Optimal Wellbeing Blog

We now know acupuncture needles as thin, disposable metal items, but they weren’t always around in this form. While metalwork dates back to 4500 BC in some areas of China, medical tools weren’t the top priority of ancient artisans. Small tools and decorative items such as earrings make up the vast majority of metalwork from […]

Could acupuncture have existed in ancient Europe? Mapping and analysis of the tattoos on Europe’s most well-known mummy, “Otzi” the Iceman, suggests that a primitive version of the therapy may have been known over 5,200 years ago. While they’re a lot harder to see now, medical imaging found a total of 61 tattoos that can […]

We see the symbol of Yin and Yang everywhere, from martial arts school flyers to T-shirts and even Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, but what does it mean? The world-famous symbol depicts two opposing forces, Yin and Yang, that cannot exist without each other. In fact, they both carry a seed of the other, hence […]

Acupuncture has come a long way from its ancient origins. One of the earliest known texts related to the therapy is a pair of Silk Scrolls, uncovered from Han Tomb No. 3 in Changsha, China. This tomb was built in 168 BC, meaning the text is older than the first “official” classical work, the Nei […]