In this episode we take on the question of “What does acupuncture feel like?”
Today’s Everyday Acupuncture Podcast question is answered by Michael Max, of the Yong Kang Chinese Medicine Clinic, in St. Louis, Mo.
I’m Michael max from Yong Kang, Chinese medicine clinic in St. Louis, Missouri today, with some thoughts on the question of what does acupuncture feel like?
Acupuncture feels fresh baked bread, a stone perfectly skipped, an unexpected call from an old friend…. Like old photos recovered from a dusty attic, misplaced vitality from another time becomes accessible with the right stimulation from a few skillfully placed needles.
Acupuncture can turn you on dime, reflect back to you your brilliance, call you to account for your habituated excuses, and slip you into a quiet so nourishing and vast you cannot help but touch on appreciation and wonder.
It feels like a well-swung bat, a nicely banked shot, a satisfying sneeze. Acupuncture wiggles you through constrained emotions, it loosen the heart and expands your chest in the same deep-sigh way that forgiveness creates an extraordinary amount of space in your spirit.
You can find the traces of acupuncture on an fMRI, in the cortisol count of the blood, the disappearing inflammation of a stomach lining, electrical activity of the brain, and growing life in what was a cold womb. It brings an unexplained sense of contentment and well-being. In the same way the warmth of Spring conjures flowers, acupuncture turns on the internal light and vitality.
It’s not uncommon that you’ll feel better in unexpected ways.
Less like mechanics and more like cooking, the selection of acupuncture points is as ever changing as your own unfolding being. What helped you last week might not be what is called for today. Like an artisan chef knows a spice in its own season is used differently than when it has been dried and preserved, so too with acupuncture we look both to the present, and the steps that lead you to this moment. All of you is invited to an acupuncture session. And because the “problem” that brought you to acupuncture is connected to everything else. You might notice your sleep improving, or mood curiously stable, even though it’s your digestion we focused on.
What else does acupuncture feel like?
It feels like a writer who has banished the “editor” from her mind and writes with the abandon of a sandstorm. It’s like the fire and spark prayers of a sculptor to his muse. It’s the wind in the canyon, the scent of gardenia on a summer soft night. The growl of a jaguar in the night.
Acupuncture touches the underwater web that connects all Life. Ties together lost loose ends and unravels the knotted constraints that have been holding their breath for release.
Acupuncture is as different as every turn of a kaleidoscope. It is a compass that points toward the center. Inviting as a grandmother’s apple pie, and with the potential of a hurricane’s landscape changing power.
What will acupuncture feel like for you? Visit your local acupuncturist and find out.
