 Hey guys, it's Dr. Hein. I was thinking about this great quote from a famous Chinese medicine physician throughout history named Sun Sun Yao. And he was talking about the highest level of medicine, being no medicine, being no intervention. And I thought I would share this with you today because I think there are so many really key medical lessons that are essential for healing really at the highest level. So what Dr. Sun said 1500 years ago was one of the most medical lessons that I think many of us still forget to this day. And often because it's not even practiced in conventional medicine and since that's our exposure to medicine that's just what we see. Now what he said back then was upper doctors or the higher level physician treats no illness. Middle level doctors treat illness that is approaching or as soon. And low level doctors treat illness that is already there that is already sick. So what does this really mean? There's this idea in Chinese medicine and really in medicine in general that minimal intervention necessary is the highest level of medicine and it makes sense because if I do not have to have surgery why would I ever do surgery because of the other risks associated with it not the least of which is bankruptcy. But for even mild things or benign things like let's just say digestive problems the lowest level may just be changing one's diet then deciding to eat better food. A mid-level intervention may be a medical intervention necessary and an advanced intervention like an ulcerative colitis may actually be that there is surgery and some of the bowel is going to be removed. Now that's going to forever change someone's life they may be a 25 year old down the colostomy bag and you know they're pooping into a bag and that's obviously a much more severe and irreversible consequence than having to change one's diet. Now in addition to this what it means is that in Chinese medicine what we're training to do is treat that which is still subtle treat that which is subtle so when we notice a little bit change a small change in our mood or we notice a little bit of a change in our sleep or a little bit of a change in our bowel habits or the little bit of dry eyes that's happening or a little bit more dandruff to pay attention to those clear signs because those are the canaries in the coal mine maybe it's just 1% and it's not a big deal but maybe a year from now that is a big deal and so in Chinese medicine our goal is to train ourselves to recognize when is that the body tilting away from homeostasis so the high level physician treats things when they are at their 1% when they are a seed brewing and that's the skill of the great doctor to spot that which is subtle and to be able to treat it in the least invasive way possible now another great quote from our classical medical ancestors here's another one about the highest level of medicine and when to use what this passage says that tonification or strengthening with herbs is not as good as tonification with food and tonification with food is not as good as no need for tonification at all so just like we talked about let's say someone with IBS why would we ever recommend someone to get surgery or even a colonoscopy when we haven't tried food therapy or we haven't tried lifestyle or stress relief meditation or getting better sleep you know but in our culture it's so common to see people just go through 2 or 3 doctor's visits and they're already doing surgical consults or they're already 24 years old and put on medication for the rest of their life and this is a problem this is a really big problem because if a lesser intervention works for example we talked about with IBS if some of those cases can be fixed with just food alone then why are we jumping to medications why are we jumping to potentially surgeries why are we jumping to giving patients antidepressants for their gut problems when we haven't even gone through that therapeutic order so to speak and so I absolutely love this quote there's so much wisdom and so much mastery in it for a practitioner who understands that and actually practices that way because it's not so easy but understanding that the highest level of medicine is no intervention necessary and to always try to be inching towards that now the goal for me is if I'm being really honest is to put myself out of business the goal is with my patients for us to work together on healing their constitution whatever has pulled their body out of homeostasis to the point where they don't need Chinese formulas they definitely don't need medications and they don't need to worry that some grave or more serious illness is going to come take them out down the line and putting myself out of business is the most important thing in this field which is getting people to a point where their constitution is now no longer stressed as easily by the outside world I think this is something that I wish conventional medicine paid more attention to or I guess had more resources for dealing with that's really important to remember that the highest level of medicine is no intervention necessary if it can be treated with food then why use medication if it can be treated with medication then why use surgery we always inching towards the line of least intervention necessary and also being able to spot that within ourselves am I 1% off today am I 20% off today am I 50% off and I really need to dial back for a few months so we're facing as ourselves the physician within how much has that canary in the coal mine is the canary chirping or is the canary screaming or is the canary passing out and dying recognizing today where am I on that spectrum so that you can always be living in that zone of no intervention is necessary and certainly if an intervention is necessary it's a mild or gentle one alright you guys that's what I have for today again if you'd like to see me go to my clinic check out the links right below this video there's a free download for a guide for daily rituals that can possibly help you in years to life with Chinese medicine and become a patient of my locally or virtually via telemedicine the links are right below for my clinic and private practice