Have you been struggling emotionally with grief, anger, or depression? Are you overwhelmed with stress and anxiety? Many people think of therapy as a primary option for managing emotions, but talk therapy often does not help relieve emotions that are stuck in the body, patterned in for months, years, or decades.
Acupuncture is a body-based therapy that uses the principle of moving stuck energy to relieve many emotional concerns. I recently worked with Joelle to help her find relief from grief and stress.
Joelle came to me when she had recently lost an elderly friend. She was mired in grief and was struggling to process the loss. With a very supportive family and a large network of close friends she had talked to many people about her anguish but was still stuck with a lot of pain. Furthermore, Joelle had a stressful job that created periods of anxiety and overwhelm.
During her first session we focused on relieving and helping her to process her grief. In Chinese medicine, grief is said to be stored in the lungs, which is why your chest can feel heavy or ache with profound grief. We used a number of acupuncture points on her chest and her arms to help move the stuck emotions. We also used a handful of acupuncture points to calm her nervous system which had been agitated by the news of the loss as well as the stresses of having several kids and an intense job.
Joelle felt transformed by the initial acupuncture session. Much of the intense heaviness and pain around the loss was lifted and she felt a lightness she hadn’t felt in weeks.
I continue to work with Joelle as she is a deeply empathetic individual. She feels very deeply the losses and struggles of her family, friends, and clients, and periodically needs support with processing stress, anxiety, grief, and uncertainty. Through our work Joelle has found that she can be more calm, more present, and more able to face the challenges that face her.
