By Jimmy Woodall

With the growing acceptance of alternative medicine in Western cultures, acupuncture is quickly becoming a popular practice. More and more people today are choosing acupuncture over western medicine to treat bodily pains, relieve stress, or to promote overall health. If you are thinking about trying acupuncture but are wondering if it is safe or if it is the right treatment for you, the following information may aid you in making a more informed decision.

The Description and Origin

Acupuncture is the practice of inserting fine needles into specific points in the body for therapeutic purposes. According to theory, these specific points called acupuncture points lie along pathways of the body along which vital energy is said to flow. The needles are used to promote free-flow of energy in areas of the body that circulation may have stagnated. Although acupuncture is practiced in many Asian cultures such as Japan, Tibet, and Korea the practice is commonly known to have originated in China.

Acupuncture in the Western World

One of the most debated issues between the East and the West is the use of acupuncture as a western means of medical treatment. Even though this form of medicine has been used as an effective method for over five thousand years in China, there is no concrete evidence from scientific research studies that have proven the healing properties of acupuncture.

Skeptics shrug off the positive effects of acupuncture as merely placebo effects. Believers in acupuncture, however, say that the benefits have simply not yet been proven. Believers promote that the treatment is harmless and can be used as a complement to western medicine.

Unfortunately, standards of acupuncture have not been fully approved by the FDA due to many unregulated practices that still exist such as the re-use of needles. Furthermore, acupuncture certification today is mostly a sham, used to make money on desperate patients who have not benefited from western medical treatments. The National Council Against Health Fraud has even declared acupuncture as an unproven means of treatment whose concepts of healing are primitive and false.

Should You Try It

One thing that Western science can agree upon is that there are no proven harmful effects of acupuncture. Many doctors agree that as long as a medication is not detrimental to one’’s health, then there is no reason why it should not be used if there are noticeable benefits. Most scientists would also state that it is simply due to a lack of research that the therapeutic properties of acupuncture have not yet been proven.

Although many forms Chinese medication remain debated concepts in Western society, there is a growing interest in these medications and perhaps as the acceptance of the practice grows, so will the discoveries about its medical properties.

More Information on Acupuncture

You can find more information about acupuncture at an acupuncture center close to you. You can easily locate nearby centers or practitioners by searching online. An appointment may be necessary as acupuncture centers are usually busy with long wait lists.

So if western medicine is not working for you and you are looking for an alternative, give some thought acupuncture. More and more people are discovering the therapeutic benefits of this ancient medicine. Acupuncture is safe and harmless, and therefore you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

About The Author

Jim Woodall has 49 in business He is in Internet and Affiliate Marketing. Visit his site http://freegiveaways.jwoodl.com/index.html to get your 3 free Ebooks, Also visit our new Acupuncture website and center http://www.jwoodl.com/acupuncture

By Alan Bentley

During the time my wife and I grew apart, I got the crazy idea to go talk to my parents and grill them about how they stay married through both the good and the bad times. Besides my parents and I spoke on a regular basis and the conversations were free!

Glad I did, because I re-discovered just how lucky I really was…

My wife and I were extremely blessed growing up. Our parents as well as our grandparents were still together. We naturally looked up to our grandparents and were lucky to have them as role models. My mom’’s folks even got married during the Depression and stayed married through thick and thin until my grandfather died in 1976 at the age of 62.

I asked my parents if we could talk and they agreed. So we sat down and they asked what was up. I let them know that since our son’’s near catastrophic birth, my wife and I had grown apart. The stress from losing both my wife and first born son had gotten to us both. We didn'’t talk to each other as much as we nagged at each other. While we found time to complain about mundane tasks, we didn'’t make the time show our love and appreciation for each other. Neither of us could take it for much longer.

My mom asked if I remembered when my father had his appendix out when I was 3. I said that I only remembered that he was in the hospital for awhile and that he ended up OK. As it turns out, he was far from OK. I was in shock as she filled me in on everything I had forgotten:
- His appendix ruptured as it was being taken out nearly killing my dad
- He was laid up for 4 weeks unable to work and unable to make money-unable to pay the bills.
- Naturally, this situation caused an incredible stress on their relationship!

Yet their marriage survived.

And I don'’t believe it’’s a coincidence that my parents are still happily married:
- They worked at it
- They talked to each other on all the issues regarding our family
- They found the time to take each other out on dates
- They too had role model parents whose marriages survived wars, recessions and even the Great Depression

Let’’s face it, life isn'’t perfect. To quote Mick Jagger, You can'’t always get what you want, but you might just get what you need.

Today life comes at you at a very high speed. Simple bumps in the road can become pot holes in no time at all. The stronger our marriages are, the stronger we'’ll be in the face of adversity. If my grandparent’’s love survived a depression, why can'’t the rest of us make our marriages the very best that they can be when times are so good?

It’’s been awesome and humbling to look at how my parents handled all their challenges. As it turns out, they had all the same problems as anyone else and they were able to get through them with a little love and understanding.

All grown up with a family of my own, I have a much better appreciation the incredible job both my parents and grandparents did raising me. Without a doubt, I'’m a much better husband, father and man because of it

About The Author

Alan Bentley, God’’s gift to female/male communication, helps single women across the country unravel mysteries of the male mind helping improve their relationships with men they love. To discover how you can crack the guy code, go to http://www.cracktheguycode.com or email alan@cracktheguycode.com