The language used by an acupuncturist is quite different to that used by conventional medicine, this is because of where Traditional Chinese Medicine evolved from. Acupuncture evolved several thousand years ago in a time when only nature was available to draw comparisons with; there were no microscopes or internal devices to explain the function and structure of the human body.
Survival for these people was based upon understanding nature and respecting it's power. Water was one of the most important aspects for life needed to secure harvests and therefore food; intricate water systems were installed to irrigate the land and therefore support good harvests.
The ancient peoples observed how water from the tiniest trickle of a stream through to a river and on to the endless sea supported such a wealth of life. This understanding and respect was applied to understand how the human body might operate. This is how we come to explain acupuncture through channels or meridians that cover the human body transporting vital life force energy or Qi ('chee') and in this way we could compare qi to be the same as water irrigating the land.
