22 - 37 Proof that the skin is our third lung

It is sometimes very comforting to get proof that the ancient Chinese in their wisdom knew what they were talking about.  And this proof arrived for me in the shape of a neighbour, who on a hot summer's day, was wearing shorts so that I could not fail to notice the patches of psoriasis on his knees.  "Yes, he said, "I've got them all over my body.  The worst ones are around my waist, and I can't seem to get rid of them whatever I do."  So of course I had to tell him about how I had helped quite a few patients suffering from psoriasis with the help of a moxa stick.

 

I gave him one, showed him how to use it and how to extinguish it, recommending that he should hold it over just the worst of the affected patches of skin, and one he could easily reach, for at least five minutes at a time, and as often a day as he had patience to do it.  Each time he should make sure that the skin around it had become properly warmed up and red, as evidence that heat was reaching the layer of dead skin which psoriasis leaves.  I told him that healing one area of skin also leads to healing of the skin over the whole body, and in this context I also happened to mention to him that in Chinese medicine the skin is called the third lung.  We do, after all, breathe through every pore in our body.

 

I checked back with him after a few days, and already he could see an improvement, not only in the patch over which he had held the moxa stick, but also, to his surprise, over his skin as a whole.  A few weeks later, he proudly showed me the healed skin at his knees, and told me that the patches over other areas of the body had improved remarkably.  And then he added, "And you know that you told me that the skin is regarded as being the third lung.  Well, I could hardly believe it, but ever since I've started with the moxa stick, I have felt my lungs breathe more easily and I now feel incredibly well, as though something inside me has changed.  I've always had breathing problems in the past, but I seem to breathe much more easily now.  I'm telling everybody about your magic stick."  I gave my neighbour no acupuncture treatment so it must have been his skin's response to the moxa stick which also treated his lungs.

 

And that reminded me that many years ago I used to go on long walking holidays where blistered feet were not uncommon.  Once people had seen how quickly even the most serious weeping blisters would heal, often overnight, after I had used my moxa stick on them, they would call me Nora and her Magic Stick.

 

Moxa sticks should be in everybody's first aid cabinet, because they have so many uses, particularly in drawing out infections such as boils, and for the quick healing of cuts.