Acupuncture in Altona | Classical Acupuncture, Women’s Health & Emotional Healing with Dr Karina Smith
- Mar 23
- 7 min read
Hi, it’s Dr Karina Smith (TCM) here,
I have some exciting news to share...
After living and working in Melbourne’s inner west for over 15 years (Yarraville, Seddon and Newport), I’m now offering Classical acupuncture in Altona, just two blocks from the beautiful Altona beach.
If you’ve been searching for acupuncture in Altona or a more holistic approach to your health, this new clinic space has been created for exactly that.
My services include:
and NLP coaching
to support a wide range of health concerns including chronic pain, women’s health, fertility, stress, fatigue and digestive disorders.
More than that, my work focuses on something deeper—supporting the connection between emotional health and physical illness, and helping the body process patterns that may have been held for years.
If you’re looking for acupuncture in Altona, Altona North, Point Cook, Williamstown, Seaholme or Werribee, my clinic is conveniently located just minutes from the beach.
Who I Help at My Altona Acupuncture Clinic
At my acupuncture clinic in Altona, I support people experiencing:
Chronic pain and tension
Stress, anxiety and emotional overwhelm
Women’s health and hormonal imbalances
Fertility and reproductive health
Digestive issues and fatigue
Chronic illness and autoimmune conditions
Acupuncture in Altona for Emotional Health
Back when I was still studying my Chinese Medicine degree, many of my lecturers would say that the root cause of physical illnesses, was often unprocessed emotions in the body; anger, grief, worry, anxiety, heartbreak, and fear.
In classical Chinese medicine, emotional experiences are not separate from the body. Grief, anger, fear and unresolved life stress can become embedded in the nervous system and organ networks over time.When these experiences remain unprocessed, they may eventually manifest as physical symptoms — from chronic pain and fatigue to hormonal imbalance or digestive issues.
This is a foundational tenet of Chinese Medicine, and over the years I have been in practice, this is something I can truly attest to, and has become the main focus of my work with clients.
Nobody really gets taught how to process emotions, and depending on the era you were born (especially in Australia) you may have been taught that any emotional expression was bad, and learned to suppress or minimise your emotional experience.
As a Classical Acupuncturist, one of my diagnostic tools of gathering information is to listen to a person's emotional history.
When a patient says to me, " I started experiencing signs and symptoms of pain/chronic illness 3 years ago", the first thing I want to know is, what was going on for them 3 years ago?
And after asking these questions, we usually find out that a big life event, life stress, grief episode or something similar had happened and triggered the illness to begin.
Classical Acupuncture vs TCM Acupuncture: What’s the Difference?
It is most exciting that I can now meet someone and they already know of the existence of Acupuncture (we can thank our chiropractic and osteopath brothers and sisters for bringing our tools into the mainstream, even though they call it "dry needling").
Most people would associate Acupuncture as being great for pain relief. However most people don’t know what Classical acupuncture is?
TCM Acupuncture, (which is an export of Communist China in the 50's), is a consolidated and standardised version of the complete system of Acupuncture that dates all the way back to the Han Dynasty in China, but it has had many of the meridian systems removed from its' text books and teachings.
TCM is fantastic acupuncture, but it is missing the ancient acupuncture channels that:
work best to remove painful muscular blockages in the body affecting mobility (sinew channels)
clear out old stuck emotions from the body (luo channels)
help to balance and heal chronic degenerative diseases (divergents)
Classical Acupunture is the complete set of these channels:
Primary Channels
Sinew channels
Eight Extraordinary channels
Luo channels
Divergent channels
Most modern TCM schools only teach the Primary channels and a little bit of the Eight extraordinary channels.
There is a big revival going on in the world now, to bring these lost channels back to TCM and help more practitioners use the full and complete set of channels to help their patients even more than they are already.
Without all of these ancient channels in an Acupuncturists' tool kit, they are missing vital treatment approaches to really help a person get back to good health.
I was fortunate enough to partake in a 6 month intensive mentorship with world renowned Classical Acupuncturist Ann Cecil Sterman in 2023, and have been learning and practicing using these Classical Acupuncture channels in my clinic ever since.
Every day I am in awe of how powerful this medicine truly is and the ways in which it is helping people to experience more emotional and physical freedom, so they can get back to living a rich and beautiful life.
Rather than simply treating symptoms, treatments aim to release deeper patterns that may have developed through stress, trauma or prolonged emotional strain. Classical Acupuncture also includes all of the meridian systems that have been lost through history, or eradicated from different Chinese dynasties or models of modern education.
How Acupuncture in Altona can help support Stress and Emotions
I hope that you will be able to relate to some of the following experiences that can happen after a big stressful life event:
Losing your appetite after going through a dramatic breakup.
