Hello guys!

Today we are going to talk about an interesting subject: Envy!

According to the dictionary, envy is the desire to own a good that belongs to the other. It is a feeling of inferiority and disgust at the happiness of the other. It is a feeling of greed for the wealth, brightness and prosperity of others.

For Traditional Chinese Medicine envy is a pathological condition related to the imbalance of the Lung’s energy.

When the Lung is functioning well, it relates to the feeling of sadness when there is a reason for the individual to feel sad. For example, if a person loses a loved one, or if he or she has broken a relationship, if the Lung is unbalanced, that person will feel sad.

However, when the Lung becomes energetically unbalanced, it can generate bad feelings, such as anguish in excess and frustration and envy in deficiency.

What can leave the Lung in deficiency?

• Invasion of Pathogenic Factors: the invasion of cold and dryness leaves the Lungs weak in the long run. When not properly removed, the patient may develop an envious and frustrated behavior. Any pathogenic factor not properly cared for may deepen and cause energetic wear on the Lung.
• Smoking: people who have a habit of smoking, even for a short time, may irreversibly weaken the Lung, and thus suffer from behaviors of frustration and envy.
• Poor Food: the Lung doesn’t react well to excessive consumption of cold food. When the individual has a diet based on raw foods or with cold essence, the Lung can weaken, generating inappropriate behavior of envy and frustration.
• Sadness, Emotional Shock, Grief: these feelings, when maintained for a long time, even if for plausible reasons, will weaken the Lung, generating a person with bitter behavior, and later, frustration and envy.

How can we improve the energy of the Lung and thus remove the feeling of envy?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine we can strengthen the Lung in several ways, namely:

a) Breathing exercises: inhale slowly until the greatest capacity of the Lung and then loosen slightly, repeating this process at least 3x, once a day already helps to strengthen the Lung.

b) Acupuncture: acupuncture points such as LU-7, Lu-9, BL-13, BL-42 are excellent in Lung toning, especially BL-42 which is a point with a psychic indication 🙂

c) Auriculotherapy: Lung Point in auriculotherapy …. self explanatory right? 🙂

d) Therapeutic Food: spicy foods, especially red and black pepper, help to tone the lung, as well as honey, almonds and papaya are also great choices for this function.

We need to understand that not every frustrated and envious person says things with the intention of hurting. Assuming that these problems are associated with an energetic dysfunction of the Lung, we must welcome those in need and help in their improvement and evolution.

I hope you enjoyed!

A big hug to everyone,

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning readers!

In response to several requests, today I am going to write a little about a disease that scares many people: Depression.

For Western Medicine, Depression is a chronic and recurrent psychiatric illness that produces a change in mood characterized by profound and endless sadness associated with feelings of pain, bitterness, disenchantment, hopelessness, low self-esteem and guilt, as well as disorders sleep and appetite.

For Chinese Medicine, the main organ involved in Depression is the Heart.

According to orientals, the Heart is the residence of the mind, known as “Shen”, and Depression is an imbalance of Shen. Furthermore, all feelings, whether good or bad, become the Heart.

According to the theory of the 5 Elements, each organ is affected by a feeling, namely:

Heart – Joy, Happiness

Spleen- Concern

Lung – Sadness

Kidney – Fear (survival instinct)

Liver – Anger

However, it is not the organs that produce these feelings. The Eastern theory assumes that there are “emotional matrices” that are decoded in the Heart. That is, the Heart identifies sadness and sadness affects the Lung or the Heart identifies concern and concern affects the Spleen and so on.

For this reason, Depression is a mixture of emotional matrices, erroneously decoded by the Heart, generating a mix of feelings of all kinds and most of the times, very bad for the patient.

Based on this information, the first step in treating Depression according to Traditional Chinese Medicine is to harmonize the functioning of the Heart.

For this, the points HT-7, HT-5, PC-7 and PC-6 are essential, as they calm the mind and unblock its orifices. Adding these two functions together, the points will not only keep the individual calm, but will also open up the possibility of new thoughts that will help to see the problem of depression as if they were seeing outside of it.

Depressive patients find it difficult to see the problem as it actually presents, so giving the possibility of self-assessment without being in a state of mental confusion is extremely beneficial.

In addition to Systemic Acupuncture points, maintaining auriculotherapy treatment is also of paramount importance. For this, ear points: “Heart”, “Tension” and “Anxiety” have an excellent indication.

Maintaining a good diet, with foods that make the Heart maintain good energy is also part of the treatment. For that, according to the Chinese Therapeutic Food, neutral and warm foods from the Fire element table, such as chamomile, beets and egg yolk, are indicated.

