MINNEAPOLIS — Right after Sunday worship at St. Paul’s-San Pablo Lutheran Church, Juan Carlos Toapanta lay in a lounge chair set up by the altar, with acupuncture needles in his forehead, wrist and foot for an hourlong session.
Toapanta, an Ecuadorian construction worker who has sciatica and has worshipped at the Minneapolis church for about five months, said the experience helped him emotionally. “Just like the Lord’s light helps emotionally, the body’s pain is treated as well,” he said. “Everything feels freed, emotionally.”
The church, founded by Swedish immigrants in the late 19th century and now a predominantly Latino congregation, has expanded humanitarian, financial, legal and pastoral ministries as migrant families have faced intensified pressure during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The church’s monthly, no-charge well-being sessions add acupuncture, Reiki and cupping therapy intended to ease stress sown by uncertainty and fear.
Lizete Vega, the church’s family engagement coordinator, said the sessions are designed to counter panic. “We have to feel well to respond well, not with panic and fear, which leads to nothing good,” she said, adding that participants feel cared for. “People here feel that they’re protected and can be cared for spiritually, emotionally and physically.”
Organizers say the push for supportive spaces inside religious settings comes as mental health needs mount across migrant communities. Wellness practitioners and mental health clinicians told AP that anxiety and depression have spread and intensified this year among people dealing with both trauma and shifting immigration policies.
The article describes migrants arriving with severe trauma from violence they fled at home and attacks along cartel-controlled routes to and through the U.S. border, with women in particular often experiencing sexual violence on the journey. It also frames deportation-related fear as revictimizing, and says grounding and mindfulness sessions are needed to cope with stress from both immediate crises and long-term unpredictability as immigration rules shift.
At St. Paul’s, faith leaders connected the sessions to a broader ministry. Rev. Hierald Osorto said of the 30 congregants who signed up for the first well-being session in March: “It was as if they were able to exhale a big breath.” After worship, the altar table and Easter lilies were moved to make room for seven acupuncture chairs arranged in a circle facing the central cross. Three massage tables were set up in front of the pews for Reiki, where practitioners hold their hands on or near the body’s energy centers.
Osorto said the physical setup reinforced the message that healing can happen where the church talks about it. “To see this space be quite literally a place of healing, in the place where we talk about it right at the altar, it moved me to tears,” he said.
The program also reflects collaboration with wellness practitioners. Guadalupe Gonzalez, a bilingual Reiki practitioner whose organization Odigo Wellness partnered with St. Paul’s to offer the sessions, said she had doubts about holding healing practices inside a church. “But the sanctuary has a very nice, very positive energy,” she said. “As practitioners we feel a lot of emotions.”
Congregants who attended a two-hour session last Sunday described feeling both the practices’ effects and a connection to faith. Martha Dominguez, who came down the altar steps after an acupuncture session, said she had never imagined a church would offer those kinds of “benefits,” adding, “Yes, it helps so much,” and “It takes the stress away from you.”
Limber Saliero, a roofer from Ecuador who has been worshipping at St. Paul’s for more than a year, said he had never heard of acupuncture but decided to try it. “I felt like an energy that was flowing into me,” he said.
Vanessa Arcos tried acupuncture with her sister and father while her mother received Reiki. Arcos said she overcame her fear of needles and found the treatments relaxing for both muscles and mind. “It felt very peaceful, very safe,” she said. “It’s important to do little things for yourself.”
The AP religion story is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, which focuses on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health.