How Acupuncture Can Relieve Pain & Provide Peace to You Later in Life
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Summary
Finding Balance: How Acupuncture Can Relieve Pain and Provide Peace Later in Life
In the modern world, where individuals are constantly on the move, maintaining physical health and mental well-being is a priority that often gets overshadowed. However, holistic approaches like acupuncture are gaining popularity due to their efficacy in treating pain and enhancing overall peace of mind.
Understanding Acupuncture
Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine practice, involves the insertion of fine needles into specific points on the body. This ancient technique is believed to balance the body’s energy, also known as Qi (pronounced ‘chee’), and in doing so, can alleviate pain and support the body’s natural healing processes.
Benefits of Acupuncture in Relieving Pain
One of the primary reasons people turn to acupuncture is for pain relief, especially chronic pain that may not respond well to traditional treatments. Whether it’s due to arthritis, migraines, or post-surgical recovery, acupuncture has been shown to reduce discomfort by promoting blood circulation and releasing endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers.
Providing Peace and Balance Later in Life
As we age, attaining a state of peace and balance becomes pivotal. Acupuncture not only addresses physical pain but it also enhances emotional health, reducing stress and anxiety. By improving sleep quality and boosting energy levels, acupuncture supports an overall sense of well-being, which is particularly beneficial as individuals look to maintain or improve their quality of life in later years.
Embrace the Journey of Healing with Acupuncture
In conclusion, the journey towards health and tranquility can be wonderfully supported by practices like acupuncture. Whether you’re seeking to alleviate pain or looking to find greater peace in life, embracing this holistic therapy might just be the pathway you’ve been searching for. Armed with centuries of tradition and a modern understanding of health, acupuncture provides a powerful option to help you find balance and peace.
FULL TRANSCRIPTION:
Kevin: Thank you for joining us on the LightAtTheEnd.com Podcast. LightAtTheEnd.com is a resource for those who wanna learn more about end of life topics, but don’t know where to start.
Meet Aquilino Soriano: Journey into Acupuncture
I’m Kevin Berk and I’m joined today by Aquilino Soriano, who is a licensed acupuncturist here in San Diego, who
has been practicing since 97, I think. Um, Aq, great to, uh, see you again and, thank you for being here to talk through the potential benefits and applications of acupuncture for those who well, really in any stage of their life. But also focusing on people who, who may have life limiting diagnosees or pain.
Aquilino: Yeah. thank you Kevin. I’m glad to be here and, and talk about this subject and it’s something that I have dealt with through the years of practice of, of assisting people in their transition or even the people around them too, at the same time.
Kevin: great. Great. Why don’t you start by introducing yourself and explaining how you got into acupuncture.
Aquilino: Acupuncture, was, I begged not to say accident, but there are no accidents in life. You know, we’re all kind of led to where we need to be. It was a big transition in my life of I was already in my forties I basically was playing in a band in nightclubs and painting houses during the day with hopes of finding some kind of, new career to take me in a more helpful way to society and also, into my own soul, because I was kinda lost at the time. I was, uh, reeling from a divorce, feeling guilty, and I had young kids still back then. so all a, a path of healing for me.
I used to live in Dana Point, and, and I saw that there was a massage school in San Diego and by the time I got through and I started doing a lot of massage, I was like,
I don’t know if I have the energy to do this a lot, you know?
Anytime you’re dealing with people energetically, there’s always an exchange and some people their energy can be pretty heavy and you take it on,
I, uh, started exploring the possibilities of going into, Become a physical therapist and going to Long Beach State. I started taking the pre-reqs And then met somebody in was taken the same prerequisites, but they were gonna come down here to Pacific College and study acupuncture.
And so I, drove down here, went in the office. It wasn’t a very impressive place, but when I walked in, I, I felt something is right about this.
the energy started flowing better in me.
when I got in that classroom, my first class, I had the most dynamic teacher, the most charismatic guy.
His name was Alex DeBerry, and he’s a legend in, in, in San Diego and in the acupuncture world, I would, would qualify him as a Jimi Hendrix of the acupuncture world.
Kevin: Wow. That’s, uh, high praise.
Aquilino: when he spoke, first time he spoke, I sat in his classroom. I could just feel
Kevin: feel my head spinning and something changing within me.
Aquilino: And, and I that I, I found my, my home there and the place and the modality that, was gonna help me, own soul, and I would be able to help other people too.
I felt like it really helped be a better person and that way I could be a better person for everybody else.
Understanding Acupuncture: Basics and Benefits
Kevin: So for people who aren’t familiar with acupuncture, can you just describe the practice a little bit?
