Acupuncture

As acupuncture starts to help specific complaints, people often find it also helps other aspects of health such as sleep, energy, immunity and emotions. This is because it treats the ‘whole’ person. The best way of getting any single ‘part’ better is to address the whole, inter-related picture.

It is then possible to tailor treatment to suit your own needs: You can stop after a short course (4-6 sessions), try a longer course (10+ sessions) or come for ongoing treatment (for health maintenance). People tend to come back to their practitioner either on a regular basis (eg. monthly or at the change of the seasons) or when the need arises. Once you have had a course of treatment, you have a practitioner who has built up information about you, your health and dis-ease patterns and how acupuncture works best for you. This information can all be drawn on later to provide an invaluable resource whenever needed. Ongoing maintenance treatment works well as a preventative medicine, detecting and correcting minor imbalances before they manifest as full-blown or irrevocable symptoms. It re-tunes and acclimatises us in the present moment, amidst ever-changing lives, helping us to move on more smoothly through life.

There are two main types of acupuncture practiced in the West: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Five Element acupuncture. TCM treats symptoms and their causes directly, by unblocking and promoting good energetic flow through the body. Five Element acupuncture uses the same technique to treat the person as a whole, the aim being to restore balance to the natural elements that make us up, so we can ‘heal ourselves’ (more information on Five Element acupuncture). I am trained in both these styles and practice them in an integrated way, which works well for most people.

Mary trained in acupuncture at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, between 1997 and 2000, and has run a private practice in the Oxford area since then. She is a member of the British Acupuncture Council and was one of the founder members of the Acupuncture in Childbirth Team, ACT Oxfordshire. They undertook further training to specialise in treating women during pregnancy, childbirth and post-natally and held honorary contracts at the John Radcliffe Hospital. She treats a wide variety of complaints and problems as well as more and more people coming simply to be at their best. Acupuncture is used very well as a preventative medicine.

Because treatment aims specifically to support natural processes, some benefits are subtle and require time, but these subtle effects offer the most profound benefit. They can improve how our body and whole being functions well into the future.