Acupuncture Needling - an Example of One Possibility… (Video)

Many people wonder what the experience of Acupuncture might be like.  As explained elsewhere on this site, Acupuncture is practiced in lots of ways by people of many traditions, and the experience of any individual in any given treatment is unique.  Acupuncture treatments from practitioners from diverse traditions can be very helpful for your health concerns.

Acupuncture needles are used in a lot of different ways, and used for different purposes at different points.  Even at a given Acupuncture Point, the effect could be different depending on the intended result of the treatment, and on the technique used.

I was trained in a tradition where using an acupuncture needle for a therapeutic treatment is considered to be a very serious thing, and a big responsibility.

This video shows an example of a needling treatment for a very specific purpose, in the context of treating someone for a certain complex of symptoms.  This is excerpted from a long video describing the entire treatment, so is not intended as a teaching tool or a prescription for using a certain point for any given condition - merely an example of what the experience of receiving an acupuncture treatment might be like.  This does not at all demonstrate the whole of the treatment, but it is a good example of the experience of receiving a treatment.

This person is very articulate in describing her experience.  What she is talking about is called, in Chinese, “Deqi” - simply stated that means the sensation that someone receiving an acupuncture treatment feels when an acupuncture point is stimulated effectively.

As an Acupuncturist, when I am using a needle to treat someone, I am using it to feel a sensation called “Hibiki” (From the Japanese language).  The word “Hibiki”, in this context, refers to the sensations that I feel when needling that tell me if I am reaching the acupuncture point I am looking for, and affecting it in the way that I intend to.  Hence the name of this website.

Thanks for watching - I will be posting more videos soon.  Check back if you like what you see.

Please contact me if you think you or your students might like to learn more about these kinds of therapies.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Client Education

What do I mean by “Client Education?”

I think that if you have been injured, are suffering from chronic pain or disease, or just are experiencing some persistent symptoms that are impacting your quality of life, part of what will help you is to have a better understanding of what is happening with you, and what you can do about it given the resources you have and some knowledge about what to do for yourself.

I will do my best to explain to you, in language you can understand, what is happening.  I do that by explaining as I go along what I am finding, what it means in terms of Asian Medicine, Western Medicine, and just plain English - my goal is for you to have a personal understanding of what is going on.  Sometimes that could mean teaching you about the anatomy of your injury, or about how your organ functions are affecting your condition. Sometimes it might involve looking at your cultural context, your home life, or looking more closely at your history.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you might need to know something about the process of dealing with insurance, attorneys, other medical practitioners, etc.  I will help you find out what you need to know about that, as well.

My belief is that any of us, when we are suffering, would like to know how to help ourselves.  I believe that there are many ways that we can become empowered to help ourselves, very often with just basic education about the specific issues we are facing.

Have you injured a muscle or joint?  If you understand what that means and specifically what your injury is, you can modify your movement, apply specific stretching or strengthening movements, or external applications to help yourself.  Maybe some herbal treatments might help.  Maybe a specific referral to another practitioner who specializes in your condition would be most helpful to you.

If you have a hormonal imbalance, and it is coming from a specific imbalance that you can understand and help with some basic home treatment, it will help you get better much faster while getting some treatment for it.

If your condition is impacted by medications you are taking, dietary habits that you have,  or environmental exposures from your work or living situation, I will do my best to help you to understand your health concerns and how they might be related to the context that you find yourself in.

If possible, I will suggest or teach you how to do specific movements, external applications, home treatments, or other self-care treatments that will help you.  If necessary, I will refer you to someone else who might better serve your needs, according to your specific situation, to the best of my ability.

To me, this is part of my responsibility as a practitioner of the traditional therapies that I have been trained in.  Any of this is included in the course of services that I provide.

Look around this site as time goes on - I will be posting new informational articles from time to time…

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

What is Acupressure?

“Acupressure” is a term sometimes used to describe Asian Therapeutic treatments where a practitioner will use his or her hands or fingers, or even elbows or other body tools to influence the flow of energy along the acupuncture channels of the body and treat injuries or other health issues.

“Acupressure” is a term that was often used in English some years ago, before it became more widely known that Asian bodywork therapies actually are very diverse, and that there are many different styles or practices that have very deep lineages.  In some of the oldest written records of Asian Medicine, manual therapy was considered to be a unique branch of medicine, equal to Acupuncture, Herbal medicine, Moxabustion therapy, and some other forms of medicine.  Often, manual therapy was associated with schools of martial arts and injury treatment.

