Recently Dojeon team member, Lewis, attended an oriental medicine tour in Seoul to find out why oriental medicine has gained popularity in Western culture. He explains why you MUST visit a clinic when you are in Seoul. Read on to find out why!
When I attended the tour, I interviewed the owner of a traditional Korean herbal medicine company, Sungil Choi, and asked him some questions, about the tour, oriental medicine, and the training to become an oriental medical expert here in Korea.
Can you please introduce yourself and the company to the readers?
My name is Seongil Choi, and I am the owner of a herbal medicine business in Seoul. I have always grown up in an oriental medicine household, as since I was young my father has worked as a herbal pharmacist. Whenever I was sick as a child my father used herbal medicine to treat my illness, and this then led to my own decision to study oriental medicine for myself.
Since I graduated and became certified as an oriental medicine expert, I set up my own business which focuses on an online selling platform for oriental and herbal medicine and teas, which also has won many awards. The growth of the business has also led me to want to share my knowledge of herbal medicine and its wonderful benefits with tourists and locals alike.
What inspires you in your business?
For a long time now, in Korea, it is easy to go to a hospital even when you catch a common cold. Every time I went to the hospital myself the appointment did not seem to be much help, and I was always given a prescription medicine to take and then told to go back for a follow-up appointment a week later. I also found that if I did not go to the hospital, and simply rested at home when I had a common cold the outcome and duration of the illness would be similar.
This inspired me, as well as my upbringing to study herbal medicine further at an oriental-based education centre. With this extra study, it enables me to identify and treat various phenomena and diseases which cannot easily be diagnosed in hospitals. This also made me think that oriental medicine is essential and people sadly do not know too much about it these days, so the inspiration for my business is to educate and spread information about the benefits related to oriental medicine.
You mentioned that you have recently started operating tours, which focus on oriental medicine and tea. Can you tell the readers more about this?
The ideas for operating tours started when I hung out with foreign friends, and I was actually shocked that they did not have any knowledge of alternative medicine and no easy way for them to learn about it. One day, I decided to take the necessary steps by visiting museums and testing out some tour ideas to help me put a fun itinerary together, which can be an interactive way to become educated about oriental medicine.
Can you explain to the readers how oriental medicine can benefit your diet? And why it is popular?
Oriental medicine is something that everyone can simply add to their daily lives, and one of the reasons that it is so popular is because it is a safe and natural healing medicine, often with a low price. If you have the right knowledge you can use herbal medicine to cure and illness and it can reflect a healthy lifestyle by adding small amounts of oriental medicine into your daily life.
This helps your state of mind, and oriental medicine doctors throughout history have outlived Western doctors. If you visit a local market, you can purchase herbs for oriental medicine for as little as 1,000 KRW (USD 0.72).
Your tea brewing business with your oriental medicine business has won some awards within the industry. Can you tell the readers more about this?
On Naver, we are very popular on the shopping platform in Korea for oriental medicine. We sell a amount of products, and as a result, we have many best-selling items within the industry. This gives, me the motivation to keep on growing as a business and promoting oriental medicine and its benefits.
As part of your tour, a hands on foot spa experience is arranged. Can you tell the readers more about this?
In my oriental medicine class, we not only make herbal teas and discuss the benefits, but we also offer healing foot spas, and meridian massages, which are great for the mind and body! Your feet are connected to the entire body through meridians. To relieve tiredness in your feet and make them feel lighter it is very important to take care of them, the foot spa experience can make your feet feel lighter and then lead through to your entire body! With the tranquil music and reflection time after the museum tour, this is a great way to soak in your new knowledge and find some rest time in your busy schedules.
What can we expect from you shortly?
My current goal is to strive and make oriental medicine more popular both in Korea and overseas. I am currently promoting through various channels, in order to make learning about oriental medicine easier for people, and with this I am continuing to develop a variety of interesting products.
In the near distant future, I would like to create an English textbook for studying medicinal herbs.
Thank you for your time today Sunngil Choi.
Now if you have been inspired to learn about oriental medicine and its benefits then why not book a tour yourself, to experience first-hand the wonderful benefits of oriental medicine?
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Let us know in the comments below if you have tried oriental medicine before.