On Pins & Needles

Most of you know that I have been receiving acupuncture for the past month. Usually when I tell someone I am doing this, it elicits the knee-jerk Hellraiser response.

If you've ever had acupuncture performed, the reality is that the needles aren't that frightening, in fact, you barely even feel them. They're as thin as a strand of hair at their tiniest and all of them are flexible.

Wikipedia has the following to say about acupuncture:

Health is a condition of balance of yin and yang within the body. Particularly important in acupuncture is the free flow of Qi, a difficult-to-translate concept that pervades Chinese philosophy and is commonly translated as "vital energy". Qi is immaterial and hence yang; its yin, material counterpart is Blood (capitalized to distinguish it from physiological blood, and very roughly equivalent to it). Acupuncture treatment regulates the flow of Qi and Blood, tonifying where there is deficiency, draining where there is excess, and promoting free flow where there is stagnation. An axiom of the medical literature of acupuncture is "no pain, no blockage; no blockage, no pain."

Using a chart similar to this:



Your acupuncturist will place the needles in the areas your body needs to target to relieve your symptoms. When my neck and back hurt from stress and fibromyalgia, my acupuncturist places needles in my upper thigh. There's a long explanation as to why this is and why it works, but I won't get into the "fourteen channels" here, since I'm by far not an expert. But check out my acupuncturist's website here for more information.

While you may feel that you will look and feel like this when getting acupunture:

You will actually walk away calm, relaxed and centered. I never really realize how great I feel until I get up to leave and realize I'm so relaxed that I don't want to move. I've fallen asleep a few of my sessions, I've been so mellow.

I've noticed improvements in my memory, my stamina and my overall anxiety level. I'm not taking nearly as many pain medications as I was and I feel I have more energy and overall joie de vivre.

Have you tried acupuncture? If not, would you? What are your thoughts?