Black Box Theory

Acupuncture is an age-old tool practiced for millennia, yet how it works is still not fully understood.

There are countless studies proving that acupuncture is effective for many conditions, and is a very safe tool.  Because of this acupuncture has gotten a lot of attention and there are many theories trying to explain how it works: microtrauma, nerve stimulation, fascial tension, circulation, nitric oxide vasodilation...

The best theory that I've come across is the Black Box Theory.  I came across this years ago when I first graduated TCM school and I wish I could remember the source because, for me, nothing has beat this theory yet.  The theory goes, you have a certain set of conditions before acupuncture (i.e. migraines), acupuncture happens inside a black box where we can't see what's going on, and then you have reliable, repeatable set of conditions achieved after acupuncture (i.e. no migraines).  We can't see it, but it works - end of study.

What we can't see is where the magic happens - the energy. 

This magical unseen energy was once the source of ridicule in the field of medicine in Europe.  But, doctors who performed the ritual of washing away the evil spirits from their hands before they performed a surgery had better outcomes than those doctors who didn't wash their hands.  With the advancement of technology we know about germs, and even though we can't see the germs, we know to wash our hands - and this is just one unseen variable.  There are simply so many variables to keep track of with acupuncture, but I am hopeful that AI will advance to a point to one day be able to keep track of how this energy moves given all of the variables in the human body that makes us unique. 

This unseen energy does follow certain rules and patterns in our bodies and nature.  We can take action to move the energy out of balance (i.e. poor lifestyle habits), or keep it in balance (good lifestyle habits) to affect our health, wealth and relationships.

I invite you to consider all of variables and explore how the unseen energy of acupuncture can help your health.