The complete table of therapeutic foods you can find here on the Blog:

https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

There are many types of depression, which affect other organs besides the Heart, for this reason, we will approach this same subject in other opportunities, with different approaches.

A big hug to everyone.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Hello Readers!

Today I am here to write a little about adult asthma from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

For Western Medicine, asthma is characterized by a partial obstruction of airflow in the bronchial tree. This is caused by a temporary narrowing of the bronchi due to muscle spasm, followed by mucosa edema. This narrowing can happen for an unknown cause or because of a reaction to allergens.

For Chinese Medicine, asthma can happen by:

• Invasion of Cold Wind or Wind Heat
• Excessive consumption of milk and dairy products
• Weak constitution
• Emotional Stress

It is common to see people with asthma in childhood, but when asthma appears in adulthood, we need to redouble our attention. This fact occurs, most of the times by the energetic affection of the Kidney or the Liver, besides of course, the Lung.

When an adult abuses of physical activity or work, eats poorly, gets too stressed or abuses of sexual activity, he seriously impairs the energy of the Kidneys, which weak, will consume the energy of the Lung, resulting in asthma.

Thus, it is important that the adult rebalances daily life habits and some acupuncture points may be useful to alleviate crises, such as: KI-3, KI-25, KI-27, CV-4 and GV-4. In auriculotherapy, the Kidney point and Ping Chuan points are indicated.

It is recommended that neutral foods for the Water Element be placed in the Diet, such as egg yolk, corn, pork, raspberry, black sesame, etc. The table of foods you can find at:

https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

The Liver can cause asthma in adults directly due to uncontrolled stress. When there is Stagnation of Liver Qi or Blood, or Liver Fire, there may be a blood or Qi rebellion towards the chest, against dominating the Lung and causing shortness of breath.

In this case, the crises are abrupt and must be controlled through the points that remove the Heat or Stagnation of Liver Qi / Blood, such as LR-2, LR-3, LR-5, LR-8, LR14.

In auriculotherapy the Liver Yang point is recommended in these cases, as well as Ping Chuan points. Fresh and neutral foods for the Wood Element should be consumed, such as: apple, pear, blackberry, dates, strawberry, saffron, carrot, etc.

The Lung should always be strengthened and balanced. Points like: BL-13, BL-42, LU-7 and Lu9 are always a good choice.

Adult asthma, for the most part, has effective control with Acupuncture, Auriculotherapy and Chinese Therapeutic Food, but the patient must be aware of other possible Lung disorders. A visit to the medical professional is recommended for a check up at least once a year 🙂

I hope you enjoyed.

A big hug.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning readers

Today our subject is Rhinitis!
Rhinitis is an inflammation of the lining of the nose that can have several causes, such as a cold weather, a change in temperature, and most of the time, an allergic reaction. Rhinitis is characterized by symptoms such as nasal obstruction, runny nose, sneezing, itchy nose, ear, eyes and throat or changes in smell. The crisis can last from a few hours to days at a time.

In Chinese Medicine, rhinitis is characterized by an energy imbalance in the Lung. The Lung is responsible for producing Wei Qi (defense energy) and when the production of this energy is insufficient, the patient is more susceptible to infections and inflammations, such as rhinitis.

As it is, in most cases, a chronic problem, it is understood that a patient suffering from Rhinitis has a chronic energy deficiency of the Lung, and it must be strengthened, especially outside of crisis.

Points to strengthen the Lung: LU-7, LU-9, BL-13, BL-42, SI-11 and CV-17.

In addition to these points, it is important to relieve the patient’s symptoms when the patient is under crisis, so the following points (associated with the symptoms) are suggested:

• LI- 4, LI- 20: treat coryza and nasal blockage. Opens and facilitates breathing
• ST-3, GB-14, GB-1: treat itchy eyes
• SI-19: treats itchy ears
• ST-9: improves irritability and itchy throat

Some patients experience itching all over their bodies, which can start with a single attack of rhinitis. Thus, we can use the combination of LV-8 + LU-5, which cool the blood and stop the itch.

In addition, the ear points: Lung, Ping Chuan, Internal and External Nose and Urticaria can be great help in the treatment of rhinitis.

Therapeutic Food rich in neutral foods for the Metal element should also be added. For a complete list of these foods, click on the link: http://www.facilitanteacupuntura.com.br/tabelas-de-alimentacao-terapeutica/

Acupuncture shows excellent results in the treatment of rhinitis. And the patient should feel relative improvement in the first three sessions, with one session per week.

If you want to know more about respiratory diseases, we have a handout for you in the blog store! Visit https://loja.facilitanteacupuntura.com.br/store/product/26,  follow the instructions and purchase yours (this material is available only in Portuguese).

I hope you enjoyed.

