Our Services

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical practice where fine, sterile needles are inserted into specific points on the body. These points, called acupoints, are along pathways known as meridians. This method, used for over 2,000 years, helps stimulate the body’s energy, or "qi," to promote natural healing and balance.

The main goal of acupuncture is to balance the physical, emotional, and spiritual parts of a person. This helps people cope with stress and stay healthy. When needles are inserted, they often create a feeling called ‘de qi,’ which is a dull, heavy sensation. Most people do not feel the needles being inserted.

Acupuncture works by redirecting blood flow and signals in the body to support natural healing. According to Chinese medicine, qi flows through meridians, and blockages can cause illness. Acupuncture clears these blockages to improve health and wellness. This holistic approach is widely used around the world for its effectiveness.

Cosmetic Acupuncture

Cosmetic acupuncture is a facial treatment that offers long-lasting results for issues like lip plumping, acne, fine lines, and skin tone improvement. It can lift droopy eyelids, erase frown lines, redefine cheekbones and jawlines, soften deep lines, tighten chin muscles, and enhance skin hydration and colour by encouraging blood flow and collagen production.

During the treatment, an acupuncturist inserts tiny, painless needles into the face. These needles create small, positive microtraumas that trigger the body's repair mode, stimulating collagen production and improving skin elasticity. This process is similar to microneedling but less intense.

Cosmetic acupuncture promotes collagen and elastin production, helping to soften fine lines, plump the face, and give a youthful glow. It improves skin conditions like dryness and dullness by increasing blood flow, which helps the skin retain moisture. It can also reduce hyperpigmentation, dark spots, acne, and scarring by boosting blood flow and skin immunity. Additionally, it helps release endorphins, relieving stress and anxiety.

Chinese Herbal Medicine

Chinese herbal medicine is an ancient practice used either as a stand-alone or alongside acupuncture to enhance healing. It involves using natural ingredients, primarily plant-based, to restore health and well-being. All herbs used are TGA and FDA approved, ensuring quality and sustainability.

This medicine is tailored to individual needs, with prescriptions based on a person’s unique set of symptoms and updated regularly by practitioners. It doesn't just treat symptoms but addresses the entire body's biochemical imbalances.

Chinese herbal medicine, which includes over 450 substances mostly derived from plants, avoids endangered species and evolves with modern practices while staying true to its roots. It's part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the oldest health care system, with a history spanning thousands of years.

At Healing Pond, you will find us using powders, teas, pills, and other forms to support your health.

Facial Spa Treatment

Enhance your natural beauty and nurture your skin back to glowing health with our luxurious facial experiences. Our advanced treatments are designed to purify and decongest the skin naturally, restoring balance and leaving you with a smooth, firm, and radiant glow.

Our comprehensive facial treatment includes a deep cleanse to refresh your skin, followed by a detailed skin analysis to tailor the treatment to your unique needs. Enjoy a soothing facial massage with essential oils and the ancient technique of Cosmetic Gua Sha to promote circulation and relaxation. A face steam opens up pores, preparing your skin for a revitalising herbal face mask.

In addition to the facial, we offer a calming scalp massage that relieves stress and tension in the jaws and scalp, which can help alleviate migraines. Our holistic approach not only revitalises your skin but also promotes overall well-being.

Experience the ultimate in skincare and relaxation with our facial spa treatments, and see visible results that illuminate your beauty from within.

Gua Sha

We are one of the only clinics in Melbourne that offers Gua Sha as either a stand-alone or supplementary service.

Gua sha is a scraping technique that reportedly helps boost the immune system, alleviating symptoms of colds and flu, certain types of coughs and headaches, as well as stiffness and soreness in the neck and shoulders. Using a jade stone, ox horn board, gua sha spoon, or another smooth-edged tool, a practitioner applies scraping pressure in strokes along channels/meridians and affected areas to promote the movement of qi (energy) and xue (blood). This process helps the body eliminate the pathogens causing health imbalances.

Gua sha aims to address stagnant energy, believed by practitioners to cause inflammation, which is linked to various chronic pain conditions. Rubbing the skin’s surface helps break up this stagnant energy, reduce inflammation, and promote healing.

Gua sha is typically performed on the back, buttocks, neck, arms, and legs, but a gentler version can be used on the face as a facial technique. The technician will start with mild pressure and gradually increase it based on your comfort level.

In a gua sha session, a practitioner scrapes your skin with short or long strokes to stimulate the microcirculation of soft tissue, increasing blood flow. First, the technician applies massage oil to your skin, then uses the tool to scrape your skin repeatedly in a downward motion.

