Acupuncture

Acupuncture is the insertion of fine needles into the body at specific points shown as effective in the treatment of specific health problems. These points have been mapped by the Chinese on so called "Meridians" over a period of two thousand years. Recently, electromagnetic research has confirmed their locations.

Meridians are the channels or pathways that carry Qi and Blood through the body. They are not blood vessels. Rather, they comprise an invisible lattice that links together all the fundamental textures and organs. In Chinese Meridian theory, these channels are unseen but are through to embody a kind of informational network -- the Qi and Blood move along them, and a therapeutic system is conceptually organized through the details of its design. Because the Meridian system unifies all the parts of the body, it is essential for the maintenance of harmonious balance. The Meridians connect the interior of the body with the exterior. This is the basis of acupuncture theory, that working with points on the surface of the body will affect what goes on inside the body, because it affects the activity of the textures that are travelling through the Meridians.

A related technique, moxibustion, entails the application of heat from certain burning substances at the acupuncture points. The primary moxa, or heating substance, is mugwort (artemisia vulgaris). The action of the needles or of moxibustion affects the Qi and blood in the meridians, thus affecting all the substances and organs. The needles can reduce what is excessive, increase what is deficient, warm what is cold, cool what is hot, circulate what is stagnant, move what is congealed, stabilize what is reckless, raise what is falling, and lower what is rising.