Originating in China more than 2,500 years ago, Acupuncture has been used around the world as a holistic health treatment to help prevent, diagnose, and treat pathologies of various types and severity. The traditional explanation for Acupuncture’s effectiveness is that it harmonizes the flow of energy in the body through the manipulation of recognized "Acu-points". Even modern science has taken interest in these claims and has successfully confirmed the existence of these Acu-points, or bioenergetic centers, that beset the human body.
The Circle of Life: Connecting Modern Science to Ancient Healing
As children, we all learn about the circle of life and the importance of the sun’s light beaming down onto the plants so they can photosynthesize this energy into food. Nutrients and energy are then passed down the chain until it finally reaches your dinner plate. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating steak and potatoes or quinoa with vegetables, they all come from the same beginning and provide the same thing in the end, energy; it cannot be created nor destroyed and can only be transformed, infinitely. It is this simple foundational belief that acts as a bridge between modern science and ancient healing methods.
Fixing Your Body: Mr. Potato Head vs. Dominos
Sphygmomanometers, stethoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, tongue depressors, and reflex hammers, are some of the tools a modern physician can use to help examine and diagnose the current state of energy, or health of your body. Unfortunately, modern medicine tends to look and treat the human body similar to Mr. Potato Head, the children’s toy, where the broken or uncooperative part of the bodily system can be changed and manipulated without affecting the whole.
Alternatively, natural healing methods like Traditional Chinese Medicine look at the human body and bodily systems like dominoes, where the cascade of energy flows from one cell to the next, one system to the other, from beginning to end, and in many cases, back around again.
Needles, cups, moxibustion, and herbs are some of the tools an Acupuncturist can use to help adjust and harmonize this continuous circle of life. Understanding that energy is not only within us, but also surrounding us, constantly flowing through and around us, is where the strength in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine lie.
A Poem to Tie it All Together
We can see energy in the sky, or even taste it in a chicken thigh, cry all day or laugh it away, energy always has something to say. When we separate the energy of our bodies into individual parts, it becomes just a thumb or a toe, but when we bring it back into a whole, energy is all that we know. From ancient beliefs to modern reliefs, Acupuncture helps to control the flow.
Rather than separating the parts of our whole, these traditional methods recognize that family, friends, food, and foes are all comprised of energy, and affect our flow. In this realm of healthcare, it is clear that financial, spiritual, physical, and childhood fears now act as dominoes in our remaining years.