Acupuncture is a Chinese medical treatment that has been practised for thousands of years, not only in China and other South-East Asian countries, but also worldwide. Practitioners are guided by the idea that the life-sustaining energy Qi flows through channels in the body. When this flow is disturbed, diseases develop. By applying the needles to the points in the channels, the circulation of Qi is restored and health is restored.
On 24 May, we listened to a lecture "How does acupuncture work?" by acupuncturist, doctor of medicine Dainius Butvilas. D. Butvilas has been training in China, at the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is now actively applying Chinese medicine practices in Lithuania.
In the first lecture we were looking for answers to the questions how acupuncture works, whether it is a safe procedure and what are the therapeutic effects of acupuncture.
In order to answer how acupuncture works, according to the speaker, we first need to listen to how our body works.
Acupuncture (zhēnjiǔ 针灸 in Chinese) originated in China several thousand years ago, and was introduced in Europe only in the 17th century.
It is a method of healing where certain points are irritated and the internal organs are triggered to react. Stimulating these points helps to restore the lost balance and smooth flow of energy.
This is because when the flow of energy is disturbed, diseases start to develop. The cause of the disturbance may be anxiety, which is based on fear. And fear disturbs the flow of vital energy. Meanwhile, sadness depletes the Qi reserves.
In the second part, we explored how acupuncture can be applied in modern Western medicine.
We tried to compare Western medicine and Chinese traditional medicine.
At the end of the lecture, Butvilas said that if we want to find correspondences and explain what is not explained by known methods, we can do it, for example, with acupuncture.
This was followed by a question and answer session where participants actively asked questions about health.
We hope that this lecture has deepened your understanding of the processes that take place inside and outside our bodies, and that it has encouraged you to seek new answers to old questions.