LEARN TCM core CONCEPTS
True healing starts with understanding your body, not just masking symptoms. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses distinct terminology to describe the body's natural balance. Dive into our educational materials below to learn more about these concepts. Follow us on social media for more content.
What are The Three Treasures (San Bao)?
These are the fundamental substances that sustain human life.
Qi: The vital life force or energy that flows through the body's meridians to power all bodily functions.
Blood (Xue): The physical nourishment that flows alongside Qi, lubricating and sustaining organs, tissues, and the mind.
Shen: The spirit, consciousness, and mental vitality that reflects a person's emotional and spiritual health.
What is Yin Deficiency?
Yin represents the cooling, moistening, nourishing, and grounding fluids of the body. When Yin is deficient, the body loses its natural ability to cool and moisten itself, leading to a state of empty heat, dryness, and restlessness.
Yin deficiency signs: increased heat, night sweats, chronic thirst, dry hair and skin, darker urine, drier stools, sleep disturbance, anxiety, or palpitations that are worst at night.
What is Yang Deficiency?
Yang represents the fire, warmth, metabolic energy, and active force of your body. When Yang is deficient, the body’s internal furnace burns low. Without enough warmth to power your systems, it leads to a state of internal cold, sluggishness, and fluid stagnation.
Yang deficiency signs: Feeling of cold, colder hands and feet, pale complexion, fatigue, craving warm drinks and foods, loose stools or diarrhea that occurs urgently in the early morning before dawn, sore lower back and knees, or frequent clear urination.
What are the Five Elements (Wu Xing)?
Each element corresponds to specific organs, emotions, seasons, and tastes, explaining how the body interacts with its environment.
Wood- Liver/ Gallbladder, anger, spring, sour.
Fire- Heart/ Small intestines, joy, summer, bitter.
Earth- Spleen/ Stomach, worry, late summer, sweet.
Metal- Lung/ Large intestines, grief, autumn, spicy.
Water- Kidney/ Urinary bladder, fear, winter, salty.
What are Meridians (Jing Luo)?
A network of invisible pathways throughout the body where Qi and Blood circulate. They connect your internal organs to the rest of your body, including your skin, muscles, and limbs, creating an interconnected web. When Qi flows smoothly through these meridians, a person is considered healthy. If the flow becomes blocked, deficient, or stagnant, it is believed to lead to pain or illness. There are 12 Primary Meridians and 8 Extraordinary Vessels.
What is Moxibustion?
Moxibustion is a traditional East Asian heat therapy that involves burning a dried herb called mugwort (moxa) near the skin to warm acupuncture points.
In TCM, acupuncture and moxibustion are considered complementary sister therapies—historically grouped under a single linguistic term (Zhenjiu). While acupuncture uses needles to unblock Qi (vital energy), moxibustion uses localized thermal heat to warm the meridians, stimulate blood circulation, and dispel cold and dampness from the body.
What is Yang Sheng?
Unlike modern medicine, which often waits for a crisis to occur, Yang Sheng (养生) is the ancient practice of proactive self-care. Translating literally to “nourishing life," it is a daily philosophy of cultivating longevity, honoring seasonal shifts, and supporting the body before illness takes root.
When you receive care at Omni, we aren't just managing your symptoms—we are partnering with you in the lifelong practice of Yang Sheng to help you age gracefully and maintain your vitality.
Qi (气): The vital life force, breath, or energy flowing through all living things.
Gong (功): The skill, mastery, or merit cultivated through steady, dedicated practice.
Together, Qigong translates to “cultivating life energy." It is an ancient Chinese mind-body practice that combines coordinated movement, rhythmic breathing, and focused meditation to cultivate and balance vital energy. It shares the same philosophy as acupuncture—aiming to ensure energy flows freely without blockages.
What is Qi Gong?
What is Blood deficiency (Xue Xu)?
In TCM, blood deficiency (血虚) means the body has insufficient healthy blood to properly nourish the organs, tissues, and mind.
In TCM “blood" is a broader functional concept than Western medical blood. While it can overlap with Western medical conditions like anemia or nutritional deficiencies, a person can be diagnosed with TCM blood deficiency even if their complete blood count (CBC) lab results come back completely normal.