One of the many great mysteries regarding the history of acupuncture is that no one knows for sure how it originated.  But my teacher’s best guess is that it came from a system of cultivation.  Meaning, the ancient people originally used it as a way to facilitate their highest potential, and not necessarily as only a treatment for ailments.    

Currently, the easiest way to understand how acupuncture works, is to remember the first thing we all learned in grade school biology.  The body always seeks homeostasis.  Think about how many times you've had a cut, and how many times you’ve stopped bleeding and healed.  For most of us, it’s 100 percent.

Acupuncture utilizes this natural tendency and directs it towards specific goals.  For example… When I insert a needle, the patient’s body responds to the slight irritation of the needle by producing a cascade of hormones and neurotransmitters.  This response is then circulated into the underlying systems we want to strengthen or detoxify.

The Chinese have a saying, where the mind goes, the qi flows.  And in my clinical experience I have seen many conditions like back pain, migraines, digestive problems, insomnia, earaches, colds, flues, and many others.  The commonality is that the very tiny, almost imperceptible micro trauma of the needling not only directs the patients mind into the experience of their physical body, but it encourages their body to respond and seek its natural balanced state.