Aquilino: acupuncture, is an ancient modality, simply put, it is something that creates circulation again. usually when somebody comes in, it could be from low back pain to headaches, you know, physical things, to food sensitivities.
You know, it could be any of those things. And so when that happens, there’s a blockage of energy and I. In certain areas and the acupuncture points are able to access and open those areas again, you know, whether it’s to relax the muscles, get them functioning at normal length again, or to stop your constipation or to deal with migraine headaches, it just opens it.
It’s like having plumbing that’s like stuck somewhere and the acupuncture just like gets the flow going again.
Is there anything I, I don’t wanna ask like a leading question here. so feel free to reframe this, but is there anything physical that acupuncture can’t affect, you, you know, there are some things that have just been in stone in a person’s body for almost a lifetime, you know. And so you can get energy moving, but it takes a lot more, the more chronic, the problem is.
Kevin: Okay.
Aquilino: if you hadn’t paying attention to your car, let’s say you had a Maserati and you just drove it 150,000 miles and just didn’t do anything to it, it would take a lot of repair to get it that it has that same get up and go.
Kevin: Hmm. Okay. That’s, that’s a good analogy.
Aquilino: Kevin, you have a Maserati,
Kevin: Do I?
Aquilino: yes you do. You know,
Kevin: It isn’t in my garage.
Aquilino: just take care of it. It’s the be the best gift that you have in this, this life is this body, you know.
Kevin: I think what I’m hearing you say, please correct me if I’m wrong, is the acupuncture is not going to be a cure all for everything. However, it can support, improvements and circulation as you put it in a number of different areas that can be helpful.
So if you have cancer of some sort, let’s say, acupuncture is probably not going to cure that cancer, but it can provide relief to a person who is suffering. Is, is that a fair assessment?
Aquilino: I’ve seen miracles in my life, you know, and, and wonderful things. But then at the same time, I’ve had cancer patients that I, I was like a supplement for pain, and just kind of emotional support for them. For a normal, healthy person, I always think about that i’m helping build their immune function. Where the immune function is like really broken down. I’m not sure what I can do, but I know I can do something.
Kevin: Okay, so, so going back to, what, what acupuncture is or, or how you describe it. You describe it as, as essentially, you supporting the system of, of a person. And not literally just the, the circulatory system, but, but anything to keep.
Aquilino: anything that needs to move, you know?
Kevin: Okay.
Acupuncture Techniques and Applications
and so how do the needles, how do they, um, enable that?
Aquilino: There’s like 360 some regular points along these lines called meridians in the body. And each meridian is connected to an organ. this is just from the basic Chinese perspective. And each has a season and each has a flavor. And there’s so many things connected with each of these meridians.
it’s like a wheel. They create this balance in your body of that energy flowing. And when, let’s say the liver energy is toxic, it really affects the digestive or the earth, you know, so that what I’m trying to do with those points and with those meridians is to get that there’s this normal interaction between of the elements.
these points along these meridians, they’re almost like, they have like their own intrinsic value. I. Like there’s a point on here on your wrist that’s good for nausea, but then you put that with another point on the foot and it opens up things in your epigastric, in your digestive area. The, that combination of points work synergistically together.
Kevin: Interesting. So it’s not just individual points. There is a, there is a method to the madness of which ones to use.
Aquilino: Yeah, there’s different formulas for anything, just about anything,
Kevin:Are the needles essentially serving as, as conductors for the energy then?
Aquilino: Yeah. Well, they say that the meridians run in the connective tissue. the connective tissue is the matrix. It’s that, that communication in your body that you hit a point here and it helps with frontal headaches, you’ve heard of phantom limb syndrome…
Kevin: mm-hmm. Sure.
Aquilino: or you know, or a vet or somebody with an amputation has pain where there’s no limb anymore.
I can treat the opposite limb and eliminate that phantom pain just because of the matrix of the body.
Kevin: Interesting.
Acupuncture for End-of-Life Care
So,in your experience, how is treating people with life limiting diagnoses, does it differ, from the way that you would treat anyone for anything else?
Aquilino: somebody that has a tumor or something might treat really locally where that tumor is to help disperse it. But if they’re, they’re at that stage where they’re like, really frail, I just do really light acupuncture and concentrate on things that, help them with any, any pain or discomfort they might have.
Kevin: Mm-hmm.
Aquilino: Acupuncture is like spiritual, physical, and mental… all those aspects. And when I treat somebody, even for low back pain, I see their whole demeanor change there’s like an endorphin release when you put the needles in, and that helps you to get into that relaxed healing state so that when a person is stressing about their pain they know that they’re probably gonna die soon, this just helps soothe them and ease them, get them into a peaceful place.
