ACUPUNCTURE

The following information about Acupuncture is provided as helpful background information from Shep Saltzman’s point of view as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine.

“Acupuncture, when practiced correctly, according to Natural Laws, is one of the most beautiful systems of medicine known to man. It is both an art and a science”-  J.R. Worsley

Balancing and moving Qi (pronounced Chee), which is also known as energy, or Life Force, are the main goals of treatment.

As a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I look for the cause of disease, not merely the symptoms. When the cause is treated, true healing occurs. All diagnosis and treatment is geared towards the cause of dysfunction. This is a major distinction between Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine.

There are two main schools of thought and practice in Acupuncture: Five Element Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Eight Principle). I practice and integrate both Five Element and Eight Principle Acupuncture.

FIVE ELEMENT ACUPUNCTURE

Five Element Acupuncture is designed to balance and integrate the function of the five elements: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.

The five elements represent basic forms of energy in the natural world. These are concepts as well as physiological realities. Each element is associated with a season. The seasons are metaphors for the element they represent. Consider the experience of each season, and you begin to understand the nature of each element. Below are some of the associations of the elements:

 

ELEMENT
 SEASON
 ORGANS
 CLIMATE
 EMOTIONS
Water/Blue
 Winter
 Kidney/
Bladder
 Cold
 Fear/Courage
Wood/Green
 Spring
 Liver/
Gall Bladder
 Windy
 Anger/Vision
Fire/Red
 Summer
 Heart/
Small Intestine
 Heat
 Joy/Sadness
Earth/Yellow
 Late Summer
 Spleen/
Stomach
 Humidity
 Compassion/
Lack of
Metal/White
 Autumn
 Lungs/
Large  Intestine
 Dryness
 Grief/
Enrichment

In Chinese Medicine there are five seasons. For example, late summer is the time between the heat of late August, and the time the leaves begin to fall. The harvest time is considered a sacred time for thousands of years in many cultures and traditions.

The elements get out of balance all the time, and the associated organs, and networks of energy associated with each element can respond to an intervention or a treatment. Energy co-exists on all levels at all times. Acupuncture is energetic medicine with the body, the mind and the spirit all treated simultaneously.  In treatment protocols, one of the levels is usually the focus.

Acupuncture points are special points along the meridians or energetic pathways. Each acupuncture point is unique, and it is the practitioner’s experience and the patient’s signs and symptoms that guide the choice of points for treatment.
Sterile, stainless steel needles (the width of one human hair) are inserted into acupuncture points that move the energy along the meridians and throughout the networks of energy. Often a patient can feel a sensation of energy moving which they may report as feeling calmer, filled with a renewed sense of strength and at peace.

How an acupuncture treatment works is different with each treatment. For example, stuck Qi is often a cause of pain. Stuck Qi means energy that cannot move - it is blocked. If the stomach Qi is blocked it can cause Stomach, Spleen or Pancreas pain or dysfunction which is an Earth imbalance.

The Elements have complex relationships. For example, Wood often affects Earth. In plain English, Liver disorders often affect the Stomach, the Spleen or Pancreas.

Balancing the energy is always one of the goals. When energy is imbalanced and stays imbalanced, the process of dysfunction begins. Energy by its nature moves. Keeping the energy moving smoothly is another goal of Acupuncture.

EIGHT PRINCIPLE ACUPUNCTURE

“Eight Principle” or Traditional Chinese Medicine is focused mainly on the following eight principles, instead of the five elements:
Yin
 Yang
Cold
Heat
Interior
 Exterior
Deficiency
 Excess

 “Qi energy is the life force which creates and maintains all living forms.  Yin and Yang are the two aspects of that energy. Yin energy rises from the Earth and creates Yang energy. Yang energy descends from the Heavens and penetrates the Earth”.
-  J.R. Worsley

When analyzed from Eight Principle Acupuncture methodology, the flu is often an excess condition. Fatigue is often a deficiency condition. Arthritis can be a mixed condition. Exterior conditions are more acute. Interior conditions are more chronic. Menopause symptoms are often a yin deficiency. Manic behavior is often a yang imbalance. Grief is often a profound yin experience.

Conditions are looked at in this context. Treatment is based on restoring balance to the above conditions or Principles.

Five Element and Eight Principle are both part of Chinese Medicine.  My original training in Acupuncture school was Five Element. I completed post graduate training in Chinese Herbology, including in-depth study of Eight Principle Acupuncture. Herbology is a profound study of herbs and many conditions, including but not limited to the Eight Principle Acupuncture.

Chinese Medical Philosophy

It is important to embrace the principles of Chinese Medicine into one’s life to get the maximum value from treatment. I always look at my patients’ lifestyle to see what actions they can take to create more balance. This involves looking at eating habits and food choices, the amount of work and rest, the level of sacrifice and enjoyment, the integration of personal goals and family goals, and anything that is out of balance. In today’s stressful world, with contaminated food and water, with our families spread out all over, we find ourselves drifting into unhealthy lifestyles, unhealthy relationships, and unhealthy practices.

Balance and movement are central to our lives. Our bodies are a microcosm of our lives, and our bodies reflect the quality of our lives.

The cultivation of wisdom, patience, tolerance, balance, movement, vision, connection with people, compassion, and courage are all part of embracing Chinese Medicine, of which Acupuncture is a part.
  --Shep Saltzman’s Point of View about Acupuncture