Beijing-based moxibustionist Fan Changwei holds a burning stick of moxa, above the patient's skin, focusing the heat on an acupuncture point, to stimulate the flow of energy.

Beijing businessman Cheng Gang has established a new weekly routine. For the past four months, he has been making regular visits to Fan's Jiu Cao Tang, a moxibustion center.

After drinking some tea, the 31-year-old has a brief conversation with his practitioner. Then, he is ushered into a private room, playing soft, low and soothing music. After slipping into the pajamas provided, he lies down.

The moxibustionist burns a stick of moxa, or dried mugwort herb, 15 cm long and 4 cm thick. He holds the stick about an inch above Cheng's skin, focusing the heat on three different acupuncture points for about 15-20 minutes each.

The entire session takes about 80 minutes, including 20 minutes of massage.

"It is an intensely warming and relaxing experience," says Cheng.

The calming sensations he experiences from the burning moxa help him recover from a tiring day, he says.

The benefits actually go far beyond relieving stress. He has seen a tremendous improvement in his physical health.

"I used to catch a cold often," he says. "But in the past five months, I have had a cold only once."

Cheng says since childhood, he has had a sensitive stomach and usually suffers from diarrhea in autumn. All of the symptoms have eased or disappeared, after four months of regular moxibustion.

An ancient Chinese therapy, moxibustion utilizes aged mugwort, ground to a fluff and often processed into a stick that resembles a cigar. Practitioners burn the fluff, or stick near, or on a patient's skin, to stimulate the flow of qi.

According to Fan Changwei, who founded Fan's Jiu Cao Tang, Beijing's first moxibustion center in 2006, moxibustion directly replenishes yang energy in the body, and helps alleviate conditions caused by a deficiency of the yang factor. These include indigestion, shortness of breath, fatigue, menstruation pain, and problems with the neck, shoulders, waist and legs.

In the past three years, 11 moxibustion centers have opened in Beijing, according to Fan, 39.

He studied massage and moxibustion for eight years before launching his independent practice in 2001. He is a student of Xie Xiliang, a famous acupuncture and moxibustion expert in Shanxi province. Fan has two moxibustion centers in Beijing and has also helped others open centers in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Changchun, Shenzhen and Dalian.

Each session usually starts with a consultation, which helps the moxibustionist decide which acupuncture point to target, Fan explains.

For example, for people with diarrhea, the target areas are tianshu, or two middle-finger widths beside the navel, and shenque, the navel. For people with indigestion, the focus is zhongwan, or four middle-finger widths right above the navel, and the navel.

For people with no particular problem, moxibustion is done on some often-used acupuncture points, such as zusanli on the front of the calf; guanyuan, four finger widths right below the navel, and mingmen, an acupoint on the lower back, at the same level as the navel.

Fan says moxibustion appeared soon after the Chinese learned to use fire, more than 3,000 years ago. Witch doctors found that "spirits", or disease-causing yin energy, could be repelled by fire. Therefore, they used moxa and its pure yang nature, to drive away illnesses. The smoke, they believed, carried away the "bad spirits".

Li Weiheng, director of the China Association of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, says moxibustion, along with acupuncture, although popular during the Tang and Song dynasties (AD 618-1279), declined during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

"The emperor's doctors believed it was indecent to have the emperor expose his body to receive acupuncture and moxibustion," he says. "Therefore, they banned these methods in upper-class society."

Cheng Dan'an (1899-1957), a Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion expert, contributed much to the resurgence of the ancient therapy after 1949.

Currently, while acupuncture is widely used and has even spread to the rest of the world, few Chinese hospitals use moxibustion.

Li attributes this to several reasons. Smoke from moxibustion is one problem. Hospitals now consider smoke polluting and damaging to their image. Another reason is that moxibustion is not seen as profitable - sticks cost very little. The doctor needs to hold the stick for 20-30 minutes, whereas seeing a patient and giving a prescription takes only 5 minutes.

While a medical doctor can offer both acupuncture and moxibustion, a moxibustion specialist like Fan has no medical license. Li says his association has filed two pleas with the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to change this, but no progress has been made.

Li Xin, founder of the Shanghai Yingxiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute, believes moxibustion is greatly underestimated, and underused.

"While acupuncture serves to direct and divert the energy patients already have, the problem with most people nowadays is that they don't have enough qi and blood. Moxibustion can replenish this energy."

He says it is cheap, making it suitable as a treatment method in rural areas.