A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn
I taught a class on moxa this morning at NUNM in Portland, OR where I am employed as an instructor. It is always gratifying to open the “moxa door” to another group of practitioners. I myself waited probably 5-7 years after I acquired my license before I brought in moxa in a meaningful way. For the sake of my earlier patients I wish I had begun earlier, because I now see moxa as almost indispensable. It does something that needles cannot do (of course the reverse is true as well, what needles do cannot be done with moxa).
Our TCM institutions in the US do a disservice to the art of moxibustion. I know they have a lot on their plates and need to cover so many bases in the training programs, but most of them I think present a few days of indirect moxa as the entirety of the moxa training—some might also show how to load up the navel with salt and place moxa cones there. It is a good technique. This too short training is sad, because there are so many ways moxa can be performed, and there is so much to know. In Japan moxibustion requires a different license; you cannot automatically perform moxibustion just because you are an acupuncturist. You need the additional license.
I tell students that moxa and needles are like noodles and broth. Noodles alone make good eating, and broth alone is nutritious and good tasting. But put broth and noodles together and you have a real winning combination. And once you have tasted them together, it is hard to go back to separating them. In like fashion I can no longer imagine treatment without moxa and needles.
Of course, heat alone is therapeutic and can be brought into the treatment in many ways: heat lamps of various types, heated ceramic plates, hot rocks, table warmers, warming pens, and so on. I support all of that, especially for those practitioners in offices that do not allow the burning of anything. And of course, heat itself is therapeutic—dead bodies are all cold, i.e., heat belongs to life. And yet I think moxa is different in quality from any of them. There is just something very special about this plant. Its energetics are a perfect match for human beings.
Sawada Ken is a name that all Japanese practitioners immediately recognize, so significant are his accomplishments. He actually was trained in the martial arts, not medicine. While working in Korea as a bodyguard he came in contact with moxibustionists and was impressed with what they could accomplish. He studied with them and when he returned to Japan he opened a number of moxa clinics. This was at the height of the world-wide tuberculosis epidemic.
Sawada succeeded in helping many TB patients, even though this was before the time when we had drug therapies to fight the disease. My understanding is that with three treatments a week over a six-month period Sawada could bring patients back to health. He was known for whole body treatments; what this means is that he used points from all parts of the body: front-back, legs-arms, head. I think his treatments were stronger in nature than what most people practice these days. People were tougher back then and could handle stronger degrees of stimulation. Modern sensibilities are a bit softer, but still moxa proves itself effective, even when the level of stimulation is reduced significantly.
I was told of a survey of North American practitioners 10-15 years ago about their use of moxa. Less than 10% responded that they used it in any form, and even where it was used, indirect techniques were employed. That is not very many practitioners. I find it astonishing that an art that is so much a part of the history of East Asian medicine is practiced by so few; this signals a failure of our education. From a business perspective it makes sense to do something other practitioners avoid. If you include direct moxa in your practice, you will find that it draws patients to your practice.
How to learn to do moxa effectively? Look for seminars with Junji Mizutani or Lorraine Wilcox. These are two of our top experts. Lorraine’s two books would have to be considered required reading. Blue Poppy published both of them. Junji’s writings can be accessed at najom.org. He sells a collection of his articles there. They are mostly focused on clinical tips but offer at times interesting insights into the history of moxa practice. Another great book is Moon over Mitsushima by Merlin Young. It is a wonderful book that does a great job of covering moxa’s history as well as offering great clinical tips. Merlin is engaged in researching what role moxibustion might play in the emerging TB crisis in Africa. His work can be followed at moxafrica.org. You can find also a few YouTube videos of his work.
I encourage you all to dive in! Expand how you are practicing to include more moxa.
Best wishes all around,
Bob Quinn
p.s. Blue Poppy is your best source of moxa supplies of all sorts.