PRC Elective: Tui Na & Moxa For Menopause

Section I: Welcome!

1. Introduction 

   Sarah explains her deep interest in working with the flow of the hands using simple Tui Na techniques and needles, using touch as an invaluable form of treatment. Discover the importance of targeting the Yin Wei Mai, the vessel of deep nourishment, in treating symptoms that arise during menopause. Learn about Sarah’s treatment philosophy and approach to creating a nurturing treatment space for women during this phase of life.

2. Course Outline and Objectives 

   As practitioners, how can we help women to have a good experience into and through the menopause? How can we alleviate the symptoms that can be distressing and depleting during this stage of life without repressing natural processes? Sarah delivers  a brief overview of the information and guidance that will be provided during this course to answer these questions and many more.

3. What Is the Menopause? 

   Sarah defines the perimenopausal and menopausal states. She explains the menopause as a fundamental doorway of life that provides an opportunity for reflection and spiritual development. Sarah touches on the way this stage of life is seen negatively in contemporary society, leading to issues with the Wei Mai vessels that represent time, the cycles of life, and aging. Physical and emotional symptoms of the menopause from anxiety to hot flashes are discussed to provide a foundation for understanding appropriate treatments.

4. Chinese Medicine Theory | 3 Main Factors 

   What are the main Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) patterns that present in menopause? Sarah reviews the three main factors that are particularly important during the perimenopause and menopause.

   Learn about Yin decline in which the production of the Ye fluids, being the hormones, is deficient. Sarah explains how the manifestation of certain symptoms coincides with specific body constitutions. Learn a rice grain moxa treatment prescription for osteoporosis, a common condition of Yin decline.

   Sarah explains Yin stasis in which blood, phlegm, and damp fluids are held in the body. Learn about how the body attempts to dry this dampness, contributing to common menopause symptoms resulting from empty heat.

5. The Role of the 8 Extraordinary Vessels 

   Menopause deals with the movement of Yuan Qi, in which the Eight Extraordinary Vessels are fundamental in the supportive work that can help women through this phase. Sarah explains the genesis, development, and significance of these vessels. In terms of practical treatment for the menopause, the vessels that are most relevant are the Yin Wei Mai, Chong Mai, Ren Mai, Dai Mai, Yang Wei Mai and, if Yang is deficient, the Du Mai. Sarah explains these vessels with interesting examples in relation to menopause.

6. The Yin Wei Mai | Vessels of Aging and Time 

   In this section you will learn about the Wei vessels, which collect the experiences of aging. These vessels hold together the threads that make up the cloth of time and maintain the balance between Yin and Yang. In detail, Sarah explains the Yin Wei as our physical form and the Yang Wei as our actions and accomplishments. Learn about prescriptions to support the Yin Wei and the Yang Wei complete with opening points, coupling points, and trajectories. These vessels represent our stories of life, our history, and our major life decisions and are essential areas to be targeted during the menopause.

7. Our Presence as Practitioners | Dropping Into Stillness 

   Sarah discusses the role of the practitioner as a facilitator of nourishing space, quietude, and stillness during treatment. She provides some techniques to best support the relaxation of the patient, which begins with the practitioner entering into an empty state of simplicity and stillness. In the next section Sarah will guide you through a Qi Gong practice to help you to enter into this state.

8. Qi Gong Exercise | Pericardium Prayer 

   Join Sarah for a beautiful meditation exercise. She invites you to enter into a place of simple, non-judgemental presence and emptiness. This exercise can be repeated preceding each treatment to allow you to best support your patients.

Section II: Treatment

1. Main Chinese Medicine Treatment Principles 

   Sarah reviews the nine main treatment principals for supporting women through the menopause. Some of these principals include: nourish the kidney Qi, nourish the Yin, support the constitution of the woman, relax tension, move stagnation, and clear accumulation among many others. She then sums up the intention of applying these principals using the language of Qi.

2. Root (Yuan Qi) Treatment Routine 

   As the first demonstration with her patient Isabel on the treatment table, Sarah presents a root treatment to nourish the kidneys and the Yuan Qi. This treatment is to harmonize the relationship between fire and water, the heart and the kidneys, and to calm the Shen. Learn about why Tui Na is an adaptive technique and why Sarah suggests using it at the beginning of a treatment. Sarah carefully demonstrates and explains the other Tui Na techniques throughout this section.

   You will be guided throughout a prescription with a patient in both prone and supine positions. This is an adaptable treatment that allows for many creative possibilities depending on if it includes needles and / or moxa.

3. Moxa Protocol | How To Make Rice Grain Moxa

   Sarah beautifully explains the materials you will need and the steps for rolling rice grain moxa. She demonstrates how to apply the moxa to points to be stimulated. Learn about when to use ginger and garlic as intermediaries to provide complementary benefits to the moxa treatment.

4. Moxa Protocol How To Apply Rice Grain Moxa | Demonstration 

   In this section, Sarah demonstrates using the rice grain and ginger moxa that was made in the previous section. Sarah guides you through the application of rice grain moxa on BL20 (Pishu), to nourish the earth element, and then through the application of moxa on ginger on BL23 (Shenshu). Learn about a treatment Sarah calls, ‘The Dice’, that she uses to nourish the kidney and spleen for people experiencing deep fatigue from overextended lives. Sarah provides many potential modifications for this treatment. Lots of possibilities!

5. Moxa Protocol | How To Apply Rice Grain Moxa for Osteoporosis Prevention

   Sarah presents a prescription for targeting six points for osteoporosis prevention and for nourishing the spiritual journey of the menopause. The points presented can be used with rice grain moxa. Starting at the top of the neck, Sarah works her way from the Yang through the governing vessel, into the gall bladder, through the bladder to return to Yin and the spirit at the front. Sarah also provides additional points that can complement this protocol to treat excess empty heat.

