Community Acupuncture

Supporting Health - Building Community

Community acupuncture is community supported acupuncture. We are only able to do the work we do with the enthusiastic support of the community we serve.

Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible acupuncture, making it possible for people to get treatment as frequently or for as long as needed, so they can use acupuncture in a way that works best for them.

We do this by offering acupuncture on a sliding scale in a comfortable group setting:

  • The sliding scale greatly reduces cost as a barrier to access, and by treating in a group we are able to see more people at once - which in turn is why we are able to charge radically less for treatment. More people are able to get acupuncture, and more people are able to get more acupuncture and get better results. They tell more people, and more people get acupuncture. It is a virtuous cycle.
  • Treatment in a group setting is nothing new to acupuncture, and there is certainly something to be said about the power of the group acupuncture nap. We are all in this together, after all. People getting acupuncture together helps to remove some of the mystique around acupuncture, and the group setting allows friends and family to come share in something good together. You can also pretty much stay as long as you like, or until we run out of room.
  • Another salient feature of the clinic is that we treat in recliners, which it turns out are quite well suited for acupuncture on a number of levels. They fit the curves of the body well, and are particularly conducive to the sensation of floating during treatment.

Some other things to consider when receiving treatment at South Austin Community Acupuncture:

  • Our intakes are very brief. You tell us what you're here for, we'll ask any questions we need to, and we move on to treatment. If you need to tell us something in private just let us know, but otherwise please do not expect a private consultation with every visit. Similarly, we do not have time to explain how acupuncture works or why we choose the points we choose during treatment. We do however have many resources available to help you understand acupuncture better and community acupuncture specifically. From our perspective, your time with needles in is what is most important about your being here.
  • We do not make appointments for private treatment, although we do some work on tables and these tables happen to be in individual rooms. This all came about because our last location had a couple of rooms suitable for this, so we took advantage of it - primarily using these rooms for cupping, and occasionally for acupuncture. We enjoy the flexibility, but we also need you to be flexible because of how we use these rooms. We can guarantee you a comfy recliner in our group room, but how we use the table rooms is always contingent on the discretion of the practitioner and their workflow.
  • Pulse and tongue: Over the years we have largely shed the more subjective diagnostic parameters taught in acupuncture school, such as looking at the tongue or feeling the pulse. Occasionally, we may look at your tongue or feel your pulse for a confirming sign - but usually in the context of herbal prescribing. Our experience many thousands of treatments later over nearly twenty years of practice is that acupuncture is no less effective without these things.