My Blog
Hello Everyone! Thank you for checking out my site. My hope is to help people understand a little bit better how Acupuncture works, what it is, what it is not, and who can be helped by Acupuncture and it's many modalities.
Many people ask, How does Acupuncture work? So Acupuncture is a system of channels of energetic connections that exists within our bodies. This system is it's own system. It has nothing to do with the nervous system or the veins and arteries. This system has been known about for at least 5000 years in Asia. Scientists have recently proven that this system exists by using modern imaging techniques.
Each of our internal organs has a channel of energy that flows to it, from it, and through it, then that channel flows past other organs, sometimes interacting with and affecting other organs, and then flowing up and down the arms or legs. This is why sometimes a digestive problem or a reproductive problem may be treated with acupuncture points on the arms or legs, instead of the local area.
This is a picture of some of the acupuncture points and channels that flow over the face and head.
The symbol you see above is called the Yin Yang symbol. This symbol is NOT a religious symbol. Acupuncture is NOT a religion. The theory of yin yang is NOT a religion. Yin and Yang theory is a way to categorize objects and functions of those objects and phenomenon within our bodies and within the world around us. It just so happens that this way of categorizing things is not used in western society so there are no direct translations of words for this in English. So we, the acupuncturists continue to use the Chinese words for these categories. Yin is the category of things coming together, calming down, condensing, quietting and settling in order to prepare for the next phase. Yang is activity, expanding, growing, getting bigger and louder, and the act of using up energy and moving or flowing. Yin is like the oil inside the base of the oil lamp. Yang is the flame. You must have Yin in order to have Yang. Within our bodies Yin would be all of our reserves of energy, such as vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats, salt and water and oxygen that get stored inside our organs. Yang is the warmth or fire, that spark of life that helps us to be active, work, play, move run. Every organ within our body has to have the right amount of yin and the right amount of yang in order to have optimal function. If an organ has too little yang then it can cause coldness or lack of activity or function in that organ. If a person is lacking yin in the kidneys then they wont sleep at night and may have trouble remembering and focusing. This problem can also be affected by an imbalance of yin or yang in the digestive organs or even the heart. It takes an in depth assessment to locate where the imbalance is. In The United States people over emphasize all the Yang things and activities such as bigger trucks, louder music, fast cars, fast food, fast romantic relationships, aggressive sports like hockey, football, boxing, racecars. At the same time time western society tends to condemn or at least demote much of what is yin, such as sleeping, resting, having children, meditation, the tiny organisms in the soil needed to revitalize soil, taking time to pray and or just sit and listen to or observe nature. This extreme imbalance in our modern society has begun to cause dis-ease in our individual bodies. It is leading to anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic fatigue, earlier onset of what used to be called "old-age" symptoms. But now these symptoms are happening in children at 10 years old, or sooner. Acupuncture is about putting our internal organs back into balance, putting our bodies back into balance, and putting our lives back into balance.