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"Traditional Eastern medicine treats the whole body as one; not as a collection of individual parts.  A sincere and serious attitude are essential for positive results."

A basic tenant of Eastern philosophy, which in turn provides a basis for both Eastern medicine and martial arts, holds that nature has already provided each of us with everything we need in order to promote and maintain healthy natural conditioning.  A famous saying illustrates this point: 

"If a man is far from nature, he is close to disease; but if a man is close to nature, he is far from disease." 

Eastern medicine and martial arts simply serve as secondary tools that support the natural abilities and body structures we have already been given.

According to Eastern philosophy, man is made up of three different elements: 

• Ki - life force or vital energy

• The Mind - mental condition

• The Physical Body  

While western medicine concentrates solely on the body, the Eastern medical doctor views each patient as an equal combination of these three elements.  In other words, the Western medical doctor sees a person as merely a conglomeration of tissues, cells, etc. -  only as a body.  The Eastern medical doctor sees a person as a unique whole and attempts to treat the entire person.  The Eastern medical doctor concerns himself with the notion of balance and harmony between each of these three aspects, never limiting himself to one or the other exclusively.  Both Eastern medicine and martial arts help one naturally return to and maintain a healthy state of being, not just physically, but completely.

The best example of this perfectly natural health conditioning can be found  in any normal infant.  Indeed, in the East, infants have been carefully investigated in order to further both Eastern medical studies as well as those of the martial arts.  When studying an infant's conditioning, we notice several important signs that can serve as a guidebook for anyone who wishes to improve their own health.  

• The first sign that demonstrates healthy conditioning in infants is their mental state.  The infant mind never contains any negative thoughts.  It possesses only a positive and generally happy attitude.  

• The second sign is their breathing.  Infants use only the abdominal muscles to breathe.  As one ages, the breathing, if left unchecked, will rise up out of the abdomen into the chest and then into the shoulders.  This rise in breathing exemplifies the deterioration of the human anatomy that comes with age and is very unhealthy.  

• Finally, an infant's physical condition shows extreme flexibility.  Flexibility is also an important sign of good health.  Again, as we age, we become notably stiffer.  This stiffness is also a sign of physical deterioration .  

Therefore, both Eastern medicine and the martial arts seek to understand and imitate the infant stage of human development, for it holds the keys to proper general health conditioning.