Dating back to 3000BC or perhaps as far back as the Stone Age, there has been said that acupuncture is in fact one of the oldest means of medical care on the planet. Acupuncture and meridians being confusing enough, trying to figure out the reason why they contribute to better health can be quite the task. We will take a look at the exact nature of this practice by asking and answering some questions, specifically those surrounding acupuncture meridians.

The Meaning of Acupuncture

Acupuncture is used to balance energy levels and eliminate blockages, which may be preventing your health from achieving its optimum state. The energy system of the body can be manipulated with the use of very fine acupuncture needles. This energy system flows through the body, and can be accessed via a variety of 500 specific acupuncture points found along what is called the acupuncture meridians. These points are related to every system and function of the body, housing both positive and negative energy.

The Meridians

There are twelve main meridians which connect the 500 acupuncture points, and they are found along your legs and arms. With balance they provide optimal health and happiness. When unbalance they result in life and health being unbalanced as well. The Yin and Yang can be compared to the flip sides of the same coin. This is where the balance needs to be in order for all aspects to be positive and aligned.

When making the association between Yin and Yang, picture the two sides of a coin as mentioned above. On the one side, the Yin holds responsibility for negative aspects, such as darkness, passivity, coldness, wetness and the feminine. The other side would be the Yang, which holds responsibility for all positive aspects such as brightness, activeness, dryness, heat and masculine. You will also find that each of the main meridians house their own elements of Yin and Yang.

These twelve meridians are located:

At the inside of your arms, body to fingertips – Yin

Along the outside of your arm from your fingertips to your face – Yang

Along the outside of your leg from your face to your feet – Yang

And along the inside of your leg from your feet to your body – Yin

The following organs are affected by the 12 main meridians:

1. Lungs

2. Large Intestine

3. Stomach

4. Spleen

5. Heart

6. Small Intestine

7. Urinary Bladder

8. Kidney

9. Pericardium

10. Triple Warmer – This meridian affects the thyroid and the adrenal glands which regulate your metabolism and affect your immune system and has a profound affect on your stress reaction.

11. Gall Bladder

12. Liver

The Yin side includes lungs, heart and pericardium with the arm meridians, while the Yang side of the arm houses the meridians for the small intestine, triple warmer and the large intestine. As for the leg meridians, the Yin side covers spleen, kidney and liver, while the Yang side covers stomach, gall bladder and bladder.

Each of your organs, as you probably already know, play a valuable and essential function in the effectiveness of your overall health and the optimal functioning of your body. When one is out of balance, blocked, or not functioning optimally your entire body and even your emotional state can be significantly affected.

There is a reason why this practice of acupuncture and the balancing of the body’s energy through accessing meridians is still practiced today – it works.

According to Hindu thought, chakras are the energy centers of the human body. These are the key points at which our life force move through the body and are what keeps our body and mind functioning properly and in harmony with each other. While you can’t see your chakras, the major chakras are closely associated with the major parts of your endocrine system (which is tangible).

Our chakras are responsible for controlling the flow of energy into and out of our bodies. We depend on this constant flow of energy both internally and between our bodies and our environment. To keep in good health, our chakras must be in a balanced state.

The seven major chakras are ties to the function of a particular gland in our endocrine system. Our chakras are tied to everything we go through; each feeling, sensation and experience we have are related to our chakras.

Physical, emotional and mental stress can cause imbalance in the function of our chakras and when this occurs we feel lethargic or show signs of physical illnesses. This illness is a manifestation that there is something not right about how our chakra functions.

To get the most of the harmonious function of our chakras, chakra balance must be maintained. Regular chakra balancing is key to keeping in good health, similar to the way that a machine needs preventative maintenance.

Importance of Chakra Balancing There are many different ways to balance your chakras; others are always being developed to help people reach a state of perfect balance in their chakras. This is the goal of those who want to have a more healthy, happy and productive life.

This all begins with an understanding that each chakra resonates to a different frequency; these frequencies are naturally occurring and help the chakras to perform their important function of transmitting and receiving energy; also known as prana or chi.

During periods of illnesses, our chakras are still functioning but may be out of synch which can hamper the free flow of energy to further aggravate our physical and/or mental and emotional illness. Other contributory factors to the malfunction of our chakra system are undue stress or the inability to cope, suppressed emotions, unhealthy food intake, and lack of exercise.

The balance of your chakras can, happily, be restored; although they will get out of balance from time to time, but this can be corrected.

Tools of Chakra Balancing: The methods which are most commonly employed to restore chakra balance are crystals and gems, light, sound, color and aromatherapy.

Colors: Commonly used colors and their corresponding chakras are red (the root chakra), orange (the sacral chakra), yellow (the solar plexus chakra), green and turquoise (the heart chakra), blue (the throat chakra), violet (the crown chakra) and white for any of the primary chakras.

Crystals and Gems: For millennia, laying gens, crystals and stones on the body at the location of the chakras has been used to restore chakra balance., Each chakra corresponds to a different color; so laying a stone of this color on the bodily area which corresponds to it can help to reach the proper balance, which in turn helps the body to heal.

The light reflected by these stones can also help by getting this light into the body (and your chakras).

Light: Light therapy employs light not only on the eyes, but also on the reflex points and the meridian points of acupuncture to restore chakra balance. The broad spectrum of light is very beneficial here, including both visible and invisible frequencies, including those corresponding to the chakras.

Aromatherapy: Aromatherapy uses essential oils, massage oils which are scented as well as scented bath soaps to help the body heal and to restore proper chakra balance. Essential oils can return mental and emotional stability to a person who is out of balance. Aromatherapy is also effective in relieving stress, promoting relaxation and can also assist in alleviating depression and helping one to reach a meditative state.

Sound: Sound therapy utilizes music, tuning forks, quartz, Tibetan singing bowls and other sound creating objects to create a state of well being and to generate frequencies which are resonant with the chakras. Sound has a natural soothing and therapeutic effect due to its direct appeal to the emotions. A beautiful sound can create a state of serenity, while a harsh, discordant on will produce anxiety. Sound can in fact bring about faster healing and a higher state of consciousness.

Until very recently, chakra balancing was a difficult process which could take a great deal of time. However, technological advances in the audio field have brought us binaural frequencies, subliminal sound and self-hypnosis recordings; all of which have made chakra balancing much easier to achieve.