The effects and functions of moxa foot bath

I believe many people have used moxibustion, which uses moxa. Moxa wool is made by repeatedly drying, pounding, and crushing moxa leaves, and then sifting out impurities and dust to obtain a soft, cotton-like substance. Moxa is also often used to make moxa sticks, which are grayish white in color, soft like velvet, flammable without producing flames, and have a fragrant smell, making them very suitable for moxibustion. In addition to making moxa sticks, moxa can also be used for foot soaking. So what are the effects and functions of soaking feet in moxa?

You can soak your feet in any season of the year: soaking your feet in spring can open the sun and strengthen the body; soaking your feet in summer can eliminate heatstroke; soaking your feet in autumn can moisten the lungs and promote bowel movement; soaking your feet in winter can relieve the dampness and burning in the pubic area.

When a tree gets old, its roots wither first; when a person gets old, his feet weaken first. Soaking your feet in moxa every day can not only relieve fatigue but also help you sleep. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the soles of the feet are rich in meridians, and the liver, spleen, kidneys and corresponding viscera meridians all run through here. When the cold evil invades, it travels up the meridians, causing the lungs to lose their ability to open and clear, and coughing occurs. Mugwort is warm in nature and belongs to the spleen and kidney meridians. It can warm and dispel cold pathogens and promote the flow of lung qi, so it can quickly cure cough.

Many people know that soaking feet in moxa is good, but they don’t know why it is good. This is determined by the special position of the feet. The feet are located at the bottom of the human body, farthest from the heart, and have weak blood circulation. Therefore, when blood flows here, the energy is severely attenuated. In addition, the feet have less subcutaneous fat and poor warmth retention ability, so the temperature of the feet is generally lower than the normal body temperature. This explains why many people, especially women, often feel cold feet, even if they wear warm clothes or put a hot water bottle on them. From the perspective of health preservation, the feet must be kept warm and never get cold, because the feet are yin and are the weakest point of yang in the body.

Soaking your feet in warm water can not only improve blood circulation in the feet, reduce the accumulation of various metabolic products in the body, help eliminate fatigue, and keep warm; it can also regulate the functions of the internal organs of the human body by stimulating the nerve receptors on the skin of the feet. Especially soaking your feet in hot water before going to bed can produce a mild stimulation to the central nervous system, put the cerebral cortex into an inhibitory state, and improve sleep quality.

Normal people can achieve the above effects by soaking their feet. However, for people with insufficient yang, excessive yin and severe cold, soaking their feet in warm water is not enough. At this time, soaking their feet in water boiled with mugwort leaves can achieve a very ideal effect. Because mugwort is warm and spicy, it can warm the qi and blood and the meridians, expel cold and dampness and stop cold pain. It is very effective in treating deficiency-cold in a wide area below the stomach or symptoms of upper fullness and lower emptiness.

A big reason why middle-aged and elderly people have cold feet is poor blood circulation. The feet are the part of the human body that is farthest from the heart. In winter, due to the stimulation of cold, the blood vessels in the feet contract, blood circulation is disrupted, and a variety of diseases can be easily induced. Soaking your feet in water boiled with moxa can improve blood circulation, and also prevent and relieve varicose veins and peripheral neuritis. If your blood circulation is poor, your hands and feet are prone to numbness, or there is blood stasis in your lower limbs, you can also soak your feet with these two medicinal herbs: safflower and moxa. After soaking your feet, not only can the blood circulation problem be improved, but also the sleep quality can be improved to a certain extent. Soaking your feet in safflower and mugwort during a cold can have a certain therapeutic effect.