Our CEO Emma shares her experience with Acupuncture and Community Acupuncture as part of our series on preventative health and wellbeing practices. 

I can’t remember the first time I got acupuncture. It was probably in the early 2000s when I was living in Montreal. Since then I have traveled the world – over 60 countries – and had acupuncture or acupressure in close to a dozen cities. 

I have some hilarious stories about confused doctors in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China, who didn’t speak English and were wondering what I was doing in their offices. I met some overly critical practitioners in Australia who didn’t agree with my nomadic lifestyle. But never have I come across a more enjoyable acupuncture experience than what I found at Flux Community Acupuncture in Santa Cruz, California.

I go to acupuncture about once a week. Why so often? Acupuncture is part of my larger preventative health practice, and it plays a crucial, low-cost, and human part. I mainly go to acupuncture as a preventative treatment before feeling sick, overwhelmed, or burned out. It helps keep my energy  (my chi) moving and helps keep my immune system working at a high level. I haven’t been sick in nearly 4 years and have rarely gotten sick since committing to acupuncture 15 years ago. This is key to mental health strengthening and prevention is also very common in Eastern medicine. In Western medicine, we wait until there is a problem and then we treat with drugs or other applications. In the East, medicine is much more about what we can prevent by regularly maintaining health practices, like acupuncture. Here at Myrth we are about proactive action, not reactive action.

Regardless of how you implement preventative health practices, I swear by acupuncture’s positive preventative effects for my overall mental and physical health. So look to see if there is a community acupuncture space in your town or look into your local practitioners. If you can’t get to an acupuncturist we also have this acupressure cushion and mat in our Shop Myrth Store that might be a good at-home alternative.

And here is a fun short video I made promoting Flux for Event Santa Cruz.

Have you made acupuncture a part of your own regular health practices? Are you curious to try it? Leave us a note in the comments!

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