These are some of the most common reasons for people seeking acupuncture and with good reason. Acupuncture offers a pain free and relaxing way to get better and to reduce pain. Acupuncture has been shown to increase our own pain relief hormones, there are studies using MRI scans which show different areas of the brain are being stimulated while acupuncture needles are applied. If your injury is chronic, like arthritis, it will not go away as the damage to the bones is permanent. However acupuncture can improve mobility, remove swelling and relieve contraction, all of this without any side effects. I expect to see improvement very quickly, usually within 2 to 3 treatments.  

Five Element Acupuncture draws on observations of nature for it's analysis of the human body and our integral link to the world around us. By observing the seasons and the changes within them we can apply basic principles to our lives which enable us to maintain health and vitality, even in extreme or trying conditions. Winter is described in Five Element Acupuncture as the most inward and therefore the most reflective time of the year. As the energy of our locality draws inward, trees and plant life enters a relative dormant time. Some animals will take this to an extreme and will hibernate to reserve energy and only wake as the weather warms up and the chances of survival improve as food supplies become more abundant and body temperature can be maintained. As we live in a relatively prosperous part of the world most of us have many life saving luxuries that we largely take for granted. For example access to heat, easy access to food and a comfortable place to sleep. This can give us a false sense of the season and pushes us further away from living a life which observes the basic rules of all life. The main issue is that this season is our time for withdrawing and gathering ourselves. By allowing ourselves a dormant time we are allowing ourselves time to recoup. This doesn't mean that we should vegetate in front of the telly, it is more to do with how we choose to spend our time. Here are my top tips for winter in the UK:

Eat hot/warm food. This is the season for soups stews and casseroles.

Don't eat cold food like salads, cold drinks.

Choose plenty of stretching exercise over going out in all weathers. Keep yourself ticking over on the exercise front rather than trying to break any records.

If you are looking at your diet, rather than calorie counting and eating too much raw food do this one thing: give up sugar including sugary drinks like alcohol!

Wrap up well, don't settle for cold body parts! Cold muscles increase the risk of injury and wet and cold increase the risk of colds and flu.

Go to bed early, rise a little later.

Hope you like the top tips, enjoy winter, its a great time for contemplating and getting ready for the upward and outward energy of spring and summer.

My blog was neglected on my last three days for several reasons the most important being that I think we spent the whole time at a Banquet or doing Karaoke.   It's all a bit of a blur, mostly due to rice wine which is given out to guests every time some one raises a toast. We were on our feet toasting each other rather a lot, what was interesting was how the rice wine seemed to become quite palatable. The meal ended with Auld Lang Syne, much to the interest of local people out for a quiet evening meal. 

Our last day was spent at our sponsors herbal medicine factory in the morning after which were were taken out for another amazing banquet, more rice wine was drunk and a fine feast was had. After this we took a cable car up a mountain, expecting peace and tranquillity at the top we found every Guangzhou resident playing games, shopping and admiring the view. After this we had another small banquet with rice wine followed by Karaoke at  local night club. Everyone sang loudly and generally made a fool of themselves and our trip was brought to a close.