The Powers of 12

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TL;DR: Twelve visits to any of the treatment modalities at Very Well in Baltimore, MD (Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, PEMF, Red Light Therapy, Modern Sound Bath, Infrared Sauna + Salt Room) can make all the difference!

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© Copyright 2025 by Dr. David Meredith, D.Ac.

People come to Very Well for many reasons. Some are drawn to the power of acupuncture or massage therapy. Others are curious about modern therapies like Red Light, PEMF, Modern Sound Bath, or Infrared Sauna + Salt Room. Some want relief from chronic pain, while others are looking to boost energy, reduce stress, optimize aging, or maintain balance in their life.

No matter why they come, or what modality they choose, the same question can hang in the air: Will this work for me?

And it’s a fair question. We live in a world where the loudest voices promise instant satisfaction—one pill, one workout, one session, and everything will change! So when change doesn’t happen overnight, disappointment can follow. Someone tries a treatment once or twice, feels only a little relief, and assumes the therapy itself has failed. They may drift away, telling themselves, “I guess acupuncture didn’t work for me. PEMF didn’t work. The Modern Sound Bath didn’t work.”

But here’s what we’ve learned after years of helping people achieve their health and wellness goals. The problem is almost never the chosen modality; it’s almost always that healing was never given enough time to take hold. True change requires time, rhythm, and repetition. The nervous system learns through consistent signals. Cells adapt through steady inputs. Muscles, circulation, mood, sleep… all of it responds best when given the time and space to build momentum.

That’s why for almost any goal, we strongly recommend a 12-visit foundation. It’s the container big enough for your body to remember what balance feels like, for your mind to trust the process, and for your spirit to feel supported along the way.

Healing Works Best as a Rhythm

It’s understandable that the first visit to any sort of session can feel like a test. You’re curious, maybe cautious, watching to see if something happens. By the third or fourth visit, if you’ve stayed with it, the relationship begins to change. The treatment stops being an event to evaluate and becomes a rhythm to lean on.

Rhythm matters! The nervous system learns faster when it gets consistent, regular, strong input, not sporadic or half-hearted interventions. Muscles, connective tissue, and circulation respond more deeply when sessions layer on top of one another instead of starting and stopping. And emotionally, something shifts when you stop asking, “Was that one worth it?” and instead notice how much easier it is to show up, relax, and let the process unfold.

Why 12 Visits?

Twelve visits—ideally over six weeks for most modalities—gives us the foundation on which we can build real change. Here’s what it makes possible:

• Relief and Root Causes
  In the early sessions, the focus is usually on the symptom or goal that brought you to Very Well. As we build momentum, we can shift toward addressing the deeper imbalances that caused those issues in the first place.

• Seeing Patterns Clearly
  In a handful of visits, it’s hard to tell whether an improvement is coincidence or causation. Over 12, patterns emerge. You can see with greater clarity how the modality fits into your life, and what makes symptoms flare or fade during that time. In this way, the symptom can become your teacher.

• Adjusting the Strategy
  Healing isn’t one-size-fits-all. In some modalities, like acupuncture or the Modern Sound Bath sessions, 12-visit arc gives us the chance to try different approaches, track your response, and refine the plan so each treatment becomes more precise and more powerful.

• Learning Your Own Healing
  Twelve visits aren’t just about what we do—they’re about what you discover. Clients often notice new connections: how sleep affects mood, how stress affects pain, how small lifestyle shifts multiply the benefits of each session. This goes beyond “symptom as teacher” to the whole-life insights that help you live more fully.

• Confidence in the Process
  Perhaps most importantly, 12 visits give you the confidence that you’ve given your healing a real trial. Instead of wondering if you stopped too soon, you’ll know you gave yourself the time, space, and care to see what’s truly possible. Your wellness is worth it!

Healing Isn’t Linear, and That’s a Good Thing

When people expect healing to be a straight line, they often misinterpret what’s actually happening. “Two steps forward, one step back” isn’t failure, it’s how complex systems reorganize themselves.

