Posts Tagged ‘healing art from china’
Acupuncture Healing Art
Acupuncture is the ancient Chinese healing art in which very thin needles are inserted under the skin in order to treat illness and restore good health. A practitioner of this art is an acupuncturist.
Acupuncture reportedly dates from 1600 to 1500 B.C. It attracted renewed attention and interest in the West after the opening of China in the early 1970s.
A key element in understanding acupuncture is an acceptance of the Eastern belief in the poles or extremes of yin and yang (roughly corresponding to our ideas of negative and positive, or female and male, forces) and the flow of a life force known as chi. Chinese medicine teaches that in order to remain healthy the yin and yang forces must be perfectly balanced and that it is necessary to have a flow of chi throughout the body. The chi flows along paths known as meridians (sets of invisible lines) and covers the body in set patterns. While meridians are not identical to the nervous system or circulatory system, they are thought to resemble them. Each meridian has its own pulse, and these pulses provide information about any meridians that need to have their energy balance restored.
When illness occurs, the acupuncturist examines the meridians and carefully selects acupuncture sites. It is at these sites that acupuncture treatment is given.
Extremely thin needles made from gold, silver, or copper are placed in carefully selected sites just below the skin by the acupuncturist. A gentle twisting of the needle helps to ensure that it is properly placed and will correct the flow of chi along the meridians.
Acupuncturists believe that currents, or impulses, begin to flow along the meridians where the needles are placed. This current travels through the nervous system and goes to the organ that is out of balance. Once the obstruction or hindrance is removed, the life forces are free to circulate once again, and balance is restored.
Reports from China indicate that major surgery has been performed while using acupuncture as the only anesthetic. Acupuncture also includes herbal medicine, disease-specific and preventive nutritional measures, relaxation skills, exercise, and specific advice on health behaviors.
Western medicine, with its foundations in the scientific method, has been slow to show interest in acupuncture, but some physicians now use it, and their numbers are growing.