Fire Medicine: Moxa Explained

In Japanese, the characters 鍼灸 that we commonly translate as "acupuncture" actually refer to both "needles" and "moxa." Many Westerners have never heard of moxa, even if they have received acupuncture, since modern clinics often forgo it due to the inconvenience. But you will notice the moxa aroma right away upon stepping into Bridge Acupuncture. Why do we love fire medicine?  

In chemistry, a catalyst is an agent that is needed for a chemical reaction to take place. The right elements might be present for the reaction, but due to a lack of energy they will just keep hovering near each other indefinitely, satisfied with their current stable arrangement... until a catalyst shows up and "pow!" gets the action started. Moxa is like a catalyst in the context of acupuncture treatment, adding that energetic momentum needed for things to start changing in the body.

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