Health Intuitive

The earlier in life you begin performing internal styles of kung fu, the greater your mental and physical abilities will be in old age. Unfortunately, many individuals ignore this fact not until their physical strength and natural healing abilities start to weaken.

Just to Feel Better or a Wake-up Call

Suddenly, you wake up in the middle of the night. Your body is under extreme discomfort and pain from an injury that you thought would heal within a couple of days still persists for more than a week now. You feel totally run down for days until the weekend when your body, already exhausted due to lack of rest or sleep, can rest and sleep for a few days. Or perhaps, you’ve been frequently suffering from a viral infection like the cold or flu for a while now. Anxiety and overall stress appear to linger for an extended period of time while your libido declines.

If you experience problems like these, it means the aging process has taken its toll on your body due to unhealthy habits, which you’ve been doing when you were young . Now those signs of a poor unhealthy lifestyle are catching up with you.

These wake-up calls manifest themselves usually when a person is in his 50s. Sadly, we now hear of people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s burning out and succumbing to these problems.

You can stay in denial or ignore the warning signs, or you can start becoming proactive and begin reinvigorating your spirit, mind, and body, while reversing the damage, regardless of your age.

The Internal kung fu Solution

Now, you could be in your 50s and can still be quite healthy. This is obviously brought about by a healthy lifestyle and an avoidance of stressful events that drain your energy and weaken your immune system. maintaining well-being and health will allow you to continue enjoying an fulfilling and active life.

Being aware of the full realization of your dreams and making helpful contributions to society and your family all begins with your health.

The Benefits of Wing Chun for Over Fifty Practitioners

While anyone who practices kung fu is sure to gain related health benefits, people over 50 stand to gain the greatest benefits of the various forms of internal kung fu. Some of the benefits they can expect include the:

Restoration of sexual vitality

Lowering and regulating of blood pressure

Restoration of bio-mechanical alignments

Promotion of good quality sleep

Increase of physical balance

Boosting of circulation

Several medical studies done in the West and China reveal how meditation and kung fu practices bolster people’s health.

Ni Nan Healing Art Center
2579 Merrick Rd
Bellmore, NY 11710
(516) 442-7408
http://www.ninanhealing.com

A major branch of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Bellingham used to stimulate the flow of vital energy (Chi) and eliminate stagnation, Cupping therapy involves the warming and applying of medicinal cups, usually made of glass, on the skin to heal certain ailments and illnesses in the body. Chi naturally freely flows throughout the body and can be found in the world around us, if this flow is disturbed or blocked, it can lead to an imbalance or stagnation in the body.

What is Massage Cupping?

Massage cupping therapy is a deep tissue massage plus the warming and application of cups on certain areas of the body. A vacuum is produced when the air inside the cup is heated and when the cup is quickly applied to the skin, the pressure inside the cup draws the patient’s skin into it. This stimulates healing by causing blood flow to increase and loosening the connective tissue or fascia in the site of treatment. The deep tissue massage is designed to relieve pain and break up scar tissue. More often than not, the cups are placed on the site of pain, shoulders, neck, or back. Cupping may result in temporary some soreness and bruising, depending on the strength of suction generated by the vacuum and the degree of stagnation in the body. From the standpoint of TCM, this is a desired outcome since it means that treatment was successful in clearing stagnation and removing toxins from the body. To take out the cups, the practitioner lifts one edge of the cup allowing air into the cup breaking the seal and vacuum.

Various Forms of Cupping Therapy

Cupping therapy can have different forms and the acupuncturist will choose the one that best meets the goals of the treatment. The cups also come in different types although glass cups are the ones most commonly used. Over a thousand years ago, however, practitioners used cups made of animal horns, clay, or bamboo.

Dry or Fire Cupping

Veteran acupuncturist and TCM practitioner Ann Michelle Casco, L.Ac., said that the cupping technique traditionally used was called ba guan zhi, or dry or fire cupping. This type of cupping entails placement of cups over an ashi point or ailing or painful acupuncture point on the body located along an energy channel called meridian. After the cups are applied in the area of treatment, they are left in place for about 5 to 20 minutes depending on the severity of the patient’s condition. Typically, a round of treatment may involve 4 to 6 sessions at intervals beginning from 3 to 10 day gaps.

