Defensive Fort or Natural Flow? Two Views of Your Immune System
By Dr. Renae Haldeman · New to some of these words? See the glossary.
In today’s world, we often see health as a battle. Western medicine often pictures the body as an island, like a prison island such as “Alcatraz,” that must be kept clean and safe from outside invaders at all costs. To keep disease away, this way of thinking says we must “fumigate” our surroundings and treat our bodies like a sealed vault, like “Fort Knox.” We saw this clearly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the safety rules focused on outside barriers: masks, gloves, and staying fully apart. These steps, along with basic hygiene like handwashing, are important to protect people who are vulnerable. But this “prison island” way of thinking can leave us feeling anxious and powerless against an enemy we cannot see.
But is there a better way to think about health, one that swaps anxiety for strength?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a fresh view. In Chinese, the written character for “wind” has the character for “insect” (chong) inside it. An old saying tells us that “wind is the carrier of a hundred evils.” Western medicine focuses on the “bugs” (germs such as bacteria and viruses). TCM focuses on how our bodies respond to the changing “winds” of our surroundings. The key is not just keeping the world out. It is making sure our inner energy, called qi (say “chee”), is strong enough to meet the world.
Our health is a delicate balance between yin (nourishment and rest) and yang (active energy and breath). To master this balance, we can look beyond diet and exercise to the old practice of acupuncture. By stimulating certain points along the body’s meridians (the pathways that carry energy), acupuncture helps calm the nervous system and boosts the making of white blood cells(1) and T-cells, the main defenders of our immune system. It builds what TCM calls Wei Qi (say “way chee”), our “defensive energy.”
Acupuncture is also a powerful answer to stress, the biggest enemy of immunity. When we are stressed, we hold our breath in “fight-or-flight” mode, and our energy gets stuck. Acupuncture helps the body switch to a calm state (called the parasympathetic state), so it can rest, repair, and renew itself (2). By making time for slow, on-purpose breathing and regular acupuncture visits, we can stop living in fear of the “outside” and start building a strong, balanced “inside.”
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This article is educational and is not medical advice. Individual results vary. Please talk with a licensed healthcare provider about your own health.