To get the most from your acupuncture treatment, please follow these guidelines:
Before treatment
Come to your session as relaxed as possible. If possible, arrive a few minutes early and sit quietly. Or, park a few blocks from the office and walk to your appointment. This will save you the time of having to calm yourself to become receptive to treatment.
Eat lightly before and after treatment. If you have eaten a big meal within an hour of treatment, your energy is preoccupied with digestion. A small snack within half an hour is fine.
Consume no alcohol or recreational drugs for 24 hours before and after your treatment. To do so would significantly affect the changes brought about by treatment, as your body would then focus on detoxifying thereby reducing the amount of energy available for healing.
Avoid vigorous exercise and stressful situations just before treatment. Allow at least an hour for a cooling off period. Avoid extremes of temperature such as saunas, hot or cold showers, hot or cold beverages. Again, these take your energy away from healing.
Come to your session without wearing any perfume or perfumed products, if possible.
During treatment
You will experience various sensations during treatment. The use of acupuncture needles may create various feelings including tingling, heaviness, dull ache, or warmth. These are indications that energy is now flowing more harmoniously along the pathway. You may also feel movement of energy in different parts of your body than those being needled. At times your body may involuntarily twitch or move as energy blocks are being released. These reactions are all normal-allow them to happen. Please tell me about them as they occur, as they inform and guide treatment.
During treatment, energy releases not only on the physical level but on the levels of the mind, emotion, and spirit as well. Therefore, you may remember past events or dreams during treatment. You may feel an up-welling of emotion such as joy, anger, fear, or grief. You may have moments of clear insight. These are all positive signs in the healing process, and it is very helpful if you can allow them expression as they occur. Ask for help in this process if need be. Emotional expression greatly helps the healing process as it relaxes and opens up the body.
You may also not feel any physical sensation or emotion. Each individual is unique in their healing process. Regardless of whether you feel any outward manifestation of the process, it is indeed happening.
After treatment
Keep warm. The most common immediate response to treatment is to feel relaxed, tired, or a bit 'spacey'. These are signs of the energy shifting in your body as a result of treatment. It is best to allow the reaction to run its course. For example, if you feel like taking a nap, a short walks, or sit in a garden, do it! Please don't schedule any intense work session which requires active concentration for up to an hour after treatment.
After treatment, your energy will continue to shift for 24-72 hours. You may notice nothing unusual, or you may have a number of reactions. Some of these may be: an aggravation of present symptoms (this will last only a short time-a matter of hours), a reoccurrence of past symptoms (again, short duration), unusual dreams, and/or an outflow of emotions or insight. Again, all of this is normal and important to report at your next session as they provide the guideposts for further treatment.
If you have any reactions that concern you, please don't hesitate to call and I will be happy to discuss them with you. My phone number is 802-985-5480.
In order to optimize treatment results, you may be asked to make some lifestyle modifications, such as with diet and exercise. Please do them. These are made on an individual basis depending on your circumstances and response to treatment.
What you can do to facilitate treatment
Be as relaxed as possible.
Be as truthful as possible, both in your initial diagnostic session and in reporting reactions.
Affirm your willingness to heal.
If asked to do homework, do them or be truthful about not doing them. There is no judgment here, or rigid formula. Truth is a much more powerful tool than being a ‘good patient'.
Breathe!