You may have heard of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) techniques like Reflexology and Acupuncture but are new to the concept of Ear Seeding. While you may be an ear seed novice, the practice itself has been used in TCM for over 3,000 years ago. Let’s introduce everything you need to know about this ancient healing system.
Ear Seeds: What To Know
Ear seeding is a type of auriculotherapy, a Traditional Chinese Medicine technique that focuses on your ear to treat other parts of your body. Your ear has hundreds of pressure points that correspond to different areas of the mind and body. When you apply pressure to the points, by pressing on the ear seed, the point sends signals to your brain to promote healing in that specific part of your body.
How Do Ear Seeds Work?
Ear seeds were traditionally made from the dried and de-shelled Vaccaria herb native to China, however, you can buy seeds made of magnets, ceramic, stainless steel or 24-carat gold. They are then placed onto your ear usually using a waterproof adhesive.
For the needle-phobics amongst us, ear seeds are an excellent and pain-free alternative to acupuncture while still gaining the benefits of auriculotherapy. Moreover, since ear seeds can stay on your ear for up to 5 days, you can continue to reap the rewards of the treatment beyond just a one-off acupuncture session.
Depending on what you want to treat (e.g. anxiety, fertility, debloating), these tiny acupressure devices will be placed on different parts of your ear. Typically, as with our kits, you’ll receive instructions and an ear seed placement chart so you’ll know exactly where to place them.
Once you have applied the seeds onto the prescribed points of the ear, gently massage the seeds whenever you remember, in order to continue stimulating the acupressure points.
Ear seeds are single-use and we recommend wearing them for up to 5 days at a time. The seeds will slowly lose their stickiness and fall off themselves. After 5 days, we advise you to peel off any remaining seeds and dispose of them. You can reapply a new set two days later.
How Do Acupressure Points Work?
According to TCM principles, our body contains pathways called meridians that allow energy (Qi) to flow around the body. Due to influences like stress, trauma or illness, our Qi may become stagnant or deficient. When Qi is affected, it is thought that any organ along that pathway will be impacted, causing symptoms like pain, infertility, anxiety, digestive issues or more.
Depending on your symptoms, an acupressure practitioner would treat the associated meridian by applying manual pressure, whether through hands or ear seeds, to encourage the free flow of energy and bring your body back to balance - or point zero.
Similar to Reflexology where the foot is a microcosm for the body, Ear Seeding maps your body’s organ system onto your outer ear, identifying where meridians, or energy pathways, for each part of your body pass through the ear. In this way, treatment like acupressure, ear seeding or acupuncture can be applied to your ear to treat symptoms elsewhere.
As an example:
Located in the upper shell of your ear, the ‘heavenly gate’ or ‘Shen Men’ acupressure point is one of the main points on the Heart meridian. It can help nourish the blood and calm down the internal fire, making it an excellent point for emotion- or heart-related issues like anxiety and insomnia.
Benefits of Ear Seeds
As so many meridians pass through the outer ear, or auricular, applying pressure using ear seeds can provide symptom relief for many ailments. Some popular use cases for seeding are:
The beauty of ear seeds is how they make the ancient healing system of TCM so accessible. They’re an easy, needle-free way to restore health and well-being whilst enjoying these tiny accessories.
With Point Zero, you’ll receive:
- 40 gold-plated ear seeds, which allows you to perform each treatment 5 times.
- A treatment card, which maps out the specific pressure points on your ears to heal your specific ailment.
- A step-by-step instruction card .
Learn more about which ailments our ear seeds treat here.
