Complexity Into Connection

TCM is an East Asian whole systems medicine drawing on thousands of years of practice and development. Acupuncture is part of this healing system (along with dietary advice, herbal medicine, massage and qi gong), and is based on the understanding that channels of qi (or energy) run throughout the body connecting up different areas and bodily systems.

For example, the spleen’s main role in biomedicine is involved in making white blood cells and storing and filtering blood. Within the frame work of whole system East Asian medicine the spleen is involved with the production of qi/energy, the bodies ability to transform and transport nutrition (physically, mentally and emotionally) that is taken into the body, and support the production of blood. The spleen qi also holds the energy is the body upwards, and helps to hold and contain the blood. Mentally and emotionally, the spleen is involved in our ability to apply our thoughts intentionally, give and receive care, feeling steady and centred, and being connected to our needs, knowing how and where we can meet them.

When a person is healthy, their qi and blood flows abundantly throughout the channel networks, but when blockages occur illness can arise in one area of the body, or more commonly, illness can occur systemically in the body impacting physical, mental and emotional health. This is why clusters of symptoms from a biomedical perspective may seem unrelated, but within the frame works I draw on, they are often connected into the energetic influence from certain organs within the body.

Certain lifestyles and environmental factors are seen to affect the free flow of qi. Among them are emotional stress, physical strain, overworking mentally, prolonged exposure to damp, cold or hot air, poor nutrition and irregular eating patterns, and trauma. During an acupuncture consultation and treatment, identifying the signs and symptoms of the patterns occurring and the root cause of illness happens through observation, asking questions, taking the pulse on both wrists, looking at the tongue, and palpating the acupuncture points and channels for feedback.

Certain acupuncture points are then stimulated to restore the flow of qi and blood throughout the body, encouraging health to be restored as the body rebalances itself. 

My way of working as an acupuncturist is integrative, and I draw on my TCM training, 5 element acupuncture, Classical Chinese medicine and current medical acupuncture research, adapting treatments to meet each client’s unique needs.