Posts

Acupuncture for a Clear Mind – The Spleen and Yi

Acupuncture for a worried, scattered mindAcupuncture for a clear mind is not usually a way that people think about when then think about having acupuncture treatments.

Imagine lying down for bed, but your brain won’t seem to shut off. The more quiet you try to create in your mind the more your mind revolts. It reminds you of all the things in your life you have on your “To Do List”. It tells you of all the things you have to worry about tomorrow and in the days ahead. It may seem like your mind is stuck on the “ruminate” setting!

This situation is all too familiar for many of us.

My last post looked at “shen” and acupuncture for mental alertness. The shen or “awakeness” is just one aspect of the mind. Today we look at “yi” – the cognition, or the intellect.

The health of the spleen (and also the pancreas) are critical for a healthy mind. These are the organs of the “earth” energy in the body. When the “earth” system is weakened it can result in a disturbance in the thought process. Often this manifests as over-rumination, but it can also show up as an unclear, foggy mind.

What is over ruminating? When people ruminate, they over-think or obsess about situations or life events, such as work or relationships. Research has shown that rumination is associated with a variety of negative consequences, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, binge-drinking and binge-eating.

Acupuncture may be able to help you re-establish clear thought. To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

/2 Comments/by

Examples of Yin and Yang

As I discussed in my last post, “What are Yin and Yang?”, the concepts of yin and yang are difficult to impossible to define. The best anyone has yet come up with to teach these concepts is to provide examples of each.

Here are some classic examples of yin and yang to help illustrate the distinctions:

Yin Yang
cold hot
female male
dark light
hard soft
low high
winter summer
matter energy
structure function
inner outer
descending ascending
accretion expansion

These are all complementary pairs. Each defines and contrasts the other. Without the one the other has no meaning.

It’s also important to realize what yin and yang are not. Not all pairs of concepts we generally hold to be opposites in our society are examples of yin and yang. For example, absent from this list are such pairs as “good” and “evil” or “right” and “wrong”. These concepts, while very important, are created by humans in order to establish order in our society. Nature has no need for concepts like right and wrong.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

/4 Comments/by

What are “yin” and “yang”?

Sign displaying the Taijitu and Bagua

What are Yin and Yang?

If you let most any acupuncturist speak for long the words “yin” and “yang” are likely to come out of his or her mouth. What do these words really mean?

First, I hear lots of people pronounce “yang” as if it rhymed with “rang”. Instead pronounce “yang” like it rhymes with “gong”. (i.e. with an “ah” sound) With that out of the way, on to the origin of the words.

The terms come from Taoist philosophy. The ancient taoists were extremely adept at observing and describing the universe and its dynamics. The terms came from the observation of the differing characteristics of the shady (yin) and sunny (yang) sides of a hill. Taoists realized that this dichotomy and duality exists in everything in nature. Furthermore they realized that without yin yang would have no meaning, relevance, or existence and vice versa.

Chinese words tend to be dense with meaning. These two words are no exception. Yin and yang are especially tricky as they somewhat defy classification as a part of speech. I would call them “noun-adjectives”, as they are slightly more noun than adjective. In use I might say “the yin of the body” or “kidney yang”.

Since yin and yang can be used to describe everything in the universe it is difficult to apply a definition to them. Instead the words are best understood through example. In my next blog post I will provide some examples of yin and yang to help create understanding of the concepts.

Yin creates Yang and Yang activates Yin.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

/2 Comments/by

Acupuncture Points Explored

Acupuncture - Needle in an acupuncture point

People often wonder how acupuncturists help people. What we do is located the acupuncture points. What is an acupuncture point?

Acupuncture points are the places on the body where an acupuncturist typically places needles. They are also the same points used in acupressure. But just what are they? What is special about these places on the body? How can points on one extreme of the body change what’s happening at the other end?

I wrote an article recently explores the topic of what acupuncture points are and how they are able to cause all of the amazing effects possible through acupuncture. It’s a heady look at the topic for the intellectually curious. The article is available here: What are Acupuncture Points?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the topic. Does this clash with your understanding of acupuncture points? Does it fit well or poorly with modern science? Please comment below.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

/2 Comments/by