but also of behaviors.

For the prevention of new coronavirus pneumonia, an official phytotherapeutic formula has been issued, consisting of the union of three famous classic formulas, to be used in decoction.

The desired effect can be summarized in some aspects:

• Cleanse the lungs of heat; 
• protect and clean our internal environment;
• strengthen the immune system;
• avoid that pathogenic factors from the outside penetrate inside.

Who are the Chinese doctors involved in this prevention challenge?

In China there is a very vivid memory of the SARS epidemic of 2003 during which herbal medicine achieved excellent results and on the occasion of this new terrible challenge, traditional medicine, even under the pressure of a strong movement of opinion, was sustained and widely used. TCM academics and clinicians exchanged information and experiences and a “trio” of excellence moved to Wuhan.

From this team work the formula for prevention was born , numerous hospitals and clinical centers in the country have adopted and disseminated it, including Dr. Zhang Zhilong, Chief Physician of the TCM Academy of Medical Sciences in Tianjin, very active in the field of prevention and dissemination ofYangsheng methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

What are Yangsheng Methods?

” Yang Sheng ” can be translated as ” feeding life “. It is a discipline that has developed over the centuries in the great bed of traditional Chinese medicine. It deals with ancient knowledge on how to prevent diseases and ward off old age that have always belonged to the oriental culture, such as Qigong.

With the aim of “conforming to nature” Yangsheng science proposes a set of norms regarding nutrition, climate, sleep and wakefulness , public health and also the education of mind and spirit. 

Traditional Medicine: how do you avoid “do it yourself” and, nevertheless, fake news?

Today we know that “local knowledge”, medicines attributable to specific geographies, have survived over time thanks to an “effectiveness” confirmed by the continuous transmission of recipes, formulas and traditions and by the ever increasing number of people who resort to therapeutic treatments unconventional.

It is very important, for example when it comes to phytotherapy or natural remedies, on the one hand not to make these remedies appear more dangerous than one might suspect, on the other hand to promote and adopt precautions in the use of herbs , trying to limit the combination. natural-do-it-yourself to guarantee people’s health , confirming an effectiveness that however needs to be directed.

I have been doing this job for many years, and I believe that today we have many opportunities, which come from the re-reading of texts of ancient cultures in a modern key , to derive usage patterns to improve people’s health.

Until a decade ago, studies tried to bring out the peculiar traits of so-called “alternative” medicines by comparing them with other medical practices, placing them in an oppositional relationship with each other. We are now witnessing an encouraging change in trends and attempts to reorganize the representations of resources and skills through the consolidation of integrated therapies. 

Is there a virtuous exchange of medical knowledge between East and West?

In my Academy, the Higher Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine “Villa Giada” for years, in addition to training, we have curated a Blog where you can find a large number of publications for informational purposes aimed at the knowledge of Yangsheng long life practices and techniques of Chinese Medicine.

This is also possible thanks to the continuous dialogue that we have been carrying out with doctors and scholars of Chinese universities for years, never interrupted, not even at a moment like this. On the contrary, in recent weeks, exchanges with Chinese Universities and Medical Societies have intensified a lot with webinars and online congresses .

Each country involved in the pandemic is putting its own toolsie their knowledge at the disposal of a profitable and international exchange of the highest level, which is kept outside the political tensions that characterize these days.

The subject is very complex and as always we will have to allow time to run its course but I believe that the fruit of these exchanges will come.
Moreover, the emergency cannot override the criteria of security and access to treatments .

Certainly nothing will be lost because the future of integrated medicines is very promising and the past of traditional medicines very solid; the ideas and experiences we are recording at this moment will bring solutions, but above all they will keep prevention at the center of our goals, toa new focus on the effectiveness of natural healing systems .