 interesting people. Today my guest, master of acupuncture, Cynthia Galant. Welcome to the show. Thank you. And the previous video we were watching were you, no, the acupuncturist. They were at Taekwondo, master. I'm a second degree black belt in Taekwondo. I practiced at Boston University. Mass Collegic is the organization, but it was at Boston University. And I traveled nationally to compete for a United States in forms and board breaking in Taekwondo. So I got a couple of U.S. national gold medals and Taekwondo forms and silver and board breaking. Wow. So in the music we will hear in the background, that's the flute you're playing, the famous piece called the loon. Loon, correct. Yeah. So in that piece, I basically took the sound of the loon and I transposed it with like regular flute melodies with it. Also it's improvisation. So yeah, so it's my my interpretation of what a loon would sound like with using my flute. And that made internet radio on slacker premium. And then I'm also on CD baby. And it was just kind of a fun thing, fun creative thing to do. Yes. So if we will have time, we can hear here in the studio. But for now, we will be talking mostly about what you're doing at the moment. We have your website on our screen. So the people who will be interested for this amazing service, I can admit it. So we sent you brought today some toys, she will be talking about and I will be her patient. Excuse me, just right here. So we will be showing the some demo and she will be talking about the history of aquapunk chair. And her background is tremendous. Like I the more I was reading your bio from your website, the more my job is dropping. So I said, okay, everyone wants to experience that they can read it. So yeah. And so they will know that you're a private practice open in Lexington on Massaf. It's very easy to come from Ehrlichton or any other places. So the appointments they can do right through the website. So it's every old information is there. So and now we will be talking about all these toys you have around here. I even took off my watch and rang because you said, you know, I'm not supposed to have for certain treatment, a metal on my body. Right. Yeah. So we're going to do a little demonstration today. And what I kind of do in my clinic is I do a little bit of electro acupuncture. I do a little bit of manual therapy. I do a little bit of cupping therapy, which most people have seen with the famous Michael Phelps, the swimmer who has cupping on a regular basis for repetitive stress syndrome from repetitive swimming. And you get stiff a little bit and you want to stay nice and loose. And the cupping helps relax the muscles, get the lymphatic flow moving, also more blood circulating into the muscles. And it's a really good stress relief. And it's a nice combination also with acupuncture. So it's a form of like, you know, releasing the muscles, releasing like the fascia also that can get tight and restrict your ability to move properly. Plus you do in a massage. And I also do cupping massage as well, which is also really nice. And but majority of my patients love the combinations that I do. So sometimes I'll do like a combination of acupuncture on the front of the body. And then the back, I'll do like a massage or the cupping massage. And I always get get wonderful feedback from my patients. And so one of them, yeah, one of them. And I also even go with a little bit of sound therapy. So I use some tuning forks. I can put this on the acupuncture point. So we'll talk a little bit about acupuncture. This is some of the tools that I have right now that I use during clinic. And of course, the acupuncture needles. So let's get a little bit into the history of acupuncture. Acupuncture is more than 2000 years old. It comes from China. But other cultures also kind of adopted acupuncture but made some of the theories a little bit different. Like in Japan and Korea, they have they also use acupuncture, but there's different styles that they utilize it with. And so when I use these particular needles, so these needles will be inserted into the skin in a particular acupuncture point. And so why so just kind of like talking a little bit about the clinical benefits, like also when you put the needle, there's acupuncture points that run along a channel, we call them meridians that go into your internal organs. So what we're doing is we're putting the needle into unblock the energy or chief flow. It's similar to like when you're driving down the street and all of a sudden there's your car gets stuck. There's a traffic jam. You can insert the needle at a particular point and unblock that flow. So then the cars can move freely or your cheek can move freely. The blood will move more freely in the area. So some clinical medical benefits of acupuncture is that it can dilate blood vessels. It can also help release endorphins in your blood stream. The signal goes to the central nervous system in the brain and then causes your whole body to relax. So people use it for anxiety. And then it blocks the pain receptors of the site where you put the needle. So it has a little bit of an analgesic effect, which people like to especially for chronic pain management for like back pain, arthritis and all of that stuff. So I also used it to break up connective tissue for C-sections, for scars to help smooth scars out because I can unwind the connective tissue. And then as far as other clinical benefits, you just realize that you feel much better after the treatment. It basically helps the body reach this homeostasis or this balance that everybody is looking for. And it's a nice complementary medicine to Western medicine. Plus you're doing like scanning when the patient is coming. You do the scanning of the body first. So like a typical treatment would be like I would go through a person's health history in the first like 20 to 30 minutes, you know, and what their main issue is and what I'd like. And then I would go and feel the radial pulse. So I would look not just at the rate. It is a pulse diagnostic testing and assessment. And then and it's a little bit different than Western medicine versus Eastern medicine. Western medicine, you're looking, you know, just at the rate and how fast the heart rate is going. But in Eastern medicine, we're looking at the quality. What does it feel like? The organs are superimposed on the