by Helene Anne Fortin
Did you ever experience an “aha” moment that led you to profound healing, to profound change?
That’s what happened to me in my initial encounter with Classical Chinese Medicine. For some, these “aha” moments come in a dream or a few lines in a book, or an encounter with an extraordinary person or, perhaps, a deep knowing within. Mine was when I found 7 words in a google search.
So how did I, a gently aging 79-year-old female, learn about and deeply fall in love with the ancient healing methods of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM)?
It was how I started my mornings back then. I was frantically googling “Lyme Disease” for the thousandth time seeking relief for my body that was maimed by this chaotic sickness which was, in short order, destroying my nervous system, my brain and my life.
Sometimes healing begins with a single spark–seven words, one insight, or a whisper from your own spirit…
The 7 words were in a postscript on page 5 of a student’s summary of a lecture given by Jeffrey Yuen that referenced: “Lyme Disease” “divergent channels” and “Classical Chinese Medicine.” That tip of the iceberg led not only to my eventual healing from Lyme but also an in-depth love and gratefulness to a man whom I had never met: Master Jeffrey Yuen.
I learned later that he is one of the most sought-after teachers of Chinese Medicine throughout the world. He is an 88th generation Daoist priest from the Jade Purity School and world-renowned scholar of Daoism and Chinese Medicine. His credentials are long. He is a master of acupuncture, CCM, Daoism, tai chi and qigong.
He is a soft-spoken and brilliantly knowledgeable teacher of this oral tradition who travels the world imparting this ancient knowledge to thousands who are interested in deep healing modalities. He will tell you that one of the greatest pleasures has been to disseminate teachings that have been forsaken or less focussed on in contemporary Chinese Medicine education.
Hence the name: Classical Chinese Medicine (referring to the ancient classical texts that hold the knowledge allowing one to deal with diseases that touch the collective: the emotions, the spirit and the physical body).
“All diseases are rooted in the spirit*.” Jeffrey Yuen
So that’s how it all started. Yes, via Classical Chinese Medicine and with the healing help from two of his great students I beat Lyme Disease, rebuilt my body and spirit and then continued to study with Jeffrey Yuen via his videos, via his students’ teachings which continues to enlighten my life these many years later. I now work via distance (remote healing) as my healers did on me, helping people with innumerable issues/diseases via with this amazing modality.
All healing modalities are good. The ones that work with energy like CCM (a form of quantum healing) have differing roots than Western Medicine which traces its origin back to ancient Greece with Hippocrates, a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical period, who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
This Classical period in Western Medicine, (800 BCE to 200 CE) was characterized by a shift from mystical healing to rational observation and reasoning.
Western medicine focuses on treating specific diseases or symptoms using scientific methods and pharmaceuticals.
This disease-centered approach wants to alleviate symptoms and targets specific illnesses with medications, therapies and surgery.
Classical Chinese Medicine, with its origins in the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) to the Jin Dynasty (266-316 CE) (though its origins are much older) saw the emergence of seminal texts like The Canon of Internal Medicine (Huangdi Neijing) and Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases (Shanghan Zabing Lun), which provided the core theoretical framework—including concepts of Qi, Yin and Yang, meridians, and the five elements—that still underpins Chinese medicine today.
This energy-healing modality, is focussed primarily on the energy of an individual (and pathogenic factors, internal and external) and has its roots in ancient Daoist philosophy, developed through observation over thousands of years. It emphasizes holistic balance and harmony with nature and self, and uses approaches like acupuncture, herbal remedies and lifestyle adjustments that include food choices (including hydration), qigong, etc.
Both compliment the other. Both care deeply about the human spirit and health.
“Many people, young or old, are chronically under-hydrated, and dehydration underlies a great many chronic degenerative conditions.” Andrew Sterman
Yet even within the term “Chinese Medicine” there are many branches. For example, Classical Chinese Medicine differs from the familiar Traditional Chinese Medicine which systematized and standardized Chinese Medicine in the 1950s.
CCM simply uses the older teachings/texts and energy channels that exist within the body that have been omitted in the modernized TCM teachings sometimes allowing a person to heal more deeply.
Hence Jeffrey Yuen’s focus on revitalizing our knowledge of the deeper and almost forgotten energy channels that exist within our bodies: the 8 extraordinary vessels, the luo and sinew channels, the divergent channels (where we can move a pathogenic factor into latency as we did with my Lyme Disease.)
I find in Jeffrey Yuen’s teaching so much more: the knowledge/understanding of the progression of diseases, the reversal of diseases given the right opportunity and one’s ability to change.
The inter-play and understanding of the impact of our faulty belief systems on well-being. The realization of how eating the wrong foods (or lack of hydration) play on our ability to heal or not. The wisdom that emotions and the mind can destroy not only an organ but a life. The destructive role that any kind of judgementalism plays in tightening the body leading to stagnation and eventual failure or pain. All these things I have learned from this medicine, this teacher. No wonder I am hooked. Oh, I hope I don’t sound too judgemental!
So this heart-centered medicine changed me. Changed how I look at the world. It gave me a different set of lenses to accept, define and fuel my way home. It especially gave me hope and a deep, deep understanding of my humanity and all its beauty. Do investigate CCM. It might be your ticket home. Perhaps even a way to regain hope and healing.
With love from Wakefield Quebec Canada.
Helene Anne Fortin
* By “spirit” Jeffrey is referring to the calm in the heart.
August 2025.
Helene Anne Fortin • kind mentor 