Needle-Free Acupuncture
When I say “needle-free acupuncture,” I’m referring to a type of Japanese Meridian Therapy that doesn’t penetrate the skin. Instead, I use a Teishin—an acupuncture tool that softly rests on the surface of the body. (As you can see in the photos, Teishins are shaped like short knitting needles.) And in some cases, I use my hand instead of the Teishin. It’s perfectly painless, efficient, and effective!
Acupuncture is thousands of years old and in the early days, in China, there were a variety of needles used. Several of these needles were non-penetrative (they didn’t pierce the skin); instead they stimulated the acupuncture points by simply resting on them.
Over the past few hundred years, however, penetrative needles came more into fashion, and the old methods of needle-free acupuncture moved to the background. But recently, they’ve resurfaced, particularly in Japan. I got the opportunity studied with a number of Teishin masters, and I fell in love with the approach.
In a needle-free acupuncture session, I start by palpating the abdomen, wrist pulse, and the limbs to derive a “pattern.” Then I treat the pattern by applying the Teishin (which looks like a small knitting needle) on certain acu-points. The goal is see positive change when I re-palpate the abdomen, wrist and limbs, which reflects a balancing of the meridians.
My particular Teishin method is influenced by the acupuncturists Thomas Sorenson, Bob Quinn, Dr. Bear (Anryu Iwashina), and Takahiro Funamizu. I recommend needle-free acupuncture it to just about anyone. Since the meridians are at the root of our health and well-being, meridian balancing can improve a great variety of conditions, including mental health problems, physical pain, sleep issues, digestive concerns, menstrual irregularieties, and much more!
I give clients the option of combining the needle-free acupuncture treatment with somatics. Or, you can choose to focus on one or the other modality (either needle-free acupuncture or somatics). For more on somatics, click here.
The Teishin photos on this page comes from the AcuArtistry website. To learn more about needle-free acupuncture tools and practices, you can check out that website here.