Acupuncture Therapy

Acupuncture Therapy Rebalances the Powers of QI

Unlike western medicine, acupuncture therapy has its original roots in ancient traditions that lie outside of modern science. Acupuncture therapy comes out of Traditional Chinese Medicine. There is a whole philosophy to traditional Chinese medicine that goes beyond the scientific and explains why and how the body functions the way it does. The essence of this explanation centers on what is called Qi. Pronounced by westerners as "chee", this Chinese philosophy teaches that it is the body's essence, its energy and when this becomes unbalanced or the flow somehow gets interrupted, either by being blocked or disturbed in some manner, that a person becomes ill.

When this happens there must be some way to correct it. Chinese medicine uses herbal treatments, new exercise patterns such as martial arts training, diet change or acupuncture to make these corrections. Following with this philosophy is yin and yang. To the outside world yin and yang are water and fire. When talking about a person's body they represent blood and Qi. The body takes its energy from the food and fluids it consumes and the air it breathes. It further gets energy from the environment through the ways we deal with it via meditation and forms of exercise. If the body's Qi becomes out of balance then it is unable to properly absorb the things it needs for energy and so has trouble dealing with temperature, fighting disease and tiredness.

According to this philosophy there are five separate purposes that Qi serves. To begin with there is the defense of the body. The job of Qi here is to protect the body from illness. It supposed to protect the body from allowing germs and illness to enter through the body's defensive system. The next function of Qi is transformation. It is supposed to take those things the body consumes and transform them into the nutrition that the body requires. In this way it nourishes the body. By the process of transformation it makes more Qi and blood for the body. The next one is warmth. Qi is thought to be more yang than yin so it is naturally warm to begin with. But if something blocks the natural energy of the body the warmth will be affected as well and so the body will be cold. One of the most important jobs of Qi is to keep the body warm. This means the inner body as well as the outer. The philosophy of Chinese medicine says that the blood congeals when it gets cold and so the flow is no longer good enough. Qi must also take care of the body's organs, keeping them in the proper places and ensuring they function properly. It is believed that if this job is not done it can cause incontinence or prolapse during pregnancy. The final function is movement; every part of the body that must move is controlled by Qi. Acupuncture therapy is thought to correct the balance and thereby positively affects the body.