Hot Bods & Pimples

I've had 4 moxa (moxibustion) sessions todate and boy! Am I burnin' up! It seems that my body has been responding so well to this heat treatment that pimples have broken out on my face! In fact that was the first thing my TCM doctor so very kindly pointed out to me when he saw me today! How sweet! He attributed that to the moxa because for me, an occasional pimple every now and then is normal-5 overnight is not! And it's not just the pimples - my body felt like an overheated nuclear reactor. I've had to throw off the blanket last night and crank up the a/c because I was so hot. It felt like I could fry an egg on my body! I am not sure how far I've got to take this, but I will just have to put my trust in my doctor, who is monitoring me closely. He says I should push on with the moxa.

So today, I had my 4th moxa. This moxa thing may sound like some hocus-pocus waving of a burning wand over my needle-pricked body, but its effects are surprisngly real. I've had 2 unusual experiences during today's session that convinced me that the moxa has opened up my energy channels - once my doctor had inserted all the acupuncture needles, my bed started to sway. It felt like 2 people were bumping the foot and head of my bed back and forth, back and forth. I thought - "Oh no! Earthquake? The building is swaying!" So I extended both my arms outwards and braced myself against the walls (the private room was quite narrow) to stop the bed from swaying, but the swaying didn't stop. It was then that I realized that the sensation was occurring from inside my body. The needles had triggered the circulation of Qi or energy up and down my body. So the surging of the energy made me sway! It was quite an amazing feeling! No one else said they felt the building swaying, so it must have been all me.

The second unusual experience I had was the burning sensation I had on the back and left side of my waist. I had just completed the 50-minute moxa and acupuncture session, and was walking around when I felt it. Immediately I asked the doctor about it and he explained that the moxa had opened up the channels and hormonal glands in my kidney. Well, it made sense because that burning was where the kidney's located. Apparently, my other kidney is still asleep...