pulse and we're getting more information. So three on one hand and three organs in the other. Exactly. And there is some cross comparison with the pulse. So for example, I was feeling a pulse in this woman at Tufts Medical Center in the hospital. And I'm like, I don't feel your spleen pulse organ. She's like, I don't have a spleen. And I was like, Oh, wow. So there is some cross over between Eastern, Western medicine in the pulse diagnosis. I also sometimes look at the tongue because the organs are also superimposed on the tongue. And I also look at the abdomen and I check for reflex pressure, pain in the abdomen that are also superimposed in the organ. Plus you're talking about the diet. And also the diet. Talks in the body. Talks in the body and also make recommendations to visit the professionals. Yep, to visit the professionals as well as like maybe do a little detox. It depends on what's going on with the person. I do also energetically scan the body because I have a little bit of background in medical qigong. So I was certified in Kripalo Yoga Center for medical qigong. And I've also had medical qigong from other masters from China. So I kind of take in different levels of the body. So there's the emotional, there's the physical, there's the energetic. You know, there's the organ. So I take in like information from more levels because I have a multidisciplinary approach. So we were saying how often people can use their acupuncture. So it depends for chronic conditions. I would want to see them in sooner. So like me once a week, more like once a week. If it's not so bad, you coming in for maintenance, it's similar to like getting your oil change or a tune up. You might want to come in once a month. You know, if there's not a lot of issues that are going on. But again, if you have more chronic issues like chronic back pain, chronic knee pain that you want to come in a little bit more frequently. And I tend to see shifts in treatments like every two to three sessions, you'll see a shift where the person will all of a sudden like will get better or sometimes they'll get better immediately depending upon if their condition is acute or chronic. If it's chronic, you'll see the shifts in the patient getting better later. So they may need to come in for like 10 sessions or something like that instead of like, you know, two or three or once a month that are versus, you know, once a week. So it just depends. And it's very beneficial for the nerve system. Yes, but it's very beneficial for the nerve system. So I also do a regular acupuncture on the ear. So I use these little like these a little like they're called press needles. And they're about point one millimeter width. They're very, very tiny. They're like hairline thin. And I leave them in the ear on the particular area area on the ear that can relate to your internal organs, it can relate to your endocrine system, it can relate to orthopedically, if you have like shoulder pain or hip pain, I could put a point there and leave it in for a week. And if it gets itchy, obviously, you would take it out because that would be a sign of like inflammation. So if it bothers you, you would just peel it off and then throw it out. But in general, when you get in that or your organ getting better, that should be just falling off itself, right? Yeah. So, so basically, if you're getting better, when you go to press the point, it's less sensitive. So you start to notice that the body is the energy is coming up to the surface that it's kind of like you're starting to heal more you're having more energy. The main thing I see with a lot of patients is they right now they're not getting enough sleep. And that's affecting their pain, pain levels in their body. So it's really important to get sleep. It's really important to exercise or to get your blood circulating. So all those healthy eating, healthy eating exactly. Drink lots of water. Drinking. Yeah, exactly. Peel water. Yeah. Helpfully. So I would like to do a demonstration anything that is bothering you right now. No, let's do right here. I mentioned this. Some was last night, some little pain. Okay, great. Okay, so I'm going to put a needle like right here. And then we're going to do here. So this point is hegu. This is large intestine four. This is the number one pain point in the body. I've also used this in the hospitals at Tufts Medical Center. And then also, this is large intestine 11. This is also immune point but also clears heat. So if you feel like kind of hot in the upper part of your body, like if you get headaches or if you tend to have a little bit of hot flash, this is a really nice point to do. And it's also really good for your immune system as well. So I'm going to grab some alcohol swabs. I'm going to clean my hands first. So in how long the needles will need to stay? So generally to have a therapeutic effect that's anywhere between like 20 to 30 minutes, depending upon the age of the person sometimes, like if they're younger and they and they don't have a lot of fluid retention in their body. And they don't have a lot of like pain in their body. It can actually get better. But I also like go back for feedback. I retest the the pulse and the abdomen to look and see how the patient is responding. And that's their prognosis. If they start to the pain starts pressure pain starts clearing out easier or faster than I know their prognosis is pretty good. And then I'll feel in the pulse if the pulse gets a little stronger in the particular position that I'm working on, then I know that the the person is reaching homeostasis faster or equilibrium faster. Okay, so I'm going to go here and here. So it just basically alcohol the point off. Let it dry a little bit. Okay. And then I'm going to add the acupuncture needle. This is about a 32 gauge needle. And and then it's also it's about an inch long. So it's very it's tiny and it's still kind of like hairline thin can barely see it. So I would take the needle and putting in the guide to and then I'm just basically creating a little circle here with my hand and then I'm just tapping in the needle. And then what I'm doing is I'm just going to rotate a little bit just to stimulate the point to bring the chi or energy up to the surface. And this also at the same time I'm causing a little bit of a mechanical transduction. This is kind of like signaling to the the