Can a seed in your ear banish anxiety?
It may sound daft, but that’s the claim of a bizarre treatment. So did our writer find her inner calm...
KATE MoSS is a fan, Penelope Cruz has been p ictured w earing them and it goes w ithout saying that Gwyneth Paltrow is a devotee.
I’m t alking a bout e ar s eeds, t iny b eads that a re s aid t o h elp h eal t he b ody w hen placed on pressure points in your ears.
A h uge h it w ith A -listers, e ar s eeds a re used i n a uriculotherapy t reatments — a branch of alternative medicine based on the belief that the ear is a powerful microsystem that reflects the entire body. It’s a little like reflexology, in which pressure points on the feet are massaged to heal ailments elsewhere.
So far, so Gwyneth. But is there a nything in it?
‘Ear seeds are really having their moment,’ s ays o livia I nge, a m odel a nd It-girl t urned a lternative t herapist w ho is about to place the first seed — a ctually an adhesive-backed gold bead — on to my right ear.
‘I’m going for the heart point, keep still,’ she says.
I h old m y b reath a s s he a dvances w ith a pair of poised tweezers. I’ve come to see olivia as I have been struggling with i nsomnia a nd a nxiety, w hich I can usually manage by getting fresh a ir a nd e xercise. Y et r ecently I’ve been waking up in the night and finding I’m unable to get back to sleep.
It’s making me moody and groggy a nd I c an’t f ocus. R eluctant to g o d own t he s leeping p ill r oute if I can help it, I’ve been casting around f or s omething — a nything — else that might help.
Could these dainty little beads hold the key to inner calm and a good night’s sleep? I’m feeling slightly nervous as I arrive at urban Retreat, the upmarket wellness clinic in Knightsbridge, West london, where olivia adorns clients with ear seeds for £120 (including an hour’s c onsultation). S he i nstantly puts me at ease with her surprisingly down-to-earth manner.
Having o nce s trutted t he c atwalk for t he l ikes o f V ivienne W estwood and Alexander McQueen, she went o n t o s tudy a t t he C ollege o f Integrated Chinese Medicine.
‘The ear is an extraordinary nexus o f e nergy t hrough w hich t he entire body can be treated,’ she says. ‘ It’s a c omplete m icrosystem and a ll t he o rgans a nd b ody p arts are represented within its folds.’
So, s ays o livia, c ompressing k ey points o f t he e ar b y a pplying s eeds (or needles, in acupuncture) can alleviate all manner of ailments, from headaches to back pain.
Auricular acupuncture, while rooted in Chinese medicine, was developed by French neurologist dr Paul Nogier in the Fifties.
But G P d r d iana G all i s s ceptical. ‘There’s a l ack o f s cientific e vidence on the success rate or effectiveness of many forms of auriculotherapy, including ear seeds,’ she s ays. N evertheless, s tudies have s uggested t here c ould b e s omething i n i t. R esearch f rom Sao P aulo, i n B razil, f or e xample, found that giving nurses a uriculotherapy — via needles, seeds o r p lain o ld s ticky t ape — reduced a nxiety l evels. E ven t he u.S. m ilitary u ses t he t echnique i n ‘battlefield acupuncture’ to treat pain in troops.
olivia u ses t iny, 2 4 c t g old b eads, but in theory they can be made from a nything ( traditionally s eeds from the vaccaria plant).
‘I like gold because it has a warming a nd s trengthening e ffect,’ she s ays, b efore p ressing s eeds o n ‘Shen M en’, ‘ Point Z ero’, ‘ insomnia point’ and ‘heart point’.
Shen M en, a ka t he ‘ divine g ate’, is supposedly linked to general wellbeing, and Point Zero, like a tiny reset button, is meant to b alance my energy levels and hormones.Theinsomniapointand heart point promote sleep and soothe emotions.
olivia says she can also ‘read’ ears for indications of problems throughout t he b ody. ‘ There’s r edness in your upper ear in a spot which m ight i ndicate s ciatica,’ s he says, genuinely throwing me. I have t wo b ulging, t orn d iscs in my back whicho ccasionally give me torturous sciatica.
For olivia, it’s all about energy flows. ‘Every living phenomenon is about vibrations, the flow of energy. With any illness or pain there’s a blockageinthatenergy,’ she tells me. ‘ So y ou u nblock t hat b y a pplying pressure to the right points.’ For t he m ore p ractically m inded, it’s worth considering the vagus nerve, which controls our parasympathetic n ervous s ystem, o verseeing ‘rest-and-digest’ functions and h elping t o r egulate e verything from blood pressure to sweating. ‘The ear is the only place with access t o t he v agus n erve t hrough the skin,’ says olivia. ‘So by s timulating it at key points I can boost the relaxation response and help you feel much calmer.’ A small study at the university of leeds found that s timulating the vagus nerve through the ear u sing e lectrical currents ledparticipants to report better moods, more sleep andan improved quality of life. olivia fell in love with ear seeds in the run-up to her final exams. ‘I was stressed, a nd o ne o f t he lecturers offered to put a silver seed on Shen Men, a n a ll-round s tressrelieving point,’ she says. ‘I calmed down, found my focus and was able to hold my pen without shaking!’ She t ells m e t o k eep t he s eeds on for at least five days. ‘They should s tay o n i n t he s hower — j ust don’t s crub t hem,’ s he s ays. ‘ They’ll give y ou a l ow d ose o f s timulation, and w henever y ou’re f eeling i mbalanced, just give them a squeeze.’
I diligently keep my seeds on for five days, and they cling on like blingy barnacles through s hampoos and swimming trips (under a cap).
But I have to say I don’t e xperience the dramatic effect olivia d id. I h ave a t errible n ight’s sleep s traight a fter t he t reatment — b ut, s lowly, n ight b y n ight, I d o start to sleep more soundly.
I f eel c almer, t oo. W hether t his i s down t o t he e ar s eeds, h ormones, ‘just o ne o f t hose t hings’ o r a c ombination o f f actors, i t’s h ard t o s ay. But a pparently i t’s b est t o h ave a t least two or three treatments to fully feel the benefits.
dr Gall suggests there’s little harm i n u sing e ar s eeds a longside any t reatments p rescribed b y y our doctor if you think they might help. ‘ They’re g enerally s afe t o u se and don’t have any known sideeffects. Just ensure you use a trained therapist.’
Would I try it again? I think it might be worth giving it a go, at least to see if the effects are any stronger t he s econd o r t hird t ime around. After all, if it’s good enough for Penelope and Kate . . .