Moxibustion
Moxibustion Torquay
What is moxibustion treatment?
Chinese medicine is referred to as Zhen Jiu in Mandarin. It translates and acupuncture and moxibustion. The first word is needle, the second is in moxibustion. Moxibustion is an integral part of Chinese medicine and other forms of oriental medicine although it is not as widely known about in the West. Moxibustion treatment is the combustion of moxa over acupuncture points for therapeutic benefit.
How is it used?
Moxibustion is frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine. This therapy is used to warm the channels and encourage the flow of qi and is therefore often used to treat coldness or pain in the body. It can be used in conjunction with acupuncture or as a standalone treatment. Moxibustion techniques can used without needles by hovering the heat above selected acupuncture points such as with a moxa box or with rice grain threads of pure moxa. Moxa can also be applied over slices of ginger to increase the warming effect. It is also applied over salt to disperse it’s effect. Moxa is also be applied to acupuncture needles known as warm needle technique. Moxibustion can be smoky or smokeless.
What is moxa?
Artemisia vulgaris, a herb commonly known as mugwort or Ai Ye in Chinese is the material used in moxibustion. There are thousands of different types of moxa used in Oriental medicine. Pure moxa, which is otherwise known as moxa punk, is a soft fluffy material made from the mugwort leaves. Owing to it’s pliable texture moxa punk can be rolled into different shapes such as rice grains, balls, pyramids or sticks. Each shape provides a different level of combustion and hence has different applications. Moxa sticks are compressed mugwort which is often combined with other herbal ingredients to provide different therapeutic effects.
This UNESCO video of Chinese medicine includes some information about moxibustion at 3min 52secs.
Shura uses a variety of types of Moxibustion Torquay.