A flare-up after progress can mean your nervous system is recalibrating. Feeling unusually tired may signal that your body is finally prioritizing repair. And sometimes, the improvements are subtle at first: sleep deepens, your stress response softens, or you react differently to something that would normally overwhelm you.

In one or two visits, these shifts can go unnoticed. Over 12 visits, the improvement becomes clear.

Making Progress Visible

We live in a culture that prizes the dramatic turnaround, but health goals are met over time, comprised of quieter victories that build on one another. And, as all of our treatments are holistic, the desired result may not be the first result.

That’s why, no matter what the concern was that brought you to Very Well, we encourage simple, whole-life symptom and system tracking. Jot down pain levels, energy, sleep, mood, or anything that feels different or important. Many phone apps make this easier. Over time, these data points reveal the arc of your healing in a way memory alone can’t. Progress photos are also valuable, even just to see the spirit return to your eyes, and you could take a selfie after every session.

Because progress can be gradual, and it’s the nature of the human mind to adapt to change, many clients are surprised when they look back after 12 visits and realize just how far they’ve come.

Overcoming the Urge to Quit Too Soon

We know the objections: I’m too busy. It’s too expensive. I just want quick relief.

We also know this: you’ve committed to structured care in other areas of health. You’ve gone to the dentist every six months. You’ve shown up for weeks of physical therapy. You may have invested months at a gym. Why? Because you understood that repetition was required.

Your body deserves the same patience here. If you’ve ever given weeks or months to another kind of treatment, you already know how much consistency matters. Imagine what 12 visits to any of Very Well’s powerful, evidence-backed modalities could unlock in you.

And remember, when you stop too soon, the time and resources you’ve already invested don’t get the chance to pay off. Committing to a full course makes the value of those early treatments compound, because each one is amplified by the next.

A Lasting Partnership

Healing at Very Well isn’t a prescription we hand down, it’s a collaboration. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to overhaul your life.

Your part is simply showing up.

Our part is to deeply listen, guide, adjust, and walk with you as your system shifts. Twelve visits give us enough context to learn together how your body responds, what habits help or hinder, and what kind of rhythm will keep you well.

For Every Modality We Offer

These truths hold whether your path at Very Well begins with Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy, Red Light Therapy, a Modern Sound Bath, or a session in our Infrared Sauna + Salt Room. Each therapy is more effective when it becomes a rhythm rather than a one-time experiment. Twelve visits will give your chosen modality enough time to reveal what it can really do. (And we’ve seen them do a whole lot for clients who commit to the process!)

What Comes After 12 Visits?

Twelve visits are not the finish line, they’re the foundation. By that point, we’ve had enough time to see your unique response, to refine the strategy, and to notice which benefits are starting to hold steady. This is when we pause and reflect together.

We’ll ask: What has improved? What still needs attention? What have you learned about your own patterns and possibilities? For many clients, this is the moment they realize just how much ground they’ve gained, sometimes in ways they didn’t expect.

From here, the path forward can take many forms. Some people are ready to stretch their sessions into a maintenance plan, coming less frequently to keep keep their results and prevent setbacks. Others may choose to continue more intensively if they’re still working through something significant. And others blend in additional modalities, layering acupuncture with red light, sound, or PEMF to support different aspects of their health.

The point is not to keep you in endless treatment. It’s to give you a strong enough foundation and enough information that you can make an informed decision about what comes next, based on the progress you can actually feel.

Giving Yourself the Chance

Healing isn’t really about a specific number of visits. It’s about giving yourself enough time for momentum to build, for your body to remember balance, for your mind to trust the process, and for your spirit to be supported by steady progress.

The real question isn’t “Does this work?” We know it works. We see meaningful results every day.

The real question is, “Will I give myself the chance to find out how it works for me?”

Twelve visits give you that chance. It’s a commitment that allows you to stop guessing, stop second-guessing, and actually experience the shift for yourself. At the end of them, you’ll know where you stand. You’ll have evidence in your own body, and you’ll be able to decide—confidently and clearly—what you want your ongoing path to look like.

Click “Book Now” and schedule your first visit today!