What are the similarities and differences between TCM and Ayurveda?

Student No. E10739

September 2016

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the Licentiate in Acupuncture.

Word count: 3741

Submitted: 10th May, 2019

i

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda are two forms of traditional Asian

medicine that are still in practice and have spread through the world, under the

umbrella of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in countries where the

mainstream practice is allopathic medicine.

This paper reviews the existing literature that compares TCM and Ayurveda, starting

with their historical development and cross pollination between both systems. It then

examines their view on energetic physiology, where both systems coincide in their

consideration of a life force (Qi/Prana) and its effects on the homeostasis of the body

through a dynamic Five Element/Tridosha model. TCM, however, has a concept of

Yin/Yang which has no direct correspondence in Ayurveda. Diagnostic tools such as

pulse taking and tongue examination are similar in each system, and both TCM and

Ayurveda have a prominent herbal medicine component. Massage, exercise and

acupuncture/marma points are also important in terms of maintenance of optimal

health and disease prevention. Since TCM and Ayurveda are often used alongside

allopathic medicine in the treatment of complex diseases, this paper aims to provide

TCM practitioners with an overview of Ayurveda in relationship to TCM which can

inform their practice.

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Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................1

Methods............................................................................................................................2

Results..............................................................................................................................3

1. Historicalcontextandcrosspollination..............................................................................3

2. Energeticphysiology..........................................................................................................5

2.1QiandPrana............................................................................................................................5

2.2FiveElements,TridoshaandYin/Yang.....................................................................................6

3. Healingmodalities.............................................................................................................9

3.1HerbalmedicinesinAyurvedaandTCM..................................................................................9

3.2Acupunctureandyoga...........................................................................................................10

3.2.1FurthercommentaryonQi/Pranameasurements.......................................................................11

3.3Acupunctureandchakras......................................................................................................12

4. Bioinformatics..................................................................................................................13

Discussion.......................................................................................................................15

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................20

References......................................................................................................................21

AppendixA......................................................................................................................25

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Acknowledgements

To my dear husband, Keith Pritchard, who encouraged me to enroll in this course and

has selflessly supported this endeavor for the last three years.

To my yoga teachers Hamish Hendry and Ruth Westoby who patiently try to educate

me in yoga philosophy and Ayurveda.

To my acupuncture mentors, Suky Bains Miller and Michelle Austen-Marriott, who

have given invaluable advice throughout my study of acupuncture.

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Introduction

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda are the two most globalised forms

of traditional Asian medicine. TCM has a philosophical background of Daoism and

Ayurveda of Vedic philosophy (Kim, Pham, & Koh, 2011).

Both systems place the patient within the context of a universe made up of a

combination of elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water in TCM and Ether, Air,

Fire, Water and Earth in Ayurveda (Patwardhan, Warude, Pushpangadan, & Bhatt,

2005). They also share the concept of a “life energy” that flows through the body,

called Qi in TCM and Prana in Ayurveda, which must flow unimpeded for health or can

lead to disease when blocked (Rosch, 2009).

Another common feature is that they are both patient-centric as opposed to the

allopathic medicine’s disease-centric view. The patient is examined and their

constitution and symptoms are assessed, and with this a specific therapeutic

treatment will be prescribed. This means that the same disease in two different people

might be treated with different herbal formulations or therapeutic methods (Kim, Pham,

& Koh, 2011).

TCM and Ayurveda are widely used in their country of origin, with TCM accounting for

40% of all healthcare delivered in China and 77% of Indian households using

Ayurvedic products. Within the context of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

(CAM), both are also growing rapidly outside China and India, motivated by concern

about adverse effect of drugs and a search for gentler means of managing chronic

diseases in countries with increasingly longer life expectancy (The Economic Times,

2018; World Health Organization, 2002).

As a soon to be practitioner of TCM and a long-term student of yoga, I have an interest

in both medicines although my expertise in Ayurveda is only superficial. This

dissertation has enabled me to understand the underpinning concepts of Ayurveda

and how they relate to TCM, and spurred an interest in the areas that have not been

fully covered by research yet.

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Methods

The following search query on the Cambridge University Library was used:

Title contains TCM Ayurveda

OR Title contains Chinese medicine Ayurveda

OR Title contains Chinese Ayurveda

This search attempted to capture the literature where both systems were mentioned.

