Healing and Health Are Not What You Think They Are

Many people come to natural therapies like herbal medicine, acupuncture, or Shiatsu expecting one simple thing: to reduce or eliminate certain symptoms, to feel better, or to “be healthy” again.

And yes — these therapies can support the body and help ease discomfort. But what we imagine as “feeling better” or “being healthy” may not be what healing truly looks like.

We live in a society that is always on the go.

When we feel tired, we take caffeine and keep moving.

When we catch a cold, we take paracetamol and go to work.

When we feel pain, we take painkillers and continue as if nothing is happening.

And in conventional medicine, when something more serious appears —like a lump, growth, or infection —the response is often direct and immediate: remove it, suppress it, or eliminate the cause so life can continue as usual.

This approach is essential and lifesaving in many situations.

But it also shapes the way we learn to relate to our bodies: fix the problem quickly, eliminate the discomfort, and return to normal.

So when you come to natural therapies, it is natural to expect the same pattern:

Take the treatment.

Feel better.

Return to life as usual.

But the natural therapies I offer at Chemin Holistique follow a different approach.

Herbs, acupuncture, and Shiatsu do not simply silence symptoms.

They aim to support your body in returning to its natural state of balance.

And sometimes, that means your body asks for rest.

Sometimes it asks you to slow down.

Sometimes it asks you to feel more deeply and listen more carefully.

Because of this, you may feel:

• more tired

• sleepier

• less sharp or less active

• more emotional

  
  

You may wonder why you are not feeling “better” or “stronger.”

🌿Why Fatigue Can Be Part of the Healing Process

This is also why some people feel wiped out after acupuncture or Shiatsu sessions — especially if it’s your first session, or if you are returning after a break.

You might go straight to sleep afterwards, feel spaced out or tired for a day or two, or notice that you don’t have much energy for anything else that evening.

In a slightly different way, similar responses can also occur during the first few days of starting a herbal medicine treatment, as the body begins to adjust internally to the herbs.

Rather than a simple shift from tension to relaxation, this can also involve broader processes of regulation and adaptation.

You may feel slightly more tired or sleepy than usual, or notice sensations that feel unfamiliar as your system responds.

These experiences are not a sign that something is wrong.

They are often part of the body’s natural process of adjustment and rebalancing.

The same thing often happens when someone moves from a busy city to the quiet countryside.

The first few weeks can feel strangely exhausting —a natural shift from tension into relaxation, as the body finally finds space to release what it has been holding.

I experienced this myself when I moved from a busy city (London) to the quiet countryside of Baule.

During those first weeks, I felt sleepy, slowed down, and even bored, as if my system no longer knew how to exist without constant stimulation.

It wasn’t a sign that something was wrong.

It was simply the body letting go after a long period of holding on.

The more depleted you are, and the longer you have been living in high tension and constant “doing,” the more intense the opposite reaction can feel.

This is not a problem.

This is balance in motion.

The body regains harmony through opposite forces:

• if you were too tired → it asks for deep rest

• if you were too tense → it drops into softness

• if you were always “on” → it finally switches off

  
  

You cannot keep pushing forever.

Just like yin and yang, one state naturally gives rise to its opposite in order to restore equilibrium.

This is part of the healing process.

Don’t worry — it’s temporary.

Your strength returns as your body and mind rest, reset, and integrate the changes taking place.

✨ When the Body Finally Speaks

When the pressure to keep going softens, what has been held inside for a long time may start to surface:

fatigue that was long ignored,

emotions that were quietly suppressed,

signals from the body that were once drowned out by noise and busyness.

Healing is not always about becoming stronger, faster, or more productive.

Sometimes it is about becoming softer, slower, and more honest with ourselves.

It is about allowing the body to reset, rather than forcing it to perform.

🌱 What Health Truly Becomes

Health becomes more than the absence of symptoms.

It becomes a quiet, steady, living balance 

—within your body, your emotions, and your daily life.

This kind of balance often requires change:

a change in lifestyle,

a shift in thinking,

a new relationship with food,

a different way of moving your body,

or the cultivation of more supportive daily habits.

Healing through natural medicine is rarely a straight line.

It often asks us to expect the unexpected and to stay open as the body recalibrates in its own time.

My intention is to support clients in gently reconnecting with what they are meant to be when they return to a more natural, balanced state —a state that, in Traditional East Asian thought, reflects harmony with the Dao.

Not by forcing change.

Not by chasing quick fixes.

But by listening, supporting, and allowing the body’s own wisdom to lead.