Supplemental Techniques and Practices
Kevin: Are there other things that you do beyond, the points and the needles?
I’d love for you to explain kind of the, the supplemental techniques that you utilize that, that aren’t just needles in, in energy points.
Aquilino: I always insist that we do some relaxing massage, and then at the same time. We can do cupping, what’s called “cupping” with the glass cups. And you put alcohol on a, cotton ball, and you hold it in forceps and you light that, and then you stick it in the cup, which creates a vacuum, and then it seals on the surface of the skin. And that helps open up areas too. it helps bring toxins to the surface. It’s really good for colds and flus,
Other techniques that are similar to cupping [is] scraping. And that’s something that, when. Vietnamese immigrants, you know, or refugees came over after the war. the kids would go to school and they’d have these purple marks on their chest, and that was from the parent taking a coin and scraping the surface to help open up their lungs when they had colds. And, you know, the school system thought this was child abuse, but the, it was later revealed that this is part of their medicine. That’s how they get toxins outta the body and help with, childhood flus.
Kevin: Oh, interesting.
Aquilino: of children and energy, children, it doesn’t take a lot to move stuff. The older we get, more garbage we take on, and then it gets harder to move that same energy. And so I guess in terms of end of life, everybody’s letting go of material things, of emotional things and, and all that to make their transition lighter. And I think that’s one of the things I can really help with.
Kevin: Do you feel like you, you were able to help them, whether it was, easing their pain, helping them kind of spiritually get to a, a healthier place before they passed?
Aquilino: I believe so. they always seemed more than appreciative of, of what the treatments were doing for them.
Kevin: Hmm. Were you ever seeing anybody remotely? Um, or at, at the point that people got to that stage were, they not saying, I really need help, but I don’t even think I can get into the facility.
Aquilino: it’s part of your training acupuncture school. That’s one of your options is to go to hospice and treat people there.
Kevin: Oh, okay. So specifically, Hospice Focused Acupuncture.
Aquilino: Yes.
Kevin: Oh, interesting. That’s great.
When you’ve had patients with terminal illnesses, what sort of, uh, symptoms or, or, or challenges are you able to help manage, you know, pain, nausea, insomnia, anxiety, those sorts of things?
Aquilino: Yeah. And, and
Yeah.
I think that like, it, it helps them to bounce back from their chemo treatments, you know,
Kevin: Okay.
Aquilino: you know, it, it’s really helpful with that because those things just tear people up, you know, and I’ve had people go through successful chemo treatments too, but it does help like make them to get through it.
Kevin: Mm, interesting.
Aquilino: I can feel where a person’s energy is at when they walk into the room, you know?
that’s the frequency, that’s energy,
Kevin: I wonder what the connection is or, or crossover with your lifelong love of music and, and playing music. And obviously that’s, that’s all frequencies and, and collections of, of notes that are able to make a person feel a, a certain way. So I have to think that there’s some crossover there.
Aquilino: Yeah. I always look at notes as being like acupuncture points and certain good combinations of notes is good for your soul and your body too. ’cause it makes you wanna move, you know?
And that’s the point of acupuncture is I wanna make you move, whether it’s energetically or, just make your body feel well enough to move.
Kevin: Mm-hmm. So, Aq, you said that, you know, sometimes when, when people come into the room, you just, you’re able to feel their energy right off. If somebody didn’t tell you specifically what was ailing them, are there kind of general places that you would start,
Or do you need them to, to be able to express it?
Aquilino: Usually I want them to express it.
in some ways I can, can sense where to go. Sometimes I, I feel like I need to like, disarm them emotionally. They’re already so stressed that they, just need to shut down for a second so then I’ll just do some relaxing points in the beginning so that they can have some kind of clarity before we speak about we really wanna address.
Kevin: Hmm. again, bringing it back to people that you have treated who are, are in sort of the, the later stages or end stages of, of life. are there things that you’ve suggested or made recommendations to, okay, we should do acupuncture, and there are these other things that you might want to explore to help you through this transition or this time, or this pain?
Aquilino: I would, I would recommend, you know, some kinda meditative practice. Or if they can move to do Qigong, Tai Chi, whatever they’re able to handle, you know, and Qigong, you can just like, work on yourself and you can just sit and not have a lot of movement. So that might be best thing. simple things like, Epsom salt baths or like,um, castor oil packs with heat on the areas that are affected, you know, to help try to pull the toxins outta their system.
Kevin: Is acupuncture safe for people who are in hospice care or very physically frail? Can it still be used effectively and and safely?
