History

Acupuncture forms one of the major components of Chinese Medicine. The first Chinese medical textbook, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, was first compiled over 2,000 years ago.

Since that time Chinese medicine has been developing and refining whilst accumulating a vast amount of clinical experience. It is probably the oldest and most continuous and coherent system of healing that has been practiced. Today, acupuncture remains an integral component of the health care provision in China, as well as many other Asian countries and increasingly in western society.

Underlying all theory in Chinese Medicine is the awareness that human beings are intricately connected to the natural environment around us. Our health depends on our ability to live harmoniously and adapt to the world around us. Simply this means dressing, eating and behaving in accordance with the seasons, the weather and the natural cycles of day and night.

The foundation of Acupuncture is built around the concept of qi, blood and its movement within the channel network of the body.

Qi circulates within a network of channels that integrate the human body.

QI (pronounced ‘chee’)

The concept of qi is used to explain the ‘vital energy’ that animates the body and sparks the various functions of the human body. It is qi that instigates the movement of blood through the body. It creates warmth, movement and flow in the body. When qi flows we have a sense of well-being, we will look bright and be happy. When qi does not flow well we often have a sense of dis-ease, constraint or pain.

As all things in the environment are interconnected our bodily systems (our organs, nervous, immune systems) are also interconnected. They are so closely connected that if one function goes out of balance then every other part will be affected. The system can be brought back to balance by treating the channel system that circulates and integrates the body.

Much like a river system supporting the local landscape the channel system irrigates and supports the body’s landscape. The main river in the system, a blood vessel, branches out in to smaller and smaller tributaries, called ‘luo’ vessels in Chinese.  This river system also supports the ecology of the river bank. In our body this would be everything form lymph, muscle and skin.

Qi and blood circulate through the channel system connecting all parts of the body into a functional organic whole, regulating all aspects of human life such as respiration, digestion, reproduction, emotion and thought. This circulation network of pathways was clearly defined and illustrated over 2,000 years ago.

The flow of qi can be disrupted in different ways: emotional upset, physical trauma or environmental exposure, poor diet, medications and overwork or repetitive strain, are all common examples.

Acupuncture looks to find the reason for the disharmony in the flow. Then by performing acupuncture and moxibustion along the channel pathways we are able to influence and restore balance to the flow of Qi and thus to the flow of blood. When circulation is restored the body can return to health.

Understanding how this pattern of disharmony manifests in each patient leads to an individualised acupuncture treatment.  This is how at Family Acupuncture we are able to successfully assist your body to rebalance itself.