Anita Mike is an accountant who owns a busy accounting firm. When she first came to see me, she had been under a lot of stress for years. She suffered from anxiety, digestive problems, and poor sleep. Every time she came out of treatment she would say “I feel so relaxed.” Several months later, her digestive problems were gone and she could sleep well at night without any medication and her anxiety was relieved too. Like Anita, many people also describe their feeling after an acupuncture treatment as being deeply relaxed, calm, more focused, and re-energized.

So how does acupuncture help one relax and heal the conditions caused by chronic stress? Modern scientific research shows that acupuncture treatment regulates the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, stimulates the release of endorphin, and regulates various other important neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine to achieve its therapeutic anti-stress effects.

According to acupuncture theory, Qi is the life force that flows in every life, and that the free flow of Qi is essential for physical and emotional health and a happy, more fulfilling life.

When this smooth flow of Qi is blocked, over the time different symptoms will manifest themselves in your body and mind.

Environmental factors (such as such as extreme cold, heat, natural disaster, lack of shelter, lack of food, constant physical danger in times of war) can cause stress for the body, however, or the majority people who live in North America today, stress mainly comes from our own mind. When you hold onto the old and destructive emotional patterns, when you eat foods for instant gratification but don’t give you nourishment, when you suppress your feelings, and expressions as who you are, your Qi flow may be blocked.

Acupuncture helps people to restore their free flow of Qi (energy) — the life force to improve  one’s physical and emotional well-beings. That’s why many people would say after acupuncture treatment, “What have you done to me? I haven’t felt this good in years…”