 Believe it or not, the patient has a job to do during an acupuncture session. Now, this job is not as obvious or as active as the job of the practitioner, but it is equally as important. Aside from simply taking a load off and resting on the table for a half hour or so, one of the most crucial things that you as the patient can do is pay attention, observe, or listen to yourself in a gentle, yet disciplined way. Let me allow Buddhist monk and author, Thich Nhat Hanh to elaborate. Below are passages taken from his book, The Heart of Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. Here, he outlines a practice for developing what is known in Buddhist teachings as Right Mindfulness, a practice that harmonizes and connects mind and consciousness with the physical body, which you will come to see were never really separate in the first place.
"In the Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, the Buddha offers four objects for our mindfulness practice: our body, our feelings, our mind, and the objects of our mind... The Four Establishments of Mindfulness are the foundation of our dwelling place [and the foundation of the patient's practice during an acupuncture treatment]. Without them, our house is abandoned; no one is sweeping, dusting, or tidying up. Our body becomes unkempt, our feelings full of suffering, and our mind a heap of afflictions..." Mindfulness of the Body "The first establishment is 'mindfulness of the body in the body. Many people hate their bodies. The feel their body is an obstacle... When Sister Jina, a nun at Plum Village, teaches yoga, she always begins by saying, 'Let us be aware of our bodies. Breathing in, I know I am standing here in my body. Breathing out, I smile to my body.' Practicing this way, we renew our acquaintance with our body and make peace with it... We begin by noting all of our body's positions and movements. When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we stand, walk, or lie down we know we are standing, walking, or lying down... "The second way the Buddha taught us to practice mindfulness of the body is to recognize all of our body's parts, from the top of our head to the soles of our feet... We observe whether our forehead is relaxed and whether it has wrinkles. With mindfulness we touch our nose, our mouth, our arms, heart, lungs, blood and so on... "The third method for practicing mindfulness of the body is to see the elements that it is made of: earth, water, fire, and air [these elements are discussed slightly differently across different traditions, but the practice is the same regardless]... Earth refers to things that are solid, and when we see the earth element in us we realize that there is really no boundary between ourselves and the rest of the universe. Next, recognize the element of water within you [the cooling and nourishing qualities of body and mind]. After that, we recognize the fire element, which means heat. For life to be possible, there must be heat. The best way to experience the air element is to practice mindful breathing. 'Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out...' We don't try to control our breathing. Whether our in-breath is long or short, deep or shallow, we just breathe naturally and shine the light of mindfulness on it... Mindfulness of the Feelings "The second establishment is 'mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings.' Feelings is just one of the fifty-one kinds of mental formations. In us, there exists a river of feelings in which every drop of water is a different feeling. To observe our feelings, we just sit on the riverbank and identify each feeling as it flows by and disappears... When we have a pleasant feeling, we may have a tendency to cling to it, and when we have an unpleasant feeling, we may be inclined to chase it away. But, it is more effective in both cases to turn to our breathing and simply observe the feeling, identifying it silently... Our feelings are not separate from us or caused just by something outside of us. Our feelings are us, and, for that moment we are our feelings... If we face our feelings with care and affection, we can transform them into a kind of energy that is healthy and nourishing... We all have difficult emotions, but if we allow them to dominate us we will become depleted. Emotions become strong when we do not know how to look after them. When our feelings are stronger than our mindfulness, we suffer. But, if we practice conscious breathing day after day, mindfulness becomes a habit..." Incorporate these practices into your daily life, including the time you spend on a treatment table during an acupuncture session. Turn your attention to your body, checking in with each section from top to bottom. Then, give notice to how your breathing moves your body, and where it is able to reach in your body. Of great importance is learning to feel your breath move into your lower abdomen, below your belly button. Don't strain body nor mind during any of this. As Thich Nhat Hanh has said, "Smile, breath, and go slowly." Thanks for reading. Nhat Hanh, Thich. "Right Mindfulness." The Heart of Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. New York, Broadway Books, 1999, pp. 67-70.
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 The following are notes based on a talk given by my teacher, Dr. Arnaud Versluys, Founder and Managing Director of the Institute of Classics in East Asian Medicine. The topics covered here are often brought up when discussing the rich history and fundamental principles of Chinese Medicine with patients and Western medicine colleagues. Each point below can be understood on its own, as they are taken out of a larger discussion for the sake of simplicity here.
 The Shang Dynasty is the earliest empire in recorded Chinese history, of which there exists some archeological evidence. The first, possibly mythical, dynasty in Chinese history that came before the Shang was the Xia Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty lasted from about 1766 - 1027 B.C., give or take a few years, of course. The Shang ruled in northern China, with their kingdom situated along the Huang He, Yellow River.
