Why Japanese Acupuncture is so Powerful

Japanese acupuncture is so powerful because it relies on direct feedback from the body.  This takes out the guesswork.  By listening to how the body responds to each acupuncture point, enhances treatment.  

At Staying in Balance Acupuncture, I take a very holistic approach to healing, which includes reviewing diet, exercise, posture, movement patterns, sleep and levels of stress

This comprehensive approach offers results even when other modalities and other acupuncture treatments have had limited results.

Are any of these things true for you?:
  • You've been to physical therapy, chiropractic care or massage therapy and you are still in pain.
  • Your pain disappears for awhile, but returns particularly when you're under stress.
  • You've lived with chronic pain for many years.
  • You're lived with chronic illness for many years.
  • You just wish that someone would take your symptoms seriously.
  • You have been told that you have arthritis and there is nothing that can be done.
  • A practitioner has dismissed you when you try to tell them how you are feeling.
  • You are told that your discomfort is due to old age.
  • You don't want to take pain medication, muscle relaxers, gabapentin or neurontin.
  • You had an injury that never completely healed.

Patients have described these situations to me.  The good news is you don't have to live with this.

There are solutions.  My approach includes the following:

  • Listening to you and honoring what you're telling me.
  • Listening to your body -- feeling where there is restriction, feeling the pulse, watching the breath and checking other natural rhythms.
  • Recommending gentle stretches along with acupuncture so that you get better results.
  • Encouraging patients to slow down.  Less is often more.  
  • Checking in on each visit about sleep, energy, diet & digestion -- the pillars of good health.
  • Teaching patients how to incorporate the breath when they exercise.
  • Making simple lifestyle recommendations about diet and exercise.
  • Offering my YUMMY HEALTHY FOOD recipes.
  • Offering my Roadmap to Health booklet to help you track your progress.
  • Giving you a full evaluation of what I find, how treatments are working and plans going forward on the 3rd or 4th visit.
  • Referring to other practitioners when necessary.


Here is more information on the power of Japanese Acupuncture

1) Japanese Acupuncture treatments are based on careful palpation.

By pressing on various parts of the body, I know exactly where there is pain, tension and discomfort. A patient may come in with a diagnosis like back pain.  That could mean many different things -- a herniated disc, muscle tightness and spasms, dull achy pain from a weak immune system, sciatica.  Only by actually feeling where there is pain can it be treated effectively.
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2) At Staying in Balance Acupuncture, I don't needle into painful areas.

Japanese acupuncture is based on the premise that less is more.  Patients are always amazed when I release tight and painful areas by using points far from where the pain is.  This is possible because acupuncture uses a system of meridians that run along both sides of the body.  The energetic system connects every part of the body. ​
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3) At Staying in Balance Acupuncture, I only needle points that improve a patient's condition.

By carefully massaging each point BEFORE needling it, I am able to see if the point is an important part of the treatment.  If a point doesn't create a positive result, I don't use it.
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4) Those acupuncture needles, they don't hurt.

Patients may feel a slight pinch when the needle goes in, but after that brief second there won't be any pain.  If, on rare occasion, the needle doesn't feel right, I take it out.
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5) Kinesthetic sensitivity is an important part of Japanese Acupuncture.​

​I have the ability to feel for the points.  My hands know where to go to feel for tender areas and for the acupuncture points that I use.
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6) Treatments may include Craniosacral Therapy.

Craniosacral Therapy balances the fluid that surrounds the brain, sacrum and spinal cord and leads to deep relaxation and a reset of the nervous system.
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7) Patients fill out a complete medical history and we review this together.

​This is extremely important because often current symptoms are connected to past illnesses, surgeries, or health issues that have not been resolved.  Only by treating the root cause of illness can symptoms be successfully addressed.
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8) As part of acupuncture treatments, I help my patients advocate for themselves.

Part of the healing process is the ability for each person to advocate for themselves.  Having lived with chronic illness, I understand the power of this.  I encourage my patients to get the BEST care possible from whatever providers they need. ​
Questions about how acupuncture can help you? I offer free 20 minute consultations.
"I have been to acupuncturists in the past, but I have never experienced anyone quite like Bonnie. It's not just a job for her. It's more like a vocation. You get the feeling from the get go that her goal is to make you well." ~Anita F.