Everyday Acupuncture- Cold
Aug 8th, 2008 by Michael Max
This you feel in your bones, or it comes as an irritation like a stone in the shoe, a constant non-ignorable ongoing frustration that wears you slowly down down down.
Cold is that which reduces the speed of life, it stagnates and freezes. It is like forgetting your spirit. It is constant like joint pain that whispers a crippling hymn.
Oddly enough, when effecting the digestion it masquerades as acid and twisting dull pain. Think about the last time you could not get warm. The numbness and desire for warmth. The frustration of being bundled up like a February Beijing baby, but the ice in your bones was stubbornly present. This is cold.
In health, cold is not just a climatic condition, it is can act as a pathogen. It stagnates the flow of blood, and freezes the micro-circulation. Ices up pathways of nutrient exchange. Turns our joints into rusty hinges. Anyone who desires hot drinks, has aversions to uncooked foods, tightens their shoulders in a vain attempt to ward off a chill, or finds they rarely sweat, all know something very personal about the effect of cold on the body.
Those people who in the summer hated air conditioning. They are suffering from internal cold. Ask them if they have trouble with their joints, and many will affirm they do. Ask them if they like iced drinks, and most will wrinkle their nose in disgust. The body, unless it has been believed the propaganda of advertising or culture habit, usually knows what it needs.
How to banish cold? There are a number of methods that have come down through a few Chinese centuries. One is moxibustion. The other is use of warming medical herbs. Acupuncture can also help, but to really expel cold, moxa and herbs are your best friend.