During this time, the first writing system was developed, in which pictographic and ideographic characters were inscribed into bones. These bones also play a central role in the medical system of the time, as will be discussed shortly. The Shang society is said to have produced the earliest known evidence of both the prevention and treatment of illness to be found within Chinese culture. The Shang were ruled by a centralized king, and the majority of all other citizens were peasants who lived in the small rural towns outside of the capital. Daily life was occupied by livestock maintenance and agricultural work. Although they were considered to be beneath the king, each member of society held a specific role and attempted to maintain the integrity of the whole to the best of their ability. The only members of society whose status was superior to even the king were the deceased ancestors, who were believed to continue to influence the lives of the living even after they were physically gone. The most important ancestor was Ti. Ti was the reason for the changing of the seasons, and also for good and bad fortune. It was the king's job to make sure that Ti was pleased, and he did this by communicating with Ti, as well as with his own direct ancestors, through the use of oracle bone divination. The bones of animals, particularly tortoise shells, after having several holes pierced through them, were presented to the king. The king would then make his inquiry or request to the ancestors and expose the bone to heat. This heating would produce cracks in the bones that were interpreted by the king as the will of the ancestors, guiding political and other decisions to be made for the benefit of society. Individual illness, as well as community-wide pandemics and bad luck, were believed to come about whenever Ti or any other ancestor became displeased. The entire community sought to please one another's ancestors to ensure that this did not happen. In early China, sickness was mainly linked to curses brought on by the ancestors, and in order to prevent or cure illness, the Shang king spoke directly to the ancestors on behalf of the afflicted persons. The king was the one and only link to the deceased, making him a healer as well as a leader. Healing was done on a mass scale, and included the entire society as a whole. In addition, sacrifices and offerings of precious items were made to both prevent and counteract illness. Unschuld, Paul U. "Illness and Healing in the Shang Culture." Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1985, pp. 17-28.  The image above is written in an ancient East Asian script, with the characters representing the words -- or more accurately, the idea and feeling of -- "great nature." The meaning of these words may seem simple enough to grasp, and after reading it once on a business card, sign, website, or elsewhere, you likely never gave it another moment's thought. That is why I am writing this blog. I'd like to share a bit with you about why I specifically chose this as the name for my Oriental Medicine clinic. Please read on. I think you'll find this short blog intriguing. Much of the information presented here comes directly from the writings of Rev. Koichi Barrish, Senior Shinto Priest of Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America; as well several other print and online sources that will be cited below.
The kanji above is written with two parts -- one of which reads Dai, meaning "great;" and the other reading Shizen, meaning "nature." But, of course it is not quite that simple. "Traditionally, shizen meant 'naturalness' more so than 'nature.' Literally, the meaning is 'from itself (shi) thus it does (zen).' Shi refers to what is spontaneously so. Etymologically, shizen is traceable to the Chinese word ziran, which points to the spontaneous birth, growth, and transformation of life" (Tucker 161). Daishizen is the path of life, laid out for observation, study, and guidance by the natural world. The fundamental qualities of birth, growth, maturation, decline, and death are modeled in the movements of the seasons as the Earth revolves around the Sun. This cycling occurs on a faster, smaller scale as well -- as the daily rise and fall of the sun in the sky, which guides our patterns of sleeping, eating, working, and more. Great nature does not only imply a nature that acts great, with a meaning similar to "good" or "helpful," but more specifically references a nature that is to be honored and respected. We owe our lives to the details of the universe in which we live: food grows because the Earth happens to be located at just the perfect distance from the Sun; our planet is mostly liquid, which allows us to constantly refresh and clean ourselves; raw materials from the earth give us the ability to fashion tools for weapons and for building homes; etc. Great nature is an all-ecompassing term with multiple layers of meaning, and so it is no surprise to learn that it can also mean the natural, physical world that we live in with all of the various forms of life that we see, from plants and animals to viruses and bacteria. To paraphrase Rev. Koichi Barrish, the movements of Heaven, Earth, and Great Nature encompass all of the transformations, interchanges, and dancing that is going on in the cosmos, from the largest macro scale down to the smallest microscopic level. Human beings are right in the middle of all of this. Daishizen is the infinite spiraling ocean of life as understood to extend from the beginning of our known universe [and before] right down to this very moment in time. The term represents human beings' ability to live in harmony with nature, and any disconnect from this source will lead to personal, societal, and even global illness. In order to tune in to this, we must first develop a feeling of immense gratitude for being alive (Barrish). Nature is our main teacher. It is always self-correcting, evolving, and swinging towards, through, and past a state of equilibrium; and since humans are intimately connected to all of this, we can, and must, adapt and live according to what is called for in each moment. We can learn to do this by paying attention to our diets, practicing meditation, learning to exercise and exert ourselves in varying ways based on the time of year, and of course, by receiving