s p i r i t g a t e

Community Acupuncture in 2031

I wrote this almost 3 months ago, referring to my then 27 month old son.

 

Julian said “acupuncture” very clearly this week. Also inserted a needle at my LI10 with force and tenderness, using a guide tube. Walks through clinic and looks straight at each patient with relaxed curiosity, gets beamed at by almost all. In this context, he must recognize the different energies in what his daddy is getting to do, the power in the whole situation, recognize the love, must think that’s natural.

 

This is a letter I’m writing now to Julian. Maybe its to him now. Maybe to him in a few years.

 

Dear Julian.
It was delightful getting pine-needle acupuncture from you today along that blue and orange blazed path by the pond. It’s really fun playing acupuncture games with you. I love all the places you go, the different jobs you have when we pretend. Its generally amazing getting to be with you while you discover the different things that capture your interest and imagination.

Spending time in the clinic, my workplace as you call it, you seem to already know a lot about how the acupuncture is to help people feel better, to heal, to get re-connected, but I wanted to tell you about ways its been really important to you and me and mama.

Once when I was halfway between your age and mine I got pretty sick. I couldn’t stop coughing, and I coughed so hard I broke a rib. I was wheezing like you did when you had the croup, but for many months. I also had a lot of pain in my back. It made it so I couldn’t do much. It made playing soccer or laughing or singing too painful. I got really, really sad at the same time, but the kind of sad where you don’t want to cry. Crying hurt, too. I decided to try acupuncture, and, boy am I glad.

It made it all feel better really fast. At first I thought it was something special or magic this man had done to me, but the more I read about acupuncture, the more I realized that it worked for me because acupuncture just works. Then, along with being happy that I had discovered it, I started feeling disappointed and confused that no one had told me about it before. I didn’t understand why acupuncture wasn’t everywhere, or why everyone was just being given really strong drugs for everything. I told everyone to try it.

I decided I wanted to be someone who does acupuncture to others. To go to acupuncture school, I used all the money I made from my children’s librarian job and I’m still paying every month for those three years of school.

I met mama when I was half way through acupuncture school. We fell in love writing love notes to one another every day. We created our own language where we talked about our bodies as made up of rivers and pipes and moments in time. Our minds were made up of the northern lights and the ocean floor. The whole wide world was made up of poems and stories and blood and turnips, and of animal breath. I think we fell in love with each other because we both saw that everything is inside a tiny rock and that we are inside everything. I like thinking about this now, Julian, and thinking about how you came from those love notes, and the stories we told each other.

When I finished acupuncture school, I made most of my money as a gardener, and I did acupuncture in the evenings. I had thought that I was going to be somehow different than thousands of other acupuncturists who weren’t giving acupuncture to many people, and who weren’t making any money. We were all confused. We were all thinking that we were special or magic and this made us a little selfish with how we shared our skills. Thank God, a couple very important people came along a few years before you were born to remind us that we’re not special, (well sure we’re special but not because we know how to do acupuncture) but that we have a very special and magical tool that everyone needs, that we should take this really seriously and go out and tell everyone we know about the tool of acupuncture and tell them to come get some and to keep getting some because it will change their lives for the better. And these two people also showed me and hundreds of acupuncture do-ers that we CAN have acupuncture be our real jobs. Because of them I have a wonderful and useful job that I get paid for. Though this should be true for everyone, it is not.

Because of these people, Skip and Lisa (you met them at the house where we lived with Uma and Ellen, and at Andy and Karen’s this fall, and you’re gonna get to see them again in May), there are clinics like my workplace all over the wide world where lots and lots of people are getting acupuncture with each other. It seems to us that the more people that come sit in the clinic and get poked the more special the tool of acupuncture becomes. You have seen that when you come in; and,you have felt how just you showing up and walking around the clinic makes the lovey and healing energy even stronger.

