The best place to start is an ancient list of acupuncture do’s and don’ts written sometime between the 5th and 2nd century B.C.E. If the contextual evidence within the rest of the text is to be believed, this advice may even originate from as far back as the 2nd or 3rd millennia B.C.E. making it even more remarkable. The extract is from the ling shu (靈樞) which translates as Spiritual Pivot. It describes the twelve prohibitions when treating with acupuncture. Be warned it gets straight to the point!

Acupuncture has its prohibitions:
Fresh from sexual intercourse, do not needle;
fresh from needling, do not have intercourse.
If the patient is drunk, do not needle;
after needling do not drink.
Straight from physical labour, do not needle;
once needled, do not labour.
Full with food, do not needle;
once needled do not over-eat.
Starving hunger, do not needle;
after needling do not fast.
Feeling thirsty, do not needle;
after needling don’t go thirsty.

The text then goes on to say

When there is shock or anger, make sure the patient is centred before needling. When the patient comes by carriage, allow them to rest for the time it takes to eat a meal, then needle. If the patient comes on foot, ask them to lie down the time it takes to walk ten villages.

From this we can see the general advice to anyone having acupuncture is to be calm, both immediately before and after treatment. I would suggest observing the list above for at least a whole day after each acupuncture session, which is the time it takes for the qi to do one entire revolution of the energetic system. As for drinking wine after treatment, it is generally accepted amongst most five element practitioners that drinking alcohol or taking drugs on the day of a treatment is akin to flushing the treatment down the drain.

Living in accord with the seasons
In addition to this list above there is also the question of how one protects the effects of the treatments in the long term. The answer is to try to live in sync with the seasons. This means starting to go to bed earlier as the nights draw in, gradually doing less and less in the way of stressful work as one approaches the shorter winter days. The opposite goes for the other half of the year as the days get longer. Of course this can be hard for people to follow in today’s 7am-9pm culture. The general idea is to become more aware of the weather and season. Eating seasonal food is another way to keep the body well. Not only is it local, native and appropriate to the environment in which we live but also closer and usually fresher. On cold days we need warmth in our food. On hot days it’s good to eat cooler food. These are the basics, but for more information on how to live in harmony with each season, have a look for ‘The Way of Heaven’, which is chapters one and two of the ancient medical text, nei jing su wen, or ‘Internal Classic and Questions on Disease’ which deals solely with this topic. I will be posting about this in the future, so check back for a link soon.

Water
One of the most important things I ask patients is to look at their water consumption. The average human being is made up of 60 – 70% water, so it is a good idea to replace that content regularly with clear, plain water. It is recommended that new patients try to cut back on teas, coffees and flavoured drinks.

As always, if you have any questions, please get in touch via the contact page or leave a message.