Sliding Cups Technique

Another cupping technique called sliding cups is specifically designed to treat muscle spasms and pain. It’s usually administered on large muscle groups of the back. Prior to the placement of the cups, massage oil is applied to the skin which helps the cups to easily glide over the skin surface.

Air Cupping

Air cupping can be an optional substitute for fire cupping. This technique involves the use of a portable manual suction pump that extracts air from the inside of the cups, creating a vacuum without the need for heat. In China, some clinical studies show this novel approach in cupping technology provides more comfort to patients than fire cupping.

Wet Cupping

This form of cupping is distinguished via the inclusion of an acupuncture technique called bleeding. The therapist uses a lancet to pierce the skin before cupping therapy is administered. This causes a small amount of blood to come out of the treatment site. Wet cupping is designed to remove internal toxins from the body. Chinese practitioners of TCM utilize this method to help “cool” inflammatory problems.

What Can Cupping Therapy Do?

According to TCM, the stagnation of blood and chi leads to disease and pain. Cupping bolsters local blood and chi circulation in the treatment area, relieving tension, pain, and swelling. By pulling toxins and impurities to the skin surface, it cleanses and purifies the body. From the standpoint of Western physiology, cupping helps stimulate blood flow to the surface and relaxes fascia or connective tissue. It promotes better cell-to-cell communication and brings about tissue relaxation. Studies conducted by American acupuncturist and physiologist Helene Langevin showed that changes in cell-level recorded in an ultrasound camera implied that alternative treatment modalities like massage, acupuncture, and cupping can help lower inflammation markers and relax tissue. Chemical messengers called cytokines that facilitate relaxation and healing are increased while inflammatory cytokines are lessened.

The Advantages of Cupping Therapy

Muscle relaxation and local pain relief are just two of the benefits offered by cupping therapy. This ancient Chinese healing art enhances overall health by clearing the obstacles to chi flow that TCM practitioners have determined as hindrances to the circulation of positive chi or healthy energy. Athletes can also benefit from this therapy as it helps improve blood flow to a specific muscle group or help relieve pain. Several athletes, prominently, the members of the great U.S. swim team, during the 2016 Rio Olympics, have unabashedly and proudly displayed their cupping marks to the world.

Some Illnesses and Ailments that can be treated through Cupping Therapy

Cupping is often used in the treatment of conditions such as:

Pain

Stomach pain

Gastritis

Asthma

Bronchial congestion

Cough

Paralysis

Researchers in Chinese have mainly studied cupping, finding benefit in problems like

Anxiety

Gout

Depression

Insomnia

Back pain

Herpes zoster (shingles)

Varicose veins

Anemia

High blood pressure

Diabetes

Eczema

Fibromyalgia

Acne

Arthritis

Infertility

Although the quality of these clinical studies is not at par to U.S. standards, the results of actual benefit are substantial, especially when the low risk of side effects is taken into account.

What Kind of People Administer Cupping?

Cupping is generally done by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

Cupping procedures can be found and are depicted in TCM texts that are more than a 1000 years old. If you are considering cupping therapy for yourself or for others, look for a skilled and licensed practitioner such as an acupuncturist who is licensed to by the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) or the State of California Board of Acupuncture. Certified practitioners have undergone more than 3,000 hours of training at a distinguished institution and hurdled examinations required for the legal andsafe practice of cupping and acupuncture.

Does Cupping Therapy Produce Side Effects?

Expect to have marks on the skin when getting cupping therapy. This is brought about when the procedure brings blood to the skin surface, which may appear like a bruise. This treatment may not be your best option if you are currently taking anticoagulants or if you are suffering from hemophilia or any other bleeding disorder. People with these issues should talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment with their doctor or acupuncturist before the undergo treatment. Practitioners would not administer cupping on skin areas where there are open wounds, infection, burns, or active inflammation. Some level of pain or discomfort may result but they are not deemed a side effect. Temporary medium discomfort may be expected as stagnation is cleared and muscles as well as connective tissue are relaxed.