Aquilino: Absolutely. And there, there are different styles of acupuncture. The Chinese [acupuncturists] tend to go deeper and like really manipulate the, the needles to get energy going.
There are Japanese techniques where you just take the needle and you just touch the point, on the surface of the skin and manipulate it there, you know, so there’s acupuncture for wherever you’re at in life. And there’s other ways to stimulate the points, there’s a herb called moxa and it comes in sticks. You light the moxa stick and you just heat up around the point. And that helps. That’s really a gentle way of moving, the energy too.
just stay at that point for a while and then you go to the next point until, you know, they feel it fairly well, and you can do your whole point combination that you are gonna do just with the heat,
Kevin: Oh, so that, so the moxa then is serving as kind of a very localized, heating pad, you know, for a particular point or points?
Aquilino: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And with that, that heat stimulating the point, it moves the energy faster,
Addressing Skepticism and Finding the Right Practitioner
Kevin: How do you approach patients or families that may be skeptical about acupuncture?
Aquilino: I just tell them, you do not have to believe in acupuncture. You just need to be open to it. That’s all. the reason why I know that you don’t have to believe in acupuncture is because I’ve treated animals before.
Kevin: Mm-hmm.
Aquilino: and they don’t know what you’re doing, but they feel better. and, um, they have no expectations one way or the other.
Kevin: That’s a great point. I didn’t even consider that, there’s real success to be had there, whether or not you have a spiritual affinity toward, you know, energy healing.
Aquilino: There’s no faith necessary. You just have to just be open to try it.
that first teacher I was telling you about, that just blew my mind when I first walked into the classroom. He told me a story, you know, because I just like was getting overwhelmed with the, the whole idea and stuff that I had to learn.
And he, he said, I went to my, I went to my master, you know, my teacher, and I said, teacher, I am never going to be as as you are. his teacher told him, he said, if you can, if you can, acupuncture this one point, just one point. And you can do that one point really well. You’ll do a lot of good in the world. I think that this is like, especially what you’re doing with these podcasts, which are amazing, that you know, that you’re spreading this kind of word that, your intention so much to do with how you affect people.
Kevin: That’s good food for thought, Aq. I, I appreciate you pointing that out.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
it just was striking me that, we talked about friends and families of, of people who are end of life, but then there’s, there’s also caregivers and sometimes that’s the family and sometimes it’s not.
that, um, creates a tremendous amount of stress and blockage and, again, that’s a very sort of susceptible population, that would need help.
Aquilino: And I’m in that generation where we’re dropping like flies, you know, the, the famous people and musicians and everybody you just hear about every day. You know that the boomers are going away, and one thing that’s helped with the longevity of a lot of boomers is that they’ve turned to modalities like this.
You know, they have a healthier lifestyle. Obviously medicine and technology has really helped, but it seems as a generation, we’ve been pretty open to this kind of thing. You know,
are there other kind of points or topics that you think we ought to cover, particularly as it pertains to end of life, care and how acupuncture can, can help.
Well, I, I would just say to anybody who’s contemplating it, go find an acupuncturist that you might, you know, resonate with, talk to them and see how you feel. Because I, I feel like acupuncture is such a, a personal medicine. It’s not like going to, a ear, nose and throat guy. where something that goes so deep as acupuncture, you, you want to out, find a person, who
Kevin: Who you vibe with.
Aquilino: you vibe with. Yeah. Exactly.
Kevin: yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It’s, it’s funny ’cause I was thinking as you said that, that, acupuncture is a form of therapy. The first therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, whoever that you see, you may not get on with them, and you may think this just isn’t the person for me, or they’re not asking the right questions, or they’re not approaching this the right way, or I just, I don’t like their, their energy, whatever it is.
And so, unlike the, the ear, nose and throat person that you say, starting a relationship with someone in a healing field like this probably can take more attempts and more, exploration to find the right person who you feel like you are in synergy with and, therefore able to open yourself up to healing, I suppose.
Aquilino: Yeah. Because your acupuncturist, or at least from my viewpoint, I really care and I want to, you know, assist any way I can. If people are in that stage of life and they can’t afford much, I don’t care, you know, if, if, if I could actually help you, just please come in.
You know, that’s the way, you know, if, if I feel like I’m really able to, be a good match for them, you know, I will, I will open my arms to them. Yeah.
Kevin: All right, Aq. Well, thank you so much for, uh, helping to, helping to explain this and explore this to anyone who is a podcast watcher or listener who might be considering acupuncture or is already getting benefits out of it. It’s, uh, it’s good to know that there are practical applications to it for people who are struggling or in pain with, life limiting illnesses or situations.