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English Listening Practice Alternative Medicine Ep 757 Transcript 470c32
English Listening Practice Alternative Medicine Ep 757 Transcript 470c32
About Support
Hilary P." is a professional
psychotherapist and has
practised in the United Kingdom For support files and downloads
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English listening practice you'll want to listen to anyway. That's how we like
to approach all of our English listening lessons, make it so interesting you'd
happily choose to listen to the podcast even if you weren't improving your
English language skills. Today it's all about alternative medicines, and the
interesting English vocabulary that involves. We have hundreds of podcasts
to choose from, so if you don't fancy alternative medicine you can browse
our enormous library of podcasts and pick something else here.
If you've ever wondered how on earth sticking needles in your body could
supercharge your English skills? Today's English lesson uses the topic of
acupuncture to help you with your English language learning.
You'll uncover medical mysteries, expand your vocabulary, and maybe even
unlock the secret to sleeping like a baby. Ready for the unexpected?
Follow and subscribe to our FREE English language podcast, wherever you
listen or watch your podcasts.
Listening to this lesson offers multiple benefits. You'll learn new health-
related terms, improve your listening skills, and get familiar with British
English and alternative medicine.
1. Expand health and medical vocabulary Learn new health terms like
'acupuncture', 'reflexology', and 'allergy'.
2. Improve spelling skills Enhance spelling with words like 'acupuncture',
'Chinese', and 'meridians'.
3. Boost listening comprehension Practice understanding spoken English
through engaging content.
4. Learn alternative medicine concepts Understand terms like 'qi',
'meridians', and 'blocked'.
5. Get personal anecdotes Hear about the speaker’s first acupuncture
session, making learning relatable.
6. Practice pronunciation Hear how to pronounce complex words correctly.
7. Engage with interesting content Stay motivated with intriguing topics
like acupuncture.
8. Follow real-world examples Connect English learning with practical,
everyday scenarios.
9. Expand everyday vocabulary Learn terms like 'insomnia', 'migraines',
and 'hay fever'.
10. Enhance understanding of alternative treatments Discover how
treatments like acupuncture work and their benefits.
11. Experience cultural insights Learn about acupuncture's roots in Chinese
medicine and its practice in the UK.
12. Build confidence in English Gain confidence by listening to and
understanding complex discussions.
Today we focus on health vocabulary & understand and use essential medical
terms in context. Enhance your listening skills while you improve your
comprehension by listening to a native English speaker. Experience authentic
language use: Hear natural, flowing English in context.
You'll gain immense exposure to natural, English speech. This lesson doesn't
just teach vocabulary; it immerses you in authentic language use. By
listening to a native speaker discuss acupuncture, you're absorbing
pronunciation, intonation, and sentence structure effortlessly. You're also
picking up health-related terms in context, which is far more effective than
rote memorization.
Subscribe to our podcast now for more exciting lessons and become fluent in
English!
Word Count
Acupuncture 24
English 9
People 9
Alternative 8
Means 7
About 7
Needles 7
There 7
You've probably heard of it already. It's where fine needles are inserted into
the body. And it comes from ancient Chinese medicine. That's C-H-I-N-E-S-E.
From China, in other words. Listen on also to find out my personal
experience of my first acupuncture session. It may surprise you. I hope this
is an interesting topic for you. And it's also an English lesson. So while you're
listening and your brain is doing its English language practice, I'll give you
the spelling and the meanings for any difficult words. This lesson not only
talks about an intriguing alternative treatment, but it introduces some
essential health and medical vocabulary. You'll improve your listening
comprehension and expand your English knowledge in a unique and
engaging way. Listen to the end for my experience.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help
you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start
listening now and find out how it works.
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your learning?
OK, so today I had my first experience of acupuncture. I've not had this
treatment before. But of course, as many of you know, I'm no stranger to
alternative health treatments. I'm a psychotherapist by profession, often
seen as an alternative health treatment, and I've done lots of psychotherapy
before to other people, and I've had lots of it myself. The other alternative
treatment that I've experienced, reflexology, R-E-F-L-E-X-O-L-O-G-Y. Though
again, the name of this may be different in your language. Reflexology is
where the person pays attention to your feet, to the bottoms or 'soles' of
your feet. That's S-O-L-E-S. And through massage and touch, the reflexology
can tell certain things about your body and work on parts of your body, which
are believed to be connected with areas of the feet.
And in some ways, acupuncture works on the same ideas, the same
principles. That there are flow lines through the body. And where there is ill
health or disease of some kind, this means that those flows are 'blocked'
somewhere in the body. That's B-L-O-C-K-E-D. That means 'they're stopped'.
Rather than massage or touch, acupuncture, of course, uses needles. That's
N-E-E-D-L-E-S. And the needles are used to stimulate nerves under the skin.
