I have some. I've been doing Taoist meditation and qi gong for several years. Both are closely tied to TCM. Lots of benefits from both. They help with your posture and movement of energy. After a while you start noticing the energy in your body and how you lose it (eg pmo). Taoists have been teaching about semen retention for thousands of years, so there's another link to NoFap there. If meditation is your thing look up Mantak Chia's book Healing Light of the Tao. I just started an acupuncture treatment for back tension and migraines. If you've got issues that Western medicine can't seem to fix (like my migraines - no one knows why they happen) TCM might be something to try. As for cons, acupuncture and TCM won't heal everything. For serious illness and emergency you definitely need to see a Western doctor. My acupuncture clinic has that warning in their policies. If you're looking for less expensive acupuncture, try community clinics: https://www.pocacoop.com/ My insurance covers my sessions. Also check these out: http://acupuncturetwincities.com/2009/05/richard-nixon-appendicitis-and-chinese-medicine/ http://acupuncturewizard.com/nixonarticle.htm
The accupuncture and meditation seem more beneficial. When I read about expensive remedies using tiger or rhino parts that seems like a quack. I do believe that certain herbs can be powerful from what I've seen
I'm skeptical of remedies like that too, but I've never tried them. I've proven myself wrong many times though, so I don't trust my instincts as much anymore. For example, a few years ago I used to reject any talk of energy or Qi outright, now I do regular qi gong meditation, follow Taoist philosophy and i'm just starting acupuncture. Things changed and I opened my eyes to something I wasn't seeing before. I've learned to have a lot of respect for traditional knowledge, so if they say a remedy works I would give that credit - at least the benefit of the doubt. My attitude now is, 'if tradition says X works and I think X is bull, it's likely I'm the one who's wrong'. That said though, there are quacks out there. Especially if a remedy is expensive, they obviously have a strong incentive to exaggerate it's properties to sell more. So the question is, are you getting the real traditional wisdom or just someone's sales pitch? This is where solid research and good sources come in IMO. And locating the authentic traditional practitioners and separating them from the quacks and sales agents.