Remember your playgroup in Philadelphia, up in the firehouse? Remember playing and snacking with Ida and Oscar and Rose and Sunny and Nina and Saj? That place felt really nice, huh? That’s another acupuncture place that’s an important center for thousands of people around it. Me and mama and the other parents always felt relaxed and pleased to be in there with you and the other young people. We all had lots of help with our bodies in there, including the moms when they were pregnant with you little guys. Right now, there’s probably lots of people in there getting needled by loving acupuncturists. And, there’s so many sweet clinics like that in our world now. And they’re all connected like a gigantic playgroup, or workgroup. Its one of my favorite things about this world. I can’t wait to introduce you to more people like Cris and Ellen and Skip and Lisa, people who make up this group and who created all these acupuncture centers.

Not only are these people really fun, but they’re really good at fighting to change things so they make more sense. Like making it so that as many people as possible can get acupuncture if they want to. One of the things we’re fighting to change is how people learn to be an acupuncturist. Like, right now, lets say you were 19 years old and you decided you wanted a job being an acupuncturist, you probably couldn’t because the school you’d have to go to would want way more money than your mama and I have or will have. It shouldn’t be that way. You have dexterity and grace in your hands and fingers, and a heart full of love, and you’re really good at listening and connecting with people. You should get to be an acupuncturist if you want. So, we’re trying to change it so that you or any of your friends could afford to go to acupuncture school. And, better than that, we hope to make it so that you could become an acupuncturist just by learning with the great people in our playgroup/workgroup. And this means that all the things you’re already learning and will probably keep learning from me will actually mean something for your future. And, that is just SO incredibly cool.

 

Love, dada 

Nine months in nine months out.

Experiment. No editing. Just writing a couple days a week. Within the parameters of of what can be done while full-time parenting. For example. I'm typing this by the light of the laptop screen turned down at the keyboard (I still hunt and peck a bit) while sitting next to the bed where Julian slumbers, hopefully, for 4 or 5 or even 7 hours before he wants to nurse again, at which point I'll text (can you believe it) Amy to come in from the other room where she's sleeping, actually s l e e p i  n g.

Anyway, just wanna say a few things now and then about my brain and body and life as a father, as a man married to a mother, as a 45 year old, which given the year I just had feels WAY older than 44, when, it seems, i felt like I was 34.

Here's one thing. Walks with Julian are very special. There's all kinds of stuff that happens to me as a result of carrying my 20 lb. baby through Philadelphia every day.

1. Philadelphia seems at times completely unexceptable as a habitable location on earth wile walking with Julian. AND, West Philadelphia will break my heart in a million pieces when we move away from all of its parents and people trying really hard and beautiful things with one another 

2. A walk with Julian is more like a wilderness hike where decisions are made around really basic things about being good to your bodys, like which side of the street is shady or sunny, or where will it be less windy, or should  turn here so we don't have to walk by that jackhammer.

3. Wow, This is some really different attention from both men and women than I've ever gotten. And , that's not to mention the real cultural differences in the reactions from different communities of people.

(He just snorted and rolled over.)

4.Would people who scream instead of talk pleas shut up.

5.Carrying another human makes me stop composing my photographs so much. Or my sentences for that matter.

Letter to my dad about owning a business

This is a recent letter I wrote to my father. It's just a rambling thank you, really, but it relates directly to doing what we're doing with community acupuncture.

Hey Daddio.

 Thinking about you lots these days. 'Course it's partly because I'm trying to fit into my father suit
(with Amy 10 weeks or so away from giving birth). But, I've been thinking about you just as much because of work.

A couple things recently have been making me appreciate being a business owner, and reflect on the ways you were one. I think of my work as just doing acupuncture, and that it's as much about getting out of the way and letting the universe work as it is about filling up the space with some skill. And, our
whole way of inviting people in and doing our job is kind of about de-emphasizing the *Professional*, and highlighting the simple in what we're doing and the importance of the whole room of people. I
think of our business as an expression of this neighborhood and this city that I'm lucky enough to be able to work in the center of and get paid a little by.

