Entering The Psychedelic Space Without Medicine: Acupuncture
by MADELINE FERGUSON
Once you’ve entered the psychedelic space and learned the healing and connection that can take place it can feel exciting to go back. While plant medicines are wonderful tools, it doesn’t always take the use of them to get into that familiar headspace.
This series of articles on The Utah Bee will focus on alternative ways to tap into your inner knowing. In this article, the focus will be acupuncture.
Acupuncture is an ancient practice in Chinese Medicine that involves putting tiny needles into certain points on your body. Chinese medicine practitioners say there are over 2.000 acupuncture points on the body running along “meridians”. In Chinese medicine acupuncture points treat Qi or the flow of energy through the body.
Acupuncture is not intended to be painful, the needles are very small and depending on the points, you can’t really feel them.
The practice of acupuncture has been studied on various ailments including physical and mental conditions. It is also used by many physical therapists for orthopedic injury under the name of dry needling.
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“Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system. This, in turn, releases chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These biochemical changes may stimulate the body's natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being,” according to the National Institute of Health.
I am a personal believer in the power of acupuncture. I have found relief from running injuries, migraines and anxiety. In order to explain the ability of acupuncture to put you into a “psychedelic space,” I need to describe what happens when you are in an appointment with a practitioner.
First, the practitioner will ask what’s going on and what ailments you are hoping to be treated for. Next, they place the needles and leave you for at least an hour with the needles in your body to rest, they encourage meditation during this time. You can wear an eye mask or headphones to increase relaxation. The deepest meditations I’ve ever entered were while I was in acupuncture.
The session opens the door for intense relaxation and the chance to really feel what is happening in your body, which is a powerful tool because so many of us go through life not really listening to what our bodies are telling us. We know some plant medicines, like MDMA can help with that too.
The meditative nature of acupuncture allows you to feel what you are feeling and relax through those feelings, be it physical pain or mental distress, which acupuncture has taught me can be closely related and the key to healing.
Previously, we wrote about breathwork’s ability to create a state of expanded consciousness, breathwork and acupuncture can be used at the same time to create a psychedelic and relaxing state of being.
If you are interested in acupuncture, Salt Lake City has two wonderful community acupuncture clinics that are “pay what you can”.
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