Western healthcare providers and practitioners should consider cupping as a mode of treatment. However, the discolorations and bruising in children expected after treatment may be mistaken as signs of child abuse.

How long does the bruising last?

Bruises associated with cupping therapy may linger for a few days to a couple of weeks. Casco, a practitioner of TCM stated that after a number of weeks of continuous cupping treatment sessions, the bruising will be gradually reduced as the stagnation heals. This suggests a fruitful cupping plan of treatment.

Stress can come in different forms and in varying degrees since most of us have experienced it at some point in our lives. Some people experience stress as a physical feeling that can take the form of a tight back muscles, headache, fatigue, or stiff neck while others may experience it as a type of mental stress such as too much worrying about family, work, or school that can keep them awake late into the night and prevent them from falling asleep. Emotional stress can also come in the form of strong negative emotions such as loss, grief, depression, sadness, anger, fear, irritability, frustration, worry, chaos, nervousness and indecisiveness, just to name a few and is not any easier to handle. Some may suffer from the whole spectrum of stress that can affect them emotionally, mentally and physically. Fortunately, many of us have found a way to alleviate the stresses in our lives and for sure there is something that works really well for each of us. More and more people in the States have found Qigong a blessing in their lives helping them banish stress in a natural way within just a few minutes and without the need for drugs. But in order to achieve long lasting benefits, one must practice Qigong on a regular basis.

Pronounced Chee-Kung, Qigong is an age-old Chinese healing technique that combines deep breathing techniques similar to Tai Chi with graceful coordinated movements. Qigong is where acupuncture in Walla Walla and Tai Chi originated thousands of years ago. The word Qigong is derived from two Chinese words: “Qi,” which means vital energy, breath of life, or air that moves within all things everywhere and “Gong” which means the ability of self discipline, cultivating, or working with. Put together, Qi and gong means the technique of cultivating one’s life force. Qigong can help enhance the amount of positive qi or good oxygen in the body and blood, improving metabolism to help burn calories more efficiently and strengthening the immune systems to word off illness and disease. Another advantage in practicing Qigong is that it relieves stress naturally as one exhales while transforming the air inhaled into healing qi.

Practicing Qigong helps enhance qi vital energy to bring you health, longevity, weight loss inner peace, and to lower stress. It banishes stress in the body be it emotional stress, mental stress, or physical stress. It also increases the amount of oxygen in your body which helps balance the emotions, melt away muscular aches and pains, and endow one with optimal health. The breathing exercises is an aspect of this practice’s mystery that allows us full deep breaths which raise and fill the stomach and makes use of gravity to push gently the air out as we breathe out just like little babies do when sleeping.

We can start by pressing our tongue on the upper palette of our mouth just behind our upper teeth while gently breathing with our nose, and at the same time relaxing our body as we breathe. Start to become conscious of where your breath begins and ends. Are you pulling your breath downward to your stomach filling it first or is your chest rising first? You will know the answer by placing one hand on your stomach and the other hand on your chest, while you deeply breathe in through your nose and breathe out gently through your nose. Breathe a few more times if you find yourself breathing from your chest. Imagine your breath coming in through your nose and flowing down into your stomach. Imagine your stomach inflating like a beach ball, and imagine when breathing out, you use gravity to allow the stomach to fall gently towards your spine. Perfect, you have just done Qigong breathing.

The other aspect of Qigong wherein we utilize the tools and wisdom of qigong training to gather more life force or qi is known as Cultivation.

