Enhance Your Vitality

For thousands of years, acupuncture has been used as preventive medicine.  It is said that, in ancient China, patients paid for acupuncture treatments to keep them healthy, and if they became ill, they were treated for free!  While that model is no longer in use, it illustrates the ancient perspective on the preventive power of this medicine.

Scientific studies have not yet probed the capacity of acupuncture as preventive medicine.  But a great many acupuncture clients report improvements in many areas of their life with acupuncture treatment, from improved sleep, to better digestion, to more harmonious relationships, to increased energy and a desire for a fuller, richer engagement with life.

When a client’s goal is to stay healthy and enhance vitality, the initial course of treatment is often a series of five to seven weekly treatments, after which visits are gradually spaced farther apart. 

During this time, in addition to the needle treatments, we focus on cultivating the ability to notice--to notice, for each person uniquely, which daily habits and practices are most fruitful in bringing increased vim and vigor, ease and calm.  Adopting healthy habits and practices  greatly increases the effectiveness of treatment, and is invaluable in it’s own right. 

“Noticing” is central to acupuncture.  Traditional Chinese medicine grew out of the nature-based philosophy and keen observational skills of the ancients.  These ideas and skills are equally relevant in the modern world.  Our symptoms are often teachers--gentle (or not so gentle) guides to healthy habits and practices.  Learning to listen to the body and honor it’s wisdom is a skill well worth acquiring--and passing on to future generations.