Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Why not try Tao?
Trying to conceive? Why not try Tao?
The ancient Chinese method of using diet to help women get pregnant
getCSS("17452499")
Books on
Smart new titles for your kids
James Patterson asks: What's on your bookshelf?
Discuss: Are you a Harry Potter fan?
An interview with author Sonia Manzano
Get your kids reading, join Max's flock
getCSS("3315076")
Special series: “I Want a Baby”
In a special series, TODAY talks to expectant parents and experts about infertility and solutions.
Video: Viewers' questions answered
Excerpt: 'Gay Dads'
Video: Parents discuss adopting
6 common adoption myths dispelled
Video: Why women miscarry
allDAY: Painful loss of a miscarriage
Video: Women who face infertility
How to up your pregnancy odds
RESOLVE: National infertility resource
Miscarriages: Facts and treatments
Discuss: Can't get pregnant?
getCSS("3314183")
INTERACTIVE
TODAY anchors pick their favorite kids' books Meredith, Al, Ann, Matt and Natalie fondly recall their childhood favorites.
TODAY
updated 6:30 p.m. ET May 3, 2008
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Getting pregnant is one of those things that most women try to avoid for years. But when a woman finally decides it is time, her chances of getting pregnant can be hindered by her fertility. Dr. Daoshing Ni, a specialist in reproductive medicine, and Dana Herko, a patient, have written a how-to guide of Chinese medicine to help woman having trouble conceiving. Here's an excerpt: Finding Your FootingAfter thousands and thousands of years in exile, the Monkey King finally gets a break. Buddha summons him and tells him to get ready, for a long journey awaits him. A monk has been appointed to bring back the sacred scriptures. He will have to travel all the way from China to India and then back again, with the Monkey King as his escort.
Fortunately, the journey you are about to embark on is not quite as long, at least not when measured in miles. But the challenges you face trying to get pregnant can be every bit as daunting. You need to prepare yourself for whatever lies ahead. How can you do this when you might not even know what you are facing? You do it by making sure you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually strong before taking even a single step.In traditional Chinese medicine, the mind, the body, and the spirit are one. You do not live your life in a vacuum. Nor do you stand still — you are in motion every second, every minute, every day of your life. Imagine a clock with the pendulum swinging. But while the pendulum is moving, so is the clock, trying to find balance in motion. Now think of your body. When you are stressed, overworked, emotional ... guess what happens?
You leave yourself vulnerable to outside forces like viruses, germs, and bacteria. Sickness, by definition, is the imbalance of yin and yang, or interopposing and intersupporting forces.
Story continues below ↓
advertisement
dap('&PG=NBC9CO&AP=1089','300','250');
You are a complete and complex individual with a unique constitution. What establishes being in balance for you is entirely different than balance for someone else. Our circumstances, our surroundings, our genetics all leave an imprint on us. In traditional Chinese medicine, there are no absolutes. Everything is relative. There’s no such thing as perfect health. But there is better health. And better health means better fertility. You hold the power to attain it.
You could say that my family has been at this for a long time. I come from almost seventy-six generations of Taoists. Taoism is a lineage, in the same way Judaism and many other spiritual traditions are. But it’s less a religion than a way of life. It is based on embracing nature and understanding the world. It teaches you to care about improving yourself. Most importantly, it teaches you to always embrace nature rather than damage it. In a way, it’s not that different from what Henry David Thoreau, in Walden Pond, believed: that you must preserve nature at all costs. We believe this because the answers to life’s questions lie in nature.In order to try and understand the philosophical underpinnings of balance — of health and sickness, of life and death — Taoists focus on.
“Don’t give up until you’ve opened yourself up to alternatives. This is something that is holistic. Your spirit is so crushed by the process of fertility, and Dao raises up your spirit in a human way. He thinks of you as a person and not just a baby machine. This is part of what he offers — a way of treating the whole person. He gives you a realistic picture in a very ancient but modern way. He allowed me to go on with my life when I was in my deepest despair.”
A child growing up as I did in the Taoist tradition chooses early on which of these paths to walk. There’s astrology, as in fortune-telling, which teaches how constellations and human energies affect out lives. I Ching is another form of fortune-telling, but one based on randomness. It teaches how to handle and manage changes in our lives. Another path is feng shui, the study of how the placement of objects affects our energy and how our physical environment can be conducive to our life force. There’s martial arts, which teaches how to find inspiration and knowledge in the observation of animal movement in nature — a knowledge that can then be used to strengthen our body and increase our understanding of the relationships among people. And finally, there is healing.
