Another in my “how-to” series, in this blog and video I demonstrate some basics about how to do acupressure. 

You can use your fingertips, knuckles, a pen, eraser end of a pencil, or even a larger (not pointy) crochet needle. Basically, something that allows you to press on a small area without puncturing your skin or hurting yourself. 

You can do acupressure on yourself or have someone else do it on you, but always start out with light pressure, increasing the pressure gradually until the point is felt slightly tender, but not painful. You can do this when you have symptoms you want to treat, e.g. LI4 point for when you have a headache (especially over your forehead or behind your eyes). Or, you can do some points more regularly for health maintenance, e.g. ST36 for supporting general health, digestive health, and energy.

I also give some general tips about locating acupressure/acupuncture points (acupoints). My books all use a combination of anatomical and TCM descriptive terminology to instruct about the location of points, so I’m on the hunt for resources that are clear (and accurate!) with how the non-TCM person can locate them. If I cannot find a good resource, I guess a future task for me will be to create one. 

For now, I recommend looking up online the acupuncture point locations you want to acupressure and checking out the descriptions and images, comparing at least two resources to make sure they match. Unfortunately, like all things internet, not every source is correct or accurate. Or, ask me if you’re stuck and unable to find a point.

Also, perhaps you don’t want to keep having to acupressure the point. Instead, you might choose to ask me for press needles–tiny needles embedded onto stickers you apply to your skin. 

For my acupressure and how to locate points video, here it is: