Learn G-Jo: Acupuncture Without Needles

Enlarge Image Image Gallery POINT 7: Located above the bulge of the inner ankle. Relieves indigestion, flatulence, constipation, diarrhea, and stomach, leg, foot, and common menstrual difficulties.POINT 9: Located three inches below the bottom edge of the kneecap, between the shin-bone and the front of the calf muscle . . . relieves indigestion, backache, diarrhea, constipation, leg pains, and headaches. POINT 5: Located behind the bulge of the outer ankle. Helps relieve sprains and muscle pulls and pains in the back, face, foot, hip, and rectum.POINT 10: Helps control bleeding and relieves chest pains, menstrual problems, seasickness, hiccups, coughs, and symptoms related to shock. POINT 13: Located between the thumb and index finger. Good for headaches, neck pains, toothaches, and problems of the hand, elbow, arm, and foot.POINT 4: Located above the wrist. Relieves persistent coughs and pain in the arm and hand, head and face, elbow, shoulder, and wrist.  PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

Relieve your aches and pains without the use of often harmful drugs... 

Health care can often be a problem for folks who want to move toward a more natural, stress-free, and independent rural lifestyle. If your homestead is deeply buried in the woods, for instance, what do you do when a health crisis occurs? The usual options—rushing many miles to a doctor, clinic, or drugstore . . . keeping a large stash of medicine for who-knows-what emergency . . . or just suffering while your body heals itself—are far from attractive or practical.

Fortunately, there's at least one therapeutic technique that can relieve some kinds of discomfort almost instantly and is said to stimulate the mind and body's own self-healing powers. The method is known as G-Jo (pronounced "JEE-joh").

G-Jo means "first aid" in Chinese, and the technique originated in the Orient thousands of years ago. It's a primary form of finger pressure acupuncture (or acupressure—acupuncture without needles). With a little reading and practice you can learn enough G-Jo to avoid much needless suffering and become more nearly independent of doctors and drugs ... especially if your lifestyle is already a healthful one.

To the Point

There are two vital rules for using G-Jo. The first is FIND THE RIGHT PRESSURE POINT. The specific spots may be tricky to locate at first, and you must use the tip of your thumb or forefinger—not the pad or fleshy part—to probe the area of the point as deeply as you can ... applying about 20 pounds of finger pressure. Since these areas of pressure are only about the size of a pinhead, you'll have to practice locating them until you become familiar with their feel and position. You'll know when you've found a pressure point, though: It will announce itself with a "loud" twinge of sensitivity, much like that associated with a pinched nerve or a toothache.

The second important rule is STIMULATE THE PRESSURE POINT PROPERLY. Here, again, the secret is deep pressure . Massage the tiny spot with a digging, goading motion ... again, using the tip of the thumb or forefinger. If you have trouble applying enough force with your finger, you can use the blunt end of a felt-tipped marker or something similar. In severe cases, you might have to continue applying pressure for as long as several minutes, but 10 or 15 seconds of treatment is usually enough to unblock the right control point and relieve the problem completely or, at least, substantially ease the symptoms.

Pressure points are usually duplicated bilaterally, so—after you stimulate a spot on one side of your body—you can simply repeat the operation on the opposite side. You'll often find one more tender than the other... and treating one side may relieve a symptom, while stimulating the opposite point may bring the discomfort back . (If that happens, simply reapply pressure to the original side until the symptom disappears again.)