I was predestined to be a healer. I started on this path when I was just a little boy. But I did not start with the study of medicine or healing, because for Taoists, the five paths are just extensions of life itself. My father and mother taught me first and above all how to be a good person. That is the Taoist way. We started with an understanding of the good and the bad in the universe, and learned how life worked. My brother — who is also a healer — and I learned to sweep floors, to help out, to understand the importance of family and the social unit. We also learned the importance of cultivating yourself and taking personal responsibility. Many people hear the word responsibility and think of some heavy burden. But as a child, my responsibility was to play hard and study hard, and to appreciate the life I was given. That’s all I was asked to do.
Yet even as I went about my everyday life of playing and doing simple chores, I was learning profound lessons. Take a little thing like sweeping the floor. Looking back, I see that sweeping was so much more than cleaning. It was the way I swept the floor: the patterns I created, the way I felt when I was doing the task. Every day, there was a different energy to my sweeping. Some days, I felt impatient. Other days, I felt so good that I did a little extra work. And on those days when I felt particularly happy, I could see things I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, like the dust particles on the hardwood floor and the way they danced in the light.
By the time I was in elementary school, I started learning tai chi chuan and chi gong, two Taoist forms of meditative exercise that require.
“There are so few people who really love what they do — and he [Dr. Dao] does. You can read it on his face. But I don’t know if he understands how much he empowers the women he sees.” contemplative thinking and silence. At the time, I didn’t understand this silence and why the people were standing like statues. But slowly I could see the value of this kind of quiet time and the lessons you could learn from it. It taught me how to be calm. That was the real beginning of becoming a healer. I was learning the Taoist ways that would prepare me to go on and learn the practice of Chinese medicine.
So what is Taoism? As I’ve mentioned, it’s the philosophy that you are one hundred percent responsible for your behavior. You are your own behavior; your actions are a reflection of your energy. Above all, Taoism means looking beyond your immediate world. If, for example, safety and prosperity are provided to me, I, in turn, give back more to the world to make it a more peaceful place. As a healer, one of the ways I can do that is to help people actualize their life and their potential. If your goal is motherhood, my role is to serve as your guide along the way.
I am thankful for what I have. I must embrace whatever life dishes out. And I must do so without prejudice, without blame, and without frustration. That is what the Taoist tradition teaches me. Life is a process, a journey of many different destinations. So come, let us begin.
The Importance of Good Nutrition Have you ever seen a beautiful flower growing in concrete? Most likely, you have not. A flower needs more than the sun and water to grow. It needs nourishment. It cannot thrive in rocks and dry dirt. If it doesn’t get the right mix of soil and nutrients, it will wither and eventually die.
Like that flower, you need good nutrition in order to maintain good health and to ensure your fertility. The best way to good nutrition is through food. Obviously, there are situations where you might use supplements and vitamins. But if you are relying on them as your main focus, you are wrong. Eating healthy foods should be your primary concern. Your body absorbs nutrients the best from whole foods. Taoists have a particular perspective when it comes to food. In the United States, we tend to talk about food in terms of the form it takes. Is it fast food? Organic? Natural? Processed? Prepared? But food is like everything else in the Taoist tradition: it’s all about harmony and balance — yin and yang.
getCSS("3088867")
Video
'The Tao of Fertility'May 2: Dr. Daoshing Ni and Dana Herko, authors of the new book "The Tao of Fertility," explain how traditional Chinese ways of preparing for pregnancy can complement Western medicine.
Today Show HealthGrowing up, I ate the food my mother prepared. It wasn’t until I began to learn Taoist and traditional Chinese medicine that I realized her cooking and food preparation have always been based on the yin-and-yang principle, which takes into consideration both the energetic qualities and the taste of food.
All foods — and for that matter, herbs — have five tastes. The sweet taste is nourishing and calming. If you have ever suffered from PMS and craved sweets, then you know what I am talking about.
Sweet foods can calm and quiet down the nervous system when inner stress strikes. The sour taste is astringent and consolidating. Berries, oranges, and vinegars are a few examples of sour foods. They are very good at holding up the body, especially when it is fatigued. The third taste, pungent, is dispersing and moving. Spicy foods fall into this group. They are good at warming the body by moving our circulation. The fourth taste is bitter. The body craves bitter foods like coffee or tea when it needs an energy or mood pickup, or when it needs to feel cleansed. And finally, there is the salty taste. Think of meat tenderizers — they soften the meat. So salt relaxes and softens the body.