It returned 18 results, out of which 5 were of restricted access or broken links and thus

excluded from this review.

The advanced search in Google Scholar did not allow for building complex queries;

instead the search query was set to:

find articles with all the words ‘TCM’ and ‘Ayurveda’ that occur in the title of the

article

It returned three articles, one of which was excluded as its focus was on Traditional

Arabic and Islamic Medicine.

Expanding the term “TCM” into “Traditional Chinese Medicine” in Google Scholar

returned 46 results; most of these, however, were citations and the rest had already

been acquired by the earlier searches, but it did return a dissertation on the

comparison between the two medicines as a new result.

The same search in Pubmed did not return any new results.

The rest of the literature was acquired by following references in the search results.

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Results

1. Historicalcontextandcrosspollination

TCM and Ayurveda are the two most ancient still practiced traditional medicine

systems in the world. The earliest manuscripts for medical practice in China are found

in the Historical Memoirs (Shi Ji), about 500 B.C., which discusses pulse study, tongue

inspection and patient questioning as diagnostic tools, as well as acupuncture,

moxibustion, massage, remedial exercise and plant medicine as therapeutic

modalities. For Ayurveda, while Vedic healing is recorded in the Atharva Veda as a

manual of magic, the first recording of empirical medicine is the Charaka Samhita1

dated between the 8th and 10th centuries B.C. (Svoboda & Lade, 1995).

Frawley, Ranade & Lele (2003, p.9) attribute Ayurveda’s initial influence on TCM to

Bodhidharma (500 – 600 A.D.), a Buddhist monk who is traditionally credited as the

transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China and who initiated the physical training of the

monks of Shaolin Temple2, which led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. Part of the

warrior training included knowledge of marmas, points on the body that can be used

specifically for the diagnosis and treatment of disease or generally for promoting health

1 “Compendium of Charaka” (Charaka being considered the “Indian father of medicine”), describes

ancient theories on the human body, etiology, symptomology and therapeutics for a wide range of

diseases.

2 built around 300 A.D. in the Hohan province of China to accommodate monks travelling from India to

China

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and longevity. Frawley et al. (2005) relate these marma points to acupuncture points

in Ayurveda and Marma Therapy, but don’t go into any comparative detail.

As Buddhism thrived in China under the Tang dynasty, the number of Buddhist

monasteries and temples increased rapidly and many canonical Ayurvedic works were

translated into Chinese. An example is the Neng qing yijie yanjibing doloni jing, “A

classic on a spell to cure all eye diseases” by Amoghavajra3 (Takakusu & Watanabe,

2000)., which touches upon the standard etiology of eye diseases as defined by the

Tridosha theory of Ayurveda (Deshpande, 2008).

An area where there was a healthy exchange of ideas in both directions is

pharmacology. China imported hemp, sandalwood, cardamom, cinnamon and other

herbs from India while India imported rhubarb, licorice, gingseng, mugwort and tea

from China (Svoboda & Lade, 1995). All of these were used medicinally in both

systems.

The blocking of the Silk Road due to Muslim invasions and the decline of Buddhism in

India and China meant that from the 10th century A.D. onward, TCM and Ayurveda

were essentially isolated from each other. The introduction of European medicine to

China and India from the 18th century A.D. signified the decline of both traditional

medicines until their current resurgence.

3 Amoghavajra (अमोघव&) was a prolific translator acknowledged as one of the Eight Patriarchs of the

Doctrine in Shingon Buddhism.

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2. Energeticphysiology

Neither TCM nor Ayurveda based their mapping of human physiology on internal

anatomical study. This is because in both cultures, dissection was considered a

profanity. In China, it was believed that it would interfere with the Po4 and its capacity

to return to the earth. In India, any damage to the corpse before its cremation was

thought to continue onto the soul’s next incarnation (Svoboda & Lade, 1995, p. 93).

2.1QiandPrana

Both systems posit the existence of a life force called Qi in TCM and Prana in

Ayurveda, which travels through TCM’s meridians and Ayurveda’s 72,000 nadis

(Greenwood, 2006). Gasseholm (2012) identifies this commonality and likens it to

Wilhelm Reich’s orgone, a biological or cosmic energy that can be concentrated using

insulated Faraday cages called orgone accumulators5 (Turner, 2011, pp. 222-223).

