Ear Seeds Vie Healing

Ear Seeds Vie Healing

Ear seeds help promote stress-relief and healing in the body. And they look cute, too!

You may have seen someone wearing ear seeds lately, especially if you live here in LA where they’ve become a popular wellness trend. But they’re far from new, and have been used for a long time in acupuncture to promote healing and wellbeing.

I was first introduced to ear seeds at an acupuncturist’s clinic in San Diego almost 2 years ago. He offered to put some on me before I left after a treatment. I’d never heard of them before, but they stayed on for a week and I really liked how they felt. It’s soothing to press on them and get a little micro ear massage.

Then I began seeing them on more and more people around town, which made me wonder—

What exactly are ear seeds?

According to traditional Chinese medicine, specific points on our ears correspond to different organs and systems in our body. If you apply stimulation to those points, you can help balance the body and heal those parts that are ailing.

This method of treatment is also called auriculotherapy, or “ear therapy”—acupressure or acupuncture that focuses on ears.

Ear seeds, which have been used for over 2500 years, promote overall healing by regulating your nervous system to keep it in the Parasympathetic (what I call the Rest + Restore) state, instead of the stressed-out Sympathetic mode. This is where healing can occur.

Using ear seeds can help with stress, anxiety, pain, headaches, sleep disorders, digestive disorders, and hormonal imbalances.

Ear Seeds Vie Healing

How do the ear seeds work?

From Vie Healing, an acupuncturist clinic and wellness center in LA:

When pressure points are stimulated on nerves, they send signals through to the reflex centers of the brain. Once the reflex centers are stimulated, endorphins which are the body’s natural opiates are released.

When endorphin activity is stimulated – individuals experience relief of pain and sensations of improved well-being. Importantly, in the reward cascade, endorphin release inhibits the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, and consequently dopamine is also released.

By applying ear seeds to different points on the ear, you increase blood flow and help drive your nervous system’s awareness to that space. It’s like adding little highway signs to your injury points so your systems know where to direct their healing energy.

Your body’s really good at healing itself. It just sometimes needs to be pointed in the right direction with some attention.

What are all these special points? Well, to get specific:

» via Vie Healing «

These points on your ear are traditionally stimulated in acupuncture with needles—which I’ve done and is awesome! It put me into a deep, relaxed sleep.

But when you’re at home or don’t have access to acupuncture, what’s a gal to do?

Stick on some ear seeds, of course!

There isn’t really any scientific research on the effectiveness of ear seeds. But in the very least, rubbing the seeds gives you an ear massage, which we do know has relaxing effects. I say try they’re worth trying.

You should think of ear seeds as a tune-up tool; you don’t need to use them all the time. Using them once in a while or whenever you’re feeling off balance is great, unless you find they really help you!

Ear seeds are, traditionally, literal seeds. But I’m a big fan of these pretty gold ones.

Ear seeds are traditionally made either from seeds from the vaccaria plant, or metal.

These gold ones take it a step further and are so pretty, like jewelry. They’re  from Vie Healing (I’m genuinely a fan, not sponsored). You can buy them here on Amazon with free shipping!

Traditional ear seeds are effective but …not cute. Like, they look like what they are: little seeds stuck on with mini band-aids all over your ear. Trust me when I say that these are a MAJOR upgrade.

Ear seeds stay in place up to 5 days, and you can wear them while you sleep, shower, sweat, and swim. So their benefits are long-lasting!

Where can you get them?

It’s always a good idea to have a professional put them on for you, especially if it’s your first time in the acupressure world. (By the way, if you want to explore more tools, I highly recommend this acupressure mat and these sandals!)

Start by asking your local acupuncturists if they offer ear seeds. There are also more and more wellness spas offering them as a service, so do a quick Google for places in your area that might be able to apply them, too.

You can also put them on yourself. And if you have someone to help, even better. It’s totally something you can easily do at home!

You can buy your ear seeds on Amazon, or tons of other online stores. I’m also guessing Whole Foods or other natural stores will carry them, too. Here’s the link to my 24k gold ones!

If you’re more budget-minded, these are the best deal on well-rated ear seeds I could find.

Ear Seeds Vie Healing

How to apply your ear seeds:

Step one: get a mirror! And a pair of tweezers. Like I mentioned above, this is also easier to have a friend do for you, so enlist help if you can.

I want to note that you do not want to put the seeds inside your ear canals. These are only to be used along the outside of the ears. They should not cause any redness or irritation (and if they do, take them off).

Begin by wiping your ear clean with rubbing alcohol (I use a cotton pad).

Using your tweezers, peel an ear seed off the backing of its packaging. Hover the seed over the area you want to apply it. Then press it down onto your skin with a finger. Keep going on one ear and apply all the seeds you want, then switch ears.

According to Vie Healing, you want to apply to these points:

Ear Seeds Vie Healing

The following five basic points you want to get are the ones shown on the left, in what Vie Healing calls the Foundation Protocol. You can add as many ear seeds as you want! Feel free to progress to the middle and right stages, especially if you’re feeling sick or in pain.

  • 1 – SHEN MEN: grounds the body, calms the spirit, increases receptivity
  • 2 – POINT ZERO: resets the nervous system; brings balanced energy while calming anxiety and relaxing muscles
  • 3 – HEART: regulates blood flow, balances emotions
  • 4 – BRAIN: balances brain chemistry; controls pain perception, movement, and proper function of all organs
  • 5 – ENDOCRINE: regulates endocrine glands and hormones, maintaining homeostasis and regulating metabolism

Once they’re on, apply pressure by rubbing them in a circular motion for a few minutes! This will produce the calming benefits as well as ensure they stick in place.

The ear seeds will stay put for up to 5 days, and you can wear them while you sleep, shower, sweat, and swim.

They’ll naturally fall out on their own over time. If you want to remove them early, the easiest way is with a pair of tweezers.

Check out this video for more on how to use them:

 

@infinite.embersHave you tried ear seeds? ✨ ##TikTokWellness ##LearnOnTikTok ##TikTokTaughtMe♬ YOU’RE THE ONE – KAYTRANADA

I want to see your ear seeds if you decide to give them a try—post a photo to Instagram and tag me!

I hope they help you feel your best!

» Song Vibes «

Have you tried ear seeds? I’d love to hear what you think in the Comments below!

xo,

Amy

This post is not sponsored, but it does contain affiliate links. I truly love these products and know you will, too. Thanks for supporting the blog!

Photos by Matthew Hanley, edits by me