1.21.2009

I had a most wonderful acupuncture appointment today. What is so great about these appointments is that they are not just acupuncture alone. My acupuncturist is also sort of like a therapist in that he has incredible intuition. He has a manner of speaking with his words that is very poetical and a delight to listen to. He also has a unique sense of humor and he is great when his giggles about things. So it is doubly delightful to be at his appointments.
As he placed the petit thin needles in various points of my chest, arms, legs and feet, I asked him about his last name. He went on to explain that yes, he is Polish, like me. When he went to Poland to meet relatives of his for the first time, he said he got a real kick out of recognizing some of their traits as his own. His first cousins all walked around like pigeons, slightly slouched in the back and bobbing their chins out. They also had a tendency to want to interrupt conversations. When he walked around in the city of Krakow, he noticed that a lot of people bobbed around like pigeons and had a slight grouch-frown face. He said he walks around like that to. Now I know why people ask me sometimes, out of the blue, "what's wrong? Why are you frowning?" to which I say, "what? I'm not frowning. I'm perfectly fine." I asked if Poles have piercing blue eyes like my mom, and he said, why yes, that seems to be true, too. He himself has very blue eyes.
Back to the appointment . . .
The main organ he focuses on is my lungs, because that is what has been causing me the most grief lately. He said as an organ, the lungs have a sort of characteristic  as being organizational and wanting to be tidy and clean. He told me to imagine a library with all the books tumbling off the shelves and loose pages flying about. Right now, there are a lot of excess tissues in my lungs and there is little room. They are untidy and clogged with extra tissue. He told me to, when I meditate and do my breathing exercises, let my lungs know that they do not have to feel responsible right now to tidy up. It is too much and too overwhelming for them to worry about that extra work. It is the chemo's job to tidy things up and hopefully dispatch all that extra tissue swirling around. 
As I lied on my stomach so he could place needles into the lung points on my back, he brought up another idea. He knows how the forest is a place I think of when I am feeling anxious. I think of being in the forests near the cottage or in British Columbia (Saturna Island especially!) often when I am am feeling out of sorts. He is the first person I told about my dream of the old woman in the forest in the mountains, meeting her old bear friend. So he told me to place a tiny drop of pine scent essential oil in my palm and breath it in while I meditate and focus on breathing. He senses that I like the feeling of the crisp, cool pine air I breath deep into my lungs when I am hiking or cross country skiing in the forest. You can be sure I will be spending a lot of time in my forests now!

2 comments:

Smabes said...

Yea, no bare feet though!
We don't need to bide for our parent's attention during happy hour anymore I suppose. : D

I'm so happy for you Nora!

"Ms. Embree" said...

I am so happy you share my love of accupuncture! Isn't i the best! Your practitioner sounds great! Love you sweets!