[Notice] What Is Treatment — My Perspective on Life and Disease

What is Treatment — My Perspective on Life and Disease

Life is not a static structure, but essentially a rotating body. The differentiation from one into two breaks the symmetry of energy, and at that moment, rotation occurs. The geometric stability point created by this rotation is the 'center,' which in Korean medicine is called Jung-to (中土). Jung-to is not a pre-existing entity, but a point of emergence for balance that arises within change.

This concept is revealed within the cyclical repetition of Saeng-Jang-Su-Jang (growth, expansion, harvest, and storage). For change to persist, there must be a center, and that center is not a fixed coordinate but an axis of movement striving to maintain balance. Life gains 'autonomy' upon this axis and constitutes a state of dynamic equilibrium.

Modern biophysicist Mae-Wan Ho defined life not merely as the sum of biochemical reactions, but as a dynamic system that maintains rhythm and vibration. The homeodynamics she proposed suggests that, unlike the existing fixed set-point concept of homeostasis, life achieves equilibrium through constant vibration and adjustment. In other words, the concept that life is the power to self-regulate balance amidst change aligns with the Jung-to philosophy of Korean medicine.

Unlike the traditional medical view that sees disease as a static lesion, I view disease as a movement where the loop has gone astray. Treatment is not the act of forcibly returning this misaligned loop using external force, but the act of reconstructing conditions so that it can be adjusted internally by itself.

I call this "inducing autonomous recovery through oscillation." Just as peanuts and stones mixed in a container are naturally rearranged according to their center of gravity when subjected to a certain vibration, treatment itself provides the conditions for physiological return.

This concept is explained in neurophysiology as resonant entrainment or phase resetting. This is a phenomenon where biological rhythms are readjusted into a certain waveform by external stimuli, meaning that the conditions for maintaining life do not occur only internally but are tuned through interaction with the environment.

In particular, Stephen Porges explains through the Polyvagal Theory that the autonomic nervous system is not simply divided into sympathetic/parasympathetic, but is a complex system that detects social engagement. Once a sense of safety is restored, the autonomic nervous system switches from defense mode to regulation mode, which becomes the starting point for loop recovery.

Oscillation is not a simple stimulus. It is the act of quietly entering a stopped loop structure and creating a rhythm from within. Acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine, manual therapy, hot/cold stimulation, acoustic stimulation, gaze and words—all of these.

These are not simple techniques, but interventions that enter the loop to induce structural resolution.

For example, a decrease in heart rate variability (HRV) occurring after trauma indicates that the autonomic nervous system is in a rigid state. According to Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing theory, such a state cannot be recovered through words, but only by entering the loop through body-based sensory stimuli—namely, skin stimulation, proprioception, breathing rhythms, and other methods. The practitioner must be able to judge not the intensity, but where to enter.

Functional medicine sometimes reduces a disease to a deficiency of a specific micronutrient or gene. However, actual pathology is the result of several physiological loops becoming entangled, blocked, or twisted. In this case, pathological substances remaining in the body, such as phlegm, dampness, blood stasis, and heat, are not simple by-products but remnants of the blocked loop.

Bruce Lipton states that changes at the cellular level are determined not by genes, but by the environment and signal transduction loops. His concept of the epigenetic scar means that a stress response loop, once formed, can subsequently influence gene expression.

Additionally, immunologist Ruslan Medzhitov revealed through the concept of inflammatory memory that inflammatory responses can also be path-formed by past stimuli and repeated. In this context, treatment should not be merely removing pathological substances, but a process of dismantling and retuning the loop that created those remnants.

Treatment is not about fixing, but recovery

It is the act of recreating the possible conditions. These conditions consist of various elements such as physiological rhythms, sensory input, temperature, air, breathing, and social context. I call the restoration of these conditions conditioning.

This connects to psychologist Kurt Lewin's field theory. Humans do not exist in isolation but always react in the "way the field allows." In other words, disease is also maintained within a specific field, and treatment is the act of readjusting that field to open the possibility of recovery.

Modern functional medicine often identifies specific points in genetics, gut bacteria, and metabolic pathways through precise analysis. However, these details can instead cause one to miss the overall structure of the patient.

Gerald Edelman, using the brain and immune system as examples, proposed the theory of degeneracy, where multiple pathways exist to reach the same result. This shows that understanding the loop structure, where various pathways are intertwined, is biologically more persuasive than a simple causal theory that "a disease occurred because a certain component was lacking."

A healer must be a constructor of pluralistic recovery pathways, rather than providing linear supplementation or suppression.

Recovery is not a result that can be reached with a single stimulus. Postural tension, breathing rhythm, gut microbiota, the state of the autonomic nervous system, emotional safety—all of these. Each is not an independent pathway, but physiological loops operating simultaneously.

Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio explained that emotions are not merely reactions of the brain, but body-based sensory states (somatic markers). Our judgment and recovery are influenced by integrated signals from these sensory loops. Therefore, recovery occurs when cognition, emotion, sensation, and the autonomic nervous system are integrally retuned.

This is the concept of multimodal entry that I speak of, and a healer must be able to detect and design these various entry points. A person who sees the rhythm before the stimulus, understands the structure before the sensation, and above all, knows how to wait—that is a healer.