Surround the Dragon
Dear Patient,
Surround the Dragon is a classic acupuncture technique used to treat issues manifesting on the surface of the body—things like skin lesions, rashes, scars, abnormal growths and swollen areas. We’ll direct qi and blood flow to the affected area by surrounding it with needles, encouraging the growth of new blood vessels and nerves, which in turn promotes healing.
Once at my clinic we used this on patient who had a lipoma the size of an orange on her leg. After months of surrounding the dragon, the lipoma eventually shrank down to the size of a pea, even though her doctor told her it would never get any smaller (acupuncturists love when this happens by the way).
Indirect treatment methods work great much of the time—that’s why you can massage the fleshy area between your thumb and index finger to ease the pain of a headache. But sometimes we have to come at a problem from all angles. Sometimes the situation calls us to turn all of our attention, every needle in our arsenal, towards the big, loud, fire-breathing beast we can’t ignore. Perhaps your usual methods haven’t worked. Perhaps someone has even told you that a problem can’t be fixed. Maybe it’s time to surround the dragon.
Love and gratitude,
Your Acupuncturist