If Stress Is Blocking Your Chi, How About Giving Acupuncture a Try?

April is National Minority Health Month, and through this campaign, the nation turns its attention to improving the health and well-being of minorities.

At The Root, we salute National Minority Health Month with a three-part video series focusing on alternative health practices: acupuncture, yoga and meditation. And the videos specifically feature black practitioners.

First up: acupuncture.

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that treats patients by manipulating thin, solid needles that have been inserted into acupuncture points in the skin. By stimulating these points, the thought is that acupuncture can correct imbalances in the flow of qi, or chi (pronounced chee), through channels known as meridians.

Dumisani Kambi-Shamba is a licensed acupuncturist at the Life Rx Pain Clinic in New York City.

Felice León is multimedia editor at The Root.