ANDREW HEIMANN

For many people, the idea of early diagnosis with pulse is a bit strange.

Disease is something that happens when symptoms arise. Disease is a reality when the values of a blood test, urinalysis or some other lab test change.

However, in Chinese medicine, this is not the case. We look to diagnose before the symptoms have manifested and begin treating before the disease has taken root. In fact, in Ancient China, a doctor was paid as long as someone stayed healthy. They stopped being paid when someone got sick.

If you think of a pencil lying on a table, it is stationary and safe. If it begins to rock, that stability starts to wane. If it begins to roll, it is no longer stationary and has the potential to continue to roll or stop. If the speed of the roll picks up, the likelihood of it rolling off the table increases. As it approaches the edge, gravity will ensure its journey to the floor. When is the pencil in danger of hitting the floor? When you hear the sound of it hitting the ground? Or, much sooner, when it starts rolling or even just begins rocking?

The real art of pulse diagnostics is to pick up the subtle movements and figure out the potential of a shake or a roll within the systems to avoid a future crash. This requires a lot of experience and the ability to calculate a lot of variables, differentiating what information is impactful and what is just background noise.

What does this mean for you? If you work with someone who has this training, they can help you not only remain healthy, but also have vitality. Vitality isn't the absence of disease; it is a super-functional way of being, when someone’s body is working at its optimal level. It's like the first time you turn on your new computer and there are no kinks. It's that state before you load all of the buggy software that starts making it not work as efficiently.

This type of diagnostics means not only a healthier you, but a more lively you too.