Qi stagnation – TCM & Moxibustion

Dredge Meridians

Dredging meridians is actually dissolving Qi stagnation, because meridians are the channels of Qi. When meridians are opened, Qi would run smoothly. In TCM there is a famous saying- ‘Stagnation leads to pain’, so the most typical manifestation of meridian blockage is pain, such as headache, back and leg pain, etc., which are all of the same cause.

When treating these diseases, I often perform acupuncture on corresponding acupoints first, and then moxibustion. Moxibustion features heat and dispersion, the acupuncture needles could conduct heat into the body, thus allowing heat to dissolve stagnated Qi in meridians. Once the meridians are dredged, Qi and Blood can reach the viscera, just like farmland being adequately irrigated, and diseases would heal naturally.

Moxibustion* of the following acupoints would treat back pain:

1. Shenyu

2. Yangguan

3. Weizhong

*Severe adverse effect may occur, one should not perform any type of moxibustion without instruction of person of rich experience or professional.

Cervical Spondylosis*

From a previous post, we know that Cold-evil, Qi stagnation, and Original Yang deficiency are the three major causes of illness among modern people. If these three factors could be dispelled, health would be restored most of the time. Therefore, as long as one follows three principles of expelling Cold-evil, dredging meridians, and supplementing Original Yang, most illnesses could be cured without seeing a doctor.

Cold-evil is the biggest external cause of modern illnesses. Take myself as an example, I am in my sixties now and still surf the internet for several hours each day. When keeping my neck in the same position for extended period of time, it is easy to catch cold, so I too was affected by a common disease-cervical spondylosis. So I started to wear a portable moxa box behind my neck** (similar to the picture below), which is a popular moxibustion method nowadays.

I recall not feeling any particular heat behind my neck after the first time, but utter chill. When touching the skin with hand, it was already very hot, but I did feel much cold. Since then I always felt my neck was cold. This is the sign of cold exiting the body; because moxibustion is based on the power of fire/heat, which could restrain the Cold-evil, and expel the cold lurking deep inside the neck.

I held on for a month, and then my neck felt warm, and cervical spondylosis was healed. This is an example of the principle of expelling Cold-evil.

*These cases are selected from a book “Various Diseases Treated by Moxibustion”, written by Shan Xiamin, a renowned Chinese doctor .

**Severe adverse effect may occur, one should not perform any type of moxibustion without instruction of person of rich experience or professional.

3 Major Causes of Illness (2)- Dredge Meridians- Back Pain

3 Major Causes of Illness (1) Dispel Cold-evil – Cervical Spondylosis