LaPlata Acupuncture and Healing Arts
203 Centennial Street
107
La Plata, MD 20677
More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles
How Acupuncture Works
I am making a bold attempt to describe how a more than 3,000-year-old tradition of medicine works in our modern era. Please know this is a general description of how a complicated and sometimes mysterious system is working.
First there is an energy force in the body called qi or chi pronounced (chee). It runs along 12 main vertical lines or meridians running from head to foot.
The old joke about putting a needle in someone's foot to help a toothache is not so strange when you consider the stomach meridian runs from the face, circles around the mouth and goes down the body to the toes.
This energy or qi is mostly electrical and also chemical. Studies have been done to show that acupuncture does indeed set off endorphins for an analgesic effect. It has also been proven that electrical energy runs through the body in these channels or meridians. The book Vibrational Medicine (Richard Gerber, M.D.) reports evidence of a secondary electrical effect that takes place. That's the mystery that no one can quite put their hands on.
Acupuncture involves three levels of healing symptom relief, treating the underlying cause, and creating deeper shifts to change outcomes.
Symptoms can be relieved in a relatively short period of time. However, when patients make a longer commitment of three months or more, we can get to the underlying cause and some real significant changes can take place. The length of time will depend on the severity and duration of the problem. Those who choose to stay in acupuncture for maintenance can see some really deep underlying changes occurring in their lives. Patients can go from darkness and deep depression to taking control of their lives and feeling joy with the people around them. Others may experience significant pain relief that allows them to participate in activities of life more easily. Patients can also get relief of withdrawals from addictive behaviors such as overeating, smoking, substances, and even ways of reacting to situations. When we break this pattern of addictive behaviors, amazing possibilities can come into our lives.
I see acupuncture as clearing a foggy window. Once the window is clear, we look at life differently and see we truly do have choices about how we are in the world. With determination, commitment, and the willingness to take the leap, acupuncture can bring an incredible richness to our lives.
