The Process of Healing

There is a process to healing. I can’t even count the number of new patients who were disappointed that I could not fix their condition in one treatment. A pill can’t fix it. A needle can’t fix it. A team effort starting with and including the patient all the way through can begin to fix it.

Nothing in life moves forward forever in a straight line. There are ups and downs, setbacks and forward leaps. Acupuncture can be part of your healing process. 
Individuals respond just that way–individually. One feels a little worse for the first day or two, one feels significantly better immediately, one notices no changes, and another will have progressive gradual improvement.

I wish I could tell each person how they will respond; I can provide the gamete of responses. The body, after an acupuncture session, will try to continue the flow the acupuncture treatment created. The body may not have the resources to do that after one treatment.

  • When the energy of a condition is deeply “stuck”, the result could be a greater sensaton of pain as  the energy (qi) tries to break through. After the release, sensation of the pain is reduced.
  • When the energy of a condition is moderately “stuck”, the qi is released with less stress and an improvement felt immediately. It won’t be necessarily 100%, but an improvement. 
  • When the energy of the body is weakened, there is a reduced ability of qi to flow freely. Acupuncture increases the body energy so the qi will flow. In this situation, no change may be felt because it takes longer to add energy to the system. Aditional energy could cause a greater sensation of pain until the qi is at the appropriate level and able to flow freely.

Once the qi is flowing, treatment isn’t necessarily over. The general principle is to provide 10-12 treatments to improve a condition. If the conditon has existed for years, improvement could take a few months of weekly treatments whereas a recent condition could be treated in 2-4 sessions. Treatments are needed to train the body to keep the energy flowing. If treatment is ceased early, the condition may return and the body’s energy will go back to what it remembers. Say a client is treated during the onset of a cold, the pathogen is released and the cold never takes form. Treatment could end there, but ideally a few treatments to boost the immune system for prevention would be in order.

Emotions are related to energy. In Chinese Medicine, emotions flow with your body energy which flows with your blood through arteries and veins. Many conditions have emotional and behavioural correlations which could cause a conditon to recur. Client awareness around patterns and emotional symptoms can assist in curbing a recurrence of a physical symptom. Following a treatment protocol that includes a specifc number of treatments; dietary, herbal and lifestyle recommendatons; and both the practitioner and the client actively participating in the process will enable the healing process.