Eastward on the Road to Health
Cupping
Integrating health practices of the East and West
In the past, Eastern medicine practices were passed down within families or by word-of-mouth. As the world globalized, cultural overlaps in health care increased. “I know physicians who trained in both [Eastern and Western medicine], including some of the students that I’ve had in the medical school,” said Dr. Laura Guyer, a health disparities and health education professor at the University of Florida. “Today, [complementary and integrative medicine] are receiving attention because they’re valid, and they’re important.” Integrative medicine is an area of study in health that employs Western and nonWestern treatments. Integrative medicine addresses several components of wellbeing such as lifestyle, environment and spirituality, with an emphasis on personalized attention. Treatments such as music therapy and meditation are used by integrative programs.
TRADE MARK
YU YEE OIL
According to Duke Integrative Medicine, complementary medicine is an approach to health that uses non-Western practices as add-ons to Western methods. Alternative medicine completely replaces Western medicine with non-Western practices. After working in public health, health education and the medical humanities, Guyer has learned the importance of diversity in the study of medicine.
Yu Yee Oil
18 | fall 2019
“We work with people and live in a society that is changing and becoming even more diverse,” she said. “There’s not a one-sizefits-all health care.”
Although Guyer does not practice Eastern medicine, she respects its importance as an approach to health that fits into nonWestern belief systems. Shivani Doshi, a UF behavioral and cognitive neuroscience junior and member of the American Medical Student Association, supports integrative medicine. “Integrative medicine is really cool because it looks at the body more holistically,” Doshi said. “I believe that the disconnect between [traditional and modern] beliefs is fixed by integrative medicine because it looks at the body, mind and soul.” For Doshi, integrative medicine has personal relevance. Some members of her family have had a complicated relationship with Western medicine because of their Eastern traditions. Doshi’s grandmother, who was educated in nutrition, was diagnosed with kidney failure and turned down a dialysis treatment in favor of integrative medicine because she felt dialysis did not fully address her needs. Her grandmother believed she was misunderstood by her physician. Family was the starting point for Doshi’s experience with alternative medicine. Now in college, Doshi still appreciates and practices Eastern and integrative medical techniques. Every morning before school, Doshi practices Pranayama yoga. Yoga has roots in Indian tradition and is a popular integrative medicine technique. Doshi describes Pranayama as a “subset of yoga that focuses on controlled breathing.”
illustration + design/ Brianne De Los Santos
Eastern medicine is commonly associated with traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic (Indian) health practices. Westerners may be familiar with cupping and coining, acupuncture and Reiki healing. These techniques represent just some of many health-related activities originating from the East.
BRIDGING A GAP
by Kaylyn Ling
I
n the age of essential oils and sunrise yoga, non-standard medical practices have demonstrated immense growing power. Eastern medicine, which includes all health-related products and practices from Asian countries, has been kept alive in Asian American households and influenced other cultures’ approaches to medicine as well.