In China, manual therapy is often referred to as “Tuina” - and in fact, specialists of Tuina therapy are trained and respected as practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine in their own right.  Manual therapy or Tuina departments are common in Chinese hospitals.

In Japan, “Shiatsu” is a generic name for a type of manual therapy that is sometimes known in the US as “Acupressure”.  There are many other names for Japanese manual therapy schools - Amma, Sotai, Reiki, Judo-Seifuku, etc.

My original teacher of Japanese manual therapy called what he taught “Teate”, or simply “Handwork” or “Hand Treatment”.  At the Kototama Institute, where I first trained, Teate therapy was a very big part of my training.  My fellow students and I spent over a year being carefully trained in Teate as a foundation for the other therapeutic practices taught at the Kototama Institute.  I have been studying and practicing this kind of treatment for over 25 years now.

One thing that is unique about the practice of Teate is that it includes extensive treatment of the abdomen, to harmonize the internal organs and make sure that your belly is in working order, with everything moving through as it should, organs in the places where they belong, and able to function at their best.  This is often a new experience for people, and most people find the benefits of this treatment to be very powerful.

Treatment of the myofascial system and its integration with the bones of the skeletal system is also a big part of Teate treatment, and this can be very beneficial if you have experienced any sort of injury, even one long ago that might still be affecting you.

Overall, the goal of Teate treatment is to help to harmonize and re-integrate your whole system, and to restore optimal function of your many circulatory pathways - energetic flows through the acupuncture channels, blood and lymph circulation, other fluid movements in your body, and musculo-skeletal integration.  Manual treatment will be a big part of your experience in receiving treatment at Hibiki Natural Therapeutics.

Techniques used during a Teate session include direct pressure, indirect pressure, vibration, rhythmic pressure, stretching, twisting, and other movements, and techniques comparable to medical qigong.  The range of pressure used varies greatly from very light pressure to relatively strong techniques.

In addition to my early training and long practice of Teate therapy, I have been trained in Tuina as part of my Chinese medicine training, and have also studied under teachers of manual therapies from other cultures and specialties.  I draw from a wide variety of influences in the manual therapy that I use in my practice.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

What is Acupuncture?

By now, most Americans have heard of acupuncture.  You probably know that acupuncture is a kind of therapeutic treatment from China that is done by inserting small “Acupuncture Needles” into certain points on your body, called “Acupuncture Points”, and that somehow that is supposed to help with medical problems.

To a lot of people, that seems mysterious, possibly scary, and kind of weird.  How could that work?  It might seem unbelievable, but you might have heard from friends or the media that a lot of people have been helped by acupuncture.  What is going on here?

Here is a brief overview.

Acupuncture did begin in China, somewhere over two thousand years ago.  By 200 BC, there were Chinese medical texts that describe the use of acupuncture in great detail, indicating that it had already been widely practiced by that time.  Acupuncture as a therapeutic practice spread through much of Asia, and was adopted into many cultures, in many places being taken into the culture of an area and being practiced in a particular way in that culture.

In that way, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and other places became cultures where acupuncture was accepted as a very useful medical treatment.  Because of the length of time it has been practiced, and the variety of cultures and schools that have evolved over the years, The practice of acupuncture has become very diverse, and is used in a lot of ways for a lot of things.

This is possible because acupuncture is a manifestation of a very comprehensive medical paradigm, and acupuncture needles are very versatile tools.

In general, Asian medicine looks at each person as a unique presence, and in terms of their  physical bodies, as existing and functioning as an intertwining complex of circulatory systems that circulate both energies and substances both inside and in relation with their environment.

Optimal health is present when all of the circulatory systems are unobstructed, flowing freely, and have enough of what they need.

Traditional evaluation methods are used to determine where and in what body systems circulation might be obstructed or deficient, and where to apply stimulation with an acupuncture needle to correct such an imbalance.

Acupuncture needles are used to affect the flow of energies and substances in the circulatory systems.  They can be used to influence blood flow, the movement of heat or body fluids, local areas of muscle tightness or weakness, nervous system function, hormonal balance, etc.

The acupuncture that I practice is primarily rooted in the Japanese tradition that I learned at the Kototama Institute, but has been influenced by Chinese acupuncture methods and other traditions.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

Also look around this site - I will be posting more articles as time goes on…

What does a Moxabustion treatment look like, and feel like?