In these ways, I usually think of myself more as an activist/acupuncturist* than as a business owner.
But, of course, it's true that Ellen and I DID start this business. And, we DO “own it”. Like you started and owned your architecture business, with your partners. I'm appreciating how your work, too,
was about putting together a bag of tools (technical and creative) from teachers both contemporary and ancient and then learning how to use them to get out of the way and let humans do what they do best in
their own skins and shelters.

When I was a boy, your owning a business looked attractive because you clearly loved what you were
doing. You loved the people you got to work with. It looked like they really loved you. I had no idea how hard you worked, or really how little money you were actually making given the work you were doing,
because we were eating and I loved my family and friends, and life was good. You seemed to know everyone in the city. I remember you running into the mayor and talking to him. I also remember running
around at ribbon cutting ceremonies or during constructions at new health centers and renovated schools while you talked to neighbors or a school custodian.

At the time I didn't know the kind of struggles you faced as someone trying to create quality affordable
housing and health facilities in the same areas which were slated by the city for “slum clearance” in the long, institutionally-racist aftermath of the civil rights era. I just enjoyed running amok with
other kids and being around hopeful adults. Now, I know the kids I swung and spun with on a playground on the Near Northside were the children of Panthers and other activists, the same folks who stood
with you in that same spot 5 or 6 years before listening to Bobby Kennedy bring news of MLK's assasination, and trying not to explode.

We've got our work cut out for us, too, 40 years later. And, I'm glad I've found (largely because of your
modeling of how to connect with people who want to do something big) a growing group of people committed to justice and ending classism and racism in their own lives.

But, sometimes I forget, probably like you did, that what I'm doing makes a difference. Sometimes, I'm just working. I spend 10 minutes or less with every returning patient and 20 with every new patient, before they fall off to relaxation. The room is usually full of people. So, if people want to show some kind
of appreciation, they have to figure out how to do it with a facial expression or a few short whispered words. Yesterday, though, my first patient was really early and my next two were very late, so
there I was taking my time with my first patient. And, she started thanking me. I've been treating her for 2 years, and we've built up a lot of trust between us, so I decided to go ahead and try to really
listen to her appreciations until she was done.

She kept going for 15 minutes. And, none of it was fluff. She said very specific things about the skills
she noticed me using and the ways the clinic was changing her life. I'm doing better these days at getting over my feeling that I'm not good enough. Interactions like these help, when, sometimes, just the
facts of people's healing don't convince me. I CAN tell sometimes that my treatments are getting better and better. I can almost always tell that what we are offering as an experience is radically good.

It's been a sweet time in the clinic. As an expectant father, it's really great that I'm getting to treat
so many women who are getting pregnant and having babies. We're getting shown a lot of appreciation by the moms who are having natural birthing experiences with help form the acupuncture. Lots of
baby visits at the clinic these days.

I think we're doing great reaching all kinds of people. We do seem to struggle to retain working class black men as returning patients. We'll keep trying to figure out what we can do differently, but, of course, it's mostly about what our own social networks look like, and mine is still pretty white. I DO like
being forced to look at racism in my own life.

Another thing I'm appreciating right now is how many older Jews I'm treating. I've been trying to
consciously remember that I'm treating the survivors of the holocaust. I'm honored that I get trusted to this extent with all of my patients, but it feels somehow even more significant with this
older generation of Jewish folks. I'm treating a man whose main complaint is his high blood pressure. To have his wife thank us for “working miracles” with him, and how “he's a different person”
to be around, well, that's something. This guy was recommended to us by his wife. He then researched everything about us, including the namesake of an award I received for my graduating class. Turns out
he knows someone who knows the person after whom my award was named. And, even though that individual had absolutely nothing to do with the anonymously given award, and is apparently more a UFO specialist than an acupuncturist these days, it's still a connection, and thats
what counts.

You always said to me that it's all about just knowing people and creating good will. Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about your work. I want to get together before the baby comes and have you
remind me of all the projects you worked on over the years, and all the people with whom you worked. Thank you for all the good you helped create and the healing you helped happen in your city.

