Canyon Ranch - Lenox
When you or someone you know decides to stop smoking, drinking or abusing drugs, it’s a life-changing – and probably life-saving – decision.
It’s also a decision that takes courage, commitment and support – support not only from family and friends, but sometimes from unexpected sources. “Even though we know a bad habit or dependency is not good for us, addictions are powerful, and, as I think we all realize, overcoming them can be challenging,” says Maryann Tully, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. “Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, hypnotherapy and behavioral counseling can help.”
She emphasizes, however, that these support mechanisms cannot make anyone stop doing something self-destructive.
“When an individual is letting go of a substance like alcohol, nicotine or drugs, a support method such as acupuncture helps balance energies in the body, so, essentially, it helps the person who’s quitting help himself or herself,” she says.
Specifically, acupuncture helps by eliciting a deep relaxation response in about 85 percent of patients through the stimulation of endorphins in the brain. Research shows that stimulation of these endorphins can help to overcome the physiological and psychological side-effects that many patients experience during the first month of detoxification – including cravings, headaches, agitated sleep and irregular eating habits.
“The lungs, liver, kidneys and heart are particularly affected by the toxins in nicotine, for example, and acupuncture can ease the inevitable discomfort as the body cleanses itself,” says Tully. “In the long run, you’ll feel much better for having lost the toxic habit, but the short run can be uncomfortable. That’s when acupuncture can help.”
So what should you expect if acupuncture is your support treatment of choice?
First, recognize that you have chosen an ancient and widely respected form of treatment. Acupuncture is one of the four pillars of traditional Chinese medicine, and its use and effects have been documented more than 2,500 years ago.
It is a safe process that involves accessing energy pathways (known as meridians) with sterile needles to stimulate the “chi” or essential life force that flows along these meridians. (The Chinese meridian system corresponds in many respects to our Western understanding of the nervous and lymph systems, but seems to be in many ways more sophisticated.)
For smoking, Tully uses a protocol involving six points in the ear that’s proven helpful for nicotine withdrawal. Other points along the body open channels to the lungs, liver, heart and other areas – Tully determines which will help a particular individual.
“Some people have fears and ask if it will hurt, but most people don’t experience this sensation of obtaining the chi as uncomfortable or painful. The needles we use are extremely fine and the technique is delicate.
“But if an individual is under stress (as most people are when trying to conquer an addiction), he or she may experience the procedure as a little more stressful. The energy is bound up inside and a detoxing individual feels its release more intensely.”
A slight twinge or ache around the needle coupled with a traveling sensation is common, and signals the opening of a meridian.
Tully tells patients where they can expect to feel these sensations, while trying to “leave room for each patient to have a personal experience.”
Duration of treatment varies. At the spa, Tully prefers to see guests at least twice during a week-long visit; three times weekly can be helpful once patients return to the stress of everyday life.
Tully strongly recommends that people who find acupuncture helpful continue treatment for a while after they return home.
“Back at home, they’re bound to experience the triggers that may make them want to resume their old habits, particularly in their first few days back. Acupuncture can remind them of that place inside that is calm and peaceful, and can help get them through that critical time,” she says.
The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine offers a current listing of board certified acupuncturists who offer support in the home environment. In addition to acupuncture, Tully recommends continuing acupressure, deep breathing, meditation, massage and an attitude of total self-nurturing in the weeks after quitting.
“It is almost as if you have to replace your bad habit with an attitude of self-care. Often, bad habits insulate us from feelings such as anger and sadness, but there truly are kinder ways of coping with stress and emotion than addictive behavior. We need to learn to be present with our emotions, and that is something we can only do one day at a time.”
Tully urges struggling quitters to remember that even successful ex-smokers, for example, sometimes have relapses. She tells the story of one patient who quit a year ago. He occasionally smokes just half of a cigarette because he associates it with pleasure. He puts it out halfway through because he can no longer tolerate the taste.
“Often people will relapse a little bit, but usually if they have gone long enough without a cigarette, they smell and taste the toxicity, and it turns them off,” Tully says.
For both people recovering from dependencies and everyone who cares about them, perceiving the toxicity of their old “friend” can mean the sweet smell of success
Heartland Article: Reflexology Reflexology is a method for stimulating the reflexes in the feet to cause reactions in corresponding parts of the body. The reaction could best be described as relaxation or a return to equilibrium. Relaxation is the first step to normalization, the body’s return to a state of equilibrium or homeostasis, where circulation can flow unimpeded and supply nutrients and oxygen to the cells.
One’s state of health depends upon this ability to rebound to homeostasis after a trauma or challenge (i.e., injury, disease, stress). So we can say that is the very purpose of reflexology to trigger this return. Since stress and disease are ongoing facts of life for most of us, reflexology, in addition to its therapeutic uses, can serve as a preventive program. It enables us to help our body restore and maintain its natural state of homeostasis. If the body is subjected to regular doses of stress over an extended period of time (as most are), the effects are cumulative and it becomes more and more difficult to return to homeostasis. Here, research tells us, we have the root of 80% - 90% of all illness. The body simply cannot cope. In theory, the reflexologist has the ability to reverse the effects of stress and to free the body to seek its homeostasis. Working the foot triggers a reflex action in a corresponding part of the body. This action is simply to relax the!
tension, reduce the vascular constriction and let the blood and nerve supply flow more freely. Oxygen and nutrients make their way again to areas where they are needed. The body can then repair itself unimpeded by the effects of stress.
The reflexes in the feet are actually “reflections” of body parts. Picture the feet together as a solid form and the toes together in one. It would be basically the shape of our head, neck and trunk of our bodies. The actual physical image of the body is projected on the bottom of the feet. Most of all, enjoy and relax with moments of an experienced therapist massaging your hard working feet. Let your therapist help you find the state of equilibrium.
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