Both body and ear acupuncture do more than just reduce the experience of pain. While pain relief is the more immediate effect, both procedures also facilitate the internal healing processes of the body. Acupuncture and auriculotherapy treat the deeper underlying condition, not just the symptomatic representations of the problem. They affect deeper physiological changes by facilitating the natural self-regulating homeostatic mechanism of the body. Stimulating a given acupoint can either diminish overactive bodily functions or activate physiological processes that were deficient.

Body acupuncture is based upon a system of 12 meridians, six yang and six yin which run along the surface of body as lines of energy forces.

The acupuncture points are anatomically defined holes in the skin through which energy flows.