In addition, all foods carry one of four qualities. Foods are hot (to invigorate and heat up the body), warm (to gently warm the body), cool (to gently cool the body), or cold (to vigorously cleanse the body). It’s all a matter of common sense, really. When you are chilled in the winter, you need foods like hot soup, beef, or lamb. If, however, you are running a fever and need to be cooled down, pears, watermelon, and water can help.The Chinese believe that the end result of observing these food qualities and then combining them in a harmonious manner is good health and a sense of well-being. There’s nothing mysterious or complicated about it. It’s another way of saying that you should be mindful of what you eat, and of when and why you are eating it. As we shall see, these things are greatly important when you are eating to improve your fertility.
Excerpted from "The Tao of Fertility," by Dr. Daoshing Ni and Dana Herko. Copyright 2008. Reprinted with permission from HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
The ancient Chinese method of using diet to help women get pregnant
getCSS("17452499")
Books on
Smart new titles for your kids
James Patterson asks: What's on your bookshelf?
Discuss: Are you a Harry Potter fan?
An interview with author Sonia Manzano
Get your kids reading, join Max's flock
getCSS("3315076")
Special series: “I Want a Baby”
In a special series, TODAY talks to expectant parents and experts about infertility and solutions.
Video: Viewers' questions answered
Excerpt: 'Gay Dads'
Video: Parents discuss adopting
6 common adoption myths dispelled
Video: Why women miscarry
allDAY: Painful loss of a miscarriage
Video: Women who face infertility
How to up your pregnancy odds
RESOLVE: National infertility resource
Miscarriages: Facts and treatments
Discuss: Can't get pregnant?
getCSS("3314183")
INTERACTIVE
TODAY anchors pick their favorite kids' books Meredith, Al, Ann, Matt and Natalie fondly recall their childhood favorites.
TODAY
updated 6:30 p.m. ET May 3, 2008
function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) {
var n = document.getElementById("udtD");
if(pdt != '' && n && window.DateTime) {
var dt = new DateTime();
pdt = dt.T2D(pdt);
if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,((''.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true));}
}
}
UpdateTimeStamp('633454506131000000');
Getting pregnant is one of those things that most women try to avoid for years. But when a woman finally decides it is time, her chances of getting pregnant can be hindered by her fertility. Dr. Daoshing Ni, a specialist in reproductive medicine, and Dana Herko, a patient, have written a how-to guide of Chinese medicine to help woman having trouble conceiving. Here's an excerpt: Finding Your FootingAfter thousands and thousands of years in exile, the Monkey King finally gets a break. Buddha summons him and tells him to get ready, for a long journey awaits him. A monk has been appointed to bring back the sacred scriptures. He will have to travel all the way from China to India and then back again, with the Monkey King as his escort.
Fortunately, the journey you are about to embark on is not quite as long, at least not when measured in miles. But the challenges you face trying to get pregnant can be every bit as daunting. You need to prepare yourself for whatever lies ahead. How can you do this when you might not even know what you are facing? You do it by making sure you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually strong before taking even a single step.In traditional Chinese medicine, the mind, the body, and the spirit are one. You do not live your life in a vacuum. Nor do you stand still — you are in motion every second, every minute, every day of your life. Imagine a clock with the pendulum swinging. But while the pendulum is moving, so is the clock, trying to find balance in motion. Now think of your body. When you are stressed, overworked, emotional ... guess what happens?
You leave yourself vulnerable to outside forces like viruses, germs, and bacteria. Sickness, by definition, is the imbalance of yin and yang, or interopposing and intersupporting forces.
Story continues below ↓
advertisement
dap('&PG=NBC9CO&AP=1089','300','250');
You are a complete and complex individual with a unique constitution. What establishes being in balance for you is entirely different than balance for someone else. Our circumstances, our surroundings, our genetics all leave an imprint on us. In traditional Chinese medicine, there are no absolutes. Everything is relative. There’s no such thing as perfect health. But there is better health. And better health means better fertility. You hold the power to attain it.
