HEALTH & WELLNESS
W hen utilized by a trained and licensed acupuncturist (R.Ac) or a TCM Practitioner (R.TCMP) there is a laundry list of illnesses and issues that can be treated effectively, most commonly being muscle pain, migraines, stroke, IBS and infertility just to name a few. The harder job is to actually explain how and why it works. Acupuncture and TCM as a whole are medical models that are thousands of years old and are rooted in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism (pronounced Daoism) which, to strip down to the bare bones, teaches you to live in harmony with nature. Taoism teaches that there is a natural flow to the world and universe at large which you can see in the changing of the seasons and the flow of night into day and day into night. This energetic flow is called Qi (pronounced chee). Qi can be further broken down into Yin and Yang, which goes further to explain how these states of nature flow and change from one to another and back. The Yin aspect of Qi is related to nighttime, winter, cold, liquid, storing of resources, etc. while the Yang aspect of Qi is related to daytime, summer, heat, growth and the using of resources. For example, summer would be a Yang season and we might expect to see more heat related issues such as high blood pressure or constipation. Winter would be a Yin season in which we would expect to see things like pain, oedema or diarrhea. This same Qi and flow exist in the human body as well, and by understanding how Qi flows in the body and how external forces such as temperature/seasons/emotions and external pathogens (illness and disease) affect that flow, you can predictably explain how an illness or symptomatology will progress and change as it enters into a person.
The way the Qi is affected as pathogens move into the body is how disease arises. Back pain isn’t just back pain in TCM; it can have different root causes based on how the Qi is acting in the body. As soon as Qi has been affected signs will start to show up, the first are usually changes in the quality and feel of the pulse and shape and texture of the tongue. A trained acupuncturist will be able to look at these, along with asking questions about a patient’s overall health and personality, and put together a diagnosis and path the disease is taking through your system. With this information a selection of points will be chosen that will then be needled with the intention of directing the patient’s Qi in a certain direction. If, for instance, the Yin aspect of the patient’s Qi is low, you might choose a point that adds more yin or unblocks the flow of yin that might have been obstructed. If you are able to find what is unbalanced internally then, by choosing the right points, an acupuncturist will be able to rebalance the patient and ultimately fix the issue at the root of what was causing the imbalance in the first place. By this logic we are able to treat disease in a wide range of body systems by directing the flow of Qi towards the organs affected. The thing that sets TCM apart from allopathic (western) medicine is that since Qi is usually the very first thing to get affected, before larger or more obvious body systems, acupuncture makes it possible for extremely early intervention before an illness has the opportunity to progress to a point where it is more serious and could become threatening to either your life or enjoyment of life.
Adam Slamang is the owner/ acupuncturist at Acuflow Wellness, located in downtown Charlottetown. Adam is new to the Island, coming originally from Vancouver, B.C. He focuses his practice on using the Balance System of Acupuncture. You can get in contact with Adam on his website www.acuflowwellness.ca or at @acuflowwellness on Facebook and Instagram or call 778-998-6483
WINTER 2020 www.pei-living.ca
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