Acupuncture For Cold Relief

Contrary to what most people believe, acupuncture is not just needles going into the skin to achieve some kind of esoteric effect.   No, it is much more than that.

Acupuncture is truly an art and a philosophy. A system that helps to achieve an awareness and wellness strategy, so that the recipient becomes proactive not only in their healthcare choices, but even their thoughts and actions!

However, by inserting tiny, painless hair-like needles along pathways, or “meridians, ” into strategic points, an extremely beneficial effect on the body/mind continuum begins to happen. This usually results in decreased inflammation, decreased pain response, and increased immune function. In simple, acupuncture cues the C.N.S (brain and spinal cord) to begin a powerful interior correction and balance. The needles address any interference, as the body tends towards wellness in the first place.

Succinctly speaking, T.C.M. (traditional Chinese medicine) seeks to place an overall balance with the eight components or paradigms:

• Yin/yang
• Hot/cold
• Dry/damp
• Excess/deficient

Let’s apply this to the case of the common cold. What usually happens? The patient usually feels a sore throat, headache, neck pain, sinus congestion, a cough etc.

The trained acupuncturist will seek to decrease heat (sore throat), release the excess stagnation (neck pain and aches), unblock sinus congestion, and subdue or eliminate cough (excess dampness and inflammation).

The acupuncturist can do this by easily tonifying or strengthening the kidney/adrenal complex (or yin) to boost immune function and lung quality. The acupuncturist also does this by moving “Qi ” (life force energy) throughout the body, and by moving the silent rivers and energy network in the body, replacing pain and inflammation with a sense of ease and peace.

Usually a sore throat is a sense of fatigue, sinus inflammation, and sometimes a cough and fever. Chinese medicine looks not to fix treatment symptoms, but rather introduce a state of balance back into the body mind continuum.

Sore throat equals heat. Let’s raise the coolant in the body sinus infection inflammation. Let’s reduce that. Fever, fatigue, and let’s fortify the systems. The systems are simple. There’s Yin/Yang, hot/cold, excess/deficient, dry/damp. Let’s look at these elements in relation to what a cold might be.

The job of a trained acupuncturist is then to create a balance, or even to help reverse what interference is blocking the wellness strategy. But so much more is being done than instilling the strategy. As I spoke about before, usually a sense of consciousness comes into play. The person realizes their participation and why they have a cold. Were they doing something they weren’t supposed to, with stress getting the best of them? Was fear involved?

We begin not to look at the symptoms as adversarial, but rather as gateways into a deeper exploration of our own consciousness.

This is why people keep coming back. The more consciousness and awareness that is raised, the more harmonious and adaptable the system becomes to interference and imbalance. This makes us less susceptible to imbalances and interference in pernicious influences.