Al Stone, L.Ac.
Beyond Well Being
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicines
Santa Monica, CA.
(310) 264-6668
Imednick wrote:
How exactly does moxibustion work? Can one benefit from
burning it in a
bedroom while sleeping or is direct heat needed to allow the
aromatic
properties of the herb to penetrate the skin?
There are a number of syndromes in Chinese medicine that are considered either cold in nature i.e. a Yang deficiency, or are a direct result of an invasion of cold. Hypothermia is one example of this. The moxibustion is burned over the acupoint that is closest to the organ affected, or the location of the cold as is the case in arthritis that is aggravated by cold weather.
There are a few different paradigms at work in regards to how to apply the heat. Some people will take some dried, shredded moxa wool and roll it up, apply it directly to the skin and let it burn. That is the old school traditional way of doing it. It can leave little scars and so we avoid that technique usually in the West, which is kind of odd really, considering the number of patients I see with tattoos and body piercings.
I'll bet moxa scars could become a fashionable trend if the right people are doing it.
Anyway, another method is to use a rolled up cigar made of the same material as the wool and burn it above the acupuncture point in question. This works well, and it doesn't scar. Moxa sticks, as they are called, come in both the smoky traditional form and the so-called smokeless moxa. The smokeless moxa puts out good heat, but there is little, or should I say less smoke involved.
The moxa itself is made out of an herb called "Ai Ye" which is Mugwort leaves. It is also used internally as a medicinal herb mostly for gynecological problems that results in a stagnation of blood due to cold. You wouldn't just drop a moxa cigar into hot water, its really a different form of the herb that we use as a raw herb for teas.
The form that I like to use is a little tiny incense size cone that has a hole in the middle. That allows me to place it on the needle that I've inserted into an acupuncture point. I like this because it doesn't burn the skin, but it heats up the needle which transfers that heat deep down inside to take the heat where it needs to go via the needle.
Another paradigm says that you can roll up some of that moxa wool and instead of applying it directly to the skin, you can place it on top of a slice of raw ginger which is placed into the naval. This therapy is said to warm up the digestion. Cold in the body, especially in the digestion, or the tummy, can give rise to all sort of digestive problems including a great deal of stomach pain. But its not for any stomach pain. It can aggravate the symptoms if the pain is not due to an invasion of cold. Diagnosis is very important in this case.
Finally, some people pour some salt into the naval and burn the moxa wool on top of that. This is used for the so-called Kidney Yang deficiency. There are a variety of signs and symptoms that go along with that. Western medicine might call that a hypothyroid condition. Kidney Yang is the heat in the body that generates cellular activity and so there is a certain amount of overlap with the Western concept of the thyroid gland as well as the adrenal glands.
More recently, we've been using heat lamps which aren't so different from the lamps you'll find in a restaurant to keep the food warm. These are most often used for arthritic conditions since they can warm up the superficial levels of the body very well, though their efficacy for the more internal issues isn't very clear to me.
The only other form of moxa that I've seen is a spray on substance that has a warming property much like Tiger Balm or Ben Gay. I've used that a bit and wasn't ever too impressed with it, but there may be practitioners out there who do use it and like it for their own reasons.
Part of the therapeutic use of moxa in the herbal form is said to be the actual aromatic qualities of the smoke and so some people avoid the heat lamps for that reason. On the other hand, the moxa smells a lot lie burning marijuana and some avoid it because it fills the room with smoke. That can be a problem for some practitioners because of ventilation or other issues.
To answer your question, I wouldn't go to sleep with any of these tools being used. If you have a cold problem, try a heating pad that is designed for you to sleep with.
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Al Stone, L.Ac. |