About Cupping

by | Oct 14, 2016 | Eastern Medicine

Cupping is an ancient practice used almost universally in traditional healing arts. It is still practiced today in many forms of holistic medicine.

Cupping uses specialized glass or rubber cups to draw out congested fluids, blood, and localized toxins, making it very useful to resolve colds, flus, and other acute respiratory disorders. Acupuncturists apply cupping to treat acute colds based on the principle that a pathogenic factor such as Cold or Wind has penetrated the tissues causing stagnation, and therefore the achiness, fatigue and other symptoms.

Massage therapists and manual therapists can use cupping as a bodywork modality to provide relief from pain and tension by separating stuck muscle and connective-tissue layers. Cupping acts as a myofascial release technique and is an effective treatment for large areas of sore muscles. It is excellent in combination with massage to treat soreness and tension in the back, hips and legs.

As the cups draw congested fluids and toxins to the skin surface there is often a discoloration called “sha” that can look like a rash or a bruise. This is a normal part of the process of resolving stagnation in the muscles, and the sha typically fades in a few days.

Although cupping is an ancient technique there is some current research for its effectiveness including this article from the Mayo Clinic on cupping therapy for fibromyalgia.

The most traditional style of cupping is fire cupping which uses a simple glass cup that looks like a small fishbowl where a vacuum is created using a flame that is inserted briefly into the cup, the flame never contacts the client’s skin. Also commonly used are rubber or silicon cups with built-in suction. More info about styles of cupping here.

The Organs in Chinese Medicine

by | Oct 4, 2016 | Eastern Medicine

In traditional Chinese medicine the organs are considered to be not only the solid structures we recognize in modern Western medicine, but also a sphere of influence that can include cellular, hormonal, muscle-skeletal, emotional, energetic, and inter-organ functions.

In traditional Chinese medicine theory there are twelve organs (zangfu), each with a yin or yang assignment which describes something important about its nature. In this article, to distinguish the Chinese medicine conception of the organs as opposed to the Western medicine conception the names of the organs will be capitalized.

Yin (zang) organs are solid organs that store qi, blood, fluids, or other substances. They generally benefit from nourishment and suffer from depletion. Yang (fu) organs are hollow and are meant to be active in transformation and movement of substances, not storage. They generally benefit from harmonizing and moving and suffer from stagnation.

The Lung, Heart, Spleen/Pancreas, Liver, Kidney, and Pericardium organs are yin. They store substances. The most Yin organ of all is the Kidneys, being the Water element, a very yin element, and located low in the body. The Kidneys store our most important substance the jing, our ancestral life-force. 

The Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Stomach, Gallbladder, and Triple-Burner organs are yang. They are hollow and use the qi to digest, transform, extract nutrients, and eliminate waste.

Zangfu is an important component of diagnosis and treatment for internal medicine and of particular use with herbal medicine.

Acupuncture Needles

by | Sep 7, 2016 | Acupuncture

Acupuncture needles are hair-thin, flexible, and designed to glide into points that are empty of nerve, bone, organs, and vessels, but full of potential vitality and energy. 

The Chinese term for acupuncture point translates to “vital hollow” implying a space or opening rather than a point on the skin. The acupuncture points are generally located in-between structures such as bones, tendons, nerves, and fascial trains.

Acupuncture needles are sterile, single use, and disposable. They are an FDA class II medical device, to be used by trained and licensed medical providers.

Acupuncturists do not use hypodermic needles, which are larger, hollow and do not bend, and are designed to pierce through structures to pull or add fluids. An acupuncture needle could never puncture an artery, and any competent acupuncturist would never cause nerve, organ or joint damage.

The system of Chinese medicine is based on the human body being a reflection of nature, and treatment involves restoring balance to our inner nature. When there is imbalance the body needs some stimulus to get back to functionality. Acupuncture needles simply stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms.

Moxibustion Heat Therapy

by | Feb 10, 2016 | Acupuncture

The Chinese character for acupuncture, zhenjiu, means “acupuncture-moxibustion”. Moxibustion provides penetrating warmth, pain relief, and increased circulation. Both needles and heat therapy are the foundations of a balanced acupuncture treatment, and many acupuncturists find moxibustion to be an indispensable tool to their practice.

Yin and Yang

Yin and yang, the principles of relativity and duality, are the foundation of Chinese medicine in the cosmology, diagnosis, and treatment. In Chinese medicine the goal is to achieve balance between hot and cold, internal and external, up and down etc.

