First: A story…
Let’s say you’re with someone who’s lived their whole life in the forest, in the wilderness, and this person has never heard music. You tell them that they have an amazing experience ahead of them and they tell you that they would love to experience this. So, together, you walk into a music store, and you ask the clerk for some kind of recording. You want it to be the best music you can get, so you go to the attendant and say “My friend wants music!”
In this story the clerk will ask you “Would you like some classical, folk, or jazz? Or maybe some pop, R & B, or hip-hop? Or perhaps you”re a fan of World music, Rap, or “New Age” – or maybe… something else? There is an extensive list of different styles to choose from. What does your friend want?”
The thing is, your friend doesn’t know, because he’s never had it before, he’s only heard that it can be good.
Acupuncture is like this. Many people have heard of acupuncture, and they may have heard of the wonderful and marvelous things it can do, yet they’ve never had an experience of it. So they don’t know that there are almost as many different styles of acupuncture as there are of music!
“What people think”, versus “The way it really is…”: Preconception vs Experience
People may have heard acupuncture can be painless, but believe that it will be painful. And most people want to avoid pain… so they think they want to avoid acupuncture.
Also, most of them don’t like needles, because when they think of needles, they think of a syringe or hypodermic, the kind you get for a vaccination or when you go to the dentist. And who can blame them? Those things hurt!
Now if you think of a syringe and compare that to a military canon, and then if you think of a dart, the kind that they play darts with in pubs, you begin to get a sense of the difference in size between a syringe and an acupuncture needle. You can easily fit four (or more!) acupuncture needles in the hole of a syringe – so you see, it’s a different thing entirely – kind of like comparing watermelons and grapes – both fruit, but significantly different from each other!
While it may seem difficult to believe that acupuncture can be painless, this difficulty quickly disappears when you experience it! People are often surprised to hear they have 6 or more needles, yet only slightly felt one – and often, what they felt was a guide tube that holds the needle. Occasionally, there is a slight sensation that quickly disappears, as the body begins to adapt.
And then, there are exceptions…
In Oriental medicine we think of restoring balance as a key function of whatever we’re doing. So I *also* practice other methods, or styles, of acupuncture. I use these as best fits the needs of the client. Sometimes, it’s not the method that makes the client feel a sensation on needling – it’s the client’s system. Lets be clear about this – sometimes, when a person has a significant imbalance, there can be discomfort – but this is not usually the case. So just what are the feelings that usually accompany acupuncture? Feelings of deep relaxation, deep calmness, and a deep sense of peace…