But while Reich’s orgone experiments were dismissed by Albert Einstein (Reich, 1953)

and ultimately led to Reich’s incarceration, modern attempts to measure Qi and/or

Prana aim to legitimize TCM and Ayurveda in the world of allopathic medicine, which

is skeptical about non-measurable attributes.

Narayanan, Korotkov, & Srinivasan (2018) propose a Unified System of Medicine that

uses electro photonic imaging (EPI) to measure “communication energy”, “normalized

4 The soul of the Yin, associated with the Lungs 5 Sean Connery is said to have owned an orgone accumulator (Turner, 2011, July 08). There seem to

be others in existence (Figure 3, Appendix A).

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area” and “entropy”. They claim that EPI can measure communication in the meridians

(TCM) or nadis (Ayurveda) by taking these three measurements in the ten fingers of

the hands. However, the “organ systems” that they list (endocrine, pituitary, pancreas,

coccyx) are not part of the medical model of either TCM or Ayurveda.

2.2FiveElements,TridoshaandYin/Yang

Svoboda & Lade (1995), Gasseholm (2012) and Kim et al. (2011) all comment that

TCM and Ayurveda have a theory of Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and

Water in TCM and Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth in Ayurveda. But the strength of

TCM’s Five Elements theory resides in their assisting and controlling relationships,

while Ayurveda’s five elements are quite static and the subtle energies that govern all

life are better represented by the Tridosha theory.

The three doshas (Vatta, Pitta, Kapha) are present in all living beings and their relative

strength to each other determines the individual’s constitution. They need to be in

balance for health; any imbalance in one dosha will cause disharmony between the

other two and will over time cause disease.

Table 1 represents the physiological equilibrium and pathological model of TCM and

Ayurveda respectively according to Kim et al. (2011). TCM posits abnormal

relationships/balance between Yin and Yang or the Five Elements as the cause of

pathologies that then can be categorized according to different theories (Eight

Principles, Five Elements, Six Divisions, etc.) For Ayurveda, they present a

chronological perspective of disease progression that starts with a disproportionate

accumulation of a specific dosha and as the imbalance increases can ultimately result

in acute crisis (e.g. embolism or infarction).

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TCM Ayurveda

Philosophical

background

Taoism Vedic philosophy

Approach to

patient

Syndrome-based medicine Constitution-based medicine

Basic principles Ying/Yang theory

Five Elements

Tridoshas

Five Elements

Physiological

equilibrium

model

1) Balance between Yin and Yang (follows the principle of waxing and waning, mutual restraining and mutual nourishing of Ying and Yang)

2) Balance among the Five Elements

Balance among the Tridoshas where all

the doshas are functioning correctly in

appropriate proportions to each other

and in the right positions.

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Pathological

model

1) Abnormal relationships that can cause illnesses

2) Eight principles of disease patternization

Ayurvedic etiology:

Table 1: Comparison between TCM and Ayurveda (Kim, Pham and Koh, 2011)

While Kim et al. (2011) identify the balance between Yin and Yang as a basic TCM

principle, they do not establish a direct comparison between Yin/Yang and the three

doshas. Svoboda & Lade (1995) do, and they relate Kapha to Yin, Pitta to Yang and

Vata to Qi, as illustrated in Table 2. There seems to be a better correlation between

Yin and Kapha and Yang and Pitta than between Qi and Vata.

Outburst: an acute crisis occurs (e.g. ruptured aneurysm, embolism or

infarction).

Condensation or localization: the dosha localizes in an inappropriate

region.

Spreading or migration: the dosha moves beyond the location of its

normal function.

Aggravation or vitiation: the dosha becomes overstimulated and may go

into a wrong channel.

Accumulation: a disproportion of a particular dosha increases or

accumulates.

All the doshas are in balance

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Ayurveda Qualities TCM Qualities

Vata Dry, cold, light, unstable,

clear, rough, subtle

Qi Both material and immaterial, can be

translated as energy, ether, matter,

matter-energy, vital force, life force.

