The Search for Balance: Acupuncture

Yepppp, that's my hand with 3 acupuncture needles in it.

It's part of my journey toward improved health, a better functioning, balanced and tuned body for living. The point where I'm bringing you in on this journey is far down the path of a much larger life trip. The reason is a story for another time, but the experience is something worth sharing.

Shall I offer you this disclaimer: that I am not well-read on this topic, but have read enough, scientifically, to *believe* that results achieved through acupuncture are real and studies to prove results conducted by leaders in Eastern and Western medicine are convincing. AND the whole philiosophy matches with my health philosophy, which evolved long before I read about or practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): treat the cause, not the symptom; healthy living prevents illness, and that the body's systems are interdependent -- not separate, distinctive microcosms. It's one body. Whole body. In my lifetime of choosing physicians (whenever I have a choice) I will choose a D.O. over a M.D. based on that approach. Check it out.

I'll share one quick link with you -- all the numerous afflictions that have been successfully treated, and the body's systems that have notably improved using acupuncture.

All of the above comprises a quick intro to my mid-story. When it became clear to me that acupuncture was one of the paths/options for me, I knew right where to begin. A high school classmate of mine, Dr. William Cebulskie, practices TCM right here in DuBois. Bill took my history in detail and general health complaints. Then I asked him a few questions. Bill had been interested in getting into medicine as a career but the more he learned about Western medicine, especially the practice of prescribing pharmaceuticals to treat ailments, the more he was convinced there had to be another way. Treating the body, the root of the problem, determining the cause was the approach he preferred. I would equate it to using a cream to soothe an itch, when the itch is caused by an allergy which can be avoided. Sure, medicine will work, but is there a more direct approach that takes pharms out of the equation and heals the body instead of treating the symptoms?

The acupuncture itself is an ancient Chinese science of directing Qi (pronounced Chee), or energy, to the systems of the body. Here's how Bill described it to me. At any given point in time, everyone's body contains 100% of its energy. However, that energy is not equally distributed among its systems -- gastrointestinal, neurological, skeletal, respiratory, endocrine, circulation, reproductive, immune, muscular, psychological, and more. Over time, stress, environment, diet and heredity attribute to the blocked flow of energy to all those systems and result in uneven, unbalanced Qi.

The body's systems and Qi are accessible at numerous pressure points on the body's surface, mapped by the Chinese as the body's Qi meridians. The puncture points access gates that have become closed off to energy flow. The penetration of an acupuncture needle at those meridians opens the Qi and equalizes the flow.

If you're not buying into the whole energy concept, substitute the word blood for Qi or energy. It takes blood to nourish your brain, your skin, your lungs. If the system is deplenished, any number of ailments can occur. What re-channels the blood is the Qi.

Everyone's body works differently, Bill said. So there are no guarantees the treatment will solve the specific complaint, and it takes time. BUT, acupuncture will bring with it many other improvements in the body and how it functions -- like tuning up a car. Nothing to lose, and only good to come from treatments.

Where do I sign?

The treatment room is not like a doctor's office -- more like a living room with very much a feng shui approach to design and placement. Balanced. I sit on a recliner for my treatments. My first time in, I took 11 needles, I think. They absolutely do not hurt going into the skin. However, with practically each insertion, I felt a DEEP ache, which was very short in duration. Like hitting your shin off the coffee table. The deep hurt is gone in a second. Bill said the ache is a sign of the Qi blockage, and the feeling is the release. That feeling was not in my head or made up. It was enough to turn my stomach, but again, gone in a second. And as the needles went in, I got very hot, sweaty. I don't know, but that maybe that was nerves as much as any side effect.

OK, so where did they go?: my hands, wrists, arms, feet, ankles, shins and calves. I suppose it depends on which meridians need to be accessed per the charts I read while relaxing in Bill's office. I have seen drawings of meridian access points on the head and trunk, too.

This time I took 14 needles. They do their work for a little less than an hour. You can make them out in the photo -- with a very fine needle, like a very thin, strong wire that Bill taps into place. Bill will check in on me half way through and tap each of the needles to "reactivate" them. There's a little electrical sizzle that time, which feels more like the prick when a phlebotomist draws blood. Finishing up the session with my eyes closed and the lights dimmed, I do feel relaxed by the end of the second appointment.

I am trying to tune in my body -- to listen to what it is telling me.

ERIN: So, Body, do you like acupuncture?
BODY: I don't dislike it. I feel changes. Physical changes. Let's wait and see.
ERIN: Would you call it a delight?
BODY: Are you friggin kidding me??
ERIN: Suck it up.
BODY: Ah, hey. It's not that bad. But, you know what, Erin? I am delighted that you're open enough to consider alternatives that might work for both of us.