You could say that my family has been at this for a long time. I come from almost seventy-six generations of Taoists. Taoism is a lineage, in the same way Judaism and many other spiritual traditions are. But it’s less a religion than a way of life. It is based on embracing nature and understanding the world. It teaches you to care about improving yourself. Most importantly, it teaches you to always embrace nature rather than damage it. In a way, it’s not that different from what Henry David Thoreau, in Walden Pond, believed: that you must preserve nature at all costs. We believe this because the answers to life’s questions lie in nature.In order to try and understand the philosophical underpinnings of balance — of health and sickness, of life and death — Taoists focus on.
“Don’t give up until you’ve opened yourself up to alternatives. This is something that is holistic. Your spirit is so crushed by the process of fertility, and Dao raises up your spirit in a human way. He thinks of you as a person and not just a baby machine. This is part of what he offers — a way of treating the whole person. He gives you a realistic picture in a very ancient but modern way. He allowed me to go on with my life when I was in my deepest despair.”
A child growing up as I did in the Taoist tradition chooses early on which of these paths to walk. There’s astrology, as in fortune-telling, which teaches how constellations and human energies affect out lives. I Ching is another form of fortune-telling, but one based on randomness. It teaches how to handle and manage changes in our lives. Another path is feng shui, the study of how the placement of objects affects our energy and how our physical environment can be conducive to our life force. There’s martial arts, which teaches how to find inspiration and knowledge in the observation of animal movement in nature — a knowledge that can then be used to strengthen our body and increase our understanding of the relationships among people. And finally, there is healing.
I was predestined to be a healer. I started on this path when I was just a little boy. But I did not start with the study of medicine or healing, because for Taoists, the five paths are just extensions of life itself. My father and mother taught me first and above all how to be a good person. That is the Taoist way. We started with an understanding of the good and the bad in the universe, and learned how life worked. My brother — who is also a healer — and I learned to sweep floors, to help out, to understand the importance of family and the social unit. We also learned the importance of cultivating yourself and taking personal responsibility. Many people hear the word responsibility and think of some heavy burden. But as a child, my responsibility was to play hard and study hard, and to appreciate the life I was given. That’s all I was asked to do.
Yet even as I went about my everyday life of playing and doing simple chores, I was learning profound lessons. Take a little thing like sweeping the floor. Looking back, I see that sweeping was so much more than cleaning. It was the way I swept the floor: the patterns I created, the way I felt when I was doing the task. Every day, there was a different energy to my sweeping. Some days, I felt impatient. Other days, I felt so good that I did a little extra work. And on those days when I felt particularly happy, I could see things I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, like the dust particles on the hardwood floor and the way they danced in the light.
By the time I was in elementary school, I started learning tai chi chuan and chi gong, two Taoist forms of meditative exercise that require.
“There are so few people who really love what they do — and he [Dr. Dao] does. You can read it on his face. But I don’t know if he understands how much he empowers the women he sees.” contemplative thinking and silence. At the time, I didn’t understand this silence and why the people were standing like statues. But slowly I could see the value of this kind of quiet time and the lessons you could learn from it. It taught me how to be calm. That was the real beginning of becoming a healer. I was learning the Taoist ways that would prepare me to go on and learn the practice of Chinese medicine.
So what is Taoism? As I’ve mentioned, it’s the philosophy that you are one hundred percent responsible for your behavior. You are your own behavior; your actions are a reflection of your energy. Above all, Taoism means looking beyond your immediate world. If, for example, safety and prosperity are provided to me, I, in turn, give back more to the world to make it a more peaceful place. As a healer, one of the ways I can do that is to help people actualize their life and their potential. If your goal is motherhood, my role is to serve as your guide along the way.
I am thankful for what I have. I must embrace whatever life dishes out. And I must do so without prejudice, without blame, and without frustration. That is what the Taoist tradition teaches me. Life is a process, a journey of many different destinations. So come, let us begin.
The Importance of Good Nutrition Have you ever seen a beautiful flower growing in concrete? Most likely, you have not. A flower needs more than the sun and water to grow. It needs nourishment. It cannot thrive in rocks and dry dirt. If it doesn’t get the right mix of soil and nutrients, it will wither and eventually die.
