The Crossroads of Acupuncture & CBD  

The Crossroads of Acupuncture & CBD 

How both of these healing methods use the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) to optimize the body’s self-healing wisdom & achieve homeostasis!

• The importance of using a Multi-Therapeutic Approach in healing & healthcare.

• The ancient use of Cannabis in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Life.

• Why CBD products are not created equal and how to have good discernment in choosing a good company.

So what is the endocannabinoid system (ECS)? 

In short, there are endocannabinoid receptors on cells located throughout your entire body and to activate these receptors our body produces (endogenous) neurotransmitters called endocannabinoids (similar to the cannabinoids in CBD). This system upregulates or down regulates most of the other systems of the body – in essence, helping to create homeostasis. 

A Harvard article succinctly states:

“The ECS regulates and controls many of our most critical bodily functions such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating.”²

New inquiries and medical research in the ECS’s role in the body, in acupuncture, and with CBD has brought to light some exciting and revolutionary understandings.

• It has been found the ECS is responsible for some of acupuncture’s pain relieving and neuroprotective results.¹ It is known that both the ECS & Acupuncture create homeostasis in the body. 

• Studies have shown that acupuncture can actually modulate cannabinoid signaling in the body.⁴

• Acupuncture does not directly cure disease but instead enhances the body’s self-regulating capacities. When the body is in homeostasis rather than in a dysregulated state, it can optimize its own immune and healing abilities.³

• We have endogenous (made by our body) opioids and cannabinoids (often these two systems working together) that are pain-relieving, anxiety reducing and stimulate a natural “high”. Acupuncture stimulates our endogenous cannabinoids! It’s no joke that many report feelings of euphoria after getting off the acupuncture table.

• The research available has shown that both CBD and acupuncture can be a healing agent in certain conditions like acute and chronic pain, autoimmune, seizures and epilepsy, digestive issues, sleep issues, headaches and certain types of anxiety.

Using a Multi-Therapeutic Approach (MTA)

Acupuncture is much more than just a way to affect the endocannabinoid system, it is an ENERGY MEDICINE and comes from a whole medical system unto itself (Oriental Medicine). 

With that said, the stimulation of the ECS is a big deal and when you have a multi-therapeutic approach, you have many arrows going towards the issue and are much more likely to hit the target and achieve optimal healing.

An example of such an MTA could be:

Acupuncture

Herbal therapy (internal and topical)

CBD (@home and with bodywork or acupuncture sessions)

@home practices

Diet changes

You catalyze the healing effect exponentially with a Multi-therapeutic Approach! 

Don’t get me wrong, CBD on it’s own is very powerful. The plant Cannabis has been used since ancient times for it’s healing properties. 

It’s use dates back thousands of years in Chinese medicine and literature. It is listed as one of 50 plants in the original Chinese botanical books, and was said to be used in combination with acupuncture and moxibustion for anesthesia and pain:

“Hua Tuo, a Han Dynasty physician, is credited as the first person to use cannabis as an anesthetic, by mixing the dried and powdered plant with wine for use internally and externally. By utilizing this preparation (known as ma fei san) in conjunction with acupuncture, he was able to perform surgeries and control the pain of his patients.”

Too much of one thing can turn a good thing into something not so good. Overuse of cannabis in any form could result in depletion and imbalance in the body – another good reason to have an MTA!

For example, using a CBD topical on and off with another herbal topical. Or using CBD tincture in combination with a constitutional herbal formula. 

How to know what to look for when trying CBD:

1. Buy Full-Spectrum 

—->Buy Spagyric Full-Spectrum

2. Buy Organic & Pesticide-free grown
3. Support small companies that are health and wellness driven rather than money driven!
4. Invest in high quality CBD products that you can trust with laboratory testing!

Full Spectrum has a higher amount of the plant compounds (that can be extracted by modern methods) than isolates or broad-spectrum. Full-spectrum contains more of a “whole” medicine than these and has the added benefit of the “entourage effect”. 

—> The entourage effect is when two or more substances interact to create a synergistic effect. When CBD and even the smallest amount of THC work together, they have a much greater therapeutic effect. Isolates and broad spectrum tend to not have THC, though trace amounts are possible.

Hemp CBD full spectrum products can have .3% or less of THC. That is the legal limit. But as little as .3% is all that is needed for the entourage effect to take place!

—->Oh wait! No, no GET SPAGYRIC full spectrum!

What the hellaballu is Spagyric Full-Spectrum CBD? This has all the qualities of full-spectrum plus the added benefit of the alchemical extraction process that actually gets the entire energetic + physical (therapeutic) compounds of the plant into the bottle!

This means you get more bang for your buck and a superior acting medicine.

The Spagyric process goes through an additional extraction process that actually burns then filters the remaining plant material (after it has gone through the alcohol extraction process). This results in the SALTS & MINERALS being added to the final product.

(Spagyric alchemy can be done on any plant, not just hemp.I recommend doing a google search if you want to find out more about spagyric alchemy!)

I am a plant nerd, so I love to geek out on anything herb or plant related, or anything in the healing realm related to alchemy. But the truth is, Spagyrics, in my experience, are very powerful. Much less quantity is needed and it can be taken for much longer periods of time with a slower “tolerance rate”. 

When you get the WHOLE PLANT into the bottle you create a medicine that has a greater WHOLE INTELLIGENCE that your body recognizes and is evolved to work with!

2. Buy Organic & Pesticide-free grown
3. Support small companies that are health and wellness driven rather than money driven!
4. Invest in high quality CBD products that you can trust with laboratory testing!

If interested in adding CBD to your multi-therapeutic approach to healing ;-), I recommend HAPPY BUDDHA HEMP!

HAPPY BUDDHA HEMP easefully and gracefully meets all the guidelines above plus they have an amazing range of products including:

Tinctures 

Topicals 

Facial care

Edibles 

To purchase Happy Buddha Hemp products follow the link and use my special 20% discount code at check out: cadieselah20

You an also order free samples for the cost of shipping!

Schedule a free virtual 15 minute consultation with me for more information or a virtual CBD + Herbal Medicine Consult!

And for my local #417 folks, check out Hawk & Rose Acupuncture & Apothecary for in-person Holistic Wellness Programs that include CBD therapy. 

—->Full Disclosure is that Yes I Do! Make a commission on sales, but I am here to tell you to do your own research and find the company that best suits you! I have done the research and connected with the best company I could find to serve my patients and clients so that they don’t have to “search and find”. There is a jungle of CBD out there and not a ton of guidance so I wanted to be a resource and support for you to be connected to good medicine.<—-

Resources

1. The endocannabinoid system, a novel and key participant in acupuncture’s multiple beneficial effects. Neuroscience & Behavioural Reviews. Volume 77, June 2017. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763417301318 
2. The Endocannabinoid System: Essential & Mysterious by Peter Grinspoon, MD https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569
3. A New Theory for Acupuncture: Promoting Robust Regulation. The Journal for Acupuncture and Meridian Studies https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290117301401
4. The Endocannabinoid System Contributes to Electroacupuncture Analgesia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33679287/
5. https://sixfishes.com/2019/03/01/acupuncture-and-cbd-a-match-made-in-heaven/

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