On acupuncture, synergy and integration, by Christina Chan, R.Ac.

My approach as a practitioner is a product of 15 years of acupuncture practice in the community that collided with a life altering health crisis in 2019. It is the synergy of my clinical skills and negotiating life in a traumatized body that has driven my growth and evolution as a practitioner. This ongoing process has deepened my insights into how acupuncture is a deeply somatic practice and has profound value in supporting integration.

What is integration?

• A way of uniting the part to find a whole, when separate people or things are brought together.
• A method of adding or summing up parts to find the whole, combining two or more elements in order to become more effective.
• Socially, it is the process of fusion in which persons or groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons and groups, by sharing their experience and history, incorporating them in a common cultural life.
• Somatically, it is an approach focused on enhancing the body’s own capacity to self-regulate by freeing the body, breath, and energy flow through the practice of self-awareness and self-compassion.
• The process of integration also has physiological effects that involve supporting the growth and development of new neural pathways. The practice of self-regulation has long term, lasting effects that may actually rewire your brain and ultimately allow you to experience the world in a new and different way.

Following treatment, things physically, psycho-emotionally and energetically can often be unsettled as the work you have received will have “stirred the pot” for lack of a better term. Whether it is something more manual like a chiropractic adjustment or deep tissue massage versus something more subtle and energetic such as counselling or craniosacral therapy, it is helpful and at times, necessary to include some form of care that will support the body (physical, emotional, energetic, spiritual) to accept, adapt and assimilate to the changes elicited by the treatment(s).

In cases of adjustments and other forms of body work, think of integration like rearranging the bricks of a building and the new adaptation is expressed in the mortar that binds the bricks together creating a new and cohesive structure. Or in the case of subtle somatic work such as cranial sacral, your nervous system is like a snow globe that has been shaken, stirring up the thousands of flecks of snow. Integration is the process of helping the snow land and resettle in a new arrangement.

In many circumstances, acupuncture is so versatile and elegantly compliments many other modalities either to “open” one’s body to being more receptive in preparation for treatment as well as assisting and supporting the body to recover, integrate or purge following treatment. Acupuncture has the ability to touch not just the physical, but also reaching deeper levels of emotion and spirit.

How can acupuncture work together with other forms of treatment to support integration and embodiment?

The fumblings of my lived experience with disability are often at odds with the knowledge of the body’s inherent ability to self-regulate. This process of weaving together these two opposing forces has expanded my understanding of what acupuncture can truly do. And the trauma, surrender of bodily autonomy as well as rooting down to access resourcefulness and resilience have each (painfully) provided insight and wisdom into how to relate to one’s body when things are not alright. Integration has been a key aspect of relearning and renegotiating aspects of how my nervous system responds to stressors (external and internal) as well as incorporating new/novel insights and rebuilding my tolerance/capacity to stress.

The power of TCM lies in it’s adept pattern recognition, by truly “listening”, “seeing” and reading between the lines. Your body is a beautiful and sacred organism that contains all of the answers for its own questions. Its true nature is to inherently move towards self-regulation and homeostasis. 

Our role as acupuncturists is to gather the information your body provides. Through diagnosis, careful observation and intuition developed through years of practice, we support the necessary internal conditions to gradually guide your body back to its inherent balance. Then, we provide a safe container for all of this magic to take place. 

It is immensely rewarding to not only provide clients the opportunity to move out of fight, flight or freeze, but also to support and (re)build a more flexible nervous system. The intention is to support you to gradually develop the ability to move back towards a regulated state with greater ease. With regular treatment, the hope is to build greater tolerance to mental-emotional discomfort/distress. Broadening your neurological bandwidth leads to greater self-awareness and reflection and ultimately, the opportunity to live life more fully. THIS is the very nature and ongoing process of integration.

If you have any specific questions about how Community Acupuncture can support your ongoing conditions and how you may benefit from it’s capacity for integration, contact us

Results of course vary, but with an understanding of what and how to receive treatment as well as an open mind AND body, I believe those invested in their future selves will get there. Or at least will develop a sense of trust in the process and the ability to remain curious no matter what arises.

~Christina Chan, R.Ac.