Journey into Korean Moxibustion
Here is my capstone project for my doctorate degree. It was submitted to Oregon College of Oriental Medicine.
My Capstone Project
Others
My first published article about Gudang Moxibustion
Treatment of Acute Pain of Shoulder, Neck and Upper Back with Combination of Acupuncture and Direct Moxibustion
Frostbite
We all know what frostbite is.
Have you seen frostbitten fingers or toes that become dark black in the worst case? I guess that extreme cold turns into heat, as we learn from Yin and Yang transformation. There is a similar example. MIT succeeded in freezing water at boiling temperature. Isn’t it interesting?
Here’s how to treat frostbite. When you have toes affected, apply moxa cones on the area. The area feels different from the normal area. Moxa helps circulation in the area. When you feel normal on the affected area, please remember that the body remembers the wounds. The different sensation in the area can be felt when the weather becomes cold. Then, applying one or two cones would relieve you of the sensation. This is from my personal experience. I had seven or eight toes frostbitten about ten years ago. Some of them turned dark black. All of them function well, except for slow growth in the affected toes.
One Korean famous doctor, Ilhoon Kim, recommended burning moxa cones on the dark black areas until they become scorched. He seemed to take advantage of Yin and Yang transformation. I did not have to try this far, fortunately.
by Dr Kihyon Sohn, acupuncturist in Portland and Tigard
Athlete’s Foot
Athlete’s Foot
When you develop athlete’s foot, it is really pain in the neck. Even if you are not an athlete, you get it from somewhere. It is very annoying and resilient. It becomes extremely itchy especially in the summer. Here is how you can treat athlete’s foot.
First of all, when you have itching, you will want to roll thin moxa cones in a thread form and apply a few cones on the itchy area. It will relieve itching immediately. And then, apply several thin thready cones on the root of the relevant toenail as you can see in the picture. It is not difficult to know that the bottom of the pinky toe is also affected. When it becomes worse, there may be discoloration on the toenail of the pinky toe. When you keep repeating moxa cones everyday, you will find the skin and toenail back to normal, not to mention no itching.
Journey
We are all nearing the end of our journey slowly while we live our daily lives. It suddenly came to my mind how we should leave the planet well with no pain, and with love and gratitude.
Many people live longer lives, compared with those who lived a hundred years ago. However, it seems that some aging people sustain their lives in bed with endurance of pain and dependency on medications.
We know that many patients seek acupuncture for pain relief since medications do not work. Scarring moxibustion works pretty well as a pain reliever as well, in addition to improvement in sufficient energy to fight back against anything.
If you know of anyone lying in bed, but they cannot afford any treatments, you might want to consider training them about how to apply Moxa cones themselves at home. We all have the right to live without pain. Our mission is to help relieve them of pain and regain their health.