As I sit here in the wake of my dog’s death, I am incredibly aware of the experience of grief. This is the greatest loss I’ve experienced in a long time—and for that, I am grateful. We were blessed with 16 healthy & happy years together. He brought us so much joy, and his absence is hard to believe and even harder to endure.
Grief and loss are universal experiences. They are something we will all encounter many times throughout our lives. While grief is most often associated with death, it can also arise with any kind of change—even positive ones. I still remember the grief I felt when I signed the papers to sell my house years ago, and I feel grief every time I say goodbye to my 25-year-old son who lives across the country.
Grief is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a natural response to change and loss.
What Does Grief Have to Do With Acupuncture?
This is where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a unique and compassionate perspective. One of the things I love most about Chinese Medicine is that it treats the whole person—including emotional health.
In TCM, emotions are considered primary internal causes of disease (alongside external causes like climate, pathogens, or injury). Each emotion is associated with a particular organ system. This does not mean emotions are unhealthy or problematic. Emotions are a normal and essential part of being human.
However, when emotions are either very intense or persist over a long period of time, they can begin to create imbalance in the body. For example:
- Long-standing anger or frustration can affect the Liver and lead to stagnation.
- Sudden shock or fear can weaken the Kidneys.
- Chronic worry or overthinking can impact the Spleen.
It’s also important to understand that this relationship works both ways. An organ imbalance can influence emotional patterns as well. Someone with Spleen deficiency may tend toward worry or rumination, while someone with Liver Qi stagnation may experience irritability or depression.
If You’re Already Out of Balance, It’s Not Your Fault
If you recognize yourself in any of this, I want to say clearly: it’s not your fault.
Many of us learned early in life that certain emotions weren’t welcome or safe to express. As a result, we didn’t always have the opportunity to process them in healthy ways. Those unprocessed emotions can linger in the body.
Learning new ways to relate to emotions can take time. Support from a mental health professional, such as a counselor or therapist, can be incredibly helpful—and often works beautifully alongside acupuncture.
Gentle Ways to Support Emotional Processing
Here are some tools I personally find helpful when navigating grief and strong emotions:
- Make space for what you’re feeling. I notice I don’t feel like myself right now—low energy, unmotivated, less social. Instead of fighting that, I remind myself it’s okay to do less. It’s okay not to feel cheerful or “on.”
- Talk with someone supportive. This might be a partner, friend, or professional counselor. Speaking emotions out loud often helps them move.
- Spend time in nature. Walking, skiing, or simply being outside can create a sense of grounding and perspective.
- Tapping / EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Tapping on acupuncture points while speaking out loud can help move emotional energy and interrupt repetitive thought loops.
- Move your body. Dance, walk, run, stretch—anything that helps you feel embodied.
- Don’t rush yourself. There is no correct timeline for grief. Emotions often come in waves—you may feel better, then suddenly feel overwhelmed again. This is normal.
How Acupuncture Can Help with Grief and Emotional Health
In Chinese Medicine, the goal isn’t to get rid of emotions or rush through them—it’s to support the whole person so emotions can follow their natural course, rather than becoming stuck.
Acupuncture works by helping to regulate and balance the entire system: the nervous system, the organ systems, and the flow of Qi (energy) and Blood throughout the body. When the body is better supported and more regulated, emotions often become easier to experience, process, and release.
Many people notice that when they are under prolonged emotional stress or grief, their sleep is disrupted, digestion is off, their energy is low, or they feel tense and overwhelmed. Acupuncture addresses these physical imbalances alongside the emotional ones. By supporting rest, digestion, circulation, and resilience, the body has more capacity to do the emotional work it naturally knows how to do.
From this perspective, acupuncture doesn’t force emotions to change. Instead, it creates the conditions for healing by bringing the system back toward balance. When the body feels safer and more regulated, emotions tend to soften, move, and resolve in their own time.
Grief may still come in waves—but those waves often feel more manageable. People frequently report feeling more grounded, less emotionally “stuck,” and better able to meet their feelings without being overwhelmed.
Acupuncture offers gentle, whole-person support during times of loss, transition, and emotional stress—helping you feel more like yourself again, even as you move through change.
Moving Forward
Grief and strong emotions are not problems to be solved—they are experiences to be met with care, patience, and support. Whether your emotions feel heavy, overwhelming, or simply unfamiliar, you don’t have to judge them or rush them along.
You might gently ask yourself:
Are there any emotions that feel particularly difficult right now?
Do any feelings seem stuck, lingering, or harder to move through than others?
Bringing kind awareness to what you’re experiencing is often the first step toward balance. With time, support, and the right tools, emotions can begin to move again—allowing space for more ease, clarity, and resilience, even in the midst of change.
Danielle Murphy
Contact Me
