Roy Watkins: Custodian of TCM and Its Tibetan Branch

Ideal Complementary Treatments

The world’s four predominant traditional medicine systems are those of TCM, and Tibetan, Ayurvedic, and Arab medicine. Tibetan medicine, which originated in the seventh century AD, came to Europe in the 18th century, and prompted a surge of research on a global scale.

The benefits of medicated baths have been acknowledged throughout the world for centuries. “A natural, safe, and effective therapy, medicated baths are used for dermatological problems, anti-aging treatment, and to relieve stress, as well as many other applications,” Watkins said. He believes that medicated baths and other Tibetan medicine rehabilitative therapies are particularly suitable for use in the West, “because these external remedies have none of the restrictions of internal treatments.” He went on, “In the past, any Tibetan medicines found in certain Western countries had to be destroyed due to pharmaceutical regulations. Fortunately, practitioners of TCM and Tibetan medicine in China have the support of the government.”

Apart from conventional medicine, the U.K. National Health Service provides 61 complementary treatments, TCM and acupuncture among them. Both are in high demand, particularly acupuncture due to its remarkably curative effects in treating certain chronic diseases.

“Acupuncture originated in Asia almost 5,000 years ago, and is one of the oldest methods of healing known to humankind.” Watkins’ website gives a detailed introduction to this ancient therapy. In his opinion, Western medicine has limited efficacy. “Finance is a primary consideration in hospitals, so profit takes precedence over everything.” He is also generally critical of the method of diagnosis used in Western medicine. “As most physicians hand out a prescription after just ten minutes or even less time with a patient, misdiagnoses are likely to happen,” Watkins said. TCM, however, assesses the state of health according to the theory of the five elements (fire, earth, metal, water, and wood), combined with observation, auscultation and olfaction, interrogation, and pulse feeling and palpation. Watkins hence considers it “a more natural way of comprehensively discerning a patient’s physical condition.”

The theory of five elements plays a fundamental role in TCM. Before making a diagnosis, Watkins follows the prescribed steps of observing a patient’s complexion, listening to their voice, smelling their body odor, and asking questions that reveal which of the five elements is lacking and so causing illness.

Watkins is convinced of the potency of acupuncture in treating certain chronic diseases. “If you go to a doctor about back pain, he is likely to give you a prescription without even looking at your back. But I’m 90 percent sure I’d be able to achieve a much better effect with acupuncture.”

Until the 1990s, there were only about a dozen TCM clinics in the whole of the U.K., but the number has since expanded to more than 3,000. Established in 1995, the British Acupuncture Council is one of the professional organizations in this field with members from all over the country. Today, acupuncture has achieved a high reputation in the U.K. A fair number of practitioners in TCM clinics are locals like Watkins. They speak Chinese, practice Taichi, but more importantly, excel at acupuncture in both knowledge and skills.