Like that flower, you need good nutrition in order to maintain good health and to ensure your fertility. The best way to good nutrition is through food. Obviously, there are situations where you might use supplements and vitamins. But if you are relying on them as your main focus, you are wrong. Eating healthy foods should be your primary concern. Your body absorbs nutrients the best from whole foods. Taoists have a particular perspective when it comes to food. In the United States, we tend to talk about food in terms of the form it takes. Is it fast food? Organic? Natural? Processed? Prepared? But food is like everything else in the Taoist tradition: it’s all about harmony and balance — yin and yang.
getCSS("3088867")
Video
'The Tao of Fertility'May 2: Dr. Daoshing Ni and Dana Herko, authors of the new book "The Tao of Fertility," explain how traditional Chinese ways of preparing for pregnancy can complement Western medicine.
Today Show HealthGrowing up, I ate the food my mother prepared. It wasn’t until I began to learn Taoist and traditional Chinese medicine that I realized her cooking and food preparation have always been based on the yin-and-yang principle, which takes into consideration both the energetic qualities and the taste of food.
All foods — and for that matter, herbs — have five tastes. The sweet taste is nourishing and calming. If you have ever suffered from PMS and craved sweets, then you know what I am talking about.
Sweet foods can calm and quiet down the nervous system when inner stress strikes. The sour taste is astringent and consolidating. Berries, oranges, and vinegars are a few examples of sour foods. They are very good at holding up the body, especially when it is fatigued. The third taste, pungent, is dispersing and moving. Spicy foods fall into this group. They are good at warming the body by moving our circulation. The fourth taste is bitter. The body craves bitter foods like coffee or tea when it needs an energy or mood pickup, or when it needs to feel cleansed. And finally, there is the salty taste. Think of meat tenderizers — they soften the meat. So salt relaxes and softens the body.
In addition, all foods carry one of four qualities. Foods are hot (to invigorate and heat up the body), warm (to gently warm the body), cool (to gently cool the body), or cold (to vigorously cleanse the body). It’s all a matter of common sense, really. When you are chilled in the winter, you need foods like hot soup, beef, or lamb. If, however, you are running a fever and need to be cooled down, pears, watermelon, and water can help.The Chinese believe that the end result of observing these food qualities and then combining them in a harmonious manner is good health and a sense of well-being. There’s nothing mysterious or complicated about it. It’s another way of saying that you should be mindful of what you eat, and of when and why you are eating it. As we shall see, these things are greatly important when you are eating to improve your fertility.
Excerpted from "The Tao of Fertility," by Dr. Daoshing Ni and Dana Herko. Copyright 2008. Reprinted with permission from HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Acupuncture: Can it help?
Acupuncture: Can it help?
Acupuncture is one of the oldest therapies in the world, but does it really work?
From MayoClinic.com
More on this in Health & Fitness
Back pain: Will chiropractic treatment help?
Acupuncture involves the insertion of extremely thin needles through your skin, to various depths at strategic points on your body. Acupuncture originated in China thousands of years ago, but over the past two decades its popularity has grown significantly within the United States. Although scientists don't fully understand how or why acupuncture works, some studies indicate that it may provide a number of medical benefits — from reducing pain to helping with chemotherapy-induced nausea.
What happens during an acupuncture session?
Acupuncture therapy usually involves a series of weekly or biweekly treatments in an outpatient setting. It's common to have up to 12 treatments in total. Although each acupuncture practitioner has his or her own unique style, each visit typically includes an exam and an assessment of your current condition, the insertion of needles, and a discussion about self-care tips. An acupuncture visit generally lasts about 30 minutes.
Before the needles are placed, you'll lie down on a comfortable surface. Depending on where the needles are to go, you will lie facedown, faceup or on your side. Make sure that your acupuncturist uses single-use sterile packaged needles. You may feel a brief, sharp sensation when the needle is inserted, but generally the procedure isn't painful.
It's common, however, to feel a deep aching sensation when the needle reaches the correct depth. After placement, the needles are sometimes moved gently or stimulated with electricity or heat. As many as a dozen needles may need to be placed for each treatment. Once the needles are inserted, they're usually left in place for five to 20 minutes.
How does acupuncture work?
The traditional Chinese theory behind acupuncture as medical treatment is very different from that of Western medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, health results form a harmonious balance between the complementary extremes (yin and yang) of the life force known as qi or chi.
Qi is believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body. These meridians and the energy flow are accessible through more than 350 acupuncture points. Illness results from an imbalance of the forces. By inserting needles into these points in various combinations, acupuncture practitioners believe that your energy flow will rebalance.