*Check out this tiny little interview with a current acupuncturist/activist talking about
grassroots community healthcare in the 60s and 70s.

Free Acupuncture for Veterans in Philadelphia

Check out the website for the Philadelphia Area Veterans Acupuncture Project here.

Obama, Baltimore Avenue, The Electric Slide, and Acupuncture Theory

Here's the article I wrote for The Community Acupuncture Network.

Here's some videos i shot at 47th and Baltimore.
Here's some photo's of 47th and Baltimore, post election, taken by local resident, Margie Politzer.

PCA and Community Acupuncture on "Marketplace"

Wow. Philadelphia Community Acupuncture was featured on American Public Media's "Marketplace" last Tuesday. Local freelance journalist, Joel Rose, who did the piece, focused on access to affordable health care and on community vs. individual treatment.
Here's a link to the broadcast.

group qi

   

Much has been said and written about "group qi" in the context of community acupuncture, where receiving treatment in a room full of people creates an auspicious and fertile environment in which everyone's healing capacity is enhanced.

Here's a nice blog entry by a fellow community acupuncturist.

Here's another couple angles on it from me.

1)I think our nature as humans is to be interconnected: emotionally, creatively, by
touch, and all sorts of other inexplicable ways. But, our daily lives
are largely set up to shut down these connections so that we can be
more productive, so that we consume more. We all try, though, all the
time, to restore these connections; and, every way that we do is a big
political act. If our natural connectedness was fully intact, it'd be
much harder for powers to wage wars in our name, flaunt contempt for
democracy and human rights, or deny us health care.

2)Good things happen when we really make space for each other. We've all
listened to a friend or a loved one at one time or another for as long
as it took for that person to work something out, for them to heal from
some rift. We made it safe for that person to show their real selves by
listening mostly silently, withholding judgement, refusing to argue or
reassure, and just showing that we care and trust that person and the
brilliance in his or her mind and body. I think community acupuncture is a
big wonderful version of that, where the quiet, the proximity of
relaxed strangers and neighbors, and some carefully placed needles all
contribute to a rare opportunity for a number of people to heal,
naturally, together.

3) I sometimes long, however, for a more rambuctious and less serene or
solemn vibe in our clinic. I
think there's all kinds of ways we can do this. Here's an example of
what can happen when we're not shooting for quiet as a primary
condition. I wrote this in new Orleans when I was treating folks right after
Katrina. 

 

A woman from the neighborhood is walking by and sees several
of her neighbors sitting in an oddly meditative manner. Mr. Ali, who has had
three unsuccessful surgeries on his cervical spine in the last 15 years is
looking at me with heavy eyelids and asking me how the acupuncture can so
quickly make his neck looser. I am trying to answer as simply and quietly as
possible, and I’m being helped by another man being treated, a 60 something
year old cab driver. Mr. Clarke studied Mao and Chinese culture when actively a
Black Panther in the 70s. He’s identifying a point I used on Mr. Ali’s arm as
lying along the Triple Burner channel. Lamar is a middle-aged painter and
contractor who’s been working 12 and 14 hour days since the flood. His forearm
and fingers are numb and he cannot sleep. Francine is a 49 year old white woman
who is working 10 hour days at the one welfare office which survived of seven. She is here for the third day in a row
to get help quitting smoking, a decision made in the throes of the emphysema
like coughing that has racked her since the mold set in. She knows of these men
but has never spent any time talking to them. She and Lamar are almost whispering
to one another, both crying
periodically, which gets the attention of a small orphan dog which has made its
way to their feet. The clinic’s only pharmacist, a woman from Detroit, has been
sleeping in her chair with one leg elevated since the needles went in a half hour ago. She had asked for help with
an acute migraine and a swollen ankle. The woman passing through catches eyes
with another man who’s getting a treatment, a man appears to know well. He’s
been orating irrepressibly since 5 or 10 minutes into the treatment. He’s
looking at her saying

“Lord have
mercy…. Wow…… Like I’m in high school…….. This is alright…..  Aint this something…… Feel like a
bird…. Like a body ought to feel in this  world…..
Aint this something…. Somebody discovered something…. Lord have  mercy……. Makes my back straight and
takes my defenses right down……. Like  a
bird I tell you….”

