The Basics

Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture is based on Qi,  the Meridians, Yin/Yang,  and the Five Elements at specific Acupuncture Points:
Qi: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi is the vital life force that flows throughout the body, and is what gets regulated by your acupuncture treatment.
Meridians: Meridians are associated with various organs/tissues of the body and are the pathways through which Qi energy flows. To make a comparison to what may be more generally understood: if Qi were blood, then the meridians would be the blood vessels through which the Qi flows through.
260px-yin_yang-svgYin/Yang: Yin can be considered to be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, subtle and weak energy, while Yang can be considered to be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, mobile and strong energy. So continuing the comparison of Qi and blood,  blood would be considered yin and Qi would be considered yang. Another way to understand their relationship would be to say that Qi is the driver while blood is the vehicle for transportation.
Five elements: The Five elements theory is a way of understanding the human body in cropped-5-element-theory-chart-e1511036448463.pngrelation to the world around us. The 5 elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and theses  are related to the five most important organs of  the body: liver, heart, spleen/pancreas, lung, and kidneys respectively. Additionally, each of these five elements is also connected to their own respective colors, tastes, seasons, directions, musical notes, connective tissues, sense organs, emotions, odors, etc. In each meridian, there are also acupuncture points related to each of the Five elements, referred to as the Five Shu Points.

Acupuncture points: Acupuncture points are specific locations along the meridians where the Qi surfaces and gathers at a shallow, accessible region of the body. Through accurate and proper stimulation of theses acupuncture points,  the Qi is adjusted and reversed into a normal condition that can be re-evaluated through pulse taking. If the human body were to be considered a circuit board, the acupuncture points could be understood as the switches on that board. However, Just after adjust the pulse by acupuncture points, the syndrome maybe still existing, after go home one day or two days, the patients may feel better and better.