Not being able to sleep through the night during a stressful period of intense work.
Getting a migraine after an emotionally taxing life experience.
Having nightmares after something fearful has happened in your life.
Developing food allergies or skin rashes/breakouts after a stressful life event.
Can you relate?
Hopefully these symptoms all settle again when life calms down or a person has an opportunity to properly process what happened.
BUT, in cases where the emotion does not necessarily get the space, attention or capacity to be met and processed, long accumulations of stress, fear, even PTSD can build up in the body and contribute to the development of physical illness, autoimmune disease, inflammatory conditions and even some cancers.
Yes, genetics are always going to play a role into the development of illness and disease, but with what all of the ancient Chinese Medicine texts say, along with the incredible work of people such as Gabor Mate, Bessel Van Der Kolk and his profound text "The Body Keeps the Score" and others in that growing field of mind/body science, we know that unhealed trauma and limiting self beliefs do affect the body over time and form part of a person's health story.
And we also now know that our genes are merely the potential of what might happen, but will not necessarily be activated into illness development, even if something like breast cancer does run in the family.
How Classical Acupuncture in Altona Helps Process Stored Emotions
In Classical Acupuncture, we understand that the body quite literally stores old unprocessed emotions in its tissues and in the blood.
That can sound like a very strange concept, but consider instances when your body might tense up, or get very hot or cold or stiff as a fear response when you might be in a location where something traumatic happened, or in the presence of someone who has caused you great distress.
The body is often reacting way before the mind can even register what is happening in the environment.
Talk therapies such as counselling or psychology can be a brilliant way to start learning about how and why a particular event has deeply affected a person, and can help a person gain fantastic ground in their healing journey.
At some point, when there has been stored emotions in the body, we have to go to the actual body, not just the mind. Classical Acupuncture is a wonderful somatic modality for this, because we go directly to the body where this old pattern is stored.
As a practitioner, I don't need the patient to re tell their story, or be re-triggered by sharing the details of an event with me, I can feel their pulses, and look for visible signs on the body that tell me which channels have been holding all of this emotion, and then we can do an Acupuncture treatment to help the body have a physical release.
Acupuncture works through the nervous system and energetic channels of the body to restore balance. Many patients find that treatments not only reduce physical symptoms but also create a sense of emotional clarity, calm and resilience.
I am now offering my Acupuncture and NLP coaching services at my home clinic in Altona, and I welcome patients from surrounding areas Point Cook, Altona North, Williamstown, Seaholme, Newport, Werribee and Geelong.
Acupuncture Services Available in Altona:
New patient Acupuncture consultation (plus follow up acupuncture sessions)
This is for all new patients coming for Acupuncture and herbal medicine treatment plans
60 min Initial appointment fee $180
45 min Followup sessions $130
Private health HICAPS rebates available onsite
Learn more about Acupuncture in Altona HERE
Acupuncture + Massage
This is a 60 minute sessions perfect for relaxation and Nervous System regulation
Relaxation massage, cupping and body work + Nervous system calming Acupuncture
$160 per session
Learn more about Acupuncture and Massage in Altona HERE
NLP 1:1 coaching sessions
60 minute one off sessions to help you get back itno alignment with yourself, break through some old patterns, unlock blockages that are stunting your potential, and create strategies for growth and success
$250 per session
Learn more about NLP coaching in Altona HERE
The Alignment Series coaching program
4 x 60 minutes NLP/Enneagram style coaching sessions
Customised to your specific goals and needs
Help you to unlock your greater potential, build more confidence and courage, and elevate you to success.
Program Investment $850
Learn more about NLP coaching in Altona HERE
The Alignment Transformation Program
6 x 90 min Classical Acupuncture + NLP 6 sessions
Premium offering combining all of Karina's skills and tools to help you rise and thrive
Customised to your specific goals and needs
Each session starts with NLP/Enneagram coaching followed by restful integration and Acupuncture to consolidate the session
Learn more about NLP coaching in Altona HERE
I am also offering Acupuncture on Mondays in Newport at my favourite yoga studio Think. Focus. Act.
Click HERE to find out more about my Newport Acupuncture services.
If something in this resonated with you… I’d love to support you.
Whether you’re moving through something physical, emotional, or simply feel that your body is asking for a different kind of care, you’re warmly invited to experience this work.
My clinic in Altona is a space to slow down, to be listened to, and to begin restoring balance—gently, and in your own time.
And, I insist you allow for an extra 10 minutes after your session to walk to the end of my street to sit and observe the incredible ocean right at my door before you race back to your life!
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