In contrast, the Western explanation of acupuncture incorporates modern concepts of neuroscience. Many practitioners view the acupuncture points as places to stimulate nerves, muscles and connective tissue. This stimulation appears to boost the activity of your body's natural painkillers and increase blood flow.
Who is acupuncture for?
Acupuncture seems to be useful as a stand-alone treatment for some conditions, but it's also increasingly being used in conjunction with more conventional Western medical treatments. For example, doctors may combine acupuncture and drugs to control pain and nausea after surgery.
Scientific studies generally test treatments against placebos, such as sugar pills. It's difficult to conduct valid scientific studies of acupuncture, because it's difficult to devise sham versions of acupuncture. In fact, several studies have indicated that sham acupuncture works as well or almost as well as real acupuncture.
This makes it hard to create a definitive list of the conditions for which acupuncture might be helpful. However, preliminary studies indicate that acupuncture may offer symptomatic relief for a variety of diseases and conditions, including low back pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, migraines and osteoarthritis.
In addition, research shows acupuncture can help manage postoperative dental pain and alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. It also appears to offer relief for chronic menstrual cramps and tennis elbow.
Pros and cons
As with most medical therapies, acupuncture has both benefits and risks. Consider the benefits:
Acupuncture is safe when performed properly.
It has few side effects.
It can be useful as a complement to other treatment methods.
It's becoming more available in conventional medical settings.
It helps control certain types of pain.
It may be an alternative if you don't respond to or don't want to take pain medications.
Acupuncture may not be safe if you have a bleeding disorder or if you're taking blood thinners. The most common side effects of acupuncture are soreness, bleeding or bruising at the needle sites. Rarely, a needle may break or an internal organ might be injured. If needles are reused, infectious diseases may be accidentally transmitted. However, these risks are low in the hands of a competent, certified acupuncture practitioner.
Choosing an acupuncture practitioner
If you're considering acupuncture, do the same things you would do if you were choosing a doctor:
Ask people you trust for recommendations.
Check the practitioner's training and credentials. Most states require that non-physician acupuncturists pass an exam conducted by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
Interview the practitioner. Ask what's involved in the treatment, how likely it is to help your condition and how much it will cost.
Find out whether the expense is covered by your insurance.
Don't be afraid to tell your doctor you're considering acupuncture. He or she may be able to tell you about the success rate of using acupuncture for your condition or recommend an acupuncture practitioner for you to try.
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Acupuncture is one of the oldest therapies in the world, but does it really work?
From MayoClinic.com
More on this in Health & Fitness
Back pain: Will chiropractic treatment help?
Acupuncture involves the insertion of extremely thin needles through your skin, to various depths at strategic points on your body. Acupuncture originated in China thousands of years ago, but over the past two decades its popularity has grown significantly within the United States. Although scientists don't fully understand how or why acupuncture works, some studies indicate that it may provide a number of medical benefits — from reducing pain to helping with chemotherapy-induced nausea.
What happens during an acupuncture session?
Acupuncture therapy usually involves a series of weekly or biweekly treatments in an outpatient setting. It's common to have up to 12 treatments in total. Although each acupuncture practitioner has his or her own unique style, each visit typically includes an exam and an assessment of your current condition, the insertion of needles, and a discussion about self-care tips. An acupuncture visit generally lasts about 30 minutes.
Before the needles are placed, you'll lie down on a comfortable surface. Depending on where the needles are to go, you will lie facedown, faceup or on your side. Make sure that your acupuncturist uses single-use sterile packaged needles. You may feel a brief, sharp sensation when the needle is inserted, but generally the procedure isn't painful.
It's common, however, to feel a deep aching sensation when the needle reaches the correct depth. After placement, the needles are sometimes moved gently or stimulated with electricity or heat. As many as a dozen needles may need to be placed for each treatment. Once the needles are inserted, they're usually left in place for five to 20 minutes.
How does acupuncture work?
The traditional Chinese theory behind acupuncture as medical treatment is very different from that of Western medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, health results form a harmonious balance between the complementary extremes (yin and yang) of the life force known as qi or chi.
Qi is believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body. These meridians and the energy flow are accessible through more than 350 acupuncture points. Illness results from an imbalance of the forces. By inserting needles into these points in various combinations, acupuncture practitioners believe that your energy flow will rebalance.
