Acupuncture Chart
Before that point, she hadn’t tried acupuncture, the traditional Chinese medical technique that involves stimulating specific points on the body with thin needles. Those points are said to connect with meridians throughout the body, along which a person’s qi , or vital energy, flows. According to practitioners, when that energy is blocked, it leads to an imbalance and ultimately disease, and acupuncture helps unblock that energy and bring the body to a state of balance.
Although acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, its use for cosmetic purposes might seem like a strictly modern-day application.
Not so, according to Maryam Mahanian, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Vancouver.
“It used to be used on emperors’ concubines,” says the head of the Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Clinic of Vancouver in a phone interview. “But the marketing of it is new.”
Mahanian, who’s been in practice for seven years and treats infertility and skin conditions, among other things, trained in Toronto with Shali Rassouli, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who also uses acupuncture to reduce cellulite.
“The theory of it just made sense to me,” Mahanian says of using acupuncture for cosmetic reasons. “It encourages circulation and collagen production and overall health. And if you’re in very good health, your skin will also manifest that.…When you feel better, you look better.…When you feel better, you sleep better, you have more energy.” (Collagen is a fibrous protein produced in the skin’s dermal layer that helps skin hold its shape.)
Related posts:
