Become a Member
Are you a practitioner of Ayurveda, Unani Tibb, or Greek Medicine (western herbal energetics)? Join AABC to get a modern, integrative certification for your practice.We offer credentials in the functional medicine approach of Biocharacteristics, Herba Energetics, Ayurveda, Unani Tibb, and Greek medicine that are suitable for integration with modern healthcare providers, and well-adapted to every social group and community culture.
Schools
Who can apply?
What is AABC?
Goals:
- We represent clinicians from these ancient traditions and promote them to modern healthcare providers.
- We foster patient-centered care that focuses on the culture of the client, not the medicine.
- We explain these modalities using professional language that make sense to everyday people and appeals to modern healthcare providers.
- We encourage broad acceptance across all social groups, income levels, and professions.
Who are our Members?
See our member spotlight on the clincian application pageWhy AABC?
- Expand their practice beyond current cultural obstacles limiting their success & reach;
- Provide patient-centered care that focuses on the culture of the client, not the medicine;
- Broaden their scope of training to other Biocharacteristics' traditions, cross-pollinating between them.
Biocharacteristics: A Precise, Descriptive Term
The word Acupuncture makes Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) more accessible. As a descriptive term, the word Acupuncture communicates the method, making TCM more understandable to people worldwide. Similarly, Biocharacteristics communicates the method of Ayurveda, Unani Tibb, and Greek medicine, making the medicine more accessible, understandable and easier to invest in. It communicates the fundamental method of the above 3 traditions.Biocharacteristics is a replacement term for 'energetics', a widely used term in modern western herbalism. Energetics has a spiritual connotation, and is less well-suited to describe the physical characteristics of the client, disease, or medicine.
Acupuncture & Biocharacteristics are culturally neutral, universal terms. Clients do not have to adopt a new culture or religion in order to participate in them. The result is that these traditions can reach new multi-cultural audiences and social group. This allows whole communities to evaluate, understand and benefit from the medical insights of these 3 traditions.
Case Study: Ayurveda
A quick glance at the Ayurveda profession in the United States reveals significant obstacles preventing Ayurveda's success. Unani, & Greek medicine practiitoners face similar obstacles.AABC's practical, modern certification can be used in all professional settings.
"My friends and family started to feel I was practicing a form of medicine, rather than a new lifestyle or set of cultural habits. AABC helped me present myself and my practice in a more familiar way."
"AABC's cross-cultural terms make my practice more accessible. I can reach whole new communities with this paradigm."
"Biocharacteristics science makes sense to my friends and colleagues. They trust more in my clinical model, and invest in me."
"Biocharacteristics science boosted the credibility of my clinical practice."
"Now I can practice the traditional medicine of my culture, AND also point to the science of it."
How Does AABC Improve Clinical Success?
We strengthen the professionalism of our member clinicians by:- Communicating Biocharacteristics medical theory in common sense terms, so that:
- Clients and other healthcare providers will understand what you do.
- A patient-centered approach - One that focuses on the culture of the client, not the medicine,
ensuring that:
- Clients from any social group will feel comfortable investing in your practice.
- Your practice will be adaptable and feel familiar to a broad audience.
Develops and Improves as Modern Research Advances
Culture and tradition are difficult to change through academic analysis. For this reason, traditional medicine is self-limiting and difficult to develop, adapt or grow. Classical textbooks from a tradition, thousands of years old, may be treated as sacrosanct (example: Caraka, Avicenna) even when modern research disproves one or more of its proposals. The inflexibility of social customs restricts growth and innovation in traditional medicine systems.Because it proposes a hypothesis of medicine that is analytical, the Biocharactistics medical model is testable, flexible and adaptable. Biocharacteristics creates a means for improvement within traditional systems, and ensures their relevance in generations to come. Our accredited schools are active in developing novel research to improve consistency and accuracy of Biocharacteristics medical models.
While AABC embraces clinicians with culturally or spiritual specific practices, associations have a special responsibility to represent all clinicians in the profession by remaining culturally adaptable and spiritually neutral, focusing on clinical outcomes as the measure of authenticity in medicine. We've seen many associations where lack of focus on clinical outcomes has led to politics and conflict, and prevented the advancement of the entire profession.
Mission & Vision
We unite Greek, Ayurveda, & Unani medicine under their common theory of medicine, Biocharacteristics (often called Energetics by Western Herbalists). The result is a practical, modern certification for clinicians from these disciplines, enabling them to bring the benefits of Biocharacteristics medicine to everyday people and a broader, multi-cultural audience. People from any culture, spiritual, or ethnic background can use it. Healthcare providers can understand, verify, and trust it.We strive to be:
- Innovative: To improve clinical performance and consistency through research focused on client outcomes.
- Practical: To model excellence in patient-centered, evidence-based care.
- Integrative: To participate in the health care community through collaboration and integration.
- Suitable: Focused on the culture of the client, not the medicine. Culturally adaptable.
What is the Biocharacteristic Theory of Medicine?
Ayurveda, Unani Tibb, & Greek medicine are founded upon the Biocharacteristics theory of medicine. This theory describes pathology using simple characteristics like heat, or cold, oiliness, or dryness to produce a very rich, individualized, and accessible medicine. Biocharacteristics was the dominant form of medicine through Europe, the Middle East, and India from 250 B.C. until the 1650s A.D. It became known as Greek Medicine in Europe, Unani Tibb in the Middle East, and Ayurveda in India. Its message is still relevant today, but modern practitioners often face large cultural obstacles to promoting their clinical practice.Complete List of Biocharacteristics What is Biocharacteristics? History of Biocharacteristics
A Multi-cultural Platform for Traditional Medicine
Cultural agility is the ability to provide patient-centered care that focuses on the culture of the client, not the medicine. It shows no preference or partiality to any one ethnicity, culture, social group, or spirituality. It enables practitioners to reach and deliver healthcare benefits to each group within our multicultural society,Currently, cultural agility is lacking in the modern practice of indigenous medicine, whose traditions tie these modalities to specific cultural and religious beliefs. Cultural impartiality is a key step that will render their health benefits accessible to the general public.
For example, a simple google search of Ayurveda reveals many symbols associated with Vedic spirituality and culture, including 1) Lotus flowers, 2) Dhanvantari, Ganesh & Other Hindu deities, 3) Vedic forms of Meditation, 4) Vedic astrology, 5) Vedic architecture (Vastu Shastra), and symbols associated with Indian culture such as 6) India’s cuisine and spices, style of dress, and names. Ayurvedic classes, public conferences, and events often include chanting, mantras and prayers despite their attendees' diverse religious, spiritual and cultural preferences. Practitioners are frequently promoted on the basis of their spiritual charisma, rather than clinical success.
While these cultural and religious expressions resonate with many Ayurveda clinicians, use of these symbols in a professional clinic can create cultural obstacles. They may cause Ayurveda to appear irrelevant, inaccessible, unfamiliar, exclusive, or exotic to individuals who don't share these customs or beliefs, restricting the use and acceptance of Ayurveda. Use of cultural symbols may encourage the public to see Ayurveda as a faith healing technique which is not medical or analytical. Modern healthcare providers have been trained to promote their services in a culturally and spiritually neutral manner. Neutrality allows the practitioner to shift focus to the cultural needs of the client. The public sees cultural agility as synonymous with professionalism.
An analysis of Unani Tibb yields similar findings. The result is that many competent clinicians in both professions are unable to reach their local communities or advance in their professional career. Biocharacteristics theory, common to both professions, proposes a culturally neutral, testable hypothesis of medicine that makes these modalities more accessible. It offers a rational explanation for why Unani Tibb and Ayurveda work, so healthcare professionals and international communities can assent to it.
Join the American Association
of Biocharacteristics Clinicians.
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Members are required to practice according to local laws. Please check with your medical doctor before making any changes to your health & wellness routine.