Moxibustion is a type of heat therapy used in Chinese Medicine for hundreds of years, bringing countless benefits to our health. Moxa comes from the dried leaves of a plant called mugwort, that when lit and applied close to acupuncture points, dissipates the cold that can lodge in our energy channels, joints, muscles, fascia and bones.
In order to understand why this form of heat can be beneficial for us, we need to understand the very opposite, what does cold exposure causes to the body?
In Chinese Medicine we talk very often about pathogens, which are basically anything that can be aggressive and damaging to our health. Some of the most common pathogens are: cold, heat, dampness, dryness, wind, lifestyle imbalances, emotions, diet and so on, that when too strong or repetitive, can cause disease. Let’s focus on cold pathogen today in order to get a deeper grasp on the benefits of heat therapy.
We can get exposed to cold in different ways: either by not wearing appropriate clothes according to the weather, consuming cold and raw foods, overexposure to AC or to outdoors during winter, walking bare foot on cold floors, practicing cold plunges or showers, applying ice to injuries etc. When that happens, the body, that has a natural warm temperature to function optimally and move freely; contracts, gets stiff, circulation decreases, nourishment and movement slows down, giving room for congestion to rise, which will generate pain. There’s a famous Chinese Medicine axiom that says:
” 通则不痛，痛则不通” tōng zé bù tòng, tòng zé bù tōng, which means: If there’s free flow , there’s no pain, if there’s pain, there’s no free flow.
There can be different causes for the free flow of energy, blood and body fluids to stagnate generating pain. Cold can definitely be one of the reasons but not the only one. The decrease in the very production of the body’s “raw” materials mentioned above such as: body fluids, essence (vital force), Qi (energy) and Blood, which by insufficiency will end up slowing down its natural flow and stagnating, can be seen often in the clinic due to a fast paced and imbalanced lifestyle.
So even though moxibustion is very known for its efficacy in dissipating cold, it has also many other wonderful healing properties and functions that will help the body to: revitalise qi, strengthen and move the blood, heal damaged tissues, entice the body to produce body fluids, help the healing of nerves, help to recover the optimal function of the organs, stop bleeding, sooth menstrual pain, increase fertility, help ease achy joints and much more, which ultimately will treat the root cause of the stagnation that produced the pain in the first place.
This herb when used alone in the proper acupoints or in combination with acupuncture can have very deep effects in the body, including speeding up the healing of injuries, calming the nervous system, promoting deep relaxation, helping with better sleep and increasing our energy levels.
And so, who would benefit or not from such treatments? In general, the best answer for that will be given by your Licensed Practitioner, as Chinese Medicine don’t treat conditions but instead, treats people suffering from a certain condition. Only treating pain, without looking at the whole picture, would completely dismiss the person with their unique body’s constitution and needs.
We say that small children (younger than 6 years old) or people that already have a lot of pathological internal heat, or heat caused by deficiency like menopause for example, which is a hormonal deficiency (called Yin Deficiency in Chinese Medicine), should not receive moxibustion. But again, that is a very superficial way of seeing things. A seasoned practitioner sees the whole picture and, in some cases, will treat heat with heat, or will choose to work on a determined part of the body or acupoint even in a person that already has internal heat, depending on what the practitioner wants to achieve and depending of the situation presented at the moment. That is the beauty and the challenge of it.
Moxibustion is such a gem and a great tool of Chinese Medicine. Receiving this treatment can be a very safe, pleasant and healing experience, when provided by a professional that understands how to proper diagnose the patient in order to apply it, and has the training that is required to handle it well.
Would you like to know if moxibustion is the right treatment for you?