In contrast, the Western explanation of acupuncture incorporates modern concepts of neuroscience. Many practitioners view the acupuncture points as places to stimulate nerves, muscles and connective tissue. This stimulation appears to boost the activity of your body's natural painkillers and increase blood flow.
Who is acupuncture for?
Acupuncture seems to be useful as a stand-alone treatment for some conditions, but it's also increasingly being used in conjunction with more conventional Western medical treatments. For example, doctors may combine acupuncture and drugs to control pain and nausea after surgery.
Scientific studies generally test treatments against placebos, such as sugar pills. It's difficult to conduct valid scientific studies of acupuncture, because it's difficult to devise sham versions of acupuncture. In fact, several studies have indicated that sham acupuncture works as well or almost as well as real acupuncture.
This makes it hard to create a definitive list of the conditions for which acupuncture might be helpful. However, preliminary studies indicate that acupuncture may offer symptomatic relief for a variety of diseases and conditions, including low back pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, migraines and osteoarthritis.
In addition, research shows acupuncture can help manage postoperative dental pain and alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. It also appears to offer relief for chronic menstrual cramps and tennis elbow.
Pros and cons
As with most medical therapies, acupuncture has both benefits and risks. Consider the benefits:
Acupuncture is safe when performed properly.
It has few side effects.
It can be useful as a complement to other treatment methods.
It's becoming more available in conventional medical settings.
It helps control certain types of pain.
It may be an alternative if you don't respond to or don't want to take pain medications.
Acupuncture may not be safe if you have a bleeding disorder or if you're taking blood thinners. The most common side effects of acupuncture are soreness, bleeding or bruising at the needle sites. Rarely, a needle may break or an internal organ might be injured. If needles are reused, infectious diseases may be accidentally transmitted. However, these risks are low in the hands of a competent, certified acupuncture practitioner.
Choosing an acupuncture practitioner
If you're considering acupuncture, do the same things you would do if you were choosing a doctor:
Ask people you trust for recommendations.
Check the practitioner's training and credentials. Most states require that non-physician acupuncturists pass an exam conducted by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
Interview the practitioner. Ask what's involved in the treatment, how likely it is to help your condition and how much it will cost.
Find out whether the expense is covered by your insurance.
Don't be afraid to tell your doctor you're considering acupuncture. He or she may be able to tell you about the success rate of using acupuncture for your condition or recommend an acupuncture practitioner for you to try.
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Friday, March 28, 2008
Relationship between Taiji and Qigong
Relationship between Taiji and Qigong
Some people asked me what´s the relationship between Taiji and Qigong , actually , Taiji can be treated as a high level moving Qigong , ordinary Qigong is standing still or sitting still , to achieve peace and quiet . Taiji is to find the peace and quiet during slow movement .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Some people asked me what´s the relationship between Taiji and Qigong , actually , Taiji can be treated as a high level moving Qigong , ordinary Qigong is standing still or sitting still , to achieve peace and quiet . Taiji is to find the peace and quiet during slow movement .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Why Taiji quan is good ?
Why Taiji quan is good ?
1. Taiji quan is suitable for a kids from 4 years old to old people till 100 years old ?
2. Taiji is not boring , one level of gongfu , one level of theory , no end . from simple body training to self defense to philosophy .
3. Taiji do not need special equipment and field , you can play it anywhere without anything .
4. Taiji trains both body and mind . It´s balance.
That´s today´s thought .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
1. Taiji quan is suitable for a kids from 4 years old to old people till 100 years old ?
2. Taiji is not boring , one level of gongfu , one level of theory , no end . from simple body training to self defense to philosophy .
3. Taiji do not need special equipment and field , you can play it anywhere without anything .
4. Taiji trains both body and mind . It´s balance.
That´s today´s thought .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Friday, February 29, 2008
What is Taiji quan
Taiji quan is one of the most popular Martial Art spreaded in China , it based on traditional Chinese Taiji yinyang theory , and perfectly combined health and self defense .
Based on traditional Taiji theory , Taiji is a state between Wuji and Liangyi(Two extremes) , mixed with Yin and Yang , and balanced with Yin and Yang . So Taiji quan is full of balance , balance your leg , your hand , your body , your mind .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
Based on traditional Taiji theory , Taiji is a state between Wuji and Liangyi(Two extremes) , mixed with Yin and Yang , and balanced with Yin and Yang . So Taiji quan is full of balance , balance your leg , your hand , your body , your mind .
http://world-taiji.blogspot.com
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