Needles

Today I had my first acupuncture visit ever. I've been toying with the idea of getting poked for a while, and finally put the ball in motion... so today it happened. After a pretty extensive assessment of me (including examining my tongue several times), we began. I really liked Gretta, the acupuncturist. She was very reassuring and affirming with all my concerns. She made me feel safe, which I'm learning slowly makes all the difference for almost anything in life. Feeling safe with your partner, safe with co-workers, safe with the crowd of sweaty yogis and so on. I had a number of internal aches, some joint issues, and also a desire to get preggers. And, on top of all that, a quickly building mess that involves a close family member in a whole lot of pain. So, I felt beyond open to the experience. One of the neat things I experienced was lying there, as she created a warming sensation by burning some chinese herbs and charcoal, in a vessel above my belly. (to help rid my abdomen of some left over toxins she felt were maybe left over from a previous surgery) I tried to be aware of the many places she had placed the needles, and was especially aware of the one in my upper belly that was feeling as if she was somehow slightly tugging at it...she was 10 feet away thought. "I try to place the needles, and then be as uninvolved as I can...let the needles do the magic." says Gretta. She explained to me that I was feeling the "fish taking the bait" or the qi connecting to that particular point of focus. It was very cool. I'm learning many new things recently, especially that there are many ways to fix, heal and mend ourselves. And a lot of the time we have the power and ability to do that all on our own. With things like yoga, eating right, surrounding ourselves with positive people, having faith and trusting our instincts. I hunger to keep learning. I feel grateful to have the experience to learn and grow!