Let's All Do Tai Cheez!

Here's a cute photo to inspire you to do your tai cheez:

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Pruning deadwood

Plants love to be pruned. I’ve been seeing the results this spring: we did a major pruning job last fall on our lilac bush, which was too tall and leggy, and we cut it back to half its size. That lilac is looking so wonderful this spring: filled out below, lots of leaves, all around happy. Our Japanese weeping maple tells the same story: after pruning, the tree is lighter and more airy and has a lovely shape.

I’m taking some inspiration from the lilac and maple as I am cleaning out the basement. I’m thinking of it as pruning…getting rid of the dead wood down there. For the past two weeks, I’ve been doing something every day, even if it is just something small, like throwing one thing out, or putting one thing in the recycle bin, or cleaning something, or giving one thing away via freecycle.org.

The basement has some space in it now. And getting rid of deadwood feels great!

Watch acupuncture in action!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6339272n

Message for Springtime

Happy spring!

Within Chinese medicine and tai chi, the concept of "sung" (pronounced soong) is important for health and vitality. The Chinese character for sung includes two images. The first, letting down hair, recalls the proper movements for spring: "Let your hair down and take large steps in the courtyard." In other words, relax your mind, and stretch and loosen your tendons and ligaments in the spring.

The second image in sung is a pine tree, a tree that has so much vitality that it keeps the green color of life all year long, even when other trees have lost their leaves.

So sung means something like "to become like a pine tree," cultivating strength and stability that is deeply rooted and resilient. The roots of the tree are stable, while the upper branches are light and clear, illustrating a perfect balance between heaven and earth. The uprightness of a tree illustrates strength that is flexible and adaptable, never rigid.

Whenever you are facing challenges or are becoming stressed this spring, imagine being like a pine tree. Let your shoulders drop down, loosen your weight into your feet, and take slow, easy breaths. As you exhale, relax into a state like a pine tree: rooted, strong, resilient and clear.

Acupuncture is not just needles: there's MOXA

People generally assume that acupuncture means needle treatment only. There are other tools in my kit, and moxa is one of them. People have always used warmth to heal, from the warmth of hands to the warmth of the household fire. We acupuncturists use a plant called moxa for its warming and healing properties.

Moxa is used most during cold weather, so I'm using more moxa these days, since it's starting to get cooler. When I use moxa on someone's back, for instance, they usually say, "Mmmmmmmm." If you are a really hot person, though, you probably won't have moxa in your treatment.

Moxa warms and activates. We use dried moxa on the skin before or after an acupuncture point is treated, and sometimes moxa is used instead of needles (especially when treating children or those who are afraid of needles).

Moxa is helpful for many conditions, especially when there is cold in some part of the body. The most common way that I apply moxa is to put a small dried piece of it on an acupuncture point, and then touch the moxa with a small piece of lit incense. As the moxa smolders, the patient feels the peaceful, penetrating warmth and tells the practitioner when to remove the moxa. The skin is never hurt.

Another way I apply moxa is by warming areas of the body with moxa sticks about half an inch in diameter and a few inches long. When the stick is lit at one end and moved around above the surface of the skin, the penetrating, dry warmth brings pleasant energy to the whole area.

Sometimes it's not our physical body that is cold: our minds can get cold and bitter, or our spirits can be frozen and inflexible. The movement and warmth of moxa can bring healing to all parts of us.

The Currents of Qi

Chinese Legend of the Great Flood

One of the legendary Five Patriarchs is Yu the Great. During a time of great floods in China more than 5000 years ago, Yu's father Gun worked for years to stem the floods by building dams to block the water. When his dams didn't hold, he got his head chopped off, and his son Yu inherited the job (poor guy!).

Yu worked for a decade to control the floods, but rather than making dams to block the flow of the water, he dredged channels to direct the flow of the water. After his great success, Yu was made ruler in tribute to his perseverance.

Acupuncture uses the ancient ideas of Yu: we release blocks in the currents of qi to give the qi somewhere to go when it is stuck.