Pitta Oily, hot, intense, light,

fluid, malodorous, mobile

Yang Active, brightness, sunshine, fire,

hardness, male, dryness, hot, restless

Kapha Oily, cold, heavy, stable,

viscid, smooth, soft

Yin Passive, darkness, earth, water,

softness, female, moisture, night time,

slowness, cold, docile

Table 2: Doshas vs Qi, Yin and Yang (Svoboda & Lade, 1995)

3. Healingmodalities

3.1HerbalmedicinesinAyurvedaandTCM

TCM and Ayurveda have extensive herbal pharmacopoeias, with 7815 herbal

substances recorded in Zhong Hua Ben Cao , Chinese Materia Medica and

about 7000 species in India’s The National Medicinal Plants Board (Jaiswal, Liang, &

Zhao, 2016). The authors propose comparative investigation of both pharmacopoeias

to gain deeper insights into their respective ancient medical texts, but also to

understand which plants from the other traditional medicine can be substituted in case

of deforestation or environmental disaster.

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While in both systems different plants can be used for the same therapeutic purposes6,

there are several species commonly used in TCM and Ayurveda for different aims.

One example is turmeric whose stem is said to break up blood stasis, promote the

flow of Qi, stimulate menstruation, and relieve pain as per TCM but Ayurveda uses the

whole plant for respiratory diseases, rheumatism, inflammation, menstrual problems,

cold, cough, and skin allergies7.

Jaiswal, Liang, Ho, Chen, & Zhao (2014) performed a comparative tissue-specific

metabolite analysis and determination of protodioscin content in Asparagus species

used in TCM and Ayurveda and concluded that the differences in their quality are

based upon their protodioscin content, and these species can be used as a substitute

for each other for similar therapeutic benefits in TCM and Ayurveda.

3.2Acupunctureandyoga

Sharma, Hankey, Meenakshy, Nagendra, & Nagilla (2014) describe the increase of

prana as the mechanism by which yoga practices increase wellbeing. They ran a study

that measured the changes in electrodermal resistance at the Jing Well points of the

body brought by yoga practices including yoga asana (postures), vegetarian diet and

meditation practices. Sharma et al. (2014) claim that this electrodermal resistance can

6 For example, Amomum kravanh in TCM and Amomum tsaoko in Ayurveda are used to improve

digestion.

7 One could argue a correspondence between these, for example Ayurveda’s inflammation might

relate to Blood stasis or Qi stagnation in TCM.

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be used as a measure of qi and by extension, of prana. Their study on a small group

of 33 participants showed a “decrease in meridian bioimpedance corresponding to

increased meridian energy levels” suggesting that yoga practices increase prana

levels in the body.

3.2.1FurthercommentaryonQi/Pranameasurements

As mentioned in 2.1QiandPrana, there are criticisms of the use of electrical devices

to detect and monitor acupuncture points. Bioimpedance measures exogenic current

when an external electric source is applied to a biologic organism. This is different

from bioelectricity, the measure of electrical currents associated with life processes

(Ahn & Martinsen, 2007). While Sharma et al. (2014) took great measures to ensure

consistency of readings in their study by using the same points and following the same

steps in a specific process, there are still complicating factors such as tissue hydration

and the presence of sweat ducts that can adversely impact readings from these

devices.

However, Ahn, Schnyer, Conboy, Laufer, & Wayne (2009) later performed a study on

a small number of participants (n=14) to determine if electrodermal measures at Jing

Well points would be linked to clinical measures in adolescent women with chronic

pelvic pain, and found significant associations between the electrodermal measures

and clinical outcome even after adjusting for treatment designation.

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3.3Acupunctureandchakras

Greenwood (2006) identifies the lack of literature about chakras in relationship with

acupuncture. Chakras are the energy centres of the subtle body which are located

along the spine (Frawley, Ranade, & Lele, 2005). He highlights a symmetry in the

classification of the seven main chakras into lower, middle and upper where each

group contains specific chakras that reflect the principles of the void (Tao),

individuation (Yang) and connection (Yin). In this comparison, the lower three chakras

reflect these themes in relationship to the personal or individual ego, while the upper

three chakras relate to the transpersonal.

From here, he builds a correspondence between the chakras and their TCM

equivalents in the shape of TCM Five Elements and acupuncture points (see Table 3).

In his view, the journey from the lower three chakras to the ones related to the

transpersonal can be compared to the passage through the Golden Gate described in

TCM (Jarrett, 1994).