Many of you listening may feel that having needles inserted into your body
must be a bad thing. Perhaps you're scared, fearful of injections or
vaccinations or of giving blood for a test. Usually where a needle is stuck into
your arm. And yes, that hurts, of course. But the first thing to say about
acupuncture is that the needles are very fine, not very big. So the level of
pain or discomfort is much, much less. I wouldn't say it didn't hurt at all, but
it's not the same as having an injection. Not the same level of pain at all.
And that this flows through our bodies along particular channels. These
channels have various names. In English, 'meridians' is one name. That's M-
E-R-I-D-I-A-N, 'meridian'. And the name which comes from the Chinese
origins, the life force, is 'qi', spelt Q-I. Acupuncture is believed to restore the
flow of 'qi' and bring back healthy functioning to the body. Although it doesn't
subject itself well to being studied scientifically, I think most people would
agree that psychological experiences like stress, loss, anxiety, are very real
and have a real effect on the body even though they're hard to measure
scientifically. How would you measure 'loss' scientifically? You couldn't. But it
doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So the concept of 'qi' is perhaps a bit like this.
What can acupuncture treat? And why am I having it? Well, acupuncture can
treat a range of conditions. For example, issues like allergies, migraines, or
insomnia can be addressed. And there is evidence from various studies that
it can work. An 'allergy'? That's A-L-L-E-R-G-Y. That's when your body reacts
to a particular substance as though it's harmful, even though it's not. One
example I'm hearing a lot about at the moment in English is called 'hay
fever'. That's H-A-Y F-E-V-E-R. And 'hay fever' is when people have a
reaction to pollen in the summer. That's P-O-L-L-E-N. It's what plants put
out. I've heard lots of people complain this week in the UK about their 'hay
fever'. So the 'pollen count' must be very high. That's not something I suffer
from, fortunately. The other examples I gave of conditions that acupuncture
can treat? 'Migraines'. That's M-I-G-R-A-I-N-E-S. So a 'migraine' is a bad
headache, except it's a lot more than a bad headache for the people who
have them. They can really be a big problem for some people. If you have a
migraine, you can't really just take a painkiller and be okay. It's the kind of
headache that means that you are in bed for the afternoon. And acupuncture
is quite effective for migraines. The last one I listed? Insomnia. That's I-N-S-
O-M-N-I-A. And 'insomnia' means 'difficulty sleeping'. Of course, like any
treatment, whether or not acupuncture succeeds with something like
insomnia depends whether it actually addresses the cause. If your insomnia
is down to too much caffeine, too much coffee, but you haven't made the
connection yet, then it's unlikely that acupuncture is going to solve the
problem. But if you can't sleep because you're psychologically too hyped up,
too stressed, too worried, or your histamine is high - that's H-I-S-T-A-M-I-N-
E - then acupuncture can make a difference. Despite what the NHS website
says, medical sites like Healthline do say, "Acupuncture is an evidence-based
medicine that has been proven in literally thousands of studies". It's just it
doesn't submit very easily to the standard RCT, randomised control trials,
that are beloved of Big Pharma. So such treatments remain a little 'out in the
cold', as we might say.
Why am I having acupuncture and what was my first experience like? Well,
I'm hoping to improve my sleep and relaxation through acupuncture. I have
felt a little 'emotionally blocked' recently, although that's already started to
improve, and I'm hopeful acupuncture will help me with this. Part of the
reason my sleep isn't how I want it to be, I have high histamine - H-I-S-T-A-
M-I-N-E. It's a chemical in the body, in the brain specifically. It's actually
what gets triggered when you have allergies, though that's not the reason for
mine. But the effect of histamine is to make you feel really alert and awake,
especially at nighttime when you're trying to sleep. That's not great, is it? So
I'm hoping that acupuncture will bring down my histamine level and enable
me to sleep better.
And my experience today? Well, the acupuncturist Caroline was lovely and
took a full history. She placed needles around my ears, in my wrist and just
one in the centre of my forehead. She left the needles in for around 20
minutes while we had a very nice, calm and honest conversation. Did it hurt?
Well, actually one or two of the needles did hurt a bit going in. But the
acupuncturist saw this as significant and offered reasons why particular
needles, particular acupuncture points might be painful for me, which was
really interesting. But the pain even here was only tiny. Caroline suggested
that I monitor how I feel for the first 24 hours after my acupuncture session.
And the effect so far? I feel incredibly calm, C-A-L-M, and grounded, G-R-O-
U-N-D-E-D. And also, I feel as though I could go to bed and sleep a lot. Let's
see how it is tonight. I'll let you know how it progresses.
Goodbye
I look forward to hearing from you. Enough for now. Have a lovely day.
Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about
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