Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash
A pulse, as I know it, is a small beat you can feel on your wrist or your neck – an indication that your heart is pumping. It races when I exercise and slows down when I sleep but for the most part, quiet and consistent, it remains a steady sign that my body is working as it should.
What more can a pulse tell you? Well, that’s what I asked Asha Chong a Licensed Five Element and Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncturist who, listening to my pulse with her fingers placed gently on my wrist, is using words like “gorgeous”, “glorious” and “really nice” to describe it. She explains that she is looking for a clarity in the pulse, that sometimes it feels grainy or like it’s not flowing as smoothly. Asha is talking to me as I’m lying down in her treatment room, she’s leaning over my body tending to the two fine needles that she’s inserted close to my ankles. I’m having acupuncture for the first time.
I have friends who swear by acupuncture. Some go to relieve back pain, some to treat sickness or headaches, others for their fertility. Almost all of them report back with glowing recommendations of what acupuncture did for them. My dislike of needles has, until now, held me back from trying it. But having read a lot about the science behind this form of energy medicine, I can’t deny that it works. The fact it’s available on the NHS now is a sign its benefits are recognised by medical professionals. Identified by the World Health Organisation as being a clinically proven treatment for over 25 medical conditions, MRI scans have proven how acupuncture treatment alters the pain-processing part of the brain.
But to reduce acupuncture to the science behind it negates from its rich history. Practitioners have been working with this method of treatment for centuries. Even before MRI scans and clinical research existed to prove its effectiveness, people believed in the therapeutic power of these fine needles.
Traditionally, though, it wasn’t a treatment for a particular ailment per se, but a way to maintain health. A preventative measure, part of a wellbeing toolkit – like exercise or healthy eating. And in fact, I’m making my appointment with Asha on this basis. I don’t have any particular ailments but I am a worrier and sometimes it can manifest in symptoms of anxiety. Asha reassures me that acupuncture is very powerful for balancing emotions.
This isn’t any old acupuncture. I’m having Five Elements Acupuncture. Working with nature as her guide, Asha assesses the balance of wood, fire, earth, metal and water elements in her patients - the five elements at its core.
The theory is that all of us have five elements within us but sometimes one is stronger or weaker. When they’re out of balance, it can cause unease in our minds and bodies. Asha’s treatment - placing fine needles along a network of pathways within which our body’s energy flows - addresses this imbalance, reinstating equilibrium. Asha explains it beautifully: “When all five energies manifest within us in balance and harmony, we experience the enhanced joy of being alive.”
We talk for a while before the treatment begins. Asha asks me a lot of questions which start with my bodily systems - digestion, hormones, sleep patterns - and then veer into my personal life. What are my relationships like? My upbringing? My moods? Most I answered with ease but there was one I had to think about for a while: Do I spend more time being angry or more time worrying? I decide I probably spend more time worrying and explain that I rarely feel 100% confident about anything because I have a habit of focussing on what could go wrong. We chat about how, even years on, this type of anxiety is something so many of us live with post-pandemic. In fact, new research from the British Acupuncture Council reports a 72% rise in people enquiring about acupuncture for their mental wellbeing.
Then Asha asks me my favourite colour. “Green,” I say. She smiles knowingly and takes a deep breath, ready to give me my diagnosis. Asha’s listened carefully to what I’ve shared, and she’s also tuned in to the way I move and how I speak. She thinks that my wood element is very strong, that I spend a lot of time driving change, planning and starting new things. “Your wood element is about creation, beginnings, initiation, power and expansion. It is a fertile ground to nurture vision and dreams,” she explains. As a result of this element being stronger, she thinks my earth element - the element associated with grounding and feeling rooted - is weaker. That, she explains, might explain why I worry. “A harmonious Earth element enables us to feel nourished. Feeling stable and secure, we empathise with others without losing our own centre.”
I like Asha’s style of diagnosis. She isn’t telling me something is wrong with me or over-analysing the cause of my worry, simply explaining that while one element of my personality is stronger, another is being weakened. It makes sense. Creating and thinking up ideas is a strength of mine and I enjoy it but if I take it too far, it shifts me off-balance. I would feel better if I slowed down sometimes. Wouldn’t we all?
I suppose it is true for all of us - we direct attention to different parts of our lives and sometimes, we direct too much attention in one place. Often that feels uneasy and we have to stop and reassess. The five elements feel like a sensible way of looking at it, allowing for all the parts of our personalities to have their moment. It makes room for our lives to fluctuate but encourages us to find our way back to balance.
The treatment today is focussed on softening my wood element and heightening the earth to help me find that balance again. Asha treats the pressure points on my big toe, the inside of my ankles and halfway down one of my shins, points associated with emotional balance and mental wellbeing.
As Asha listens to the clarity of my pulse improve and become less grainy, we bond over our belief in a holistic approach to wellbeing. “Five element acupuncture isn’t about me fixing you,” she says. “I’m not changing who you are and it’s not about reaching a goal, it’s about celebrating the parts of you and fine tuning your strengths so you feel more balanced.” It’s refreshing to hear. So much of the health industry overpromises, selling us an unattainable ideal which leaves us in a perpetual pursuit of wellness. “Try this to cure this, do this and heal this” is a repetitive narrative that I’m losing faith in. Our wellbeing is more complex than that.
I leave Asha’s treatment room feeling renewed. Whether it’s because it’s the first week of spring, the balancing work of the acupuncture, or Asha’s refreshing take on how I can look after myself, I can’t be sure. I feel a shift in the days that follow, determined that for all the space I give my ‘wood element’- planning and coming up with ideas - I will invite in slower activities to keep the balance. Acupuncture’s going to be one of them.
WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ACUPUNCTURE? DO YOU HAVE IT REGULARLY? I’D LOVE TO KNOW
This is such an interesting read! I knew that acupuncture has many benefits, but I hadn’t heard of this type before and it sounds wonderful!
Asha sounds fab! 😊
Oh this is lovely Alice! I’ve been going for a few weeks now to try and help with my skin, and I’ve really enjoyed the focus on the energy/heat side of things. This sounds amazing though! And I’m actually in the market for a new acupuncturist as mine is about to go on mat leave, so maybe I’ll hit Asha up! X