Today’s topic completely fascinates me and I just had to share it with you. Did you know that any needlework like knitting or patchwork can help you with your heart and toothache? Personally, I used to be much more crafty when I was younger, and then life slowly took that away from me. However recently I’ve been thinking to start doing something again, and I think now I know how to choose it.
Historically, women in many cultures and traditions would always do something with their hands, whether for fun, for home decoration, or for family’s needs. All of the women all over the world would do one or the other sort of needlework with their hands – sewing, embroidery, knitting, weaving, spinning. Many women now starting to slowly come back to this ancient leisure time, and it is beautiful. I believe it is a part of the feminine awakening.
Mental Health Benefits of Needlework
Besides a specific benefit of each needlework that I will share in a little bit, there is an overall undeniable amazing mental health effect that we usually notice right away. Once you start doing something creative with your hands, especially if it is something as little and detailed, it really calms us down and helps us cope with worries and anxiety. It is hands meditation if you wish. Long and monotonous crafting with repeated hand movements soothes our troubled minds and brings us peace. So, if you worry a lot, arts and crafts is your prescription.
As we do that, our heart rhythm slows down, muscle tension goes away, we relax and our nervous system does a big exhale. This type of occupation also distracts us from some daily worries and helps us rest after a long busy day. So maybe, next time you are staying in at night instead of a movie try to knit a scarf.
Needlework is a very powerful tool that can be used to calm down our minds and take away our emotional tension. It is basically a very affordable and very pleasant antidepressant.
Physical Health Benefits of Needlework
Besides already pretty amazing mental health benefits, needlework improves woman’s physical health. How does it work? Whenever we do any arts and crafts with our hands, especially needlework, we stimulate certain points on our hands, palms, and fingers that are connected to our internal organs and various body systems.
That means that needlework is not just a fun way to create something beautiful with your hands, but also a real therapy that can improve your mental and physical state, calm down the mind and just put us at ease. That would explain why since ancient times all kinds of handiwork was considered the best way to maintain and cultivate woman’s nature and energy. It helped keep women in balance with themselves and with the world.
Hand Pressure Points Geography
Here is a picture of a palm with all of the acupressure health points. And as you can see, they are all connected to a certain part of our body. This is an ancient healing system that is accessible to us and is literally in our own hands. Let’s look at all of them and what exactly they are connected with.

1, 22, 27, 51 – brain, endocrine glands;
1, 3, 16, 17, 29 – vision, respiration, vocal cords, memory, intuition, feeling of happiness, pride, trust; spiritual development and adaptive personality traits, clearing from damage, evil eye;
6, 9, 11, 19, 49 – respiratory, hearing, mucous membranes;
8, 26, 36, 39, 48, 57, 66 – circulatory and lymphatic, urogenital and hormonal systems, hair;
5, 10, 13, 28, 38, 44, 49, 59 – genitals, limbs, nails, nervous system;
15, 23, 37, 45, 46, 47, 55, 60, 67, 68 – peripheral nervous system, intestines, liver, organs of smell, touch. Taking away feelings of overwork, fatigue;
4, 14, 25, 34, 50, 56, 65 – immune system, spine, skeletal system, removal of inferiority complexes;
20, 21, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 40,41, 52, 54, 61, 64, 68 – activation of the body’s protective qualities;
1-12 points are most actively involved in sewing interior design items, burning, carving and painting on wood, crocheting, carpet weaving, and weaving, beading.
6-23 points are massaged from macrame weaving, basket weaving, knitting, making bobbin lace, patchwork, machine embroidery, making furniture, and artificial flowers.
22-51 points are activated when sewing clothes, tatting, knitting on machines, creating needle lace, weaving using a pattern, hand embroidery, modeling from clay, making toys (not stuffed ones).
49-68 points work when sewing stuffed toys, needle cushions, dummies, pillows, knitting on a “fork”, making embroidered lace, chasing, artwork on stone and metal, making leather appliqués and making other leather products, creating hair clips, tapestries, fringes, pompons and tassels, garment trimmings.
Therapeutic Effects of Various Needlework
Let’s take a look at each type of needlework and find out what kind of healing it can bring us.
Hand Embroidery
Hand embroidery can help with headaches and ear-ringing, mental exhaustion, nervous tension, inflammation of sex organs, sprains, occupational diseases of hands and legs, eating disorders, UTIs, diseases of circulatory and lymphatic systems. Protects from external negative influences.
Macrame
Macrame treats heart and kidney diseases, nervous headaches, stomach pains. It relieves spasmodic muscle pains, helps with pain in the bones due to old injuries, relieves irritation, anxiety, hunger cramps, drowsiness, helps with hormonal disorders. It is not recommended to do macrame for people with sensitive skin and poor blood clotting.
Bead Weaving
Weaving with beads treats insomnia, distracted attention, headaches, and toothaches, metabolic disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, convulsions.
