Guide to Acupuncture and Moxibustion

218 Pages·2010·5.85 MB·English

ACUPUNCTURE WITHOUT BORDERS
SWITZERLAND
Jacques Pialoux
Guide
to Acupuncture
and Moxibustion
English translation:
Brian Levin
Fondation Cornelius Celsus
Editeur

GUIDE TO ACUPUNCTURE
AND MOXIBUSTION
Other books by Jacques Pialoux
- Le Diamant Chauve PLUS
ou la Tradition des Evidences
- Thérapeutique Spirituelle et Tradition Universelle
- L’Âme du Dragon
Précis d’Astrologie Energétique et Esotérique
- Le 8ème Jour de Ptah
Traité des 22 arcanes de la science d’Al Kemit
Jacques Martin-Hartz et Jacques Pialoux
- Le Dragon de Jade
Atlas d’Acupuncture
© Fondation Cornelius Celsus - Switzerland, janvier 2001
ISBN 2-940205-07-8
© Fondation Cornelius Celsus - Switzerland, octobre 2008, Ed. anglaise
ISBN 2-940205-11-6
Acupuncture Without Borders - Switzerland
Jacques Pialoux
Guide
to Acupuncture
and Moxibustion
English translation:
Brian Levin
Fondation Cornelius Celsus

Contents
Foreword 3

Part One - Traditional Chinese Medicine 7

1 A Brief Excursion into History 9
2 The Energies of the Universe and Man 11
3 The Eight Principles Energy and Blood (Qi and Xue) 29

Part Two - First stage - Manufacture of Energies:
The Three Burners 41

A) Peripheral Function of the Three Burners:
The Three Warmers 43

4 The Six Paired Channels (Liu Jing)
and their Regulatory Functions 45

B) Central Function of the Three Burners:
The Three Burners proper 53

5 The Three Burners - Pathway of Water and Cereals 55
6 Organs (Zang) and Viscera (Fu):
Reciprocal functions, Dysfunctions 61
7 Organs and Viscera - Physiopathology and Therapy 67
Command Points 83

Part Three - Second Stage - Distribution of Energies:
“From Early Heaven to Later Heaven” 87

8 The Eight Extraordinary Channels (Qi Jing Ba Mai):
Trajectory, Symptomatology and Treatment 89

Part Four - Third stage - Utilization of Energies:
Organs and Channels 97

A) Internal Function: The Five Earth Elements 99

9 Organs, Viscera and the Five Elements 101
10 “Internal Wounds” and their Treatment 109
11 Front-Mu and Back-Shu Points 117
B) External Function: The Six Environmental Phenomena 123

12 The Channels (Zheng Jing)
and the Six Environmental Phenomena 125
13 The “Exogenous Evils”and their Treatment 129
14 Complementary Vessels:
Trajectory, Symptomatology and Treatment 133

Part Five Practical Recommendations
for Acupuncture and Moxibustion 149

15 Examination of the Patient 151
16 Therapeutic Recommendations
in Acupuncture and Moxibustion 167
17 Simplified therapeutic protocols 171
Glossary of medical terms 179
Glossary of terms in Acupuncture 191
Bibliography 209
Foreword
Acupuncture Sans Frontières - Suisse (Acupuncture Without Borders-
Switzerland, AWB-Switzerland) is a department of the Cornelius Celsus
Foundation, which was founded on 18 April 1980 and has its seat at Vatseret,
Erde, Conthey, Switzerland.
Its objective is to contribute to the development of greater autonomy on
the part of disadvantaged populations in the field of medical care, by provi-
ding them with teaching and practice in acupuncture therapy.
To this end, AWB-Switzerland sends volunteer acupuncture practitioners
on mission to developing countries that so request, with a view to:
• sharing acupuncture expertise with local practitioners (doctors, nurses,
midwives, health workers, etc.) by way of basic theoretical and practical
training,
• providing basic teaching materials: books, photocopies, acupuncture
charts,
• providing essential therapeutic equipment: needles, moxas, sterilizers,
• ensuring the installation and correct use of the acupunc ture equipment
provided,
• ensuring, over the years, follow-up and evaluation of such training in the
context of public health and primary health care.
The chief problem encountered by the majority of dispensaries is the dif-
ficulty of procuring the requisite drugs, because they are either unavailable
or too expensive, or have to be brought in from afar. In these circumstances,
acupuncture has been found an extremely valuable complementary therapy
by virtue of:
4 GUIDE TO ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION
• its preventive in addition to its curative action,
• substantial economies in terms of drugs,
• the autonomy acquired by practitioners trained in acupunc ture, greatly
reducing their dependence on outside help and contributing to the preser-
vation of human dignity.
An exploratory mission is first undertaken to establish the modalities of
intervention by AWB-Switzerland, in consultation with the competent local
authorities (Ministry of Health, heads of clinics, local leaders, etc.), covering
such aspects as duration of the training, participants, allocation of medical
premises, and organization of the training programme.
The actual intervention by AWB-Switzerland at a given location generally
takes the form of four effective teaching missions or sessions, each lasting
two weeks, at in tervals of six to twelve months. One or more supervision
or follow-up missions may then be planned every two or three years where
necessary.
Such training provides students, after the initial two weeks, with a basic
knowledge of the therapeutic protocols for the commonest functional pa-
thologies in their country such as dysentery, constipation, rheumatism, in-
fluenza, sinusitis, asthma, colic or malaria.
This manual serves as textbook to support the instructions given by vo-
lunteers of Acupuncture Without Borders-Switzerland when on mission. It is
now available to all who desire to master this therapeutic art.
The present Guide to Acupuncture and Moxibustion serves as a basic tool
for the study and everyday practice of the ancient science of acupuncture.
Integrating the latest research on the Classics of Traditional Chinese Medi-
cine, it enables the practitioner to achieve optimum efficacy in the unders-
tanding and application of this therapy. The acupuncture tradition, based on
the interplay of energies in the Universe and man, was not built in a day, but
over millennia, and its present evolution bears witness to its vitality.
It is of course important to remember that the act of writing, of putting
down words in black and white, gives an illusion of fixity, whereas life is in
perpetual evolution and constantly on the move. Our understanding of the
patient and his disease must always be based on the present moment and
the changes occurring over time… Thus what we offer here is something of
a model permitting reflection on the part of the reader and student.
Based on research by Jacques Martin-Hartz1, French sinologist, acupunc-
turist and engineer (1923-1971), and Jacques Pialoux2 OMD, acupuncturist,
this Guide to Acupuncture and Moxibustion contains three chief innovations
as against the traditional texts dealing with this science:
• Chapter 2 contains a description of the three stages of any energy system,
offering a comprehensive approach to coordination of the functions of the
3 Burners, 8 Extraordinary Channels, 5 Earth Elements and 6 Environmen-
tal Phenomena.
1 Jacques Martin-Hartz and Jacques Pialoux: Le Dragon de Jade, Atlas d’Acupuncture - Fon-
dation C. Celsus, Erde, Switzerland, 1982, dedicated to Professor Cheng Xinnong, Director of
international acupuncture training at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 44 Hou Hai
Bei Yan, Peking, China.
2 Jacques Pialoux: Le Diamant Chauve Plus ou la Tradition des évidences – Published by C. Cel-
sus Foundation, Erde, Switzerland, 1979 – Updated 2009