Jing Shen 精神 Total Wellbeing

Home / Jing Shen 精神 Total Wellbeing

Jing Shen is the notion of total well-being and health. It means that the body and the mind of the individual are fully integrated and functioning at their best.

Ordinarily, we can only make an appointment to see a doctor, when we are unwell and are experiencing symptoms of an illness. If we are just a little under par, ‘not 100%’, ‘not firing on all cylinders’, there is little the doctor can do for us.

This is different in TCM, where it is not the case that if you are not unwell, you must therefore be well. TCM recognises three levels of health:

Well
Not well, but not yet unwell
Unwell

Being well, rather than just being ‘average’, ‘not too bad’, means that your health is actually so good that you cannot get unwell. Illness can not enter.

The ultimate goal of TCM treatment is prolonging life and preventing illness through achieving this supreme state of health and wellbeing. This is why TCM is often described as a preventative form of medicine.