Cupping

Cupping involves creating suction on the skin using glass cups, which can be described as a 'reverse pressure massage.' This technique pulls blood to the surface, promoting a healing response either directly at the suction site or to treat related conditions according to Chinese Medicine pathology theory.

Glass cups are placed on the skin and the air inside is heated to create a vacuum, drawing blood to the surface. This process promotes new circulation, helping with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation, and overall well-being, similar to a deep-tissue massage.

Cupping therapy involves applying small cups to the skin, creating a vacuum effect on targeted areas. Cups can be held in place for up to 15 minutes. This therapy, which has grown in popularity over the past 20 years, assists in pain relief and overall health management.

Our clinic offers various styles of cupping therapy, including:

• Static Cupping
• Moving/Sliding Cupping
• Flash Cupping

Tui Na (Chinese Remedial Massage)

Tui Na (pronounced twee-nah) is an ancient Chinese massage technique and one of the four main branches of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), alongside acupuncture, qi gong, and Chinese herbal medicine. It focuses on stimulating the flow of qi, the body's vital life force, to promote balance and harmony, addressing imbalances that can lead to pain and illness.

Similar to acupuncture, Tui Na targets specific acupoints but uses fingers instead of needles to apply pressure. Practitioners use various tactile manipulation techniques, including patting, rolling, stationary and moving pressure, pinching, stretching, and stroking along meridian pathways to restore health and vitality.

Tui Na aims to promote the free flow of qi and remove blockages, improving overall health and vitality. It treats various conditions without acupuncture needles, using pressure on acupuncture points, meridians, and muscle groups. This method is based on the theory that qi imbalances cause symptoms like pain and disease.

Moxibustion

Moxibustion, or "Moxa," is a warming technique that involves burning the herb mugwort (moxa) and applying the heat to various parts of the body or specific acupoints. This promotes the free flow of qi (energy) and blood circulation, helping to alleviate certain types of pain, menstrual conditions, and fatigue.

Moxibustion is closely associated with acupuncture and uses processed mugwort in various forms, such as loose herbs, cigar-like sticks, smokeless sticks, or mini stick-on pellets. The moxa is heated on or near acupuncture points or painful areas to stimulate and warm the qi and blood flow, driving out pathogenic factors.

Moxibustion is used to treat pain, digestive issues, fertility problems, and other conditions by invigorating the flow of qi and enhancing circulation. At Coburg Chinese Medicine, moxa is extensively used with acupuncture patients. Many find moxa treatments comforting and relaxing, often looking forward to this part of their session.

In our clinic, moxibustion is a favourite among patients due to its comforting and warming effects. We use various moxa methods to tailor treatments to individual needs, enhancing the overall acupuncture experience and promoting healing.

Dietary Therapy

"Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." – Hippocrates. This principle is also central to Chinese Medicine, where food is considered a form of medicine.

Chinese dietary therapy focuses on optimal digestion and seasonal eating, tailored to each patient's health needs. The goal is to promote easy digestion and elimination using freshly prepared foods free of chemicals and preservatives.

We encourage intuitive eating, where listening to your body’s cravings is key. Health practitioners guide patients in understanding and responding to these signals, helping to maintain a balanced and "in tune" diet.

Traditional Chinese food therapy maintains balanced nutrition, while medical diet therapy combines nutrition and medicine to balance Yin and Yang. Both approaches aim to promote health, prevent disease, eliminate illness, and slow aging. These methods are increasingly used in clinical nutrition therapy.

Different seasons call for different foods and cooking methods. In winter, heavier, warming foods like soups and stews are preferred, while in summer, lighter, cooler foods like steamed vegetables are ideal. This seasonal variation helps keep the body in harmony with the natural environment, promoting health year-round.

Herbal Medicine

Chinese Herbal medicine prescription is an effective tool in conjunction with acupuncture treatment to capitalise on the healing processes that began in the in treatment. Herbal medicine has been used for thousands of years to rectify health and restore wellbeing. All herbs are TGA FDA approved and carefully sourced for quality and sustainability. All ingredients are legal and are derived mainly from plant and mineral based materials.

Tai Chi

Tai chi or tai qi is an ancient form of martial art of 24 forms of movement, all designed that when performed activate all of the channels and systems of the body to work in harmony together. It is a very gentle and peaceful form of exercise proven to aid balance, flexibility, lower stress and anxiety and promote immune function and wellbeing.
Chinese medicine and dietary advice is based on optimum digestion and working with seasons, natures (or temperatures) and is individually tailored to the health plan of each patient. Food isn’t complicated and can work very quickly to aid in recovery of health and digestive issues. Chinese medicine dietary therapy is focused on easy digestion, easy elimination and freshly prepared food void of chemicals and preservatives.