Stems and Branches

Wu Yun Liu Qi  五運六氣

ICOM is the only acupuncture college in the UK to incorporate Stems and Branches theory into its licentiate course, providing the broadest based education in classical and contemporary acupuncture.

What is Stems and Branches?

Stems and Branches theory is about cycles, transformations and interactions of qi that affects a person both internally and externally.

The ancient Chinese observed the cycles of nature: day and night and the changing seasons. They recognised that the natural rhythms of nature underlie the most fundamental aspects of our lives and are thus fundamental to our health. They believed in a holistic world: Everything in the universe is connected. A vibration in any part affects the whole.

Although everything is made of qi – it is clear that everything in the world around us is not the same, things look and feel different from each other, they have different qualities. In classical Chinese theory there are different ways of categorising phenomena including:

  • the duality of yin and yang
  • the correspondences of the Five Elements

All of these concepts are fundamental to ALL acupuncture approaches (Five Elements, TCM, Stems and Branches) and intertwined in Chinese Medicine.

We (humanity) are born into the world are affected by the cycles and rhythms of life. In practice, Stems and Branches acupuncture is a style that allows you to work consciously with these factors for the benefit of your patient’s health and development.

How is Stems and Branches Used?

The system of Stems and Branches can be used in several ways. Most commonly, it is used to help us understand each patient’s constitutional strengths and weaknesses and why disease occurs in that individual. It helps us develop a treatment plan to address the root cause of the patient’s problem with acupuncture. It also helps you choose wisely from the vast array of acupuncture points available.

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stems and branches
ICOM stems and branches poster

“Stems and Branches (the calendar and the clock) provide the warp and weft upon which yin and yang, the five elements and Heaven, Earth and humanity can be woven. The ancients applied this to medicine and called it acupuncture. We call it classical Stems and Branches.” – Roisin Golding, ICOM Graduate and author of The Complete Stems and Branches (2008)

“Life is ceaselessly built on rhythms, through the yin-yang oscillation of day and night, the moon’s waxing and waning phases and the turning seasons of the year – this knowledge preserved in the Lunar and Lunisolar calendars of ancient China – and through the cycles presented in the sexagesimal sequence of the heavenly stems and earthly branches.” – Peter Firebrace, Former ICOM Principal & author of A Guide to Acupuncture (1994)

Yin Yang Theory

Yin Yang 陰 陽 Yin Yang are the two the most fundamental concepts of East Asian culture and pervade extensively the entire corpus of Chinese Medicine. Although there are several different ways of interpreting yin yang, their Chinese characters are generally described as portraying the sunny (yang) side and and the shady (yin) side of an [...]

Five Elements Theory

Five Elements Theory 五行 Five elements theory is sometimes known as the Five Phases. Five Elements theory is one of the most important systems of Chinese medicine. It underpins medical theory and serves as one of the major diagnostic and treatment protocols. In clinical practice the five elements theory is used in varying degrees depending [...]

TCM

TCM Traditional Chinese Medicine TCM is the modern Chinese Medicine: an attempt to find a harmonious integration between the Chinese Medical tradition and Western Medicine. In 1956, shortly after the communist revolution, the Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai authorised the establishment of the first four colleges of Chinese medicine. Two thousand first rate Western medicine [...]