AcuWellness with Caroline Pegram
We are excited to deepen the breadth of the Topaz Healing practice and begin offering group and 1:1 AcuWellness appointments to clients and organizations beginning in July 2024.
AcuWellness uses the 5 Needle Protocol (NADA 5NP) which includes 5 different acupressure points on the ear. Treatment can be delivered with acupuncture or acupressure (without needles).
The ears are innervated by the vagus nerve, which means that stimulating any point in the ear engages the body’s rest-and-digest and social engagement systems, both of which are crucial in shifting out responses including fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and/or dissociate.
Proven effects include but are not limited to relief of stress, anxiety, depression, aggression, trauma symptoms, cravings, insomnia, and pain. The practice can also help increase focus, self-esteem, inner reflection, mindfulness, and relaxation.
Learn more about the evidence-based research and efficacy of the NADA Protocol.
AcuWellness has a rich history steeped in community + radical care.
Tolbert Small, Back Right, and David Levinson, Third From Left, With Barefoot Doctors in Yenan, China, March 22, 1972
In New York City, the BPP, Young Lords, and other revolutionaries founded Lincoln Detox, a drug treatment program, at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. In 1970, Mutulu Shakur, an informal affiliate of the BPP, was introduced to acupuncture and suggested it to Lincoln as an alternative to methadone. Lincoln eventually became the site for the development of the NADA protocol, now used globally. Yet, this was not the only instance in which 1970s revolutionaries used acupuncture. In California, Tolbert Small served as the BPP’s medical director between 1970 and 1974. He visited China as part of a BPP delegation in 1972 and witnessed acupuncture for the first time. Fascinated, Small incorporated the practice into his medical toolkit upon returning home. He has since treated thousands with acupuncture for pain management, often in lieu of prescribing drugs.
