Chinese acupuncture consists of inserting steel needles into various
body areas to treat health disorders. This treatment is applied to acupuncture
points located on specific meridians, which are located
throughout the entire body. Originally there were 365 points, corresponding to
the days of the year, but now this number has increased to around two thousand
points. Some practitioners may also place needles at or near the site of
disease, whereas others select points on the basis of symptoms. In traditional
acupuncture, a combination of points is often used.
Acupuncture is an ancient form of
healing which pre-dates any recorded history. The philosophy of acupuncture is
heavily rooted in the Taoist tradition, which is said to go back over some 8000
years. Tradition tells us that Fu Hsi, who lived approximately 8000 years ago,
is the founder of the philosophies that encompass acupuncture as well as many
other things in the Chinese culture. We are told that by observing nature,
Fu His formulated the first two symbols of the I-Ching, a broken line and
unbroken line, and how these two symbols represent the two major forces in the
universe – creation and reception - and how their interaction forms life. He
named this duality yin-yang and they represent the backbone of Chinese
Medicine and acupuncture. Fu hsi then discovered that when yin-yang fuse, a
creative action occurs, and this gives birth to the third aspect. Fu His
then pondered on how this triplicity occurs eight times and this led to the
eight trigrams and then 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching (Book of Change).
The use of acupuncture can be trace
back to at least the New Stone Age; during this period stones were refined into
fine needles and served as healing instruments. These stones were referred to
as bian stone - which means to use a sharp edged stone to treat
disorders. Many bian stone needles were excavated from ruins in China dating
back to the New Stone Age. Hieroglyphs have been discovered that date
approximately around 1000 BC and show evidence of Acupuncture.
Acupuncture
is the oldest known form of medicine, and has more published, practiced and
documented works than any other form of medicine. The Nei Ching or The Yellow
Emperor's classic of Internal Medicine is the earliest known text on
acupuncture. It is believed to have been written some where between 2690 and
2590 B.C. The Nei Ching is an extensively detailed manual explaining all the
treatment methods for a wide range of ailments. It has been used for thousands
of years as the foundation of modern acupuncture. From about 260-265 A.D., the
physician Huang Fu Mi, organized all of the ancient literature into his classic
text -Systematic Classics of Acupuncture
and Moxibustion. The text is twelve volumes and describes 349
Acupuncture points. It is organized according to the theory of: zang fu, Qi and
blood, channels and collaterals, acupuncture points, and clinical application.
This book is noted to be one of the most influential texts in the history of
Chinese Medicine.
The earliest European reports
about acupuncture came from some Jesuit missionaries around the 16thcentury. In
fact, French Jesuits coined the word acupuncture, from the Latin acus (needle)
and punctura (puncture). Although it
had been widely accepted that these encounters represent the earliest known
European introduction to acupuncture, acupuncture may have actually been a
practice familiar to ancient Europeans. The mummified remains of the Austrian
Iceman, who has come to be known as Öetzi, were found in the Italian Alps in
1991. The mummy is believed to be over 5,000 years old. A series of tattoos was
discovered on Öetzi's body, which corresponds to the locations of traditional
acupuncture points still in use today. It has been suggested that these ancient
Europeans might have been aware of the practice of acupuncture earlier than had
previously been thought.
http://www.internalhealers.com/