Forum - Article 8 / energy flow

Translated by Dr. Lim Siow Jin @ 2014 all rights reserved.

8. Exo-yang disorder, if headache is healed by itself after seven days, it is due to the pathogenic energy that has completed one cycle of circulation in the exo-yang meridian. If the pathogenic energy is still lingering, it may advance into endo-yang. We can apply acupuncture on the endo-yang meridian on the foot, let the good energy flow smoothly, this can resist the pathogenic energy from advancing into endo-yang and heal the sickness.

Notes:

Ancient Chinese doctors believed that the blood and energy are constantly circulating in the body. Modern science has proven that blood indeed circulates freely in the body but there is no direct prove that energy is circulating the body. It is believed that during certain hours in the day the energy flows through and concentrates on different organs of the body. By observing in which hours of the day the sickness occurs, we can diagnose what's wrong inside the body. This is the time diagnosis method. It is very accurate and thus we do believe that energy is flowing inside the body, even though we can't prove it directly.

If after seven days, the exo-yang syndromes still persist, it may then advance into endo-yang. To prevent this from happening, we may apply acupuncture on the endo-yang meridian, which is the spleen meridian in modern acupuncture. Nowadays we seldom use this technique anymore. But applying acupuncture together with herbs was common in ancient times.

Even without acupuncture, when there is signs that the heat has advanced into the body, we do add Shi Gao, the pure gypsum, or Ge Gen, the kudzu root, into Guizhi soup or Ma Huang soup to clear the internal heat and prevent the heat from advancing into the body. Nowadays this practice is more common than acupuncture.