acupuncture and taking herbal medicine. Oriental Medicine is specifically designed to fine tune the various functions of our bodies and minds so that they can work in perfect sync with each other. All of the movements and happenings inside our bodies -- the rise and fall of our chest and abdomen with the breath, extracting nutrition from the food we eat, sweating when we are hot, shivering when we are cold, happiness, sadness, etc. -- are exactly the movements of the universe at large. Daishizen is closely tied to another Japanese term, Kannagara. "The life of man is located in Daishizen, the vast cosmic setting into which we are born, where we live, and within which our lives find any meaning. [Kannagara] is the...spontaneous awareness of...the flow of life... It is a principle of universalism...that calls [humans] back to the roots of basic insight... Kannagara has to do with spirit, and with bringing the spirit of man and his activities into line with...Great Nature. The spirit of Great Nature may be a flower, the beauty of the mountains, the pure snow, the soft rains, or a gentle breeze. Kannagara means being in communion...with the highest level of experiences of life... To be fully alive is to have an aesthetic perception of life, because a major part of the world's goodness lies in its often unspeakable beauty" (Yamamoto 71-72). Great Nature, Daishizen, means living an active life -- not in the sense of physical fitness, but in the sense of taking charge of our own well-being by eating a proper diet, maintaining a good attitude, responding to illness and misfortune appropriately and timely, etc. Many of the lessons to be learned in life deal with spirit, with intention, and with resiliency. Think deeply about the kind of life you want to live. What does it look like? How would your life be if it were awesome? Reach in that direction. Give THAT your energy. All of the above, and more, is in accord with the meaning of Great Nature. Thank you for your time. ~ Clint Cain, LOM Barrish, Rev. Koichi. Facebook. Shinto/Tsubaki America Grand Shrine. www.facebook.com/groups/tsubakishintoshrine Tucker, John A. "Japanese Views of Nature and the Environment." In: Selin, Helaine. Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures, vol. 4. Springer, Dordrecht, 2003. Yamamoto, Yukitaka. "The Origins and Basis of Shinto." Kami no Michi: The Way of the Kami, The Life and Thought of a Shinto Priest. Stockton, Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, 1985.  Moxibustion, which is often abbreviated as moxa (pronounced, mokusa in Japanese), is the stimulation of acupuncture points with warmth. Moxa goes hand in hand with acupuncture, and in fact, it likely predates the use of needles to alleviate sickness in ancient China. The characters for shinkyu (zhenjiu in Chinese) means "acu-moxa therapy," or "acupuncture and moxibustion." We can see right away that the two therapies are of equal importance. In the Japanese language, mokusa means "burning herb," which tells us precisely what this modality consists of -- burning very small pieces of a dried herb on or near the skin at specific places deemed necessary for treatment. You'll notice that within the field of Oriental Medicine, including this blog, the term moxa simultaneously refers to the treatment modality itself and the herb that is used.
Moxa is performed using a variety of mugwort called Yomogi in Japanese, or Aiye in Chinese. Pieces of this herb are lit and allowed to smolder for a short period of time. There are many different ways in which moxa can be applied, but they can all be placed into one of two categories, direct or indirect. Direct moxa means burning very small cones -- about the size of half of a grain of rice -- directly on the skin. Indirect treatment can refer to placing a piece of moxa on the head of an inserted needle and allowing it to burn, or holding a rolled stick of moxa just above the skin. Whichever method is applied, moxa is a very safe and effective tool to use alongside, or sometimes in place of, the use of acupuncture needles. Yomogi is found in temperate climates of Asia, Europe, and North America. It is a perennial plant that belongs to the daisy family. It has a strong fragrance, and is similar in appearance to chrysanthemum. Yomogi grows to be about four or five feet tall, and it has leaves that are deep green in color, with light brown flowers. The fresh leaves are harvested between May and August, and are then left to dry in the sun before being ground and sifted to remove coarse material. This process is repeated until the desired consistency is achieved. Moxa is graded based on the intended use of the final product. Moxa used for direct, rice grain style application requires more processing in order to yield a more refined, higher quality product; while moxa that is rolled into sticks is often processed less. Premium moxa is aged, yellow in color, and has a fine, fluffy, wool-like feel. At Great Nature Oriental Medicine, we use premium moxa for all applications. Moxa developed in the northern regions of China, where bitterly cold and icy winds prevail. People living in this climate often developed conditions presenting with abdominal fullness, masses and growths, opportunistic infections due to a weakened immune system, musculoskeletal issues, and more. Moxa is used in a wide variety of diseases, including, but not limited to, those just mentioned. Moxa can be used to improve blood circulation, reduce inflammation, stimulate the functioning of the internal organs, relax the sympathetic nervous response, and so much more. In Japan, research has shown that moxa treatments can increase the number of white blood cells, boost immune function, shorten blood clotting time, dilate blood vessels, improve gastrointesinal motility, and enhance liver function, all of which contribute to its ability to relieve pain, reduce stress, and clear congestion and blockages of many kinds. |
This page is intended to serve as a source for links to blogs and articles about acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine that both new and returning patients may find informative and/or entertaining. It is also where I will share information about the history, principles, and benefits of this awesome medicine. 
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