For the last two Saturdays I have been given acupuncture treatments here in Greeley. I’ve never done acupuncture before, but it’s kind of cool. I haven’t really felt too differently from it, but she says it might take a couple of treatments. Britton and I have been thinking of starting a family and we thought acupuncture could help, even though I’d never done it before. Plus sometimes my neck and shoulders ache if I sleep on them wrong, so I thought maybe it could help for that as well.

Some of the acupuncture needles on my legs

For those of you who have never done acupuncture, here’s how it works: First you fill out some paperwork just as you would at a doctor’s office, asking about your various health issues. Then they talk to you about your diet. For me, she said I am running “cold” and so I needed to add more hot foods which include red meat (which I usually avoid!), red vegetables, hot foods like soups and hot teas and spicy foods.

Next she took my pulse (which has always been really low -like in the 50s or 60s, another “cold” sign) and then she looked at my tongue. Finally, she inserted the needles. They are really pretty small -about the thickness of a hair- and most of them you can’t even feel when they are inserted, but a few I could. The one in the webbing of my hand between my thumb and index finger felt strong, but she said that was normal.

Then she leaves me alone on the table with the needles in me for about 15 or 20 minutes to work the Qi (chi -life energy) around my body. It’s nice and peaceful with the heat lamp and the ocean waves CD going on in the background.

She said she might be giving me Chinese herbs next week and possibly doing moxibustion. Moxibustion is where they put hot, smoking herbs over the acupuncture points to increase its effectiveness.

Altogether this is called Traditional Chinese Medicine. I’ve actually been pretty impressed by the overall holistic approach to health. It seems like in conventional medicine it is about certain body parts separate from the rest of the body, emotional state and other factors that influence health.