Wisdom Traditions Acupuncture: Dedicated to Health and Wellness

Acupuncture is about gaining

greater ease in life. For some

people this means less pain,

for others it means relief from

the buildup of everyday

stressors.

Text Box: Acupuncture is Wellness Medicine

Going for acupuncture treatment is akin to changing the oil in your car. The needles help your body to keep everything in the intricate system that is ‘you’ moving smoothly. Some common signs of buildup or stagnation in your system include pain, agitation, and mood swings. Acupuncture clears this stagnation out of your body, and helps your whole system to work at its highest capacity. If you keep up with treatment, in the long run it will assist in the prevention of more serious symptoms. Most people who own cars take care of them by changing the oil. This medicine allows you to take care of your body in the same way.

In five element acupuncture, we say that your symptoms are your teachers, pointing at the origin of that which is detracting from your well being. To use the car metaphor once again, your symptoms are akin to the lights on your dashboard: “check engine”, “check oil”, “low gas”. These lights tell you that something in your car needs attention, or else there may be a breakdown in the near future. Imagine what would happen if the next time one of these lights goes on in your car, you put a piece of tape over the light rather than take a look to see why the light went on. This is what we are doing when we repress our symptoms rather than taking a look at what happened to bring them on.

Let’s take a simple example:

Sitting at the computer and typing for too long at times will give me shoulder and wrist pain. To get rid of this pain, I used to take an over-the-counter pain reliever. When I got involved in holistic medicine, though, I started to pay attention to what was causing the pain: my posture. I found that if I keep a more upright posture while at the computer, my shoulder and wrist pain isn’t a problem. This way of listening to what my body is telling me increases my health in the long run by decreasing the daily wear and tear on my body. It also saves me money.

Acupuncture works in exactly this way. First, it heightens your awareness of your body which helps clarify what each symptom is teaching you. Together, you and your practitioner then talk about what simple changes you might be able to make to feel better, naturally. The needles also help your body to move through any ’stuckness’ that may already have settled in, which serves to relieve symptoms as well as set you up for long term better health.