Qigong stance

Pelvic tuck forward, feet shoulder width apart while standing, knees bent slightly, toes aligned with your shoulders while facing straight forward and relaxing your buttocks while your stand straight as if you’re rooted like a tree planted firmly into the ground. With elbows bent, place your arms at your sides and your palms should face the outer part of your thighs keeping space between your fingers. Now visualize that you’re carrying under each arm a bag of rice. Maintain the Qigong deep breathing, and be aware as you breathe, your stomach rising and notice when breathing out, it gently falls back toward your spine. Relax your hands, arms, chest, and shoulders, maintaining a rounded shape with your arms at the sides and palms facing the outer part of your thigh and relax at the legs, buttocks, and waist. Next move out your hands in front on the level of your bellybutton, align the finger tips as you make a rounded shape with your arms as if you’re hugging a person. Then relax your shoulders and keep on doing for nine deep breaths, the Qigong deep stomach breathing.

At this point inhale and raise your arms outward laterally and upward towards the sky with your palms facing high up over your head. Bend your elbows as you exhale and lower your arms down to your front with your palms facing down. Perform this activity a few times. This is known as pulling down the heavens movement and it’s designed to purify your energy downward to the ground. This exercise can help lower high blood pressure, headaches, and stress. When treating high blood pressure, perform a longer exhale and a shorter inhale and as well as the movement of pulling down the heavens.

Finally, we’ll end the Qigong practice by bringing our two hands onto our bellybutton one over the other. Concentrate on the area under your hands and feel the warmth generated by your hands focused into the center of your bellybutton. Imagine the sun glowing brightly from your hands into the center of your belly button filling your lower stomach with brilliant light and gentle warmth. Perform 3 more Qigong deep breaths, with your bellybutton covered by your hands. Good work, you have just cultivated your qi for health successfully within just a few short moments.

Moxibustion is an alternative healing art that uses heat from a burning dried plant called “moxa” which is placed very close to the surface of the skin. It works by invigorating and warming the flow of blood and energy (Chi) in the body to remove certain pathogenic elements.

Moxa is often derived from the dried leaves of the Artemesia vulgaris or Artemesia argyi plant, aka Chinese mugwort although it can be made out of other substances as well.

How is Moxibustion administered?

Generally, moxibustion practitioners in the U.S. hold a stick of burning moxa stick very near the skin careful to avoid the stick from touching the surface of the patient’s skin.

The moxa stick is made by compressing the moxa material into a pole or stick or pole, making it look like a big cigar that can be ignited and allowed to smolder, generating a therapeutic type of extremely penetrating heat.

The flaming moxa stick is hovered over the site of treatment usually, though not always, associated with specific acupuncture points or acupoints. The moxa stick’s glowing end is held about one or a couple of inches above the skin surface until the site becomes saturated with warmth and reddens.

What can patients expect from the treatment?

Patients undergoing moxibustion therapy often experience an unexpected inundation of warmth that rapidly travels along a certain pathway (that oftentimes correspond to the jing luo meridian being treated) away from the area of treatment. This suggests a positive result, since this is a sign that the flow of xue and Chi has been released from the meridian.

What are the uses of moxibustion?

Moxibustion is used for:

• Treatment and prevention against flu strains and cold
• Conditions affecting women including breech presentation in late term pregnancy
• Irregular bowel movement and digestive conditions
• Pain caused by arthritis or injury, particularly when the application of heat leads to natural pain relief

Practitioners often perform moxibustion and Tarzana acupuncture together in the same treatment session proper to the diagnosis and plan of treatment. They think that when used together, the treatments augment each other’s effectiveness.

Moxibustion can be easily performed at home, not like acupuncture, which is often done in a clinic setting by a qualified acupuncturist. Chinese moxibustion practitioners, usually help teach their patients to use moxa for self-administration to boost the effects of the treatments between appointment sessions.

What smell does moxibustion create?

One small disadvantage of moxibustion therapy is the odor and smoke it produces. While there are “smokeless” forms of moxa, when burned, the chosen real moxa (produced from mugwort) produces a lot of smoke. Many TCM clinics are properly well equipped with a good air purification and ventilation system ventilation, so this is not a major issue.

Nevertheless, the prevailing smoke generated smells unfortunately a bit like marijuana. Many US practitioners of TCM, place signs in their office walls informing visitors and patients about the real nature of the smell that they may be smelling.