Illness from a Chinese Medicine perspective can arise from either “internal” or “external” causes and colds and flus are derived from external factors. The concept of wind, merely indicates symptoms that generally arise (and often disappear) relatively quickly and move around. Wind may arise externally from the weather (getting sniffly from a cold/damp wind off the ocean in the winter) or internally from imbalances in the body (migraines from a stagnant “liver” may arise from “liver-wind”). Generally speaking the cold or the flu will fall into what we call a “Wind-Heat Invasion” or a “Wind-Cold Invasion” and the treatment will vary between the two to take into account the difference in symptoms.
Qi and Defensive Qi (Wei Qi)
Before we discuss these patterns in detail, it is illuminating to first explore, from a Chinese Medicine perspective, why some people get sick and others do not. Many have heard the somewhat nebulous phrase “qi.” Most, however, have very little idea what is meant by the concept other than some sort of energy flowing in the acupuncture channels. Qi, however, is really a broad concept with many different “types” of qi in the body. Ultimately it is simply a way of discussing the energy of and the movement and functions within the body. Of particular importance for our discussion here is the concept of “Wei Qi” or “Defensive Qi” which is what keeps us safe from these external influences.
While the Chinese Medical theory is slightly more complicated than this, qi within the body can be thought of as a series of layers. At the deepest level we have “jing” which is a catalyst that keeps us alive – when that is gone we are gone. Then there are muscle and blood layers and so on up to the surface layer or “wei qi.” As we are run down from overwork, excessive physical, mental and/or psychological strain, poor dietary habits, etc. we challenge our “qi.” As we do this, our body may first weaken the outer layers, the “wei qi”, to protect the deeper functions of our body. So, often, when under chronic stress and poor lifestyle habits we will develop weak “wei qi” or “defensive qi” – which means that we are essentially walking around in the cold without a jacket on… The result of this will be a greater susceptibility to illness. The somewhat obvious remedy to this is to live in accordance with the rules of moderation, to respect the seasons, and to keep stress levels low (easy, right?)...
