Acupuncture is one of the oldest systems of healing dating back thousands of years. Acupuncture was brought to Japan from China, Traditional Chinese Medicine dates back thousands of years, with evidence of some tools dating back even further. Heavily influenced by Chinese medicine, Japanese acupuncture has developed it own unique approach. Japanese acupuncture is known for its gentle approach to treatment, using palpation or touch for diagnosis, extremely fine needles and shallow insertion, to achieve a long-lasting effective results.
The goal of Japanese style acupuncture treatments, is to get to the root of the imbalance, this is done through palpation of the hara (abdomen), pulse, tongue and symptoms. A ‘root’ treatment, while taking into consideration the main complaint, will allow the body to align properly and create lasting changes.
There are many more styles of Japanese acupuncture, here at Soul Qi we gravitate towards Kiiko Matsumoto style, Toyhari and Shimimura style, attending frequent training seminars and workshops to make sure our practitioners keep up to date and informed on the best way to help our patients.
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is the second to needles in Japanese acupuncture, it is used in all treatments. Moxibustion is the refined form of the mugwort plant. It can be found in stick form, or as a ‘moxa punk’, the highest grade of moxa punk is used at Soul Qi, to ensure the best outcomes for our clients.
Used particularly painful points to needle, or to reinforce the acupuncture point, moxibustion is twirled into a fine rice grain shape, placed on the skin with a balm underneath, and burnt down without burning the client (Of course), but just enough to feel heat before putting it out. Soul Qi’s practitioners spend many hours perfecting this skill, as it is a foundation skill to Japanese acupuncture.
This heat activates special thermo-receptors in the skin, and see our blog if your interested in a more detailed description.
Children's Acupuncture
From pregnancy and birth to death, life is accompanied by rituals, shonishin or childrens acupuncture is a ritual that has survived centuries. Children aren’t small or unfinished grown ups, they live in a world of their own and require a treatment which has specifically designed for them.
Japanese acupuncture for children has a long history, with specific techniques for children mentioned in some of the earliest traditional medical texts. Shonishin uses a variety of tools, to perform gentle techniques such as tapping, stroking, pressing or scratching, along the childs meridians.
Children respond very quickly to acupuncture treatments, so they do not require treatments that are as long as an adults treatment, as they change so quickly the possibility of over treating is higher than usual.
Gentle and effective, childrens acupuncture can help a wide variety of issues your child might be experiencing.
SoulQi strives to provide certainty, trust, clarity and essential knowledge to all treatment so you as a client, receive the best possible outcome.