Happy December!
The first fickle flakes of snow are drifting downward upon Southern New Hampshire. As this cold air filters into our environment and the Yuletime solstice draws nearer, it is an especially good time to try MOXA in your treatment. Current visitors may notice we recommend it a bit more this time of year.
Perhaps you have stepped into our office and wondered – what’s the strange smell? Are Sarah and Kevin heading down to the Massachusetts dispensaries in their spare time?? No! That unique smell is moxa, which is the herb mugwort.
Traditional Chinese Medicine uses moxa in a variety of ways. Taken internally it is called Ai Ye, and is very warming to the interior, helps bleeding disorders, and more. This is a herb we use in some of our formulas, for example Jiao Ai Tang. Most often we customize our formulas and add it into some other classical formula.
Moxabustion is used externally, and is one way we warm the needles. (We also use TDP mineral heat lamps, which nearly everyone loves).
Moxa is a loose herb, and we roll small balls of it and place it on selected needles. We burn these balls or cones of moxa, and the heat passes through the needle deep into the interior of the body. Wow, this can be so effective for things like where cold is lodged in the interior (do you feel worse in cold weather?), arthritis, pain from muscles or even internal organ disorders like constipation or ovarian cysts. Most people – if they don’t mind the smell or trails of light smoke wafting over them love moxa – it feels like warmth is penetrating deep into the body, going just where it is needed most to give healing qi and warmth to those aches and pains that just won’t go away.
So, moxa is one of the many offerings we provide here at Perfect Point Acupuncture.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Moxa can also be done using smokeless “moxa sticks”. These cigar shaped black cylinders arc a very penetrating heat and it can be very helpful for different areas harder to effectively treat using ball (smoky) moxa, like the neck or jaw, or finger joints.
Happy Holidays!