Me a few years ago: “Umm, I would literally never do acupuncture, why would you voluntarily stick multiple needles in your body at once?”
Me two weeks ago: “LET’S DO THIS.” And don’t get me wrong, I was still scared as frick, but I was also fed up with my back pain and after hearing from at least 10 of my friends how amazing acupuncture is, I knew I HAD to try it at least once! They say it can help with all kinds of things aside from pain including depression, anxiety, hormone health, headaches, insomnia, and even infertility.
So if you’re feeling the way I did but are maybe intrigued and would want to give it a shot, keep on readin’?
For my first acupuncture experience, I went to WTHN, a New York-based acupuncture “spa,” if you will! At least, it felt like a spa to me, in the best way possible. First of all, that place has the most aesthetic décor ever with a ton of plants and a cute shop in front for all your wellness needs. It’s instantly inviting and warm.
From there, I was taken into my own curtain-ed off space with a specialist who first asked me what exactly I was interested in achieving with acupuncture and where I was experiencing pain. After sharing my frustrations with my mid and upper back injury, as well as my nervousness around getting acupuncture done, he kindly explained exactly what I could expect and assured me that there was not nothing to be afraid of.
If I’m being 110% honest, you do feel a teeeeensy tiny prick with the traditional method, but there is virtually no pain. It’s as if you were to give yourself a very small and gentle quick pinch. He also did a few needles with the “pressure point” method up by my shoulders and I admittedly did feel a bit of discomfort during those.
I’m really glad he did both kinds, just so that I could experience them, and I’m sure that the pressure point technique is necessary to really get into those tight muscles (they don’t use that all over the body, just in certain areas of the body that carry a lot of tension).
After about 5-10 minutes of the setup, he handed me a button that I could press if I needed anything or started to get uncomfortable, covered me with a very thin, paper-like blanket, and put on headphones with my choice of serene music. For the next 25 minutes, I laid there.
Here’s how the next part of my session went:
- I almost instantly relaxed and teetered somewhere between awake and asleep (but I didn’t want to actually fall asleep though, for fear of being startled when he walked back in?)
- I lost track of time and felt almost weightless
- At around the 20 minute mark (I think), I felt myself starting to overheat – again, not from being in pain, but more so from feeling like I couldn’t move
- I panicked a little, and almost pressed the button, but talked myself down and knew I could make through the last few minutes
And then? It was over! My acupuncturist gave me a sheet with some recommendations (4 sessions to ease the pain) and made sure I was both pleased with my experience and hydrated! Again, very spa like??
After my appointment, I continued to feel very much relaxed and didn’t experience any back until the middle of the night, which is super normal for me. I don’t know if one session is really meant to achieve long-term effects, but I’m positive that if I lived near WTHN I would be back soon.
All in all, I would recommend acupuncture to absolutely anyone. It was a different kind of self-care and one with so many benefits. And one last thing – I do think that being face down and not actually seeing the needles was super helpful, but if you need to be face up, maybe ask for something to cover your eyes!
Tell me, have you ever tried acupuncture?! If you haven’t, do you want to?
xo Jordan