The Chinese strongly believe that there are certain forces in the outside world which have an effect on our bodies and minds, it is said that when we are affected by such things this is when illness appears. Chinese medicine relies strongly on discovering these disharmonies and correcting them and when having done so our body is thought to be brought back into harmony and the symptoms are relieved.

The six external causes of disharmony

The Chinese also call this type of disharmony the six evils and they all relate to climatic conditions, when there is extreme cold, heat, wind, dampness or dryness the world around begins to suffer if these extremes are felt for any length of time. During these extremes, the Chinese believe that not only the environment is affected but also we become affected in addition and when we do, it shows as illness because our body becomes unbalanced.