Chi, Needles, and Getting Lost

I've been intrigued by acupuncture for the past year or so. I've heard directly from one friend who has benefited from treatment and a few friends who have secondary information stories.

I met a girl at a party last weekend who is a student at the Natural Medicine school here. The party was of some theme that resulted in the birthday girl wearing a mermaid outfit, a few people dressed as wolves, one little red riding hood, and an Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, it sounds a little odd, but I had a great time playing uno, table fusbol, and eating kinder surprises. Yum!

Despite her rainbow brite outfit, I got some information from the acupuncture student and decided to check out the student clinic. I went for my first appointment today. I don't know if I have issues finding places or if places are really difficult to find when they're all squished together. Anyhow the address was 105. I passed a bunch of restaurants (all with no #'s) then I passed 101, then 103, then 111 or 113, then came the street that I had made a note of (from google maps) which meant I'd gone too far. Right, so I'm not used to cities, but this was the small town of Southport, it shouldn't have been that difficult. Finally, in an effort to arrive on time, I called and got better directions. Silly me, the building was one that came before the building marked 101 and then I had to walk up some stairs (a far distance back from the street) and around some random apartment building. Am I directionally challenged or does this happen to everyone?

The main reason I was going was for cramps and basically to see if I could benefit from better chi movement. I was a little nervous about the actual insertion of the needles. It didn't bother me that the girls were still in school and not actually practicing. I think that as students, they might have less experience, but probably pay more attention to detail and are open to trying new things. One of the girls was in her 3rd year of study and therefore only allowed to observe. But, she said they were excited just to have patients. After a lengthy q and a session, we got down to business. I dont know how many needles there were or how long they were because I couldn't look at them. Only a few of them pinched when inserted. The others I didn't really feel. There were a few in my feet, my legs, and one in my tummy. They also lit a few little cones (moxa) and put them on the needles to heat the acupoints. Very interesting.

The needles stayed in for a little while (10-15 min?). I closed my eyes and just focused on relaxing. At one point, I sort of wanted photo documentation of me volunteering to get poked by needles. However, I thought it might be a little inappropriate to ask to have a picture taken. And I think that one should avoid inappropriate requests of her acupuncturist. After the needles were removed, I felt really relaxed yet energetic at the same time. I don't know if that was an effect of the acupuncture or just how I happened to be feeling today. The student gave me some chinese herb capsules to take also.

It's too soon to see big results, so I think I'm putting acupuncture on the same plan as yoga: I'm going to do it regularly for a few months and asses the results then. Whatever the result, at least I will have satisfied my curiousity!