How is Acupuncture Like a Snow Globe?
By Matt Maneggia, LAc.
of chocolates, right? Well, acupuncture, which has been historically understood in the West as a form of energy medicine with Qi fl owing through invisible pathways on the body, is actually a very complex, highly sophisticated medical system. (The “energy” model of acupuncture is actually based on a mistranslation of the Chinese character for Qi, but that’s another story for another day).
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To learn Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), one needs to rewire one’s linear Western way of thinking, blazing new neu- ral pathways to see the body as a whole. An issue with one particular visceral organ in TCM is not just confi ned to that organ, it can (and if left untreated, it will) affect other organs and systems at other points along the circuit of interconnected func- tions and processes that make up the hu- man body. This makes TCM the defi nition of holistic medicine, and to really start to think of the body this way and internalize the principals of TCM feels a heck of a lot like learning a completely new language.
etaphors can be extremely help- ful in understanding complex issues. After all, life is like a box
That said, I don’t know anyone who can learn a new language and hotwire their ingrained brain circuitry over the course of a few hours, so for new patients just start- ing out, I fi nd metaphors to be extremely useful in helping them grasp the gist of what’s happening with their treatment.
Perhaps it’s because I’m that dorky
guy who over-decorates his house for Christmas, but my favorite metaphor for describing these initial stages of a course of acupuncture treatment is that of a snow globe.
You know those little clear glass (or ghastly plastic) balls fi lled with clear liquid and a little wintery scene inside like Santa’s workshop or a gingerbread house? When you shake it hundreds of little white fl ecks of some unknown substance fl oat around and make it look like it’s snowing - often to the point at which you can’t even really make out the pastoral little scene inside. And after the course of a few minutes, that chaotic, blizzardy environment clears out, the snow fl akes settle down nice and even, and you get a clear, crisp picture of the original heart-warming scene. Just look at how cozy that little fi replace looks with the stockings hung by the chimney with care!
20 Natural Nutmeg - November/December 2018
So how in the name of Kris Kringle do these little transparent balls of joy have any resemblance to acupuncture? I love this metaphor so much because starting a course of acupuncture treatment very much shakes up the internal environment of the body in the same way we shake up a snow globe. Acupuncture kicks off a cascade of physiological and biochemical processes in the body - endocrine glands pump out hormones, immune cells respond to the site of the acupuncture, the brain releases endorphins and a host of neurotransmitters, blood vessels dilate, the central nervous system lights up delivering information throughout the body that there’s something unusual going on.
This essentially “shakes up” the body’s
internal environment. Over the course of the fi rst handful of acupuncture treatments, the original symptom may come and go. It may intensify at fi rst for a day or two, it may change location for a time, other odd and seemingly unrelated symptoms might pop up for a spell. Just as in a snow globe, where there’s no way to predict the exact trajectory of every one of the countless snowfl akes, there’s no precise way to de-
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