Acupressure at Home

Holding Kidney 1 - a great grounding acupressure point

I am sure many of you have heard of acupuncture. You know, its where a trained therapist sticks fine needles into your body as you relax on a massage table. These may be inserted into areas of pain, stagnation, blockages and you will overtime find relief. Sounds like torture but trust me; its not and it brings great results. I’ve enjoyed many a needling at my acupuncturist over the years.

It follows Traditional Chinese Medicine, channels or meridians within the body and an in-depth psychology of each point. All of which promotes the body to self heal.

So why is this blog titled Acupressure at Home not Acupuncture?

Well simply, I am not trained as an Acupuncturist. But I have been trained to provide Acupressure which does provide similar results, without the needles and the specific accuracy that a pin-prick can deliver.

In acupressure, we use a neutral touch to rub or hold an acu-point. This stimulates the flow of Qi or energy/prana through the point and promotes this movement throughout the body, its muscles, organs, emotions and so on.

The benefit that I have, as a Kinesiologist, is that I can supplement the point being held with muscle monitoring, essential oils to tap deeper into the psychology of the point and bring into use crystals, sound and colour to truly support the client’s body to self heal.

What’s a brief history about acupressure?

Glad you asked…and yes its brief, very brief!

Acupuncture has been practiced in China for well over 2500 years. Point location and the channel that they lie along was first recorded in the 3rd and 4th century. A little later they expanded this to include names of points, functions and indications for their use. In the 1960’s the point locations were described more precisely according to bony landmarks and depressions on the body.

What does it feel like?

From my personal experience it feels gentle. Yes there can be points that hurt or feel spongy when they are pressed but overall I find it quite relaxing.

You know; lying on a massage table, beautiful smells of essential oils surrounding you, music softly caressing your ears, maybe a warm pulsing crystal in your hand and a Practitioner whose gentle inquiring voice takes you to another space all together.

Acupressure on Pericardium 7

All the while they are gently holding a specific acupressure point, talking about its psychology, its connections, meanings and what “ailments” it can address to bring in balance or health.

Take Pericardium 7 in the above picture. This relates to the Pericardium Channel (the Heart’s Protector), part of the Fire Element in Chinese 5-Element Theory. It can mend a “broken heart” but is also important for brain function and memory.

The actual point Pericardium (PC) 7 is called “Great Mound”. It is useful for working with heat in the heart, chest issues, calming the mind and spirit, it cools the blood and because it attaches to the Stomach and Spleen channels (or meridians) it is also good for issues relating to the intestines and stomach.

If we were working with PC7 in relationship to someone who has a broken heart we may include the colour red or the sound of laughter; both of which relate to the Fire Element. We may rub essential oils into PC7 such as Geranium or Rose; which specifically relate to the emotion of being brokenhearted.

Taking this further in a Kinesiology session we may “lock in” muscles relating to the Pericardium Channel such as Gluteus Medius (applied Kinesiology muscles) or the Diaphragm, bicep or serratus anterior (all TCM muscles). All working toward bringing the body back into balance.

Its a wonderful modality to work within and can bring such a great sense of calm but more importantly, it will create shifts in your physical, emotional and mental bodies. It will stimulate the flow of energy, oxygen and blood which in turn will fire up your whole system and bring about healing.

In mid March I ran a 2-hour workshop called “Acupressure at Home”. It was well attended by some lovely souls who were genuinely curious about acupressure and their health journey. We ran through the history, similarities to acupuncture and a few other formalities; similar to what I have outlined above but in more depth.

IN the last hour I explained how to locate 10 acupressure points. What they were useful to use regularly, what benefits they could provide and how to “hold” them correctly. Once everyone was familiar with this I invited everyone to pair up and hold points on each other. This enabled all participants to not only feel what is like to hold points and a space for another person but also feel their own energy flow and identify the benefits of acupressure.

It was wonderful session. Many participants had never experienced such a healing space. Being able to support another person was humbling. The sense of calm and relaxation that fulled the room was invitingly supportive.

If you missed out, don’t worry. I will be running this workshop again in 2019. I promote all my workshops on Eventbrite, and my FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM pages. To ensure you stay in the loop remember to LIKE US and more importantly SHARE whats being posted so everyone can enjoy the benefits.

Thanks for reading.

From my light to yours

Zoe Jack

Holistic Kinesiologist
Zode Kinesiology