No, I’m not suggesting homicide.

Yes, I’m talking about acupuncture.

Yes, I’m using shock value in the title to draw your attention in to read my article. Yes, I’m okay with that fact because I know treatments feel nothing like stabbing, and I know you have a sense of humor, and anyway, I’m here to tell you all about it. (Insert smiling faced author here).

Many of you have thought about acupuncture but haven’t ‘taken the plunge’ yet. I’m here to give you just seven reasons why you should invest in your well being in 2012 in one of the most beautiful and powerful ways you can:  Obtaining balance of the body and mind by getting acupuncture treatments.

So why should you try it?

1. It Works.

The most important reason to try anything is because there is a potential it will help you. There is a reason acupuncture has been around for, oh, thousands of years and it’s not because the Chinese are stubborn. It’s because it absolutely works. I promise you, I didn’t go to graduate school to conduct a great scam of healing. Ask around and you’ll quickly find a person you know who has tried it and had amazing success with it. Don’t trust them? Check out studies done on horses and animals. Last I knew, my pug Jaya wasn’t aware of the placebo affect. Just sayin’…

2. It Doesn’t Hurt

More accurately, let me put it this way: It’s not what you’re thinking. You are thinking of donating blood, getting shots, and you are thinking of these giant needles that make even grown men turn paler than pale.

Have you ever seen an acupuncture needle? They are the width of a couple of human hairs. Seriously. Needles are inserted quite shallowly. Some have a stronger sensation than others, but it is not pain you experience, but rather the sensation of connecting to your body’s qi (or energy). The feeling differs per patient, per point, per day even, and it is quite unique.

After a handful of months together, even my most fearful patient was calm as could be as I routinely needled a point on the bridge of her nose. If you have survived shots at the doctors, the dentists, a tattoo, a piercing, you will handle acupuncture with ease. Truly.

3. You’ll Get Additional Benefits.

Maybe you came in for back pain, or carpal tunnel or a broken leg that won’t heal. Acupuncture has an amazing way of getting the body back to balance so that in addition to helping with your complaints, you suddenly find yourself with the best sleep you’ve had in 20 years, or reacting more calmly to the stuff life throws at you, etc.

Maybe you won’t even notice it at first but your friends, family, and co-workers will start to point out that something is different about you. And that’s a beautiful thing.

4. Deep Relaxation. Need I Say More?

I always chuckle when people express squeamishness about trying acupuncture, because about 90 percent of my patients are so relaxed they sleep for the majority of their session. If it was a painful, awful experience do you think people would fall asleep during it? I’m thinking, no.

And the way we run ourselves ragged in this country, coupled with the plethora of sleeping problems individuals also have, an hour’s worth of relaxation each week is a beautiful gift on its own and often comes with soothing music, a warm treatment room, beautiful scents, ahh…bliss!

5. It’s Amazing Preventative Medicine

Every so often I meet someone who, upon learning what I do for a living, asks why they should even try acupuncture if they don’t have any pressing emotional or physical issues. (There are actually some people out there like that. And I’ve met all five of them.) At this point I congratulate them for being one of the lucky few, and then discuss with them how fantastic it works for prevention. Maybe your job is stressful and you are trying to cope and suddenly one day you wake up with an incredibly sore neck, back, etc. If you were working to alleviate the way your body handles stress in the first place, you might have never encountered this problem. And although some issues are out of our control (getting hit by a car), your body is better balanced to cope all the better.

6. It Picks Up Where Western Medicine Leaves Off

When you think you may have broken your leg, there is nothing better for you to do than head off to the emergency room to get x-rays, get a cast put on, you know, the usual. But when you are trying to actually heal that leg when the cast is off and it simply isn’t responding, that leg needs attention.

Acupuncture brings energy to areas of the body that have atrophied from such instances and helps them heal faster. And that is just one example of its amazingness. Furthermore, there are plenty of times when your regular ol’ M.D. simply has tried everything in her/his control (including throwing you on a slew of drugs to try to balance the problem) and acupuncture is an amazing option to try.

Just as Western medicine should hold a definite place in your life, it has moments where it, too, hits a roadblock and trying an Eastern treatment is an effective approach. Complimentary medicine at its finest.

7. You Deserve To Feel Healthy And Vibrant

I am amazed when I encounter people who have become so used to being in pain that they carry it around like a penance that they don’t deserve to let go of. Maybe at one point they felt they deserved to feel well and tried some approaches but finally gave up. I’m operating under the guise that we all deserve health and true vibrant living, you know, happiness and such. I believe people owe it to themselves to reconnect with the notion that health is something they deserve. I want to empower people to seek what is true for their body, for their destiny, and the same goes for acupuncturists in your neck of the woods.

So check it out. Give it a whirl. See what balanced, healthy living is really about. It’s the new year, turn over a new leaf and see how acupuncture really can be a jab well done (hardy har har.)