THE ACUPUNCTURE FACIAL

Rooted in ancient Chinese medicine, the aim is to place needles at meridian points in the body to unblock your life force, or ‘qi’. Acupuncture is one of the few complementary therapy techniques that’s successfully crossed over into mainstream medicine. NICE guidelines recommend considering acupuncture for chronic tensiontype headaches and migraines, and it’s sometimes available on the NHS for the treatment of various physical and mental health conditions. As for the evidence – it’s complicated. While studies have found that acupuncture offers a greater benefit in pain relief than a placebo, the evidence isn’t considered to be strong. In an article published in the BMJ last year, the medical director of the British Medical Acupuncture Society, Mike Cummings, blamed the absence of strong evidence on a lack of commercial interest, while others argued the benefits are too small to be attributed to anything other than a placebo effect.

David Peters was working in the film industry when he discovered acupuncture on a trip to China.

For the first time since I began this energy quest, I’m nervous. While acupuncture has been around for ages, its ability to turn the human body into a pin cushion has marked this treatment as other in my mind. But Peters is passionate about bringing the benefits of acupuncture to more people, and I’m game.

He eases me in with a scalp and shoulder massage, then applies a fragrant serum before inserting the tiny needles into my face. I expect to feel something – a sharp pain, a scratch – but I don’t. He works his way around my face before moving on to my shoulders, hands and feet. Warm sensations flood to the areas where the needles are and I feel overcome by a woozy feeling – the kind that I’m used to following a deep-tissue massage.

I’m only vaguely aware of the passing of time and 45 minutes feels like five. Needles removed, my skin is glowing, and the niggling tension I get in my shoulder has disappeared. I feel drowsy, but once my clothes are back on, its given way to a calm, quiet energy far removed from the caffeine-induced kind. If this is what energy healing is supposed to feel like, I’m all in. £290 for a 70-minute treatment; davidpeterslondon.com