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On acupuncture: Conversation between an acupuncturist and a curious friend

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Colibrì ed., Milano, 2015

 

 

Inspired by the classic “Huangdi neijing”, a dialogue between the Yellow Emperor and the physician Qibo, Elisa Rossi discusses the fundamentals of acupuncture: the concepts of yin and yang, the correlative system of the Five phases/elements, the channel/meridian paths and the function of acupuncture points.

 

Reference to actual clinical cases guides the interpretation of specific signs, such as tongue and pulse. Additional focus is placed on the processes that lead to imbalance and illness and on the formulation of diagnosis and treatment.

 

The book presents biomedical studies and research on the mechanism of action and the therapeutic results, but it also includes fascinating information on the myths and origins of acupuncture in history, the fundamentals of meditative practices and of qigong, the concepts of dao - way and wuwei – non action.

 

The conversation also highlights some of  the  ideograms,  proceeds through the divinatory text “Yijing”, and – with precise quotations of classical medical texts – leads into the shen-psyche territory/field and onto the patient-practitioner relationship.

 

This work takes the form of a dialogue, facilitating the understanding of such a vast and complex field of knowledge. The exploration unwinds following a thread of questions and answers, where questions call for answers, which in turn stimulate new questions, following the natural way in which our mind investigates the world: the conversation thus proceeds by resonance and analogy, in harmony with the Chinese tradition of thought.

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This book has not yet been published in English.