Dr. Moon specializes in constitutional acupuncture, a highly specific, advanced, and powerful form of this 20,000 year-old healing art. While the West was first discovering the benefits of traditional acupuncture, skilled practitioners were pushing the envelope on what acupuncture could achieve. Over his 38 years of work, Dr. Moon has discovered and developed an impressive number of innovations in acupuncture. He originated the Natnun Circuit model of healing, 8 Symmetry Acupuncture, and Meridian Kinesiology, a new field that dramatically improves the accessibility of Constitutional Acupuncture.

But perhaps we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here. In order to understand better how these healing methods can help you, it’s important to know a bit about your body and the various healing arts. Here is a condensed explanation of how acupuncture works and how the body heals itself:

Acupuncture is essentially a method of healing through the system of meridians that run throughout the body. What are meridians? And why don’t you remember them from biology class?

The meridians are one of three major communication systems in your body; its sisters are the nervous and endocrine systems. An easy way to understand meridians is to compare them to things that are familiar to us. Each system in your body is like a communication system in our society. Your endocrine is like the postal service, your nerves like the phone, and your meridians like the radio.

Let’s first take a look at the endocrine system. The pituitary gland is the endocrine system’s brain, and when the pituitary wants something done it secretes a chemical, which is carried by the bloodstream to another gland, such as the thyroid. The pituitary keeps secreting the chemical until the thyroid starts to do too much; then the pituitary will send out a different chemical messenger telling the thyroid to slow down. The endocrine system is like the postal system because it communicates by sending messages on materials.

The nervous system is like the phone system. Your body’s nerve networks are like telephone wires, through which the brain and body communicate with each other through electronic impulses. Your nerves translate every sensory function, including your vision, taste, smell, and touch, into electrical impulses that are sent to the brain. The phone similarly translates your voice into electrical impulses that can travel great distances to reach another person.

Finally, your acupuncture meridian system is like the radio. Although there is no physical connection between your radio and the station, there is precise communication between the two parties, isn’t there? And though we cannot see or touch radio waves, they are sophisticated communicators of information. Like radio waves, your meridians communicate with each other in a non-tangible, but specific, manner. And while you cannot see or touch the meridians, they are sending and receiving messages as often as your car stereo.

But unlike radio waves, which travel out in all directions, Qi energy travels in directional lines along the meridian channels. Acupuncture points are like stations that lie along these meridians. Acupuncture points are where the acupuncturist will insert needles or apply pressure to achieve a desired effect. Most acupuncture points correspond to organs that are not geographically close to them, a fact that initially confuses many patients. But rest assured that these points have been confirmed by thousands of years’ worth of doctors and patients.

Sometimes an acupuncture point will coincide with an area of high nerve or lymph concentration, but the point itself is not the nerve or lymph cluster. It is a distinct entity, although it has no anatomical counterpart. Modern scientists looking for more concrete proof of acupuncture points have since discovered a correlation between the points and stronger electromagnetic fields.

The communications between the acupuncture points and meridians are your body’s way of monitoring its functions. If something goes wrong with one part of your body, your meridians will send a message to the right place, either for healing to begin or pain to be felt.

Problems in the meridians will cause disease, just as problems in the endocrine and nervous system do. This is where the role of the acupuncturist comes in. Only a skilled acupuncturist can properly identify and correct meridian disorders. If a health problem stems from the meridians, you must go to the source to heal it.

The meridians are strongly interconnected with the endocrine and nervous systems. Many areas of the body have an overlapping of the three systems, so that illness can be treated through any of them. However, there are some body parts that are isolated and may be treated only by acupuncture.

Unlike the nervous and endocrine systems, however, the meridians are also connected to the mind. They are a direct link between the physical and mental states — therefore stimulating the meridians influences your psyche as well. Because of this connection, acupuncture is sometimes used in the spiritual sphere. For example, some Buddhist monks have found that using acupuncture treatments on their heads increases their openness to spirituality.

Finally, if you‘re wondering why medical schools don‘t teach meridians, perhaps it helps to think of it this way: Our nervous system worked beautifully, even before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. In the same way, our meridians worked, even before conventional medicine recognized their existence.

Want to know which specific diseases acupuncture is good for? Check out this condensed list!

Jamming: Traffic in the Meridians

When an acupuncturist begins to make a diagnosis, it is important that they first ‘de-jam’ the meridians. What is ‘de-jamming’? It is the removal of a ‘jam’ in your meridian system, a technique invented by Dr. Moon. Because your meridians intersect and cross over each other in many places, there are bound to be some points where many meridians intersect at once. Like cars at a 4-way stop during rush hour, the messages that the meridians carry may get confused.

If there is sickness at an acupuncture point, the meridians passing through are especially liable to get jammed. This confusion may send the wrong message to your practitioner, and can lead to misdiagnosis. For example, if a large intestine meridian ran through an intersection with a sick bladder meridian, it might get a mixed-up message, and lead the doctor to believe there is a deficiency in the large intestine meridian when in fact it is perfectly healthy.

In response to this problem, Dr. Moon developed a de-jamming process based on a Taoist monk exercise. He rubs his fingertips on the 20 most congested acupuncture points in either a clock- or counterclockwise motion, creating what is called a "Qi magnet." This treatment ensures that the meridians are clear of jams, and will communicate an accurate message to the examiner. Dr. Moon has taught this de-jamming technique to many acupuncturists through seminars and schools.

If a doctor does not de-jam the patient before proceeding with diagnosis or treatment, there is a much greater chance of misdiagnosis. Likewise, if the doctor is jammed, he will not accurately read the patient’s signals. A knowledgeable acupuncturist will dejam both himself and the patient before proceeding. While all acupuncturists ought to employ this exercise, many do not know how. Their diagnoses will not be consistent, though they will, of course, be right some of the time. Regular de-jamming will ensure more consistent and reliable results, and ideally should be done before every treatment.

How does the Needle Work?

Having understood the big picture behind acupuncture, you may be wondering how the prick of a tiny needle can stop pain or heal remote organs.

In reality, the needle does not do any healing by itself. Rather, it enables the body to harness its formidable energy effectively, so that it can heal itself.

An acupuncture point is like a two-way radio station that receives and sends out signals. When a point sends out a message, the body hears and responds to that message. All acupuncture points are tuned into the whole body’s function and are intricately tied to the endocrine and nervous systems. Every point is also specifically linked to another part of the body. For example, there is a point on your earlobe that directly affects your vision. These points both affect and are affected by the total living system. Therefore, when a needle is applied to an acupuncture point, the entire body system reacts against that needle.

One way the needle works is as an antenna, enhancing the receiving and sending of radio wave-like energy. Another way the needle works is by breaking the cells at the point of insertion. (See diagram below) The broken cells at an acupuncture point attract healing energy and materials, in a process called chemotaxis.

Chemotaxis occurs when a high concentration of one material attracts other materials to itself, similar to a magnet attracting iron filings. When the cells break, they release a substance in high concentration, creating a chemical magnet for healing materials. This healing reflex is similar to platelets in the blood rushing to form a clot at a cut.

When this healing reflex converges on that one acupuncture point, the point channels that energy to the corresponding organ, such as the liver. This is how a needle inserted at a remote point on the surface can begin healing a problem deep inside the body.