The story behind Aida Acupuncture

Maddy Carey built a successful career in music and events but yearned for a better life balance and a vocation that helped people.

She’d always believed in complementary medicine; having previously trained as a reiki practitioner, but her first experience of acupuncture left such a lasting impression that she became fascinated by the world of Chinese Medicine.

When lockdown arrived and everything ground to a halt, she seized the moment and signed up for a three-year degree in Acupuncture at one of the UK’s most prestigious colleges. In October 2023, fully qualified, she launched Aida Acupuncture in Dalston; helping people with a range of conditions from stress and anxiety to fertility, muscular skeletal issues, migraines and even hay fever.

She said: “My mum is quite a hippy, she runs a craft business and, as a child, I was very determined not to be that way - I was going to grow up and get a job in the city but in the end that life wasn’t me.

“I really wanted to do something a little bit more meaningful; something that can have a marked impact on people’s lives and I longed to start a business. In 2020 I bit the bullet and started a degree – just as the pandemic hit! It meant I had a lot of time on my hands to learn.

“Having acupuncture is such a strange feeling; there’s nothing else that compares to it - afterwards you’ve this internal energy – it’s great for stress and anxiety.”

Maddy Carey, founder of Aida Acupuncture

The Chinese Medicine view is that emotions are one of the biggest causes of stress or imbalance in the body and that can impact your physical health.  The theory is there are channels or meridians that run through the body that start and finish on your hands and feet and are responsible for various organs and systems within the body. If that system is out of whack you would seek to redress the balance by stimulating specific points.

Medical studies in the West have found acupuncture needles release endorphins and are mood enhancing and biochemically beneficial for the central nervous system.

Studio at The Printhouse building in Dalston

Aida Acupuncture is based in The Printhouse building in Dalston. The first session typically lasts an hour and a half to allow for questions about a patient’s health history.

Business is buzzing, as word gets around. 

Maddy, 36, added: “I get amazing feedback – people tell me that after their sessions they have increased energy. I really love it – every day is so interesting and I’m learning all the time. I always start by taking a look at the tongue – you can tell a lot from someone’s tongue about different organs and systems.”

Aida also offers cosmetic acupuncture to lift and rejuvenate – a modern take on acupuncture helping to restore skin on the face and reduce fine lines.

Local Buyers Club members save 15% at Aida Acupuncture (info here).

www.aida-acupuncture.com.

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