Moxabustion treatment takes very  many forms -

Sometimes Moxa is used to warm up a part of your body that is suffering from diminished circulation, and is cold.  If a part of your body is chronically deprived of blood circulation, the tissues there will become malnourished and toxic.  This situation will prevent injured tissues from healing, and often will result in chronic pain.  Moxa therapy can help with this.

Sometimes, a person might have a systemic imbalance that results in a long-term illness, such as infertility, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, IBS, Diabetes, or other “Mystery diseases” that are not effectively treated by Western Medicine.  It is possible that regular Moxa/Acupuncture treatments could help with these kinds of conditions.

Moxa therapy is often useful for conditions that do not respond well to other forms of treatment - serious injuries such as cuts and post-surgical problems, injuries from car accidents, menstrual disorders, thyroid disorders, and many others…

How is Moxa used?

One way is by using Moxa to heat up an area of your body, with what is called a “Moxa Box”.  this is often used on the abdomen or low back.  It is a way to bring circulation to a large area of your body.  Most people find this type of moxa treatment to be very pleasant.

Indirect Moxa is done by using Moxa to heat either Acupuncture points or areas with Moxa to bring circulation to an area, or to disperse stagnation from an area.  This is often done with a “Moxa Stick” - moxa is rolled up into a paper, similar to a cigar, and one end of it is lighted and used to warm a point or area.  This is also usually experienced as a very nice form of treatment.  There are many other ways to do indirect moxa treatments, as well.

Direct moxabustion is a treatment that has been preserved especially through Japanese and Korean lineages.  Direct Moxabustion is so highly esteemed in Japan that it is a separately-licensed medical practice there.  My Teacher, Masahiro-Nakazono Sensei, was a specialist of this kind of medicine, and taught this form of treatment as a part of our curriculum at the Kototama Institute.

Some people love this kind of treatment - some do not like it for various reasons.  It is often so therapeutically valuable, though, that even if people do not like the sensation of it, the results are worth the minor discomfort that might be experienced.

Another form of moxa treatment is called “Moxa Needling”, and is done by placing a small amount of moxa on a needle inserted into an acupuncture point, and then burned to warm up the needle and the point.  I use this form of treatment a lot - I find it to be very effective for a wide variety of conditions.  Generally, I find that most people really enjoy the experience of this kind of moxabustion.

These are only some of the ways in which moxa is used therapeutically, but this overview will give you an idea of the range of application of moxa treatment.

When a person comes to see me, I will do a very comprehensive evaluation of their condition, and then decide on a treatment strategy (selected from the variety of techniques of my training) to apply what seems to be the best treatment for that person at that time.  I will generally do some combination of manual therapy, acupuncture, and moxabustion in the course of any given treatment, often combined with some recommendations for treatments that can be done at home to supplement the treatment in my office.

For more information, please give me a call at (206) 632-5640, or email me at ed@hibikimedia.com (Click the envelope icon at the top right of this page)

Ed Antkowiak, L.Ac. - Seattle Acupuncture and Professional Education

What is Moxabustion?

Moxabustion is a therapeutic treatment from Asia that is almost unheard of in America. It is one of the most powerful treatments practiced by Acupuncturists, however.  In fact, in the Chinese language, the term for Acupuncture is “Zhenjiu”, which could be translated as “Acupuncture/Moxabustion”.  In the traditions of Asian Medicine, Moxabustion treatment is considered as inseparable from acupuncture as a branch of medical treatment.

Moxabustion or Moxa treatment is widely practiced throughout Asia and the world, but for various reasons it is not known much in the US.

Some sources say that moxa treatment is actually older than acupuncture, being referenced in Chinese medical classics more than 300 years before Acupuncture is discussed.

Moxa treatment is done in very many ways in many different cultures, and this kind of treatment is very effective for a wide variety of illnesses and injuries.  Moxa is a very versatile treatment - it can be used to affect blood circulation, hormonal imbalances, pain of all kinds, immune disorders, and many other internal imbalances.

Ed Antkowiak of Hibiki Natural Therapeutics has studied and practiced Moxa treatment for over 25 years, and is a specialist of this kind of treatment.  I was originally trained by a Japanese teacher who was a specialist of Moxabustion treatment, among very many different fields that he excelled in.  I have used Moxa treatment over the years to treat many people for many different kinds of conditions, from breathing problems and allergies, to digestive problems, menstrual disorders and fertility issues, and musculoskeletal problems.

Look around my site to find more information about Moxabustion treatment…