Acupuncture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the art of
inserting very thin needles just under
the skin to stimulate specific points on
the body in order to bring about relief
of pain and wellness to the body.
This is accomplished by
restoring the balance of qi to the
body.
Qi is the life
force which is found in every thing, both
human and non human, from breath to the
blood that flows through us, and the
movement of qi throughout the body is a
sensation brought about by acupuncture
that you will not want to
miss.
It kind of feels like blood
flowing, as if you could hear it, but not
really. When the acupuncturist takes the
needles out of your body you can almost
feel the qi moving, it feels like a
thread being pulled from your leg, or
foot, or wherever the needle is being
drawn out from.
It is a very calming experience.
Simply, the flow of your qi is being
restored by stimulating it using
needles.
The philosophy of Dao, ying and
yang, must be understood in order to
understand acupuncture.
Dao is the way of life in
Chinese Medicine and acupuncture. Dao
advocates living in moderation, and
striving for balance with
nature.
The Chinese believe that
moderation is the key to living a long
life, and use the practice of acupuncture
to balance bodies and spirit to maintain
health and to bring into balance ill
health.
We are made up of three
elements, qi (pronounced Chee) is our
energy, Shen is your spirit, and Jing is
the essence of ourselves.
Qi establishes the
interconnectedness with everything and is
found in ones blood and heart, lungs and
oxygen.
Shen is compared to ones soul in
that it provides thought and the
awareness of the self. Jing helps us grow
and reproduce.
Once we lose jing, it can
not be replaced, as the Chinese believe
that we are each born with a finite
amount. Because we lose jing if we live
carelessly, acupuncture can reduce the
loss by balancing the qi, or energy,
helping to preserve jing. When our Jing
is used up, we die.
Now on to ying and Yang, the
other elements of life, when these two
opposing forces are balanced we are at
peace, we are much more likely to let
things slide and take life easy, when
they are out of balance we exhibit
arrogance, pride, lust, gluttony, and the
other excesses of living which eat away
at our Jing. The emotions run amok and we
become sick.
This is also why acupuncture is
often used in cooperation with herbal
therapy. Acupuncture works with the yang
because it comes from outside the body
and goes inside (the act of inserting the
needle), while herbal therapies are
considered to be ying therapies because
they move throughout the interior of the
body.
While acupuncture is widely
thought to be used primarily to control
pain, acupuncture can benefit a host of
other illnesses, such as respitory
ailments (asthma), cataracts, hiccups,
ulcers, migraines, and toothache, just to
name a very few.
The truth is that I have never
seen an ailment that can't be alleviated
with acupuncture, including alcoholism
and addiction cravings.
There is a point in the ear
which can help alleviate cravings of all
addictive behaviors, and acute withdrawal
from alcoholism can be helped with the
point used for the liver.
Western medicine is beginning to
concede to acupuncture for its use in
alleviating chronic pain, such as neck
and back, which a lot of westerners
suffer from.
We are only now beginning to
accept the fact that it can also be used
to help anxiety and chronic fatigue, and
more and more medical insurance is
beginning to include acupuncture on claim
forms.
This article is meant to be
informative only, and does not go into
the detail that acupuncture deserves;
please see a practitioner of Chinese
medicine for more information.
|