A big hug.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning Readers

Today we are going to talk a little about the view of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis is a condition that causes excessive sweating, in which patients can sweat a lot even at rest.

According to Western Medicine, sweating is a normal condition of our body and helps to maintain the temperature. It is normal to sweat when it is hot, during physical activities or in certain specific situations, such as moments of anger, nervousness or fear. However, in hyperhidrosis, excessive sweating occurs even without the presence of any of these factors. This is because patients’ sweat glands are hyper-functioning.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Heart is the organ responsible for controlling sweat. Sweating is a consequence of the excess body fluids (Jin Ye) produced by the Stomach.

When the Heart has an energy imbalance, especially a Deficiency of Qi and / or Blood, there is a difficulty in absorbing the Jin Ye into the blood vessels, which will thus be expelled, resulting in sweat.

To treat hyperhidrosis in Chinese Medicine we need to know if the Heart is the cause or consequence of the imbalance. When it is the cause, key points of the meridian such as HT-7, HT-5 and HT-3 will already help in the symptoms, however, when the Heart becomes unbalanced due to the malfunction of another organ, we have to treat the causing organ.

According to Maciocia, we can know the origin of the imbalance according to the location of the sweat:

• On the head: Heat or Heat-Humidity in the Stomach.
• In the upper and lower limbs: Deficiency of Stomach and Spleen.
• Only in Hands: Deficient Lung Qi.
• Palms, Soles, Thorax = “Sweating 5 of palms” or Heat of 5 palms: Kidney Yin deficiency.

Remembering that all the above organs: Spleen, Lung or Kidney have connection with Heart through the 5 Elements.

Deficiency of Spleen leads to Deficiency of Heart (law of mother and child) – to tone the Spleen, SP-2 and SP-3 are good points.
Deficient Lung Qi will overload the Heart, leading to Deficiency in the medium term (law of contra dominance. Lung Deficiency will lead the Heart to excess and then exhaustion) – to tone the Lung Qi, the points are recommended Lu-7, Lu-9, BL-13.
Deficient Kidney Yin will lead to Deficient Heart Yin (as the Kidney nourishes the Yin of the whole body) – to tone the Kidney Yin, the KI-6 and CV-4 points are the best. You can also open the Ren Mai Wonderful Vase (LU-7-KI-6).
** If the problem is stomach humidity, points ST-40 and SP-9 are recommended.

In auriculotherapy we always use the points of the Heart associated with the points of origin of the problem, that is, Spleen, Lung, Kidney or Stomach. You can also add the points of greatest sweat occurrence, such as the hands, feet or spine.

That’s it folks. There are still many other issues to be discussed in hyperhidrosis, but without a doubt, this is a good start.

A big hug to everyone.

Profa. Fernanda Mara.

Good afternoon Readers!

Today we’re going to talk a little bit about the patient who suffers from shoulder pain.

Patients suffering from bursitis, tendonitis or who are undergoing recovery from surgery on the shoulder joint usually take a long time to recover 100%, so it is interesting to evaluate how we can return range of motion and reduce pain in a shorter time. possible.

For these cases, a good tip is to associate the knowledge of Acupuncture and Dry Needling. Although the Dry Needling technique is not as complex as Chinese Acupuncture, it derives from oriental knowledge and should be studied by all professionals who handle needles.

When we treat energy meridians, we are not always able to release all patient’s pain, as they may suffer from the presence of myofascial trigger points.

Myofascial trigger points are areas of the muscle that suffer from hypoxia, that is, they lack blood and oxygen, due to their pre-existing inflammation or because of an accident with direct trauma. Usually, in cases of shoulder problems, the muscles most affected by trigger points are:

• Subscapularis
• Small Round
• Latissimus Dorsi
• Supraspinatus

It is important that the therapist finds the trigger point through palpation, to know if they’re causing reflex pain signal in the patient. If so, the affected muscle must be needled deeply. After approximately 3 minutes of this type of needling, the patient will be able perform the restricted movement with greater amplitude.

An important observation is that, like traditional acupuncture points, trigger points also have a correct location, and there is no need to needle a large muscle extension.

In addition to the dry needling the therapist should place needles at points that help to restore the circulation of blood and energy in the affected joint. Good local action points are:

• LI-14
• LI-15
• SI-11
• GB-21
• LU-3

And of distal action, we can use the points GB-34 and GB-39 that will nourish the muscles and tendons in general.

It is evident that the therapist should use other tools such as moxotherapy, electrotherapy, auriculotherapy and other resources if the patient does not improve between the first 3 sessions, however, if the points indicated in this article are correctly placed, it is certain that the patient will improve already in the first session.

I hope you enjoyed it and it will be useful.

A big hug to everyone!

