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

Life is not a static structure, but essentially a rotating body. Differentiation from one to two breaks the symmetry of energy, and at that moment, rotation occurs. The geometric point of stability created by this rotation is the 'center', and in traditional Korean medicine (TKM), it is called Jungto (中土, Central Earth). Jungto is not a pre-existing entity, but rather a point of balance that emerges amidst change.

This concept is manifested in the cyclical repetition of generation, growth, harvesting, and storage (生長收藏). For change to persist, there must be a center, and this center is not a static coordinate but an axis of movement striving to maintain balance. Life gains 'autonomy' on this axis, forming 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. Her concept of homeodynamics, unlike the conventional fixed set-point concept of homeostasis, views life as achieving equilibrium through constant vibration and adjustment. In other words, the idea that life is the power to self-regulate balance amidst change aligns with the Jungto philosophy of traditional Korean medicine.

Unlike the traditional medical view that sees disease as a static lesion, I view disease as a movement where loops have gone awry. Treatment is not about forcibly reverting these disrupted loops with external force, but rather an act of reconstituting the conditions to allow for internal self-adjustment.

I call this "inducing autonomous recovery through perturbation." Just as peanuts and stones mixed in a barrel naturally rearrange according to their center of gravity when subjected to constant vibration, treatment itself provides the conditions for physiological reversion.

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

In particular, Stephen Porges, through his Polyvagal Theory, explains that the autonomic nervous system is not simply divided into sympathetic/parasympathetic, but is a complex system that senses social safety (social engagement). When a sense of safety is restored, the autonomic nervous system shifts from defense mode to regulation mode, and this marks the starting point for loop recovery.

Perturbation is not a simple stimulus. It is an act of quietly entering a structure where loops are static, and creating rhythm from within. Acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine, manual therapy, hot/cold stimulation, sound stimulation, gaze, and speech—all of these.

These are not merely techniques, but interventions that enter the loops and induce structural resolution.

For example, a decrease in heart rate variability (HRV) after trauma indicates a rigid state of the autonomic nervous system. According to Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing theory, recovery from such a state is not possible through words alone but requires entering the loops through body-based sensory stimuli—namely, skin stimulation, proprioception, breathing rhythms, and similar methods. The therapist must be able to judge not the intensity, but where to intervene.

Functional medicine sometimes reduces diseases to deficiencies in specific micronutrients or genes. However, the actual pathology is the result of multiple physiological loops becoming entangled, blocked, or twisted. At this point, pathological substances remaining in the body such as phlegm (담), dampness (습), stagnant blood (어혈), and heat (열) are not mere byproducts, but remnants of blocked loops.

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 implies that a stress response loop, once formed, can subsequently influence gene expression.

Furthermore, immunologist Ruslan Medzhitov, through the concept of inflammatory memory, revealed that inflammatory responses can also be pathologized and recur due to past stimuli. In this context, treatment should not merely involve removing pathological substances, but rather dismantling and recalibrating the loops that produced those remnants.

Treatment is not about curing, but about recreating the conditions for recovery. These conditions consist of various factors 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'. That is, disease is also maintained within a specific field, and treatment is the act of readjusting that field to open up possibilities for recovery.

Modern functional medicine often identifies specific points in genes, gut microbiota, and metabolic pathways through precise analysis. However, such details can sometimes cause the overall structure of the patient to be overlooked.

Gerald Edelman, using the brain and immune system as examples, proposed the theory of degeneracy, stating that multiple pathways can lead to the same outcome. This demonstrates that understanding loop structures arising from the entanglement of various pathways is more biologically plausible than a simplistic causal theory like "a disease occurred due to a deficiency of a certain component."

A therapist should not be a unilinear supplementer or suppressor, but rather a constructor of diverse recovery pathways.

Recovery is not an outcome achievable with a single stimulus. Postural tension, breathing rhythms, gut microbes, autonomic nervous system state, 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 brain reactions but body-based sensory states (somatic markers). Our judgment and recovery are influenced by integrated signals from these sensory loops. Therefore, recovery occurs when cognitive-emotional-sensory-autonomic systems are integrated and recalibrated.

This is what I refer to as the concept of multimodal entry, and a therapist must be able to perceive and design these various entry points. A therapist is someone who sees rhythm before stimulus, understands structure before sensation, and, most importantly, knows how to wait.