Balancing Your Meridians with Moxibustion: The Invisible Pathways of Qi
The Chinese use the term “jing luo” which means channels, conduit, or most commonly the meridian. These are the invisible channels through which Qi can circulate throughout your entire body.
The acupuncture points (or holes as the Chinese term “xue” is translated) are the locations where the Qi moving within the channels rises closer to the surface of your body. There are twelve main meridians, six of which are Yin and six which are Yang. There are numerous minor pathways forming a network of energy channels throughout your body. Their pathways are very similar to your body’s own nervous system.
When Qi flows freely through your meridians, your body is in balance and healthy, but if the energy becomes blocked, stagnated, or weakened, it can result in physical, mental or emotional disharmonies. An imbalance in your body can result from inappropriate emotional responses such as: excess anger, over-excitement, self-pity, grief and fear.
Environmental factors such as cold, dampness, humidity, wind, dryness and heat can also cause your body to become out of balance including factors such as eating a rich and high sugar diet, excess sexual activity, excess work levels and physical exercise.
To harmonize your body’s balance, an acupuncturist stimulates the appropriate acupuncture points, releasing the stagnant Qi blockages, counteracting the imbalance(s) and allowing the Qi to flow properly throughout your body.
For instance, if you basically have stagnant digestive Qi [reflecting as a bloating, gas, low appetite, loose bowels and so on…] the acupuncturist may choose specific points that stimulate and tonify your Digestive Qi progression.
If the Qi is too cold the acupuncturist may choose to use moxibustion to warm specific points. Moxibustion is either the burning of a special herb attached to the end of specific acupuncture needles to introduce the element of warmth or heat into your body through the acupuncture points, or the use of a moxibustion-stick [it looks like a cigar] burning one end and directing the heat, approximately 1 cm from the specific points.
In this way the acupuncturist can effectively rebalance your energy system and restore health. The points that the practitioner may choose to stimulate might not necessarily be at the exact site of your symptoms (the further away, the more powerful), but very much related. It is imperative to understand that a “clogged” point may be very painful to open, especially after years of stagnation. It may take many treatments to reverse and open the meridian, leading to a clear Qi flow and a harmonized existence!