by Carly Herrero, LAc | 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.
by Carly Herrero, LAc | 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.
by Carly Herrero, LAc | Jun 16, 2014 | Eastern Medicine
NADA (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.
