It's small and thin ... but it's making a huge difference pointing some in the direction of better health. An alternative that's helping people with everything from pain to pregnancy.
To many this looks like torture, lying on a table with needles piercing the body. But for Bud Kerwin, this seemingly painful procedure is taking away chronic back pain.
Bud Kerwin, Acupuncture Patient: "I had the, I had kind of the "wow" moment. You kind of have the little reservation about the needles, but you can't really feel them at all."
Acupuncture worked where other therapies and treatments fell short.
Bud Kerwin: "You can really make your back feel better for the long term. And really, be healthy again."
Health was foremost on Janice's mind. Not just for herself but for her baby. After two miscarriages she wanted to do everything she could to see this baby born healthy.
Janice, Acupuncture Patient: "At the end of the first trimester, which is the critical time, I'm feeling much stronger."
How is so-called Chinese medicine working where medical intervention failed in the past?
Grainne McKeown, Chinese Medicine Practitioner: "One of the best ways to understand, in general, how Chinese medicine works, is that it helps the body to heal itself."
Mindful Medicine Worldwide's Grainne McKeown says she gets straight to the point with patients about *how* they will heal.
Grainne McKeown: "Oftentimes people have injuries or whether it's muscular/skeletal problems or it's digestion or cardiac problems, the body, oftentimes with stress, we're into a sympathetic mode of our nervous system."
Think of it as fight or flight ... the body overwhelmed with stress, shutting down the immune system and digestion.
Grainne McKeown: "And so acupuncture can help put us into parasympathetic mode. So it helps us not only to relax but actually switching over into that mode helps to boost our immune system."
The boost comes from blood. The tiny needles placed on what practitioners call channels or meridians in the body, are like a call for help ... stimulating the flow of fluids and energy to areas in need of healing. Intially people come in weekly then the sessions may slow down but the results seem to stick!
Bud Kerwin: "I'm in! I'm in! I love it."
Janice: "I would say in the beginning I was feeling rather weak, sort of unsure about where my body was and what I was going to be able to do this and I've actually begun to feel stronger."
Acupuncture practitioners say they're helping patients with diabetes, chronic digestion problems, heart disease and lung and liver ailments. Acupuncture sessions range in cost from $85 to $100.
For more information about Mindful Medicine Worldwide and the organization's efforts to bring integrative medicine to developing countries, go to www.mindfulmedicineworldwide.org.
Join Mindful Medicine Worldwide for their New Year's Wellness Day Fundraiser, Sunday, January 17, 2:00 - 6:00 pm, Soulistic Studio and Spa, 805 N. Milwaukee Ave., Suite 200, Chicago.
To many this looks like torture, lying on a table with needles piercing the body. But for Bud Kerwin, this seemingly painful procedure is taking away chronic back pain.
Bud Kerwin, Acupuncture Patient: "I had the, I had kind of the "wow" moment. You kind of have the little reservation about the needles, but you can't really feel them at all."
Acupuncture worked where other therapies and treatments fell short.
Bud Kerwin: "You can really make your back feel better for the long term. And really, be healthy again."
Health was foremost on Janice's mind. Not just for herself but for her baby. After two miscarriages she wanted to do everything she could to see this baby born healthy.
Janice, Acupuncture Patient: "At the end of the first trimester, which is the critical time, I'm feeling much stronger."
How is so-called Chinese medicine working where medical intervention failed in the past?
Grainne McKeown, Chinese Medicine Practitioner: "One of the best ways to understand, in general, how Chinese medicine works, is that it helps the body to heal itself."
Mindful Medicine Worldwide's Grainne McKeown says she gets straight to the point with patients about *how* they will heal.
Grainne McKeown: "Oftentimes people have injuries or whether it's muscular/skeletal problems or it's digestion or cardiac problems, the body, oftentimes with stress, we're into a sympathetic mode of our nervous system."
Think of it as fight or flight ... the body overwhelmed with stress, shutting down the immune system and digestion.
Grainne McKeown: "And so acupuncture can help put us into parasympathetic mode. So it helps us not only to relax but actually switching over into that mode helps to boost our immune system."
The boost comes from blood. The tiny needles placed on what practitioners call channels or meridians in the body, are like a call for help ... stimulating the flow of fluids and energy to areas in need of healing. Intially people come in weekly then the sessions may slow down but the results seem to stick!
Bud Kerwin: "I'm in! I'm in! I love it."
Janice: "I would say in the beginning I was feeling rather weak, sort of unsure about where my body was and what I was going to be able to do this and I've actually begun to feel stronger."
Acupuncture practitioners say they're helping patients with diabetes, chronic digestion problems, heart disease and lung and liver ailments. Acupuncture sessions range in cost from $85 to $100.
For more information about Mindful Medicine Worldwide and the organization's efforts to bring integrative medicine to developing countries, go to www.mindfulmedicineworldwide.org.
Join Mindful Medicine Worldwide for their New Year's Wellness Day Fundraiser, Sunday, January 17, 2:00 - 6:00 pm, Soulistic Studio and Spa, 805 N. Milwaukee Ave., Suite 200, Chicago.
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