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Sanskrit name English Ayurvedic element

Acupuncture points Chinese element

Muladhara Root Support Earth REN-1, DU-1 Water

Swadhisthana Your own dwelling

or origin

Water REN-4, REN-5, REN-6 Earth

(Water)

Manipura The city of the

shining jewel

Fire REN-12, DU-6, DU-8 Wood

Anahata That which is

never new

Air REN-17, DU-11 Fire

Vishuddha Purification Space REN-22, ST-9 Metal

Ajna Command No element REN-24.5, DU-14 No element

Sahasrara Universal

selfhood

No element REN-20 No element

Table 3: Chakras and their TCM correspondences (Greenwood, 2006)

4. Bioinformatics

The technological advances of the last 20 years, particularly in terms of data

connectivity and storage, have allowed medical research to adapt Google’s mission

statement “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and

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useful” to their own domain. Bioinformatics8 is attracting interest both from research

organization and venture capital (Saviotti, deLooze, Michelland, & Catherine, 2000).

Ikram, Ghani, & Abdullah (2015) highlight medical informatics as the field that

processes medical information such as electronic medical records, clinical decision

support systems, imaging processing systems, telemedicine and many more and set

out to compare the state of the art in several traditional medicines, including TCM and

Ayurveda.

TCM is leading the way, with the use of artificial intelligence such as a Clinical Data

Warehouse to support TCM knowledge discovery, but also databases of specific

chemical protocols and specific gene and disease information to facilitate the

interactional effects of both Western medicine and TCM. They have adopted ISO

Standards to help this aim of integrating these two systems.

The bioinformatics efforts for Ayurveda include assessment help systems for

practitioners, expert systems that provide diet, exercise and prevention practices for

patients, and a government backed system to assimilate and interpret Ayurvedic texts

into a Decision Support System.

8 The use of computer software to understand biological data.

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Discussion

Direct comparison of TCM vs Ayurveda is not a hugely popular research topic, most

likely because both medical systems are vast and it takes many years of study and

practice to become a proficient practitioner in either one of them. They are also more

commonly part of a treatment plan alongside allopathic medicine, so it makes more

sense for practitioners of TCM to educate themselves in this field instead of Ayurveda,

and vice versa.

Literature on the history and development of both systems with relationship to each

other mostly concentrates on the exchange of ideas between the sixth and tenth

centuries A.D., where the expansion of Buddhism in both China and India favoured a

healthy flow of information in both directions, although scholars from each country tend

to emphasize their own export of knowledge.

A potential research area would be the evolution of TCM and Ayurveda after the tenth

century when their usage was contained within their respective countries, and the

efforts later made to modernize them. The early years (1950s) of the People’s

Republic of China saw a governmental effort to standardize Chinese Medicine

zhongyi, into what is currently known as TCM xueyuanpai, (Hsu, 2008).

Meanwhile, the late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed a revival of Ayurvedic

medicine through the All India Ayurvedic Congress (A.I.A.C.) in 1907, a professional

interest group of Ayurvedic practitioners, also influenced by British Orientalism9. It

would be interesting to compare how these two different groups (government vs

practitioners) worked towards standardization of their respective medical system.

TCM and Ayurveda are considered “energy medicine” in that both posit the existence

of a life force (Qi/Prana), whose disruption will lead to illness, and both systems

9 “a set of ideas and practices inaugurated under Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal from

1773 to 1785 that sought to know and understand the languages and culture of India as a key step

toward good governance.” (Hsu, 2008)

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categorize the body’s functions according to a theory of five elements, but while TCM’s

five elements are dynamic and their interrelationships are central to health or absence

of it, Ayurveda’s focus is on the Tridosha model. Some efforts have been made to

compare TCM’s Five elements and Tridosha. Further research into this area might

inform their respective uses of herbal medicines and possibly the creation of a

compendium of commonalities. It would also be interesting to research why Ayurveda

doesn’t have a similar concept to TCM’s Yin/Yang, particularly since it also works in

several continuums of hot/cold, light/dark, slow/fast…

One notable absence is the comparison between diagnostic tools, particularly tongue

and pulse diagnosis which are heavily featured in both medical systems (Figure 1,

Figure 2).

Figure 1: Tongue diagnosis in Ayurveda.

