Sometimes when a deep seated energy block has been shifted, there are very noticeable changes in the person's whole demeanour and range of emotional response and expression. It is truly magical to see someone change significantly through the course of a treatment, to see a face become more relaxed, radiant, joyful, more ready to smile and more open to expression. There are many ways in which acupuncture does embody the emotions and recognises that the emotions are embodied. In traditional Chinese medicine, the emotions are generated from and stored in the internal organs, so, anger is the domain of the liver energy, and treating the liver usually involves a change in issues with that emotion and its expression. Grief is the emotion associated with the lungs and fear with the kidneys.
Love is the emotional expression of the heart energy.
When emotional response is embodied or somatised, acupuncture treatment in unlocking or relieving the physical symptom can release the stuck emotion. I see my role here as facilitator, acupuncture treatment does not give the person healing. It works well to remind the energy system that it already has what it needs to heal itself. As I gently place the needles in the chosen points, experience has taught me to simply observe, sometimes describe, and often just listen as something long locked away arises and presents itself to the conscious awareness of the patient. Emotions arise and pass.