Powerful and mysterious: Community Acupuncture - changing the face of health care

This is an excerpt from Larry Gatti, community acupuncturist in Tucson, Arizona, writing about the importance of an upcoming Community Acupuncture Network conference. Punks = acupuncturists

It is the culmination of a vision first manifested in Portland, Oregon: accessible acupuncture for people of ordinary income. And that vision has proven to be contagious, spreading from mind to mind first nationally and now across the globe.

From punks to the people, community acupuncture is a radical social movement that is at once challenging the professional infrastructure and branding apparatus of acupuncture the product while creating a viable health care alternative for both practitioners as well as entire communities. And it is set within the context of social change, of digging at the roots of violence and exploitation. Of healing not only bodies and minds, but entire communities as well. The movement continues to evolve. In other words, we are at the end of the beginning of the community acupuncture revolution.

Is revolution too strong a word? I think not. I mean, lets take a brief look at what acupuncture can do. Not how it works using traditional or contemporary western medical explanatory models, but what it can actually do in peoples lives.

It has the potential to reduce or eliminate harmful drugs in the management of pain and disease simultaneously relieving the stress and strain on organ systems while also improving dramatically the quality of life in an individual and their family and friends.

It can handle many acute painful conditions bypassing the need for those toxic drugs reframing the very basis of what it means in our culture to take care of oneself after injury or illness. It can effectively manage depression and anxiety, again reducing or eliminating the need for powerful, mind altering drugs that most certainly have a place in many peoples care plan, but again limiting dosage.

It can breathe life and inspiration into people rather than drugging them up or doping them out of physical, emotional or mental pain. Acupuncture creates possibilities. And lets not forget that many of us do not have access to insurance that covers these drugs or basic health care and that the cost of managing pain and disease can and does bankrupt many families leading to the continuing destabilization of entire communities.

Acupuncture CAN change the world. Community Acupuncture IS changing the world. For many people, community acupuncture is the difference between acupuncture as an idea and acupuncture as a reality. Between hope and despair. Between life and death. One needle, one treatment, one clinic, one community at a time we as punks together with the people that sit in those used recliners are creating something powerful and mysterious. Powerful in that what we are doing together is positive as well as contagious. Mysterious in that we do not really know where this whole thing is headed.

Watch 4 short videos about Community Acupuncture!

A great opportunity to learn about what acupuncture feels like, how it works, hear from patients and meet the practitioners. Check out our new videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/acupunctureforall

Pregnancy and Acupuncture

Lately my clinic shifts are booming with people with concerns and issues around childbirth. Some patients (people of all genders) have been trying for a long time to get pregnant and are coming to acupuncture to support their fertility process. Others are undergoing inseminations and are coming to acupuncture immediately before and after the procedure to help the process and support the body’s efforts to prepare for and then hold the pregnancy. Some people are coming for support while pregnant who are experiencing nausea, fatigue and back pain. We also have requests for inducing labor when the baby isn’t coming and the time is now; for helping turn over a breech baby; and for being present during labor for pain management. After birthing, we’ve had several people come to us for health concerns that arose including bells palsey, fatigue, recovery from C-sections, and post partum depression. Many patients are finding acupuncture to be a complementary tool to assist at all stages of this journey.

i love my acupuncturist

Help End World Hunger + Free Acupuncture

Join the Community Acupuncture Project of Columbia City and community acupuncture clinics across the greater Seattle area in honoring World Food Day on October 16th. Our clinic is gathering food for the Rainier Valley Food Bank now through October 16th.

Food - like health care - is one of the most basic human needs. That’s why the Community Acupuncture clinics of Greater Seattle have banded together to raise awareness for World Food Day. Did you know that 1 in 6 people on the planet suffer from hunger and malnutrition? That's 1.02 billion people, an increase of 105 million people from 2008.

To address the food crisis in our country and to thank all of you who donate food, we are offering free acupuncture treatments all day on World Food Day - Friday, October 16th. To make an appointment, visit www.acupunctureforall.org or call 206-760-6064
You can drop off food at our clinic at any time on or before 10/16 at 3811 S. Ferdinand @ Rainier

Ear Acupuncture

I work at a methadone clinic, providing predominantly ear acupuncture to 30-70 patients a day. Patients are part of an interdisciplinary program of counseling, medical care, and methadone to support their process in ending their addiction to heroin. The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (http://acudetox.com/) has been providing group acupuncture to chemically dependent patients for years and is used in hospitals, clinics and drug treatment facilities around the world. In many ways, community acupuncture models come out of NADA’s work.

Our ears have over 300 acupuncture points in each ear! Our ears are the only part of our body containing all 3 types of tissue that is present when we are a fetus. A group called Acupuncturists Without Borders went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and offered acupuncture to rescue aid workers, residents, community organizers and people experiencing the daily trauma of living amidst the destruction, racism, loss and rebuilding of their city. They did all ear points and were known to provide intense healing and recovery.

Many of my patients in community acupuncture receive ear needles – for anxiety, support in quitting smoking, to reduce the cravings for prescription drug addiction, and overall mental and physical health. Every part of the body is represented in our ears – ailments from jaw pain, toothaches and shoulder injuries to painful periods and allergies can be addressed by ear points. Powerful tools these healing ears of ours!

The power of group healing

This week I gave acupuncture to a group of social workers serving low income communities. They were having a work retreat and looking for a few moments of relaxation and respite amidst a full schedule and a career of challenging and draining days. The group of colleagues sat together around an office table. After explaining some of how acupuncture works, I started placing needles in each persons ears. There are great points for stress, detoxification, anxiety and overall healing in our ears. At first the coworkers continued chatting and making small talk with one another. As I proceeded around the circle, putting ear needles in each person, the conversations lulled and a calm silence enwrapped the room. I went around again, adding body points specific to each persons concerns and then sat down with the group. It was powerful to feel the shift in the room. Folks clearly entered a different space – the realm between asleep and awake. A space internal and deep, different for each individual, yet magnified and enhanced by the group setting and communal experience. How quickly this happens. After about 30 minutes of peaceful silence, I removed the needles. Again, there was an energy shift. People appeared lighter, more relaxed - yet engaged, and full of questions about how acupuncture works and where to get it.