Ancient art of acupuncture relieves stress
On yesterday’s newscast I examined the stress-busting powers of massage and aromatherapy. Tonight, I take it to the next level with the ancient Chinese art of acupuncture.
Janelle Chanona
“Hi…nice to meet you.”
Annie Yu
“My name is Annie.”
Janelle Chanona
“Janelle. And you’re the acupuncturist.”
Annie Yu
“So what I’m going to do is I’m going to put a needle in certain points. What the needle does, in Chinese medicine, we explain this because your chi, or probably energy is more easy to understand. And then the energy, the chi is blocked here and not circulating well and then blood and chi are stuck here so that’s why causing the pain and feeling like tight and everything…We will put the needle on those points to make the chi and blood circulation better so it will relieve the pain and relax the muscle.”
“This is a disposable needle. This is the most important thing, because we don’t want to use a recycled needle and use for different patient you know there is hepatitis and the HIV.”
“The difference when we use the different needle is like the body where we have a lot of muscle, we use the longer one and like the palm and where there is not much muscle, we use the shorter ones…We can see that the needle is so thin. Even thinner than our hair, so don’t be afraid of needles, I don’t think it’s going to hurt.”
First, Annie sterilizes the skin before she starts carefully inserting the needles.
Annie Yu
“Now deep breath…inhale…ready? (needle goes in) Does it hurt?”
Janelle Chanona
“No.”
Annie Yu
“Did you feel anything?”
Janelle Chanona
“No.”
One by one Annie pinpoints the places of pain until there are more than fourteen needles in my skin.
Annie Yu
“Acupuncture is not just for pain, not just for pressure, pain relief is also really good, like any chronic pain. A lot of people complain of back pain right or shoulder pain and there is no reason. Even you take the exam, the test and everything is normal, but still painful. So acupuncture is really good for the pain relief.”
Janelle Chanona
“I have no idea how my back looks, but I don’t feel anything. I just feel sleepy and I can feel a little bit of pressure, but I don’t know where the needles are on my back and right now all I want to do is go to sleep.”
And seconds later, even my neighbour’s noisy dog can’t keep me awake…
After thirty minutes of siesta, Annie wakes me up to take out the needles.
Janelle Chanona
“My back just feels warm and I feel very comfortable. I think somewhere in there I got a little freaked out at the concept of all these needles in my back, so I was afraid to move so I’m still in that state where I’m afraid to get up lest I break something in me, but I feel really good.”
I found that all three relaxation treatments: massage, aromatherapy and acupuncture, really did help to induce a feeling of true relaxation. At an average of around fifty dollars per session, none of them are cheap…but, hey…you’re worth it.
