How to Select a Moxibustion Practitioner

Moxibustion has been performed for centuries in the Far East. Developed in Mongolia, it quickly reached all corners of the Eastern world as a way to treat nearly every kind of disease. Practitioners discovered that by waving sticks of burning mugwort over certain points along the energy lines of the body (or by burning piles of mugwort directly on specific spots on the body), they could affect deep healing in a short amount of time. Today, acupuncturists all over the world practice moxibustion, as do practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, you should have no trouble when you want to select a moxibustion practitioner.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Call the acupuncturists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in your area to see if they perform moxibustion on patients. Most of them do, and it is actually rare to find someone who practices moxibustion alone. It is typically used in conjunction with other therapies. In fact, moxibustion is considered part of traditional Chinese medicine.

2. Check with the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOP). This organization maintains a nationwide database of acupuncturists and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. You can look for a practitioner in your area by using its online search engine (see Resources below).

3. Ask for references from the practitioner. These could be from former or current patients who have agreed to let you call them.

4. Investigate to make sure any practitioner you are considering is not currently under disciplinary action by the NCCAOP. The NCCAOP has stringent standards of patient care that all of its practitioners must follow. A practitioner under disciplinary action has violated one or more of these standards. The NCCAOP website has a list of practitioners who are in trouble with this organization.

5. Ask the practitioners you call whether they use indirect moxibustion, needle moxibustion or both. (You'll rarely find practitioners outside of Japan who use direct moxibustion.) Indirect involves waving a moxa stick over acupuncture points, while needle moxibustion involves placing moxa on an acupuncture needle and burning it while the needle is stuck in you. If you have a personal preference for techniques, this can have an impact on your final decision.

Tips & Warnings

• Select a moxibustion practitioner who has been practicing for at least 5 years. This will ensure that you select a practitioner who has had ample experience in the real world treating actual patients.

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Resources

• The NCCAOP to find moxibustion practitioners.
• Find moxibustion practitioners in trouble at the NCCAOP.