Retrieved from Ayurveda.com

Figure 2: Tongue diagnosis in TCM © Selby

Acupuncture

Both systems map the internal organs to an area within the tongue, and in both this

mapping works alongside a vertical line, where the topmost organs (lungs and heart)

are closest to the tip of the tongue, and the bottom ones like Kidneys are nearest to

17

the root. There are some differences, for example TCM places the diagnostic area of

the heart at the tip while Ayurveda maps it further up, surrounded by the lungs.

The other pillar of diagnosis in both systems is pulse reading, which is very

sophisticated in both and can take practitioners many years to master.

Both TCM and Ayurveda observe four basic characteristics of the pulse that can be

detected on both wrists and all positions and depths: speed, strength, regularity and

depth. Ayurveda also measures temperature and the consistency of the vessel wall

(rough/elastic/thickened).

They also assign organ correspondences to the three pulse positions (cun, guan, chi)

and two depths. Ayurveda distinguishes seven levels of depth and the organ

correspondences sit in the first and seventh level. Table 4 illustrates the comparison.

There is a close correlation in both systems except for the pulses for Stomach/Spleen

and Gallbladder/Liver, which TCM places on the right wrist and Ayurveda on the left.

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Position TCM Ayurveda

Right distal

Large Intestine

Lungs

Large Intestine

Lungs

Right middle Stomach

Spleen

Gallbladder

Liver

Right proximal Triple Burner

Pericardium

Pericardium

Circulation

Left distal Small Intestine

Heart

Small Intestine

Heart

Left middle Gallbladder

Liver

Stomach

Spleen

Left proximal Kidneys Bladder

Kidney

Table 4: Organ pulses comparison TCM vs Ayurveda (Flaws, 2012; Lad, 2006).

Research into therapeutic modalities in TCM and Ayurveda in relationship to each

other is inconsistent. Efforts are being made in herbal medicine, assisted by

technological advances and partly motivated by environmental concerns and

globalisation. But while herbal medicine is a substantial part of TCM and Ayurveda,

there are other prominent therapies who seem to have a counterpart in the opposite

system:

19

• Tui Na vs Ayurvedic massage

• Acupuncture vs marma points

• Tai Chi/Qi Gong vs yoga

These might be potential areas for future research.

On evaluation of the literature found on the comparisons between TCM and Ayurveda,

one could think that this is a purely academic interest without real world application for

the practitioner of either system who is not a scholar or a pharmaceutical corporation

trying to commercialize compounds found in traditional herbal medicine. But with the

advent of globalisation and the increased interest outside China or India in their

traditional medical systems, it is not rare for a patient to combine treatments from both

and allopathic medicine, for example someone could be seeing an Ayurvedic

practitioner for help with digestive issues with the aim to discontinue the use of

antacids, and at the same time see an acupuncturist for lower back pain. Therefore,

an understanding of the basics of Ayurveda as a TCM practitioner and vice versa

would add value to a practitioner of either, helping them understand their diagnosis or

being able to consult with the practitioner of the opposite system.

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Conclusion

TCM and Ayurveda are the most globalised systems of traditional medicine still in

practice. They are both patient centric and centered on the body’s energy and its

composition as a reflection of the wider Universe. TCM calls this energy Qi and

Ayurveda Prana, which relates to the functional aspects of life in terms of Five

Elements (TCM) and Three Doshas (Ayurveda). In addition, TCM relies heavily on its

concept of Yin and Yang, for which there doesn’t seem to be an Ayurvedic equivalent.

Herbal medicine is a foundational therapy in both systems and the interest in its

similarities and differences is currently experiencing a resurgence, aided by data

storage and artificial intelligence technology.

Another area of current research is the attempt to measure Qi/Prana, possibly with the

intention to legitimize these medical systems in the eyes of allopathic medicine and

continue their worldwide expansion.

Research into comparative massage, movement therapies and acupuncture/marma

points has been limited so far and could yield further insights into how these

therapeutical modalities assist with the flow of Qi/Prana or the balance of the Five

Elements and Three Doshas.

Given the global trend of increased interest in both medical systems due to their

perception as gentler forms of medicine that can assist with complex conditions that

allopathic medicine does not have a full answer to, it could be of benefit to practitioners

of TCM and Ayurveda to understand the basics of the opposite system and how they

compare to each other.

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Appendix A

Figure 3: Orgone accumulator van in North London. Photo by Mark Singleton.