Moxibustion and Cupping

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MOXIBUSTION & CUPPING A Look Into Traditional Oriental Medical Therapies To start out my research paper, I started asking people who are up to date on holistic healing what an interesting subject would be. After numerous ideas, such as acupuncture, raiki, and crystal therapy just to name a few; I finally settled on 2 ancient Chinese forms of medicine that are usually applied concurrently with acupuncture called moxibustion and cupping. The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘I am somewhat familiar with cupping but what in the world is moxibustion?’ I had the privilege of being able to speak to Jennifer Savage MSL.Ac. She is a licensed acupuncturist who has a thriving practice in Atlanta, GA. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with her about her healing techniques while she was visiting San Diego for a work conference. She is responsible for turning my attention over to moxibustion and cupping. The actions of cupping and moxibustion are explained by theory from acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Specifically, health and illness are manifestations of the circulation of Qi (vital energy or life energy) through the person. These techniques are used to influence the circulation of Qi, or to alter its subtle qualities, in order to relieve symptoms in the body. Since, moxibustion therapy is not as main stream as other forms of holistic healing I would like to first begin with an introduction to the history of moxibustion and how the practice is used. Moxibustion is an ancient form of fire acupuncture therapy. When a disease fails to respond to herbal medicine and acupuncture, moxibustion is suggested. It is a form of fire heat treatment that stimulates specific acupuncture points of the body. The term is derived from the Japanese "mogusa" meaning herb (mugwort) and the Latin "bustion" meaning burning. This form of healing is believed to have begun
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