The over 3500 year old practice of Acupuncture stems from the simple yin/yang theory. Everything on Earth has its equal and its exact opposite. The relationship of yin and yang exists in the universe macrocosmically as it does microcosmically in the body. Metaphorically, yin can be simply explained as the shady side of a mountain or your quiet introverted nature. Whilst the yang is your more active nature or the sunny side of the same mountain. There is a delicate balance of these yin/yang aspects and when one is caught in excess, then naturally the other will be deficient. Using Acupuncture techniques of reducing the excess or tonifying the deficiency, the body can be brought back into balance.
Acupuncture is known mainly for its ability to treat pain. However its applications address a wider variety of disease states from asthma, headaches, common cold, and digestive complaints to chronic illness and cancer.
In a recent official report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, the World Health Organization has listed the following symptoms, diseases and conditions that have been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture:
- Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
- Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
- Biliary colic, dysentery, acute bacillary (gastrointestinal disorders)
- Depression and anxiety (and most other mental emotional states)
- TIA or stroke recovery
- Dysmenorrhea (painful periods and all women’s cycle issues)
- Stomach pain (in peptic ulcer, gastritis, and gastrospasm)
- Facial pain (including head and jaw disorders)
- Headache and migraines
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) Hypotension (low BP)
- Induction of labor, changing a breech position, nausea in pregnancy
- Knee, shoulder, neck (and multiple joint pains), low back pain
- Low white and low red cell counts
Acupuncture is an energetic medicine in that beyond affecting the physical body, it also changes mental and emotional states of being. This is why it is important to find a practitioner that you feel a comfortable resonance with. As an art, Acupuncture moves subtle energies within the body and requires the full attention of the practitioner. An Acupuncture appointment is usually 45 minutes to an hour and begins with the patient relaying their health history. After the practitioner asks additional appropriate questions, the pulses and tongue are assessed.
Classical Chinese Medicine Oath
I promise to follow the way of the great physician. I will serve to live in harmony with nature, and teach my patients to do the same.
I will stay calm and completely committed when treating disease. I will not give way to personal wishes and desires, but above all else hold and nurture a deep feeling of compassion. I will be devoted to the task of saving the sacred spark of life in every creature that still carries it.
I will strive to maintain a clean mind and be willing to hold myself to the highest standards. It will be my duty to diagnose sufferings and treat disease. I will not be boastful about my skill and not driven by the greed for material things. Above all, I will keep an open heart. As I move on the right path I will receive great happiness as a reward without asking for anything in return.