Immune System or Life Force? The TCM Perspective

Every day this week, we will share posts and videos related to Covid and the vaccine. This post is aimed at helping you understand the TCM perspective on the body’s immune system, and why staying healthy is truly about your life force.

Eastern and Western Perspectives

Your body’s immune system is a network of cells, tissues and organs that helps defend the body against viruses, bacteria and infection. The Western way of thinking recognizes one immune system, while the Eastern way of thinking embraces the Five Element Framework, a system of interrelationships that continually strives to reach balance. The Five Element Framework views each of the body’s five organ systems as their own unique entity, each with its own immune system. Each organ system is also connected to the other, and must communicate harmoniously for Qi, or vital energy to flow and bring balance to the whole.

In the Western framework, getting sick (and staying well) is based on the health of the body’s immune system. In the Eastern mindset, health and illness are based on the person’s life force. When you have reached a level of balance and harmony, different levels of your life force stimulate and activate different levels of your immune system, making it work to its potential. A balanced body does not show signs of illness. A balanced body is a healthy body.

Covid: Virus and Vaccine

We are facing the unknown. No one yet knows whether the virus that causes Covid-19 enters through the Lung or the Kidney system. We assume that our immune systems will understand the virus and fight it off. However, the average person’s immune system is not highly alert and therefore, cannot fight to its full potential. It gives all that it has, until finally, the immune system surrenders. This is when the immune system and the virus learn to survive side-by-side. The virus hides in the body until it finds an opportunity to express itself in some other way.

The vaccine is another form of the unknown. While the Covid vaccine is the first generation of its kind, there have already been multiple variants—or generations—of the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus has already changed multiple times; why have we not changed with it? How you cooperate is based on what you have. So, ask yourself: “What do I have mentally, emotionally, and physically? Am I healthy, happy, and content?” Everything counts. Every emotion takes a piece of energy away. Emotions out of balance cause the immune system to be out of balance. So are you prepared? At the very least, make sure you are mentally prepared: be happy, eat and sleep well.

Many people have been debating whether or not to get the Covid vaccine. If you plan to receive the vaccine, you must make sure your immune system is alert.

Strengthening Your Life Force

True health is based on your life force, or your energy foundation. When your life force reaches its highest level, your immune system will reach its full potential. So how do we stimulate our immune systems and strengthen our life force? Life is created from the inside out, not the outside in. The way to rebuild yourself is to look at the whole picture of who you are.

Build your energy with a strong, consistent Qigong practice. In stimulating your energy, you allow your immune system to go through this processing naturally.
Reinvent your lifestyle by nurturing yourself and welcoming the quiet moments. Give yourself grace to make mistakes, head to bed nice and early, and let go of feelings and emotions you no longer need.
And finally, eat in a way that naturally supports your whole being. Stay as close to Nature as possible, choosing in-season foods and roasting, braising, or sautéeing vegetables to ease the body’s digestive process.