FIVE ELEMENT AND 12 OFFICIALS IN ACUPUNCTURE

Concept Of Five Element And 12 Officials In Acupuncture

Concept Of Five Element And 12 Officials In Acupuncture

Introduction

Acupuncture is one of the oldest forms of healing, for it has been used for almost two thousand years. The fact that it is still used today speaks for the validity of this form of treatment and for the principles on which it is based. These principles relate to the way the universe works and underlies the whole eastern culture and classical eastern medical thinking. (Worsley 1998: 112-120)

These principles were first recorded about 2000 B.C. in the Nei Ching (The Yellow Emperors' Classic of Internal Medicine) which explains how to live ones life in accordance with the natural law of the universe. This book examines the normal functions of the human body, bodily diseases and their causes as perceived by the physicians at that time. The book describes for the first time the theory of acupuncture and the meridians (which concerns the flow of the life force energy through the body).

How Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture (the insertion of very fine needles into specific points on the body) and moxabustion (the burning of the herb Artemisia Vulgaris Latiflora on the acupuncture points) treatment assists nature by influencing this energy in such a way as to return it to a normal flow and balance, thus allowing the body, mind and spirit to return to a state of health.

At this time, how acupuncture works is not clearly understood. No western physiological paradigm can fully account for the effects of this form of Chinese medicine. Work done by scientists to explain the observed effects tries to break the process down into the smallest individual parts, but the whole is much more than the sum of the parts. Therefore to understand acupuncture, I believe one must move from the usual scientific viewpoint and observe the process as the eastern mind does.

Classical Chinese medicine states that it is the vital force, (the life force, the Chi) in the body that controls the workings of the organs and systems of the body. This Chi circulates from one organ to another along channels or pathways called meridians, always following a fixed route. (Connelly 1994: 69-78)

There are twelve of these paired meridians, each feeding one of the main organs or functions of the body, i.e. the heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, circulation-sex, three heater, gall bladder, liver, lungs, colon, stomach and spleen. So that each of these organs and functions may be healthy and working properly and in harmony with each other, the Chi must be flowing freely, in correct strength and quality, through the meridians. Again, health is a state in which the body energies are in balance with equal amounts of good quality energy in each of the meridians and therefore the organs. Illness is a sign that this energy is out of balance. Symptoms of illness can be considered as "red flags" indicating an imbalance and correcting these imbalances relieves the ...