This feels like a great place to start my blog series. In fact, it's where my journey with acupuncture began.
Many of my patients will of course ask me, "how did you get into acupuncture?".
Since I was a teenager, I had been fascinated by the concept of tiny needles making you feel better. It was a mystical, magical world which I longed to learn more about. I would find myself reading acupuncture books in my spare time, and wondered whether one day my dream might come true and that perhaps I could be an acupuncturist.
So, here I am, 5 years into practice, and ever grateful for the honour of offering people a treatment that affects them on many levels.
There's always a journey, and in my travels around India and Portugal, I was lucky to meet some inspiring acupuncturists. The seed of interest continued to grow, but it wasn't until I was carrying my first child that I took the opportunity to book in for some acupuncture. I was struggling with an ongoing IBS issue, made worse by pregnancy and I found myself fed up with my frequent visits to the GP. So many medications I was unable to take, and they didn't sort out the root cause. The acupuncturist reassured me, that with time we could sort out my IBS. I found myself so relaxed after the sessions, and was impressed with how my symptoms started to slowly improve. This wasn't something that I needed to live with all of my life!
I kept on asking many questions, "why are you doing that", "what's that point for"…. Vanessa, my acupuncturist would tell me about the points chosen and I'll never forget when she told me she was using a point, on the Kidney Meridian called 'Welcome Guest', Ki 9. How beautiful that an acupuncture point can support my body to welcome my growing child. Here is the location of that point —
As my pregnancy progressed, and birth preparation was on my mind my acupuncturist reminded me that we could use needles to stimulate labour. I was amazed at how efficiently the needles progressed my labour. Induction acupuncture is something that I offer in the clinic. I use a selection of points which stimulate uterine contractions, increase blood flow to the cervix, reduce pain and calm the mother.
I used these points in my own labour, and found many of them very useful to alleviate pain and keep me calm. Particularly during the first stage of labour, I found that using acupressure on Large Intestine 4 helped to alleviate the discomfort of contractions. It is an honour to be able to offer workshops to couples, who are about to enter into the birth of their child. A special mention should be made to Debra Betts, nurse and acupuncturist in New Zealand for pioneering the use of acupuncture in pregnancy and acupressure in labour. She has led and undertaken much research into this field, helping many women achieve natural births through the safe use of acupuncture.
Want to find out more about what my offering for pregnancy is… pregnancy and pre-birth acupuncture.