Acupuncture and Tai Chi Victoria Selina

Another delight of Riverboats is the number of opportunities to attend seminars, educational and otherwise and the ease of getting to the meeting place - the one and only stage/auditorium/gathering place.  Often there be a cup of coffee to compliment the class.

Dr. Hu Yun Ming was the ship doctor trained in both western and  eastern medicine. He talked about the yin/yan philosophy or fact:  that everything has 2 sides - water and fire, daytime and nighttime .  Also that there are 14 major meridians in face, back, arm and leg, and lesser meridians in the muscles, tendons and skins. 

Acupuncture can alleviate poor digestion problems, headaches, stiff neck, shoulder, arthritis, insomnia, poor circulation, leg or shoulder problem.  We saw the tiny sterile needles which are used once.

A volunteer from the audience, who turned out to be a dr, said she had stiff neck problems.  We watched him insert 5 needles and apply suction cups to her back.  Suction cups are meant to suck out bad toxins and can help colds, backaches, relax muscles.

During the 15 minute wait he showed us a number of pressure points that can be used: one to alleviate motion sickness is located 3 fingers below the wrist between two tendons.  One between thumb and first finger can help with toothache, stomach ache and headache

Migraine headaches can be helped with temporal massage, front to back headache by massaging points at back of head both sides.

Insomnia and high blood pressure by rubbing the top of the head with a knuckled hand at a midpoint. Draw a line from behind the ear to the top of the head and that is the spot.

You can do this two or three times a week or 3 or 4 times a day.

When he removed the bulbs some of the spots were redder than others. He said the darker color meant more toxins had been sucked out.

Having been trained in western and eastern medicine he believes that both can be used for different ailments, and that Chinese medicine is much better for problems associated with old age, menopause, chronic constipation and digestive problems.

He has used a combination of acupuncture, herbs and massage to help people stop smoking.

Dr. Hu (remember the Chinese state the last name first) also led  Tai Chi classes in the morning. I watched it


Dr. Hu

 once while drinking my morning coffee.  While Dr. Hu made it look easy, the 4 or 5 willing participants made it look  pretty difficult.

During the tour we saw groups of people doing Tai Chi in parks and open areas during the morning hours.


One of the best parts of traveling is being open to change. I think I will find a Tai Chi class when I return home. Besides the exercise, I like the outfit.