fascia underneath and this the fascia is also in the muscles connected to the vascular system. The vascular system starts to dilate and then and then this also is sending energy and flow from the top part and towards the bottom part as well. So I'm going to connect this large intestine point with this 11 with large intestine four. So this is between the this is the marginal web between the thumb and the index finger. So I'm just going to kind of feel a massage of the point a little bit. This helps relax the muscle before you put the needle in. And then I'm just going to kind of tap it in again. Okay. Well, how are you feeling? It's something moving something moving. Oh, wow. Sometimes like patients will will give me some feedback as far as like what the acupuncture feels like. Sometimes you feel like a heaviness. Sometimes you feel like water moving from one point to the other. You can move it. Just you just be careful a little bit. Yep. You can just rest it on your arm. And sometimes people feel like this tingling sensation. Sometimes they feel like warmth going down their arm. Okay. So and now we're going to do. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to add a little bit of electro. So I like to use electro. If if there's if there's more pain that the person is experiencing and also some fluid retention. So I feel warm right here in the bottom. Oh, that's good. Okay. So you you're getting some flow flow and sensation from the acupuncture needles. So this is very good. So so she said that the pain was closer to this side. So I have a these are two leads hooked up to an electrical unit. So this is this is positive and negative. So where the the pain is I'm going to put the the negative lead and then I'm going to put the positive lead here. Okay. And then because and they're going to make sure that the teeth are on the end of the needle there and that stays perfect. Okay. So now she's hooked up to the leads. I'm going to turn on the acupuncture unit. So right now I'm going to do it. There's a frequency that I'm going to use on on Alina that is high intensity and low frequency. And I'm using a dense disperse. So this just means that the the sound of the electric of the feeling of the electricity that she's going to feel is going to kind of be intermittent signaling of the frequency. So it's going to be like that that that that that instead of a continuous which is like and that's what that's what the station that's the rhythm. So that's the rhythm of the frequency that I'm using. So so right now I have it as dense disperse and then I'm going to slowly turn on the lead. So she's hooked up to the first lead. I'm going to slowly turn it on and then she's going to feel a little bit of tingling sensation. I'm going to go slow so it's not shocking to her and then you should start to feel a little tingling. Something. Is it too strong? It's a little pressure I feel it. So it's just extra help. Yeah so it's basically there's there's a the body that the points have a electrical resistance and that's where you can kind of find the point. There's a difference in electrical receptivity on the skin and what the electricity is pushing from from the the leads going into the skin and then helps clear the channel. So it's kind of cool. Are you are you feeling anything? I'm feeling the bottom a little bit. Okay. And a little bit on the top too. Okay good. Yeah so we just let it sit for like maybe 10-15 minutes and so this is electrical acupuncture stimulation and thank you for Alayna being my wonderful demonstration. Yeah well I'm going to your office and I need to say to the people who really wants to improve their health they should be signed up for their sessions and I'm using the combination of acupuncture and massage and I found out that it's very beneficial when you are rotating at least twice a month and thinking that I will continue that till the end of the year just to make sure that my health is getting better so everything is improving and just in general I would recommend people just like you mentioned tune up maybe twice a year minimum come and just check the situation with your body even you feel that you are generally healthy still something need to be improved or it can be improved anyway so yeah and so you know how to find Cynthia her website will be shown on the screen and so we wish everybody healthy and happy summer and the end of the year so and hopefully the people who likes it our interview and demo they will come to experience personally so I'm really appreciate it for you to come and show all your talents so this one is the top is I feel a little bit better maybe because it's falling down in this direction that's okay so I'm going to turn it off now so I'm just going to turn this like this let's shut it off here okay and then I'm just going to take the leads off now okay okay let's fill okay okay and then the other thing that I also do is I also do um this is for people that uh don't like acupuncture and that still want to get some clinical benefits I use a little bit this is like a tuning fork I also use this on acupuncture points right and I kind of like tap it and then I then I go around and I just find like spots that are a little bit tight and through here okay so you have a little bit tightness right there so I would say that you do some typing or use your hands a lot so this is like the extensors can get a little tight from typing so I feel like some tissue just holding this here I can feel it the tissue on plain piano yeah there you go yeah I just picked up on that um so they can use that and then I have other forms of manual therapy therapy I use this on connective tissue this is kind of like an onyx tool use this on the neck and the connective tissue and this is very gentle um I also do a lot of TMJ work um with acupuncture and a little bit of manual I've also been um trained in some craniosacral therapy and um so that's sort of some of the things that I use I also check on people's oxygen levels when they come in as well so I've got um pulse oximeter um and make sure that they're they're coming in healthy before I treat them and um yeah so that's kind of a little bit about you know what what um what you're doing and what I'm doing yes so hopefully the people enjoy to listen all the information you were given yep and um I'll personally see you soon mm-hmm thank you thank you