Staying in Balance

 

Bonnie Diamond, Licensed Acupuncturist

Easthampton, Massachusetts

781-718-6325

health@bonniediamond.com

 

 

Staying in Balance Volume 4

The Power of Acupuncture

Why has acupuncture survived for over 3,000 years, and why have its basic tenets remained the same?  Over the past decade of studying and practicing Oriental Medicine, I have become more and more in awe of its power and universality.  Here are the reasons why I feel that acupuncture is so powerful.

 

Illness is Seen as Imbalance

While Western Medicine uses rigid and narrowly defined categories of disease to diagnose and treat patients, Eastern Medicine uses a much more fluid concept.  It sees shades of gray, rather than black and white.  Fatigue, a child’s cold, allergies, unexplained pain, cancer, high blood pressure, back pain, migraines, poison ivy – the easily diagnosed and the unexplained – the physical and psychological – all are seen as imbalances in the body.

 

Treatment is available for the full spectrum of health and disease.  Acupuncturists are equal opportunity healers.  We give attention to the person who has twisted their ankle, as well as the person who is close to death.  Both individuals are out of balance, but in very different degrees.

 

Illness is Viewed Holistically

We look at organs in terms of their functionality rather than in terms of the actual, physical organ.  The lungs govern respiration, the heart governs circulation, the spleen governs digestion, the kidneys govern reproduction and development, and the liver governs the smooth flow of energy in the body.

 

Under this system, an imbalance in one organ may lead to imbalances in other organs.  A liver imbalance may lead to a spleen imbalance and present itself as a digestive problem, or, it may lead to heart symptoms like palpitations.  Correcting the root or main imbalance in the system often causes seemingly unrelated symptoms to clear up.  While we treat symptoms, we focus initially on the root imbalance.

 

A clinical example is a patient who comes in with low back pain.  The root cause may be due to a pulled muscle – spleen related, poor posture w/a skeletal abnormality – kidney related, or a weakened immune system – lung related.  In each case the treatment would be different.  We look at the part – the symptom, pain or stressor – in terms of the whole.

 

Mind & Body are Connected

Each organ has an emotional component.  Anger is associated with the liver, pensiveness with the spleen, sadness with the lungs and fear with the kidneys.  We view psychological problems in the context of the physical and vice versa.  For example, excessive thinking or worry may lead to digestive problems – both spleen imbalances.  Treatment may rely on all of the following: modifying behavior, modifying diet and strengthening the spleen through acupuncture treatments.  Whether the physical or psychological occurred first is less important than correcting the imbalance.

 

Prevention is Part of the Package

Long before Atkins, the Zone, the South Beach diet, spinning, marathons, aerobics, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and Freudian analysis, acupuncture offered a system of balanced living.  Proper diet was determined using the energetic nature of foods.  Different foods are by nature warming, cooling, drying or damp.  Imbalances in the body can be corrected by eating appropriate foods.  Lack of, or excessive exercise, as well as inappropriate emotional responses, are seen as causing disease.  Built into the model of acupuncture is the idea of prevention through balanced diet, exercise and emotional well-being.

 

Side Effects are Minimal

Read the literature that goes along with any pharmaceutical drug and you may wonder if the cure is worse than the disease.  Ponder surgical interventions and find yourself considering risks of anesthesia and infection, plus the amount of time needed to heal from surgery.  Acupuncture is minimally invasive and it nicely complements Western medicine without any contraindications.  The fine, hair-like needles used in acupuncture treatments are disposable and used one time only. Treatments are generally relaxing experiences and are usually free of pain.  There is no recovery time after treatment.  As healers we don’t attack the disease, which at times causes side effects.  Rather, we work with the body, helping it to heal.

 

Attention is Given to the Individual

Two patients with the exact same patterns of imbalance might be treated differently depending on their age, body strength and personality.  The theory of acupuncture can be studied in the classroom, but the meridians, acupuncture points and pulse qualities only exist in the body.  Patterns of imbalance cannot be seen under a microscope.  In some ways Western medicine has taken the power of healing away from the patient and placed it in the hands of the scientist, the chemist and the surgeon.  Lives often depend on the expertise of these professionals.  However, when their work is done, acupuncturists bring the focus back to the person.

 

Recognition of the Body’s Ability to Heal

Acupuncture’s greatest power comes from recognizing the bodies’ natural ability to heal.  Homeostasis refers to the maintenance of a relatively stable and constant environment in the body.  Feedback systems are at all times working to maintain optimal temperature and optimal concentration of gases, nutrients, ions and water in the body.  Acupuncture works with this system of maintaining balance in the body.  This ability is a constant.  The diseases and cures that Western medicine discovers,  come and go.  It's not surprising that acupuncture, with its focus on maintaining balance, remains eternal.

 

Link to Staying in Balance—Volume 5