“The Indigenous story tradition speaks of a past in which all beings spoke the same language and life lessons flowed among species. But we have forgotten—or been made to forget—how to listen so that all we hear is sound, emptied of its meaning. The soft sibilance of pine needles in the wind is an acoustic signature of pines. But this well-known “whispering of pines” is just a sound, it is not their voice. What if your listeners presumed you to be mute…..wouldn’t you dance your story in branch and root” Robin Wall Kimmerer
There is an essential premise within Traditional Chinese Medicine known as Bi zheng, or Bi syndrome, that informs our understanding of a person’s vulnerability to pain. Broadly speaking, it emphasises our embeddedness within the web of life. It sees the human body as a permeable entity enfolded within the larger ecology, which includes the changing rhythms of the weather, the land, and relationship with family, friends and community. As a consequence, health is considered to be inseparable from, and hugely shaped by, the exchanges that we have with the world around us. This way of looking at health shows us the necessity of synchronising with our inner and outer environment, in an attempt to restore balance and connection, whilst empowering us to do things to change the harmony inside of ourselves.
Through this lens, the body can be seen as a mirror for us to look at how the internal ecology of the body might be out of alignment with the outer landscape. In some cases, this will take the form, or expression, of pain, contraction, loss of movement, or lack of vitality, which might be seen as a biological sign that a relationship of reciprocity, or way of attending to ourselves, needs recalibrating. This might be a connection to a loved one; the way we relate to ourselves emotionally; nourish our physical bodies; or interact with the ecology that sustains us, etc. Very often symptoms are signposts to a relational disharmony. They communicate a need for greater intimacy and attentiveness to what we are feeling both in our bodies, and the surroundings with which we are inextricably interwoven. In this sense, vitality and restoration depends on us being able to bring attention to physical, or emotional ruptures, through a reconnection with the greater whole.
This way of looking is integral to a holistic view of health; it asks us to extend our attention to include not only the strength and dignity of the solitary tree, but to spread awareness to reveal the interconnected web of the wider ecology within the whole forest: the plants and insects living close to the forest floor, the birds and squirrels living within its branches, and the complex underground web of roots, fungi and bacteria connecting trees to one another, all interacting within its rich habitat; the reciprocal interplay, and health, of the various elements essential to the health and vitality of all.
Suzanne Simard, a scientist who studies forest habitats, has shown that “there is conflict in a forest, but there is also negotiation, reciprocity and perhaps even selflessness. The trees, understand that plants, fungi and microbes in a forest are so thoroughly connected, communicative and co-dependent”. The story told within a forest is one of communication, connectivity and reciprocity. When a tree is cut down, the other trees will feel this. It reminds us that we are interwoven into the diverse fabric of life and living organic environment that surrounds us. It shows us that a community, whether that of the inner bodily landscape or outer environment, can only thrive when everyone or everything is considered necessary to the whole. It is this very diversity that ensures stability; a community of mutual co-operation, support and security is deeply rooted in the valuing of dissimilarity. Within a forest ecosystem, fragmentation compromises the health of the whole.
Similarly within the field of biology it is now understood that viruses, which are part of the diverse Virome (a collection of all the viruses found within the body) are here to help us not only connect and come into balance with the rest of nature but also to regenerate and upgrade our immune system functioning capacity. Viruses are part of the very nature that has shaped us but as we have seen recently with the corona virus, the primary emphasis is to declare ‘war’ against the virus. It is an approach that takes the form of an arrow speeding to its target, seeming to provide a shield that would insulate us from the vagaries of life. However, a response that comes solely from a reductive lens has the potential to not only shoot the messenger but obscure that which is unable to be seen through its aperture. Zach Bush, a micro-biologist, who has dived deeply into the world of virology, says that the growing prevalence of endemics is due to the erosion of the natural state of balance and bio-diversity within our water, air and soil ecosystems due to stress and toxicity, which could be seen as nature fighting back. Our bodies have been in a state of balance with the Virome since the start of history but industrial pollutants and other stressors have, over the years, put pressure on natural ecosystems, including our own, and interrupted fundamental mechanisms of health, balance and homeostasis.
An understanding of this vital inter-connectivity is encapsulated with ‘terrain’ theory, which is based on the understanding that if the human body and the environment are balanced and functioning well then ‘germs’, that are natural and necessary for the evolution of our immune systems, will be taken care of by the body without causing chronic or serious illness - “Germs seek their natural habitat – diseased tissue – rather than being the cause of diseased tissue.” - Antoine Béchamp.
In Traditional East Asian Medicine, and indigenous medical systems, terrain theory is the predominant lens through which we understand the nature of sickness and disease. Within this natural world view it is understood that the health of natural ecosystems, including the soil, water, air, food quality, the life-giving, reciprocal and generative connectivity between species, etc. will determine how well a society can flourish. Poor soil and water systems due to agricultural fertilisers and plastic contamination, or disconnection from life-protecting forces, including a tangible relationship to nature and the people in our lives that nourish us will inevitably contribute to stress, chronic disease, and a compromised immune system.
