What happens when I come for a treatment?
If you're considering booking but want to understand the practicalities first, here's what to expect.Your First Session
Initial consultation. We'll start with a conversation about your overall health and spiritual practice. This helps me understand where you are currently, what questions or issues have brought you to this work, what practices you're already engaged in and whether traditional acupuncture might be beneficial before beginning the esoteric patterns.For those new to this approach, your first session typically uses the Clarity Pattern: a harmonising pattern designed to support decision-making and stepping forward into new ventures. It serves as an introduction both to acupuncture itself and to the energies involved in this work. It is a gentle, introductory pattern suitable as a first treatment.
Allow two hours for your first appointment. This gives space for the consultation, the pattern itself and discussion afterward.
How is a treatment done?
The needles are inserted very superficially; barely into the skin, unlike in traditional acupuncture. There's no pursuit of the "de qi" sensation that traditional acupuncturists seek. Instead, what you're working with is the shift in consciousness and the energy of the pattern itself.Once the pattern is complete, needles remain in place for 30-60 minutes depending on your preference and what feels appropriate. During this time, some people experience geometric structures or energy movements. Others receive insights or simply "know" something they didn't before. Some fall into deep sleep-trance states. Each person's experience is unique and varies between sessions. The initial 'clarity pattern' is not a dramatic one.
How is it ended?
Removing the needles brings you back to ordinary waking consciousness. We'll have space to discuss what happened or what you sensed, then you'll want some water and time to prepare to re-enter the world.Give yourself time after a session. You may need to reflect and return to normal consciousness before driving or going anywhere. If you're driving, I always advise taking a walk in the open air first until you feel completely returned and able to concentrate fully.
Subsequent sessions
After your initial session, we will initially begin with the clearing phase, which is a series of 3 1 hour or 90 minutes sessions. An hour is sufficient for the treatment but doesn't leave much time for discussion before or afterwards. It might be useful to start with a 90 minute session first to judge what is most suitable.Although the clearing patterns can be repeated, if something needs to be worked on, the sequence is then to move on to progressively deeper patterns. We will discuss this as part of the journey but if you want to read a bit more about the 8 Extra Meridians and the Chakra Patterns, follow the links above.
What is this type of Acupuncture like?.
Transformative. And highly individual.The same pattern can be experienced quite differently by different people. It may also feel different when repeated because you are no longer in precisely the same place as you were before.
Although it depends on which stage we are working in, individuals receiving Transformative Acupuncture often experience states of consciousness quite different from their normal waking state. Experiences of greater insight and perception of spiritual matters are commonly reported. This is more common with the chakra patterns and the later visionary pattern. The extra meridian treatments are more subtle but can feel deeper and more nourishing. But this is a guide only.
Each of us will experience the patterns in our own way depending on our own energetic state, and each session will be different for us even when repeating the same pattern because we will have changed after the preceding treatment.
Of course, this means that what you will experience will be unique to you.
What happens after a treatment?
The effects of a treatment can often ripple out into our lives and be reflected back at us in everyday events over the days or weeks following a pattern. Such synchronicity is a commonly reported ‘after-effect' of a treatment. It is important to pay attention to our dreams, our intuition, our thought patterns and emotions after a treatment as effects can be reflected in all of these aspects of ourselves, as well as in our spiritual practice.Changes in one's spiritual practice can occur: a deepening of understanding or perception, or the start of a new direction in one's practice. Sometimes a person can embark on an entirely new phase of life, because more of who they really are can now be expressed into the world.
Working with this approach genuinely supports profound changes in a person. It is a privilege to work with a person over time and to play a part in supporting their transformation into becoming more of who they truly are.