Brief history of Acupuncture
Brief history of Acupuncture
Acupuncture is an extremely old science, it is remote 5000 years ago. Its masterpiece is the Nei Ching. It is believed that this book was written by Emperor Hoang-ti, known as the Yellow Emperor, a deity in Chinese religion.
This famous book is the basis of acupuncture and consists of two parts. The first part is the So-oven, which is semiology, and the second part is the Ling-Shu, which describes the treatment with needles.
The yellow emperor is recognized for having done so much for the moral and physical health of his people, he was portrayed as cosmic ruler, a patron of esoteric arts. But, most importantly, he is known to have written the Huangdi Neijing, a medical classic.
Acupuncture is clearly one of the most important branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine. If it’s that important, it’s because it’s that good. A French consul in the year 509, witnessed the efficiency of Chinese acupuncturists when an epidemic ravaged China, once they returned to France, published the book “Understanding of the true Chinese acupuncture”.
The word acupuncture derives from Latin, acus: needle and puncture: sting. Acupuncture also requires heat to cure different diseases, for this we use grains or compressed sagebrush cylinders.
For Chinese in this field of study, this practice lies in the ancestral theory that energy is the origin of the manifested universe. That´s why they use needles, to redirect the unattended or release blocked energy in the channels where the energy flows that are spread throughout the body
To direct the energy, they stick needles into precise energy flow channels of the body that they call meridians.
Chinese medicine names energy as Qi, which means breath. It is shown under two different and opposite forms, but complementary. Yin is the feminine energy and circulates from the feet to the waist. Yang, on the other hand, is the masculine energy and circulates from the center of the head towards the waist.
Yin Yang is represented by a circle divided in half by a line in the form of S. The yang is represented by the light part and the Yin by the dark part. The point of different color on the opposite side represents the yin-yang embryo and vice versa.
For those who study this field, humans are considered as considers a micro-cosmos, subject to the same universal laws, to its changes and, specifically, to the energetic flow. In this balance lies the secret of health.
For the whole being to be healthy, these two forces have to be in balance, their imbalance causes disease. That is to say, that, according to acupuncture and Chinese concepts, the disease is an energetic imbalance. Thus, if this imbalance is restored, health is restored.
To modify the energy, different diagnoses are used, such as observing the patient’s tongue, eyes and pulse. Acupuncturist, in this way, perceive the affected meridian, and act on it.
Once the meridian is located, is punctured, which, the patient heals by reestablishing the correct energetic circulation that was affecting that area, and of course, previous habits need to change.