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Or how I got stuck and lowered my stress level

by Wendy Smith

I’m not really scared of needles, but I’ve never seen a need to seek them out. There’s the occasional blood drawing by a physician, tetanus booster (yes, I’m a klutz), or the various other shots the health professionals force upon us in the name of keeping us strong and healthy. But the idea of acupuncture never really appealed to me any more than, say, going without dark chocolate for 10 years.

When I went to Well By Nature to check out acupuncture, I was really surprised. Shoba, the acupuncturist, is an elfin-looking woman with light blue eyes and an extremely gentle demeanor. She radiates confidence and kindness and a love of the practice of acupuncture. She certainly didn’t seem like she wanted to hurt me. And she didn’t.

Acupuncture is part of what has come to be known as Chinese Medicine in this country. There are several colleges of Oriental medicine in America, and Shoba got her degree at the Santa Barbara College of Oriental Medicine. Chinese medicine consists of herbology, several types of massage, and acupuncture, and is all about balancing the energy (Chi) of the body. It’s kind of like feng shui for your physical being. Chi is always flowing through us and occasionally it pools, stagnates or runs too freely and causes physical problems like pain or illness. Stress, disease, diet, all these and other products of modern living contribute to how Chi flows in the body. Acupuncture is used to break up stagnant Chi or calm rampant Chi and balance the body.

Shoba asked me what problem or problems I was having. I couldn’t really think of anything that needed to be specifically addressed. Shoba said that was fine, she’d check the energy of my body and see what she found. She started by feeling the meridian points of my body. Meridian points are used to gauge the health of the body’s systems. For example, the heart meridian is on the left wrist. By touching it, Shoba says she can gauge the energy of the circulatory system. The lung meridian is on the right wrist. By feeling it, she says she can gauge the health of the respiratory systems. The body’s systems and the individual organs all have their own reference points.

Shoba discovered that my digestive system was slightly weak. True, I had undergone a lot of stress in recent months that had caused some digestive problems. Then she looked at my tongue. She said my tongue indicated a problem with my heart, not my physical heart but my emotional heart. Now, considering that the aforementioned stress was caused by something of a broken heart, I was amazed. She saw that on my tongue? I asked her what indicated that and she said the edge of the tip of my tongue was pale with little red dots. Interesting.

Acupuncture is used to help a wide variety of ailments such as stress and pain. It is used to cure, lighten or reverse the effects of debilitating treatments such as chemotherapy. It has also been credited with curing serious diseases such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, cancer and diabetes. Acupuncture has a very good record of helping people overcome addictions and, in some cases, has even been ordered by a court of law as a treatment for drug addiction. It is used as a fertility cure, non-surgical facelift, stress reducer and energy booster. (Shoba, incidentally, is an avowed expert in the use of acupuncture as it pertains to breast cancer.)

Shoba said she’d give me a tune-up to try to even out the energies of my emotional stress. I had to lie down on her table and bare my legs and arms. She started at my knee. I thought she was just touching it, looking for the right place. Then she said, “It’s in.” Wow. I leaned up on my elbows to see a small, thin, three-inch needle sticking out of my right knee. I didn’t even feel it. She put another in that knee and two in my right foot and I suddenly felt a “current” running down my leg. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it did feel like energy. I ended up with, by my count, 19 needles in my legs, feet, chest, head, ears and hands and various currents running through my body. It may sound strange, but it felt pretty good. Shoba left me for a few minutes to lie quietly and reflect or rest. I tried to reflect but I fell asleep. Twenty minutes later, she returned and removed the needles (they didn’t hurt coming out, either). I felt energized and grounded. My experience tells me that as a stress reducer, acupuncture is very effective. And cheaper than psychotherapy.

Shoba Satya is a licensed acupuncturist and can be reached at 584-3864 or by e-mail at [email protected]. She is available for consultation and treatment.

April 29, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 18 © 2004 Metro Pulse