acupuncture

was amazing. i loved it. bethany & i went to the american college of traditional chinese medicine's $5 community ear acupuncture session yesterday. there were about 20 people seated in chairs against the wall, soft instrumental chinese music playing, and a small water fountain trickling in the background.

one of the students comes over to you with the short questionnaire you filled out and asks some additional questions (e.g. how is your energy? sleep? digestion? etc.). Then comes the actual acupuncture. the entire body can be accessed via the ear in chinese medicine. based on what the practitioner deems most important, they will take a small, dull dental-probe looking thing and probe particular areas of the ear to find the most painful/sensitive spot, and then insert a needle. i will say this: it hurt a bit more than i expected it to; even so, the pain was therapeutic...i'm not sure how to qualify that further...perhaps pain is a reminder that we are alive.

i had 6 needles in one ear and 4 in the other. as i sat drinking tea with my eyes closed, i could feel waves of calming energy move down my body, from head to feet. it was awesome.

the serenity of the place was nothing short of striking, especially as i contrasted the way that these professional healthcare providers practice versus the chaotic, compartmentalized, cold and clinical environment of the hospital. i feel like i have a lot to learn from eastern medicine. there are so many intuitive connections, which make so much sense, but are never spoken of in the western medical model (from which i have been and continue to be trained). oh yeah, and they have thousands of years of practice.



peace for now.