So although germ-theory has its place in the modern world (medicine can protect the vulnerable from viruses or micro-organisms when immunity isn’t strong enough to deal with them naturally due to pre-existing conditions, or if the lethality of the virus/bacteria is a cause for concern), to understand how we might reduce the epidemics of the modern era, it is vital that we attend to the root causes of imbalance, or as the writer Sophie Strand suggests ask ourselves the question: how can we contribute to making good soil? That has certainly been a guiding factor for myself as an acupuncturist as I explore the imprint of relationships, nutritional and lifestyle habits, and genetics, etc. that may be weaving into my patients’ current state of vitality, resilience, and pre-disposition to illness. I know that enduring physical and emotional health not only depends upon being able to offer ourselves loving, accepting attention, but also from being able to nurture mutually supportive relationships with others, and the larger living body that holds, sustains and nourishes us (including the sea, earth, air, water, trees). It also comes from having the agency to discover and restore a sense of safety, healing and connection in a way that feels meaningful to the individual, rather than having it imposed from the outside.
Recent public health directives that have imposed mandates are completely at odds with this fundamental necessity to be able to have subjective experiences concerning personal health taken seriously. The nature of this reductionist approach, that sees humans as objects, is in its refusal to see the broader ecology at work, as well as devaluing perspectives that would regard highly basic human rights, bodily autonomy, and wider systemic balance. The presence of environmental degradation, stress and toxicity are contributing to, and perpetuating, the very conditions that create the kind of world that we fear. Our health so inextricably bound to the wellness of the environment; it is at the heart of what sustains us. The story that has been repeated throughout history is one of colonisation and destruction of natural habitats that has caused the loss of biodiversity of human, animal, plant and water systems. However, as we are seeing, the repercussions of this dominant paradigm can be deeply divisive and dehumanising, and extends to the loss of societal harmony and connection, a de-valuing of nature and our highly intelligent immune systems, a disregard for bodily autonomy and authority, and basic human rights.
A holistic understanding knows that community can only be harmonious when systemic questions are considered important, and a diverse range of perspectives, views and needs are considered essential, including the necessity of listening to the wider living world. The philosophy that underpins yin and yang theory helps us to understand that a predominance of one polarity, can easily tip into its opposite or negative counterpart. A recent example would be the assertively single-focused and siloed response to the pandemic, which has justified undemocratic and non-negotiable policies, political over-reach and censorship of ‘dissident’ ideas. As we have seen, without the tempering of a more yin participatory, collaborative and contextual perspective, there has been a tipping point of societal disharmony, division and polarisation (vaccinated v unvaccinated, right v left, science v traditional wisdom), and eruptive events (protests, social unrest, fires due to global warming).
Ideally, for health and harmony to prevail a marriage of both yin and yang is necessary, one balancing and keeping the other from wandering into negative territory. In an individual, a fast-moving driven lifestyle may over time lead to a tendency to systemic inflammation, or a build up of pressure that makes headaches and migraines more likely, without the tempering nourishment, slowness and stillness of yin. On a socio-political level, the integrative relationality of yin would help to straddle the divide of the wider social and scientific communities in order to bring about creative positive change. On the contrary, we are seeing social ruptures deepening that tell the story of societal tension inflamed by narrowly-focused political and economic forces that undermine social cohesion and harmony, and a wider appreciation of health that not only protects the vulnerable, but also honours and respects bodily and planetary integrity.
This moment in history, feels like a time of global reckoning where the pendulum is swinging close towards the support of an technocratic vision where the responsibility for our medical choices are outsourced to politicians, and the money-making interests of pharmaceutical lobbies and international organisations who are, or choose to be, blind to the impact of their influence at a personal, collective and ecological level. This would be at variance with the quest for eternal growth and profit.
The challenge of the modern age is in finding more nuanced and deep-rooted solutions and a more collaborative holistic approach that understands the inter-connectivity between all life forms. It is an invitation to slow down and listen to nature knowing that the health of our environment is so entangled with our own. It is a vision that refuses to ‘other’ on the basis of medical, racial or religious differences. Humanity longs for us to advocate for kindness, compassion and respect even when fear is pushing us to dehumanise, disregard and divide individuals and communities. It asks us to be the change that we want to see in the world, knowing that self-compassion, kindness, acceptance, and really listening to what we each need on a personal level, allows us to extend the same to others and the world at large.
If we can take ourselves back to the wakeful, sensate knowledge and relationalitiy found within the fertile ground of a forest, and the deep steady anchor of trees, and listen to the wisdom that whispers to us there in the rich community of ‘branch and root’, then there is the possibility of understanding how to restore balance and connection between ourselves and the rest of the living natural world. The storytelling within a forest speaks of the mutually life-sustaining relationships that we hold with one another and the land. In the forest, there are spaces within leaves and branches, and beneath the forest floor, that can awaken us to new visions of seeing and relationality; encouraging us to be steady, feeling, sensitive, unifying and strong like an old oak or birch tree. If we really listened what life lessons would we hear there?
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