The different styles of acupuncture As the vast majority of people have very little knowledge when it comes to acupuncture in the first instance, it goes without saying that there are several different styles of acupuncture that a practitioner can specialise in. So what are the different styles of acupuncture? Classical Acupuncture This is the oldest known style of acupuncture based on the Classical texts of Oriental medicine. The teaching is based on the collective wisdom of core texts such as the Nanjing, Nejing Su Wen and Ling Shu amongst others. Little trivia fact – the Su Wen is the oldest medical text book dated by scholars to the late Warring States period (475-221 BC). Classical acupuncture approaches health holistically, taking into consideration all aspects of the person, including their physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual health in order to deliver a very specific treatment for the individual. Often fewer needles are used following a thorough diagnosis process to identify the root cause of imbalances in the body that are causing symptoms. Five Elements/Phases This was integrated into the elements found in nature – wood, fire, earth, metal and water; each of which had an particular affinity to the season attributed to it, e.g. wood and spring both describing and upward energy flow. From this there has developed a complete system of correspondences that can directly relate to each of the elements/seasons to include emotions, mental state, parts of the body, actions of the body, sounds, colours to name a few. Using diagnosis to discover which element is out of balance and a treatment to correct. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Acupuncture-needling Following the communist revolution, the Chinese government authorised the establishment of four colleges of Chinese medicine. Their goal was to standardise elements of traditional medical knowledge extracted from modalities of treatment belonging to several different pre-communist schools and medicine from the West. This lead to the term TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) being coined. Therefore, TCM, in spite of its name, is the modern Chinese Medicine: an attempt to find a harmonious integration between the Chinese Medical tradition and Western Medicine. Japanese Style Acupuncture Similar to the Classical approach, Japanese acupuncture is subtle in nature, also using fewer and thinner needles with minimal stimulation. Mostly the diagnostic principles are that of five element acupuncture but, the difference in Europe at present is that there are currently no colleges that offer an undergraduate or foundation course making it difficult for those new to the study of acupuncture to gain any qualification and subsequent professional membership. There is plenty of opportunity to study this at post graduate level.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 11:22:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015