July/August 2008 Alternative Health
Energy in Motion: Acupuncture and Breathwork

by Don Campbell and Al Lee

The breath plays an integral role in the practice of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

From the first anxious breaths of a new patient entering the treatment room, to the calm, rhythmic breathing of the practitioner inserting and removing a needle, the breath is a powerful force for both healing as well as anchoring our minds and emotions as we are faced with the myriad challenges of living in the modern world.

Both acupuncture and breathwork are considered by many classically trained practitioners as forms of qigong, which translates from Chinese as "energy work," and both are gaining tremendous ground in Western medicine and science. There are many ties between the two from a qigong point of view. Both seek to improve health and well-being through the manipulation and movement of energy from within and without.

Acupuncture especially emphasizes the movement of energy and according to qigong philosophy, breath is one of the most important vehicles for the movement of energy. Qi is believed to move the blood, and it is breath that moves the qi. In fact every move in qigong is centered around the breath and that can be true for acupuncture as well.

According to Dr. Siamak Shirazi, director of the 2bwell acupuncture clinic in Portland (www.2bwell.net), the breath plays a crucial role for both himself and his patients throughout the entire treatment cycle, beginning with the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis. He explains that from an energy perspective there are a number of ways to diagnose a condition.

"One is to determine whether the condition is, from an energy perspective, excess or deficient in nature," says Dr. Shirazi. "For example, chronic cases of lupus, arthritis or cancer are generally considered to be deficient conditions as they tend to weaken the patient. In these cases the treatments are designed to 'tonify' or build the energy. Fever and migraines are general examples of acute or 'excess' conditions and one of the goals for treatment is to decrease or reduce the excess energy."

Whether the condition is determined to be excess or deficient can dictate the treatment and even at what point in the respiration cycle the needle is inserted. For excess conditions the needle is inserted on exhale to decrease the energy, and conversely for deficient conditions the needle is inserted on the inhale to build the energy.

In addition to guiding the actual application of the treatment, the breath plays an even more basic role in the doctor/patient relationship.

"I'm very conscious of my own breathing when I'm working with patients," says Dr. Shirazi. "Sometimes patients are nervous about their treatment for whatever reasons. Maybe they've never had acupuncture before or there are other issues or stresses in their life. When I'm working on a patient like that I usually start with dantien (abdominal) breathing to calm myself down and to project that calmness to them. Nine out of 10 times they follow my breathing without my mentioning it to them. I breathe deeply and get quiet as I start working on them, as I do that, they pick up on my rhythm, and become much calmer within seconds."

Although Dr. Shirazi emphasizes the importance of breathing to all his patients, not everyone is open to that information, especially in the beginning. For many people, especially in the West, acupuncture is a foreign and mysterious practice. Too much information can be overwhelming to some. Calm, diaphragmatic breathing is as contagious as a yawn, and can go a long way toward allaying the fears of a new or nervous patient.

The breath is also an excellent method for staying focused and "in the moment" when working with a patient. When you become aware of your breath, it becomes much more difficult to think about the next breath or the last one, or to wander off into the past or future. This is the same quality of the breath that makes it such a valuable tool in sports, performing arts and meditation. It keeps you present.

"Sometimes when I'm treating a friend or a regular patient and we have a lot of things to talk about, or we are talking about life and politics, I can easily get caught up in the conversations," Dr. Shirazi reflects, "and suddenly I find that the needle I'm inserting might hurt them a little more, or my technique is not as efficient, or it takes me longer to find the point. In those cases I realize that I need to focus and tune in, and just by breathing deeply I find myself much more focused and then the needles don't hurt as much and the patient quiets down. It become a much more calming experience for both of us."

Once the patient becomes comfortable with acupuncture and the concept of energy movement, Dr. Shirazi finds that his treatments are much more effective if he can enlist the efforts of the patient in continuing the "energy work" on their own.

He explains that "in this culture we spend a lot of time analyzing everything, every second. We have this endless internal conversation taking place inside our brain at any given moment. We spend a lot of time judging ourselves in relation to others and other situations, rehashing past memories and worrying about the future. It doesn't matter if these thoughts are happy or sad, it is just this constant ongoing mental conversation that, according to energy medicine, drags a lot of energy up from our body into our head and disconnects us from our bodies."

Conscious breathing is a very effective method of directing this energy back down into our body, and reconnecting the mind and body. By developing the practice of slow, deep abdominal breathing and visualizing the energy traveling down into the abdomen, patients can keep the energy moving and avoid stagnation. Dr. Shirazi uses the metaphor of the breath as an elevator that you must consciously direct all the way down to the bottom floor, or a waterfall that you must follow all the way to the calm pool at the bottom so that it does not evaporate half way down.

By helping his patients to develop this practice of conscious breathing and awareness of their breath, he empowers them with an effective energy medicine of their own. As they become more comfortable with the technique and build the habit of using their breath, it augments his acupuncture treatments and can also serve as an effective antidote for the stress, anxiety and frustrations of everyday living, long after they have walked out the clinic door.

Don Campbell and Al Lee are the authors of Perfect Breathing. Discover more ways you can improve your health, performance and wellbeing at www.perfectbreath.com. Contact them by email at info@perfectbreath.com.