One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature, and, when one tries to rise above nature, one is liable to fall below it.  Sherlock Holmes

In 2012 the US spent 2.7 trillion dollars on pharmaceuticals, twice as much as any country on earth, but our life span isn't even in the top 20.  One reason for this waste, is that doctors are paid based on fee for service; which means number of office visits, or number of surgeries for surgeons; not for keeping patients healthy, or providing real care.  These profiting practices are unsustainable, and they are mortgaging our future.  We know that heart disease is the number one killer in the US, and only by honest acceptance that the American Healthcare System is badly broken, will we be able to seek out true health care.  The answer lies in our hearts. 

Tongue and pulse are two of the primary methods used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis.  Other observations include spirit, body, demeanor, head and face, eyes, nose, ears, mouth and lips, teeth and gums, throat, limbs, skin, and channels. When a western doctor is given the customary 5 minutes to see a patient, how much of that time is allotted to observing the patient?    

It is clear that excellence in this medicine is largely dependent upon one's powers of observation.  Interrogation (questioning) is only 25% of diagnosis.  When the body is unwell, it follows that the mind is unclear.  In TCM, the emphasis of diagnosis lies in observing the shen.  Shen is a word that is difficult to translate, but it refers to the spirit or consciousness of the heart and mind.  This of course is a fundamental difference with western medicine, which says nothing of consciousness.  Shen  can be observed on the face, the tongue, in the voice, and in many other directly observable ways.  This is our training, with over 3000 years of empirical evidence, this is Traditional Chinese Medicine.