Auricular acupuncture

Mr Stefan Chmelik on Auricular Acupuncture

Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the belief that an essential life force called qi ("chee") flows through the body along channels called meridians. These meridians are like rivers that irrigate the body and nourish its’ tissues. Any obstruction along one of the meridians is like a dam that blocks the vital energy flow, creating pain and disease.

Qi (pronounced chee), the life force energy of the body, runs in pathways both across the surface of the body and deep inside touching the organs. In a positive state of health these pathways are balanced one with another. However, our lives are full of stresses. Stress, whether long-term, short-term, physical or emotional can easily throw the pathways of Qi out of balance, causing undesirable symptoms. Maybe stress in a marriage will result in persistent migraines and insomnia, perhaps long-term illness will lead to depression which can further complicate the initial problem. Sometimes discontent with one's job might result in chronic fatigue, or even jogging in sore knees.

The body has a remarkable ability for healing itself. However, if the stress is too great or if the body is already for some reason in a weakened state, it may take a long time to heal. Worse still, the body may fail to heal altogether, leaving one with a persistent distressing symptom. At this point, acupuncture, with the insertion of needles into the surface pathways of Qi can cause the symptoms to disappear.

The needles do not of themselves make you better: they simply remind the body how to heal itself.

As you might expect, auricular acupuncture is acupuncture, done on the ear. The ear is like a mini map of the body and has many points clustered very close together, affecting all parts of the body. In this way, points needled on the ear can be used to treat holistically – as part of a full body treatment, or alone, as a treatment in their own right. Auricular acupuncture is used very successfully with the NADA protocol – a four-needle protocol – for treating the symptoms of alcoholism or drug addiction. In these circumstances, and sometimes in others too, the practitioner may stick a tiny seed onto an acu-point on the ear so that the patient can push it when s/he feels a specific symptom (such as anxiety or cravings). Using auricular acupuncture in this way, the patient can help to manage their own health by treating themselves in between sessions with their practitioner.