Sewing
The strongest effect of sewing is on the eyes, hands, and indirectly on our brain. Additionally, heart diseases associated with rhythm disturbances are treated, blood pressure decreases, intracranial pressure normalizes. It prevents and alleviates nervous breakdowns, shocks, headaches, insomnia, fatigue. Constipation and bloating are reduced, and blood composition improves.
Sewing interior accessories
It relieves headaches caused by weather changes, treats diseases of the kidneys, spleen, liver, relieves eye fatigue, swelling of the eyelids and fingers, tinnitus, stimulates metabolic processes in the body and the functioning of the stomach.
Stuffed Toys Sewing
Sewing something soft like stuffed toys treats allergies, depression, aggressiveness, mania, diseases of the digestive tract, lethargy, drowsiness, hand diseases. It helps with physical and mental fatigue, impaired coordination, disturbances in the functioning of the vestibular system. And it also helps with non-hereditary blood diseases, dysfunctions of the brain, loss of orientation in time, as well as reduces pressure.
Patchwork
Patchwork treats headaches, various tumors in the body, chills, allergies to wool, leg pain and cramps, colds, and inflammation of the respiratory tract, vocal cord diseases, nosebleeds, poor blood clotting, poor circulation in the legs, lethargy.
Knitting
Knitting on needles treats cardiovascular diseases, digestive disorders, toothaches, and headaches, inflammation of the kidneys, diseases of the nervous system, helps with spinal injuries, concussion, promotes an early recovery from depression, and helps to endure severe shocks.
Crochet
Crocheting helps to get rid of headaches, toothaches, and ear pains. It treats colds and heart diseases, sclerosis, retardation of nervous processes, liver and kidney diseases, osteochondrosis, fatigue, and pain due to old injuries.
Tatting
Tatting helps in the treatment of inflammatory processes, headaches, hypertension, leg cramps, sprains, joint pains. It also helps with polyarthritis, nosebleeds, skin hypersensitivity, disturbances in the functioning of the vestibular system, lesions of the central nervous system.
Lace weaving
It treats inflammatory headaches, toothaches and ear pains, eczema, internal ulcers, and wounds. And it also helps leg cramps, inflammation and bowel disease, inflammation in the urinary system, inflammatory diseases of the nose. It can help with general irritability, and angina pectoris. It helps to relieve fear, cope with various complexes, inhibit the aging of the hearing organs and the general aging of the body. Relieves tinnitus.
Needlepoint
Needle lace helps with gut dysbiosis, prolapse of internal organs, allergies to food and tissues. It also helps with cramps of the face and neck muscles, weakening of vision due to nervous shock. It reduces irritability, treats impaired coordination, respiratory tract diseases, inflammation of the lymphatic system, high intracranial pressure.
How do you like so many types of needlework? And I am most curious if you are going to try some. I will for sure. It is nice to know that some women still and some women again take upon needlework. My great-grandmother used to do that a lot. And my mother knows how to sew so well she was making all of the outfits for me when I was little. Many women who do that now simply find relaxation and inspiration in it, away from the busy outside world and stressful career. Besides, every handiwork activates our right brain hemisphere that is directly responsible for our creativity and femininity.
When a woman knits, sews, or just simply creates, she gets in touch with her feminine nature and creates harmony inside of her. The creative flow brings a good mood and good energy, which then transfers to the work, and then to anything around her. So, by doing needlework like this a woman creates positive energy and makes the world a better place. Like always 😉
If you are still not convinced, there is a scientific study that proves that any sort of work with our hands improves our well being. It normalizes hormones in the blood which leads to overall woman’s health improvement.
Secret Feminine Meditation
Any type of handiwork is so beneficial for a woman’s health. A woman is very emotional, and by repeating the same movements, she calms herself down and encourages relaxation. It is basically a secret feminine meditation, a ritual. When we do needlework, the outside world stops. Our thoughts stop. And it is only us and our work with hands, so we become calmer, more stable, and more tender. Because when we do needlework we communicate to our body that everything is good and calm. There is enough time for things. It brings us to the moment of here and now. Here is me, here is my home, and here are my hands creating beauty.
On top of all these amazing health benefits, this can be a great side income if you want it to be. And you will always have something to give as a gift that will be one of a kind. You can find new friends doing something similar and participate in clubs and contests, festivals, and exhibitions. I don’t know about you, but I am doing a trip to the closest arts and crafts store today…
I loved this article! As a young woman who has spent most of her life doing various kinds of needlework, this was really lovely for me to read. I also really enjoyed learning about how the different kinds of needlework can help heal various aspects of our bodies and psyche; thank you again!
It’s nice that you mentioned how needlework is a very powerful tool that could be used to calm down minds and take away emotional tension. My wife wants to pickup a new hobby and she is thinking of needlework, which I also think is a good idea. Once she’s done with her first few works, I am thinking of framing them up by asking for needlework framing services.
Hi Luke! Yes, needlework or any small arts and crafts work is very relaxing and meditative for women. I love the idea of framing too!