Acupuncture & EMDR: Deeper Healing for Mind and Body
Healing is rarely a straight line. For many people, symptoms don’t exist in isolation; they’re woven into stories, stress patterns, and memories that live both in the body and mind. At our Northern Beaches clinic, we see this every day: women navigating fertility journeys, men and women carrying the weight of chronic pain, and clients who feel like their bodies are working against them no matter what they try.
What we’ve learned is that these challenges are rarely just physical. Fertility struggles may carry the emotional imprint of loss or failed IVF cycles. Chronic pain often reflects not only muscular or energetic tension, but also old protective responses held in the nervous system. Hormonal imbalances, endometriosis, PCOS, or fibroids can sometimes have roots in earlier experiences of stress or trauma that shaped how the body responds over time.
The Body Keeps the Score
Many people who come to acupuncture or EMDR carry a similar experience: a sense that their energy, emotions, or reactions are repeating themselves.
In Chinese medicine, this is sometimes described as stagnation, where qi or blood isn’t flowing as it should, and the body holds tension or discomfort. In psychotherapy, we might frame it as unresolved processes or reactive loops, patterns that were shaped by past experiences but continue to influence the present.
Whether we call it stagnation or repetition, the effect is the same: people feel weighed down, as though the freedom to move forward with ease isn’t fully available.
Acupuncture: Grounding the Self in the Present
Acupuncture has been practised for thousands of years to restore the smooth flow of energy and blood. From a modern lens, it does something equally vital: it grounds the nervous system.
When fine needles are placed at specific points, the body shifts from a fight-or-flight state into a calmer, parasympathetic mode. People often describe a deep sense of relaxation, a feeling of “coming home” into their bodies.
This grounding is not just pleasant, it’s therapeutic. It allows emotions that have been locked away in tension or physical symptoms to rise, move, and release. Acupuncture helps loosen the grip of stored emotional charge, preparing the ground for deeper processing.
EMDR: Reprocessing the Past, Creating New Neural Pathways
On the other side, EMDR works with the mind’s remarkable capacity for neuroplasticity. Originally developed for trauma, EMDR guides the brain to safely revisit unresolved memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sound).
What happens during EMDR is twofold:
1. Old memories lose their intensity the emotional charge is reduced.
2. New neural pathways form the brain begins to link those memories with adaptive beliefs (“I am safe now,” “I can cope,” “I am worthy”).
In other words, EMDR doesn’t erase the past, it changes the way the nervous system responds to it, breaking the loops of reactivity that keep people repeating patterns.
Why They Work So Powerfully Together
When acupuncture and EMDR are combined, something unique happens:
• Acupuncture grounds the body so the client feels safe enough to open to deeper emotional work. Many people describe feeling “more in themselves” and less overwhelmed and they have more direct access to their deeper self.
• Stored emotions begin to release physically tears, heat, or even a sense of lightness can arise during acupuncture, which complements EMDR’s work with memory and meaning.
• EMDR reprocesses the memories while the body is already in a calmer, regulated state, making the integration smoother and often more profound.
• Together, they help clients not only revisit and reframe the past but also step into new states of being, lighter, freer, no longer burdened by repetitive cycles of reaction.
It is as though acupuncture clears the space and opens the doorway, while EMDR walks the client through it toward a different landscape of possibility.
From Loops to Liberation
So many of us live caught in loops.
• An argument with a partner that always ends the same way.
• The 3pm craving cycle that sabotages health goals.
• The tension in the shoulders returns no matter how many massages are booked.
These loops are not random, they are triggered by old emotional imprints and nervous
system responses.
Acupuncture + EMDR together help break these loops.
• The acupuncture session helps release the physical/emotional charge stored in
the body.
• EMDR then helps the mind build new, healthier associations.
This combination supports both letting go of the weight of the past and stepping
into new, empowered patterns. Clients often describe feeling lighter, clearer, and
more spacious, more able to respond to life rather than react.
Chronic Pain, Fertility and Women’s Health
When it comes to pain, acupuncture can be a game changer, moving energy, easing inflammation, and calming the body. But sometimes the pain keeps coming back, because it isn’t just physical. I’ve seen cases where pelvic or back pain held memories of medical trauma.
With EMDR, we worked through those stuck memories, and suddenly the body no longer needed to keep replaying the pain. The relief became lasting, not just temporary.
The same happens with fertility and gynaecological issues like endometriosis or PCOS. Acupuncture gets the energy moving removes inflammatory processes, but EMDR helps release the deeper stress, fear, or beliefs that quietly fuel the
symptoms or keep the original “knot” in place.
Clients often notice not just lighter periods or more regular cycles, but also a sense of freedom, like they’ve been carrying a heavy blockage for years and it’s finally untangled. That’s the power of working with both body and mind. (And yes, IFS weaves in beautifully too, but I’ll share more on that next time.)
A Path Toward New Habits and States of Being
Healing is not only about reducing symptoms, it’s about creating the conditions for transformation. When acupuncture helps regulate the nervous system and EMDR builds new neural networks, people often find themselves naturally moving toward:
• More balanced habits around food, sleep, and movement.
• Greater emotional resilience in the face of stress.
• A deeper sense of clarity and self-connection.
• The ability to make choices aligned with their true values, rather than old
wounds.
This is the essence of neuroplasticity and energetic flow, realigning body and mind so change becomes not just possible, but natural.
An Invitation
As I begin practicing acupuncture at Northern Beaches Integrative Practitioners Clinic, I bring a vision of integrative healing that honours both the wisdom of the body and the plasticity of the brain.
Whether you are seeking relief from physical symptoms, release from emotional weight, or a new way of relating to your past, this combination of acupuncture and EMDR offers a path worth exploring.
I’ll be practising at the clinic one day a week, offering acupuncture sessions that can
stand alone or be integrated with deeper mind–body approaches.
If you’re curious about how this blend might support you or if you’re simply ready to stop carrying what no longer belongs to you, I’d love to meet you.
Isabel Peace
