Why should you do Moxa San Fu?

For six years now I have been following Dr Michael Chung when he comes to Montreal to teach Master Tung’s acupuncture system. I have learned a lot about acupuncture treatment from him and am very grateful for it. Dr Chung is also an accomplished herbal doctor and several years ago he mentioned in passing a treatment for asthma and other lung conditions that has become very popular in China and Taiwan. This treatment consisted of taping an herbal paste over specific acupuncture points on the upper back during the hottest days of the summer.

Being already well accustomed to working with externally applied herbs and knowing full well the potent effects they can have my ears perked up immediately and I wanted to know more.

The Neijing Suwen is the 2500 year old medical text from which all Chinese medicine has grown. In chapter two of this book while speaking about how to nourish health by maintaining life habits in accord with the seasons  it is written, “in spring and summer nourish the yang and in autumn and winter nourish the yin”. From this a treatment strategy evolved that says to “treat winter ailments in the summer” and from this strategy came the specific preventative therapy of San Fu Moxa.

The idea is that diseases such as allergies, asthma, allergic rhinitis, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pulmonary emphysema, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are very often fundamentally caused by cold which in turn causes what Chinese medicine calls a Yang Deficiency.

A  full discussion of the concept of Cold in Chinese medicine is beyond the scope of this short blog post however Chinese medicine recognizes that cold from the environment can become lodged in the body leading to dysfunction and illness and/or the body might not produce enough heat on its own. Either way the hottest days of summer are the best time to chase the cold out and warm the body.

The treatment is also It is also suitable for individuals with a deficient and cold body constitution, who commonly notice aversion to cold, aversion to wind, or are prone to catching colds frequently during the winter cold seasons.

This sounded like a very promising therapy to me so I searched for the formula and other information about this method. At first I found little but it seems the treatment is very successful in treating chronic lung issues and allergies that are otherwise been un-responsive to treatment and so word of it has been spreading quite quickly around the globe.

Reports from Asia indicate that the best results are achieved when treatment is followed over the course of three consecutive years, each year re-enforcing the effects of warming the body and expelling cold on both the warmest days of summer and the coldest days of winter. San Fu Days are happening on specific dates, three weeks in a row in the summer and the winter, with a specific herbal preparation according to the season.

We are happy to announce that our San Fu Moxa clinic is running in the summer and winter, for those who took the treatment in the past and for new patient. Please come in and take advantage.