A Story and Apology

The first time I tried acupuncture I was in my early 20’s. I knew nothing about it, and no one had given me a personal recommendation and referral. I was having back pain that would not go away, and I managed to book an appointment last-minute with someone nearby.

When I arrived I was surprised when the practitioner took his time to ask me very detailed questions about every aspect of my life—not just about my back pain, but about my life as a student, what kinds of shifts I worked at the local pub, whether I liked it, how I slept, how my relationships were…what was this all about? I had never had an experience with a doctor that was so detailed and personable.

I remember getting little pins tapped in just under the skin, all throughout my body. Though the pain I had was in my low back, I felt a line of “lighting up” and releasing, all through my shoulders and neck as he worked. I was totally perplexed.

So many years later, not much else stands out from the appointment itself, other than what I felt leaving the appointment and getting back in my car…my back pain was still there.

But.

There was a deep warmth that had spread through me, almost as if I’d been in a sauna. I felt “activated” in a way I had not experienced before—someone who lived in the Canadian north and was chronically cold. It was a totally different feeling for me. I was intrigued, but I never returned. I never got the chance to find out whether my back would have been helped!

It took me another 5 years or so to return to trying acupuncture in earnest, and learning the principles of embodiment that would help me truly recover from chronic pain. 

Now that acupuncture and Chinese medicine is a central part of my life, what I’ve come to realize as a practitioner is that if I don’t explain the requirement to continue treatment, then my patients miss out on an opportunity to learn, and to really get better. 

For many of us, health is not a final destination (in fact, death is). Health is a learning journey of alignment with ourselves, of attunement to our individual needs and preferences and our familial, social and environmental surroundings. And acupuncture can be a vital tool to help us attune to ourselves, our surroundings, and to enrich our lives. Acupuncture, like all life learning, requires an ongoing commitment to showing up.

So, a note and apology to my patients, if I didn’t manage to explain that acupuncture is not a magic pill. I hope this message reaches anyone who has felt underwhelmed or side-lined by their lack of success in treatments, whether eastern, western or otherwise. There are still avenues to try.

Perhaps, like me, you see some progress, some back paddling, and some progress again in your health goals and life. This is just how things should be.

If you had a great experience but just haven’t got around to booking again, I invite you to return to acupuncture, book now and continue to foster the relationship with your own body, your external environment, and internal world, and the unique interface of the two that is you.  To quote Alice Walker, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

Until next time,

Alix