How Acupuncture can help
From a Chinese perspective, human beings are born of the marriage of Heaven, the Yang, the energy that moves things; and Earth, the Yin, the material world. When this matter and energy, or yin and yang, are balanced inside us, a special life force of qi (pronounced “chee”) energy is produced and moves freely, creating a healthy, harmonious internal environment. We are then able to interact in a balanced way with the world, which is seen as the basis for a happy life.At various points in our life, beginning in childhood, stresses, injury and illness begin to affect us, weakening our system and blocking the balanced flow of our life force, or qi. When this progresses far enough, symptoms appear which are labeled in our culture as specific diseases.
Seen from the Chinese point of view, real healing and the restoration of health and happiness will not occur unless the underlying tensions and weaknesses are addressed. These root problems are found in the five “elements” of life that make up the cycle of health: WATER – which correlates to the water, fluids and neurological systems of the body; WOOD – the growth, repair and immune systems; FIRE – the energy of consciousness and circulation; EARTH – the digestive and blood building systems; and METAL – which deals with air, inspiration, minerals and elimination.
As part of the Traditional diagnosis we will discover the elements of your energy system that are out of balance, and work to restore harmony using acupuncture, adjustments in lifestyle and other Chinese Medicine techniques.
ACUPUNCTURE AS A WAY OF RESTORING HEALTH
Your life energy, or “qi” of your body (more subtle than the electrical
energy it produces) runs along particular circuits or pathways called
meridians, with access points that have been known for thousands of
years. These pathways of energy connect both to structure, such as
bones, muscles and tendons, and to internal organs, such as heart,
lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, sexual system, etc. With correct diagnosis
we begin to discover where your blockages and problems with the free
flow of energy exist.
Over time, even chronic and complex problems and illnesses can be unraveled as the flow of qi energy is restored by the insertion of tiny needles into the points where they are needed, reopening channels, and restoring flow, so symptoms gradually disappear. Because Traditional Chinese medicine sees the Body Mind and Spirit as a whole rather than separate parts acupuncture can also help with emotional problems as well as stress and issues of the spirit such as depression and anxiety with the same ease as it can address an arthritic knee or an irritable bowel.
The emphasis is always on treating the person rather than the disease.....so a common feedback from patients even after just a short course of treatment is "feeling better in myself"....That tells us that healing is happening deep inside. The inner strength is returning, balance is being restored and on that basis true healing can occur.