6. Yin Wei Mai | Introduction 

   The Yin Wei Mai are the vessels of the seven and eight year cycles, the vessels of aging. Sarah introduces a prescription that will make this vessel come to life in your hands. Learn about this trajectory and how to hold points to enable consciousness, surrender, space, and nourishment for the patient. The treatment principles for working on the Yin Wei Mai include harmonizing the kidney and the heart, nourishing Yin, and supporting the process of reflection on the spiritual journey. Through this next part of the course the Yin Wei trajectory will be worked through in sections.

7. Tui Na Demo | Yin Wei Mai | Part 1 | Forearm, to Activate PC6 (Neiguan) 

   In the first part of the Yin Wei Mai routine, Sarah works on the forearm to activate PC6 (Neiguan). She instructs you through various Tui Na techniques to guide the Qi and explains the particular use of each type of movement. Learn about a technique using Yao Fa (rotation) to unwind any channel. Sarah also shares with you a forearm Tui Na technique to lower anxiety and calm the Shen and spirit.

8. Tui Na Demo | Yin Wei Mai | Part 2 | Lower Leg, to Activate KI9 (Zhubin) 

   Sarah leads you through a protocol to activate KI9 (Zhubin), the guest house point. By activating this point the patient can enter a state of feeling like a guest in their own body, to have an objective experience of the treatment and more largely, objectively reflect on their life experience. The whole lower part of the kidney meridian is activated with Tui Na techniques. When the channel is open, Sarah demonstrates applying a Zhen Fa (vibrating) needle to KI9 (Zhubin) in order take the treatment to the Yuan Qi level.

9.  Tui Na Demo | Yin Wei Mai | Part 3 | Abdominal Work

   In this section of the Yin Wei Mai treatment, Sarah works from the abdomen up to the area of the gate of life. She demonstrates moving Qi through the digestive system and targeting the spleen meridian to activate points SP13 (Fushe), SP14 (Fujie), and SP15 (Da heng). Sarah provides many possible modifications and additions to this treatment. Learn about how to work with your patients’ breath to encourage the movement of stuck energy and how to use diaphragm scooping to support the descending movement of Qi.

10.  Tui Na Demo | Yin Wei Mai | Part 4 | Chest to Return to Chong 

    This is the final part of this Yin Wei Mai trajectory treatment in the chest. Sarah provides various adjustments and treatment additions for both ascending and descending symptoms in the menopause phase of life. Learn about common areas of blockages in the chest and how to move Qi by activating specific points and using Tui Na techniques. You will be encouraged to tune into your intuition when moving across the body of your patient during treatment. Sarah concludes the Yin Wei Mai routine at the Chong, where it all began.

11.  Tui Na Demo | Mini Yin Wei Mai Treatment 

    Using her hands and needles, Sarah demonstrates a shortened version of the Yin Wei Mai treatment protocol that was previously presented.

12. Tui Na Demo | Simple Head and Face Routine 

    Learn a very calming routine that complements a needling treatment. You will discover how to calm the Shen and Yang while descending the Yang that may be excessively rising. This routine is excellent for addressing symptoms of migraines, insomnia, depression, frustration, and tension.

13. Tui Na Demo | Additional Work for Common Symptoms During Menopause | Part 1 | Hot Flushes/Insomnia 

    In this section Sarah presents needling techniques to disperse rising heat in the body. She demonstrates how to apply needles for cooling, vibrating needles, and through needles, with options for adding moxa to this prescription.

14. Tui Na Demo | Additional Work for Common Symptoms During Menopause | Part 2 | Reflux/Oesophagitis 

    A common symptom during the perimenopause and menopause is gastric reflux, resulting from uprising and rebellious stomach Qi. Sarah shares additions to the basic Yin Wei protocol and the Yuan Qi treatment to target digestive issues. You will be presented with creative modifications for using hands or needles to provide the most ideal treatment for your patient.

15. Tui Na Demo | Additional Work for Common Symptoms During Menopause | Part 3 | Lower back / Sacrum / Pelvic / Back Pain

    Muscular aches, stiffness, and pain in the lower back and pelvis is common during perimenopause and menopause. This is the Dai Mai, the area of latency and stagnation. In this section, Sarah guides you through a prescription that can be added on to other treatments demonstrated earlier in the lecture. Options for needling and moxa are provided. Learn how to disperse Guo with moxa and how to apply a long needle to GB30 (Huantiao) for patients who are weak, deficient, and experiencing hip pain.

16. Tui Na Demo | Additional Work for Common Symptoms During Menopause | Part 4 | Plantar Fasciitis

    How many of your menopausal or perimenopausal patients have come to you with plantar fasciitis? Sarah was noticing this condition come up frequently among her patients. Learn about her interesting analysis of why it is so commonly occurring. Through demonstration, she provides a modifiable treatment prescription with a variety of points to be targeted with Tui Na techniques.

17. Tui Na Demo | Additional Work for Common Symptoms During Menopause | Part 5 | Neck, Nape, Shoulders

    A common symptom during the time of menopause is stiffness in the neck and shoulders and migraine headaches. In this section, Sarah demonstrates a variety of techniques on Isabel including Gua Sha and a series of Tui Na techniques to release tension, nourish tender points, and disperse Guo.

18. Conclusion and Final Notes 

    Sarah graciously thanks you for joining this course and provides a concise overview of what was covered. Now you’re equipped with ideas, techniques, and inspiration to treat your perimenopausal and menopausal patients in new and innovative ways!