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Hello Dear Readers,

Today we are going to talk a little bit about some recommendations that acupuncturists give to their patients right after an acupuncture session and also discuss a little why we should follow these recommendations.

If you are an acupuncturist or acupuncture patient, you have probably heard that the patient cannot, until 2 hours after a session:

• step on the icy floor
• drink ice water
• have sex
• do intense physical activity

Have you ever wondered why these recommendations exist?

These recommendations are extremely important, my dear reader, as they are protecting the effects achieved by stimulation of acupuncture points. Let me explain:

Acupuncture has as main objective to rebalance the patient physically and energetically. Energy is a subtle, non-palpable substance that circulates through acupuncture meridians. This energy needs to circulate in a continuous and harmonic way throughout the organism for the individual to be healthy.

When acupuncture needles are inserted in the points located on the meridians, the body’s response is to circulate the energy, making it take its correct course and reach all the organs that are in need of this substance.

The energy cycles every two hours, changing its highest concentration per organ in what we call “Organ Body Clock”, maintaining itself this way throughout life. When we get sick, the energy stops flowing harmoniously, a fact that acupuncture can correct during the session.

However, we say that the peak effect of acupuncture occurs after two hours after we remove the needles. That is, the benefits will start to happen while the patient is needled, but they will only reach their peak two hours after the removal of the needles. This happens because the energy that has been unlocked needs to fall back into the “body clock”, a fact that takes 2 hours, according to the literature definition.
Knowing these facts, the question still remains: But why are there the recommendations at the beginning of this text?

1. When we step on the cold floor or consume cold drinks, we are putting the pathogenic factor “Cold” into the body, which blocks the circulation of blood and energy in the body. So, we would be acting contrary to the objective of acupuncture, which is maintain harmonic circulation.
2. When we have sex or do intense physical activity, we generate “Heat”, which will stir up the energy and prevent its circulation from being harmonious, as in the previous exemple.

Two hours after the session, the circulation of energy will have returned to normal, and consuming cold drinks, stepping on the cold floor, having sex or doing physical activity will cause the same impacts on the body, however, the body rebalanced by acupuncture can adapt to these changes and regain their balance easily after these practices.

We call this phenomenon homeostasis, which is the state of physical, chemical and dynamic balance of an organism. The body can become unbalanced, but the healthy body is able to rediscover its balance.

So, dear readers, the recommendations given to patients must be followed in full, so that the effect is complete and so that the therapist has the chance to restore the patient’s organism the ability to rebalance itself and cure its symptoms;)

I hope you enjoyed.

A big hug to everyone.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning readers

Today we’re going to talk a little bit about Wei Qi: The Defense Energy.

Known as the energy that protects the body, Wei Qi can be understood in Western medicine as that which represents immunity, the body’s ability to defend itself from external pathogenic factors.

Wei Qi is produced by the Lung, however, its raw material comes from digestion by the Stomach and Spleen. The Stomach has the function of ripening and decomposing the digested foods, while the Spleen will transform the digested foods into Gu Qi, known as “the essence energy of the food”.

Thus, the Gu Qi produced by the Spleen will reach the Lung, where, together with the Air energy, it will become Wei Qi.

Wei Qi (defense energy) will circulate through the surface of the skin, a place known as the “Cou Li” space (space between the skin and the muscles) and when it is strong, it will defend the body from invasions of cold, humidity, heat, wind and dryness. With a strong Wei Qi, the individual will not get sick.

Wei Qi’s circulation is particularly notable. According to Ling Shu, its circulation starts in the Bladder meridian, in the eyes region, following the following sequence:

During the day (circulates 25 times in the viscera) → from BI1 to B67 → SI19 to SI1 (Tai Yang levels) → GB1 to GB44 → SJ23 to SJ1 (ShaoYang levels) → from ST1 to ST45 → LI20 to LI1 (Yang Ming levels)

** circulations occur separately at each Energy Level

During the night (circulates in the organs) → Kidney → Heart → Lung → Liver → Spleen → Kidney.

This means that during the day our viscera and the posterior region of the body are more protected than the organs. And at night, the opposite happens, the organs and the region of the body are more protected than the viscera.

This circulation of Qi justifies why it is so easy to get a cold when, at night, the Yang meridians are unprotected and we take wind in the back, for example.

In order to keep Wei Qi good during the day, we need to nourish the organs, so good nutrition and rest should be part of the daily routine.

Two points are particularly important in maintaining Wei Qi, the SP6 and the LU9. SP6 is important because it has the action of improving immunity and LU9 for its function of direct Lung toning. Keeping Wei Qi strong is keeping the body disease-free 🙂

I hope you enjoyed!

A big hug!

Profa. Fernanda Mara