Many diseases and disorders arise from a preponderance of cold in the body, which some people can be more sensitive to do to their constitution and other factors.

Cold in the body can occur from exposure to cold in the environment which can get into the energy channels in the limbs, or into the lungs via the nose and throat. Cold can enter into the internal organs from cold food and drinks or too much raw food. Cold slows down organ function and can be a contributing factor in muscle pain, digestive problems, menstrual problems and PMS, and chronic colds and flus.

By using the fire element along with the inmate yang quality of the mugwort herb, moxibustion is very effective for dispelling cold in the organs, bringing in warmth and increasing the circulation of blood, fluids and qi.

This article is from an acupuncturist who grows and processes her own moxa.

 

The Mugwort Plant

Moxa in various states of refinement.

Moxibustion refers to heat therapy that uses the leaf of the mugwort plant Artemisia vulgaris, called ai ye in Chinese. The leaf is processed into a “wool” and referred to as moxa. There are several traditional ways of applying moxibustion including direct, indirect, warming needle, and tiger warmers or moxa boxes. More recent inventions include liquid moxa, TDP lamps and moxa devices.

Direct Moxa

This includes traditional Japanese “rice grain” moxa where tiny rolled pieces are burned directly on acupuncture points.

Direct moxa can also be a larger amount of moxa burned on the lower abdomen or on the umbilicus. There is a barrier over the skin and/or the moxa is quickly removed before burning the skin.

In some traditions “scarring moxa” is used and meant to burn the skin and create a blister and scar, but this is rarely used in the West.

Indirect Moxa

Moxa can be applied indirectly where it is burned in a metal box called a tiger warmer, or in wooden “moxa box” near the skin.

Warming needle moxa is loosely rolled and piled on the handle of an acupuncture needle and burned there. The heat transfers through the needle deeply into the point.

Moxa can also be compressed into charcoal “poles” and burned near the body to warm up the areas.

Modern Uses

While traditional direct and indirect moxibustion is still widely used in the West, Japan and China, some other applications exist. Sometimes clinics cannot allow herbs to be burned for various reasons, or patients may be sensitive to even small amounts of smoke, have very fragile skin, or other reasons where the benefits of moxa may need to be accessed other ways.

Liquid Moxa

A tincture or liniment made with ai ye and sometimes other warming herbs. Apply directly to areas of pain or cold and ideally apply TDP lamp heat in the area.

TDP Lamp

TDP lamps uses far infra-red heat to deeply and safely penetrate into the tissues. TDP can be used on injured, cold, or tense areas of the body and is ideal for heating up areas where liquid moxa was applied.

Moxa Device

This device is a recent Japanese invention and has yet to make it’s way into distribution in the West. It provides a gentle and effective heat that can be applied to acupuncture points or channels in the same way burning moxa would.

Yin, Yang, and Recovery

by | Jun 16, 2014 | Eastern Medicine

Ear acuNADA (National Acupuncture Detox Association) helped pioneer a simple ear acupuncture protocol which can be used with excellent results in a group setting to help with recovery and mental health.

In traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, the organs are not just the physical structures but also a whole sphere of functionality, including emotional and mental components and also pathways of energy and movement throughout the entire body

From a TCM perspective, the root of all the energies in the body is in the Kidneys.

The Kidneys are like the water table of the body, supplying that basis of all Yin factors for our whole body system: cooling, deeply nourishing, quietly sustaining, sinking. Strong Kidney essence imbues us with a generally good constitution, the ability to deal with life stresses and have a long and productive life. When the Kidney essence is depleted congenitally it can mean a constitutional weakness of some sort.

When the Kidney essence is depleted by lifestyle factors such as extreme stress, lack of nourishment, completely overdoing activities then we find the drained essence starts to undermine the functioning of the rest of the body. Kidney depletion manifest as reproductive and sexuality issues such as infertility, impotence, incontinence, low libido, or chronic miscarriages.

Kidney depletion can also manifest as cognitive disorders, because in Chinese medicine the Kidneys are the basis of nourishment for the central nervous system. Another typical symptom of Kidney deficiency is tinnitus because the Kidneys “open up to” the ears.

This makes the ear acupuncture from NADA a doubly effective protocol for nourishing the Kidneys and rebuilding Yin in the body for recovering addicts.

Yin can also refer to the Yin aspects of life that those in recovery are often struggling with: stability, nourishment, grounding, ease and relief from anxiety. The NADA protocol usually takes place in a group setting and ideally is supported with counseling for mental and emotional health, physical wellness, nutrition and exercise. Learn more about NADA and their mission.