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Health & Fitness

Happy AOM Day! It's a Celebration!

It's not to late to join in the festivities, Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day is October 24th.

Every year on October 24th, the Oriental Medicine community celebrates by offering free or discounted treatments and demonstrations that educate the public about Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine is celebrating by offering free Tui Na, Cupping, Ear Acupuncture, Tongue and Pulse Diagnosis, Feng Shui and Tai Ji. I'll be doing Tui Na.  Here is a brief break down of these terms so that you can know what to expect.

Tui Na is bodywork practice known for it benefit to treating sore backs, overworked muscles, joint pain and stiffness.  Soreness and pain is usually the result of lack of or obstructed Qi flow.  With a healthy Qi flow there is less pain in the body. The client is fully clothed while the practitioner pushes, pulls, presses and rolls the body to get that Qi flowing again. For this event they will use chairs to offer a seated treatment.

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Cupping is also good for sore muscles; it has been used best to treat asthma, the common cold, chronic cough, indigestion, and aches and pain from sore muscles and joints.  Glass, bamboo or plastic cups are placed over the acu-points or area to be treated and a small flame is used to suction the air from the cup so that when it is placed on the skin it creates a vacuum.  At no time does the client's skin or clothing come into contact with the flame. The vacuum encourages pathogens to exit through the skin pores while the client rests.  It is an excellent way to improve the circulation to an area.

In ear acupuncture special needles are placed on the ear (not in the canal).  This treatment is short and quick.  There are reflexive zones on the ear that respond when treated.  You can accomplish many of the same goals as with regular acupuncture.  There is a protocol that has been most useful to help people over come addictions.  Sometimes a seed will be taped to the ear after treatment that will allow you to stimulate the point on your own to prolong the good effects of the treatment. 

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Taking the tongue and pulse is a standard and necessary diagnostic tool for Chinese Medicine practitioners.   They may ask you to stick out your tongue because clues to the state of ones health can be seen there.  Same with the pulse what’s going on in the body can be felt through the pulse. It helps to determine what kind of treatment is needed to bring about an optimal state of health. 

Where you place your chair and all the other furniture in your house is important in Feng Shui.  Need to improve your finance?  Feng Shui can help.  You might want to attend the Feng Shui demonstration to learn what you can do.

Tai Ji is the breathe, movement and balance portion of Chinese Medicine.  It is beautiful watching other people doing it in a group but more beneficial to do it yourself alone or in a group to help keep your body strong and flexible.  It is especially good for weak or sickly to learn. It can be done seated, laying in bed or standing. Once you learn a pattern you can do it any time any place. In school we learn the 24 form version but there are some with as little as eight easy movements that you can do bring about physical balance and harmony.

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine is located 65 E Wacker place 17th floor. The events start at 12:00 pm and end to 3:00. To find other events in your area you can check http://www.aomday.org/programs.html for other programs or talk with your local acupuncturist or Asian bodywork therapist.  Check the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine www.ilaaom.org to find an Acupuncturist. You can contact an Asian Bodywork therapist through the http://www.AOBTA.org website.

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