Aì Yè is a fluffy, soft and light herb, green in colour with touches of yellow. It has a distinctive odour when dried and when burnt.
Why would we be burning a herb?
Aì Yè is the primary ingredient for moxibustion and – whilst it can be used internally to treat menstrual conditions due to cold, specifically damp cold – there are many other suitable alternative herbs that are used more frequently for this purpose.
Aì Yè has its true place in Chinese Medicine in warming the body by being burned either indirectly on a medium of ginger (or aconitum, although this herb is not legal in Australia), salt or directly on the skin.
As Aì Yè has such a deep, warming nature it can be applied to three points at the top of the spine in the vicinity of the C7, T1 vertebral disc, to increase the Yang energy of the body. This treatment is performed at the height of summer, to take advantage of the increasing and maximal Yang energy of nature, and deliver this to the point at C7/T1, DU14 which is the meeting point of all the Yang channels of the body.
The smoke from burning Aì Yè is quite heavy and thick, so burning it in a well-ventilated area is important – alternatively, smokeless charcoalised mugwort is used to prevent irritation of the respiratory mucosa from the smoke produced.
I use this herb daily in my practice, to provide a deep internal heating effect on the channels of the body and expel cold, wind and phlegm, all of which are capable of causing significant pain.
