What are the symptoms?
Symptoms can include the following:

palpitations

• the feeling of not being able to breathe properly
• chest tightness
• feeling overwhelmed
• sweats
• over thinking/over worrying

What is the Western Treatment?
The way anxiety is treated is by using anti-anxiety medication to block the messages going to the brain in regards to ones emotions.

The problem with this is that the cause of the anxiety is not being treated… only the symptom. This means that once the block is lifted (when you stop taking the medication) it’s likely the problem will still be there.

Pain-Free Acupuncture Solution for Anxiety
I believe that there is no treatment that is safer and more effective at treating the cause of anxiety than Pain-Free Acupuncture.

Anxiety is treated by Pain-Free Acupuncture by concentrating on 3 major organs: the liver, spleen, and kidneys.

Liver Imbalance
The liver controls the flow of energy, nutrients, and information to all our cells. It is also the first organ to be affected by stress and emotions as well and alcohol and substance abuse. When stress attacks our liver, picture the liver tightening up. When it does this the energy, nutrients and information that was flowing smoothly in the channels now starts to stagnate as well.

This stagnation means that our cells and organs are not receiving the right amount of information and nutrients to function properly, and our body falls out of balance. When our body is out of balance and there is stagnation in our body we start to feel anxious.

People with liver imbalances tend to be wound up emotionally with a lot of frustration and anger which they internalise. This then causes heat and stagnation in the body leading to anxiety.

Quite simply Pain-Free Acupuncture clears the stagnation and heat and the person starts to feel better fairly quickly because the nutrients, energy, and hormones are flowing more regularly in the body.

Spleen Deficiency
When the spleen becomes deficient it is a lot harder for us to digest our food. When it is hard for us to digest our food guess what happens to the nutrients? They don’t get absorbed properly. Therefore we don’t have the right blood production.

When our blood does not have the right amount of nutrients our heart starts to feel a little weak and tired. When our body is fatigued we are more prone to feeling anxious.

Kidney Deficiency
In Chinese Medicine the kidneys relate to the water or coolness in our body. This coolness calms the mind and helps to keep the heat in check. If the kidneys are weak then the coolness is deficient and the heat takes over. Heat rises to the top of our body and effects our heart and mind causing anxiety.

The kidneys also relate to fear. So, when we have a major fear of something it weakens the kidneys and leads to anxiety.

Acupressure points for Anxiety
I wanted you to take some general acupuncture points that you could apply acupressure to in order to help with the feeling of anxiety. It must be mentioned that acupressure is not a substitute for professional diagnosis and acupuncture treatments specified for an individual.

Acupressure is a great adjunct to acupuncture treatments as it is something that you can do for yourself in between treatments to increase the effects of the acupuncture.

Apply finger pressure to these points for around 2-3 minutes each day or when you are feeling a bit anxious:

Neiguan (Pc 6)
Location: 2 fingers above the wrist between the two major tendons that can be seen by flexing your wrist.

Function: relieves stagnation and pain, clears the head, calms the mind

Sanyinjiao (sp 6)
Location: in the depression 3 fingers above the inside ankle along the bone

Function: strengthen spleen/stomach, strengthen coolness and blood, calm the mind

Final Note
We hope you have enjoyed this article and got some insight into the world of Pain-Free Acupuncture and anxiety. It is something that we are extremely passionate about helping.

If you know of anybody suffering from this condition please pass this on to them. Or if you have any questions about this article or anything else please feel free to contact us directly on 0432 198 865 at the acupuncture st kilda clinic and we will be more than happy to help you.

Jessica Stephens & Matt Roessler
Pain-Free Acupuncture? St Kilda
Stable Health Clinic 22 Alma Rd
Work: 9008 1032
Direct: 0432 198 865
www.painfreeacupuncture.com.au