And the passing woman shoots back

“Well, go
on and fly…”

Her only question is if the needles will hurt.

“No,
sweetheart.”

And, several people close their eyes and reassuringly shake
their head.

“Like a
little bug bite,” Francine says.

She sits down with her neighbors.

 

Amy Walsh

These are by my wife, artist Amy Walsh.

Update from the Firehouse, 6 Months In

Philadelphia is pregnant with twins. Two more community acupuncture clinics are forming in greater Philly as a direct result of the workshop we hosted here in November. That workshop was led by the founders of Working Class Acupuncture in Portland and of The Community Acupuncture Network.

Ellen and I are doing what we can to support the three practitioners involved in these projects. We know both places are going to be successful; and Philly will be that much further along towards making acupuncture accessible to the majority of its people.

This seems even more poignant  for me today having just read this article about  Walmart beginning to open health clinics.

***************

Many of you may not know that there's a new acupuncture school in suburban Philly. The Won Institute. Ellen and I were just asked to teach a unit on community acupuncture for their practice management course this year.

This happened, as far as I can tell, because of overwhelming interest from students, including in particular one rabble rousing organizer who attended the CA workshop held here in November.


**************

My relationship to practicing CA style acupuncture continues to evolve.

Obviously, the way we are ale to lower prices so much is by doing a high volume of treatments, which also has the advantage of getting a lot of people from the community together in the same room. This counteracts the isolation which plays such a big part in keeping us unhealthy.

Although in my biggest thinking and most rational mind, I know that the simple and frequent treatments experienced in this community setting are the best possible acupuncture medicine, I have had periods of distressed feelings (mostly fear) telling me that there's no way I can be a complete acupuncturist without using more moxa, without being able to treat the back, or without being able to spend more time with my patients.

So, its with great gladness and satisfaction that I report how much better the treatments are going. Each treatment is much more likely to excite rather than drain my own qi, and the treatment results are improving dramatically.

Several factors are leading to these changes. An important one is the way I've pushed myself beyond my comfort zone in terms of getting down to the business of pulse taking and needling with every patient. This means not getting drawn into unrelated talk when there's no time, and expecting return patients to be in a chair and ready to be needled when it's time for their appointment. It means exercising maybe gentle but definitely firm leadership with new patients that says what we'll be doing and what we cannot do.

The more subtle interpersonal stuff behind this has to do with my trying on KNOWING that what I'm doing is enough and that I don't need to show my care by listening to patients longer than I actually can, given the community model. It has to do with really recognizing how sweet and supportive and healing the whole experience is going to be for each patient, and how my role in that is being a competent acupuncturist, doing a treatment that helps a patient feel better now and making sure they understand how important regular visits are.

In this context, I am hugely grateful for our team of volunteers (Jacks, Waliyyah, Lou, Vida, Leigh, Rafik, Aurora) who very directly deal in providing sweetness and listening, while being brilliant interpreters and guides to a radically different and therefore potentially confusing experience.

************

Of course, as acupuncturists we are actually listening, listening, listening, all the time, as well as looking and smelling and asking. I noticed an instance recently how my own classism clouded my closeness and understanding of a patient, and so too my diagnosis and treatment.

This will be a bit oblique, but I'll try to tell you what I mean. During her third treatment, a woman told me something about her day that made me realize I had made an inaccurate assumption about the nature of her work. "Oh", I heard a part of myself say. "Wow, she does THAT for work! That's a really serious job. I thought that she just....."

Yikes.

And, I didn't catch myself until I had subtly but immediately shifted my take on the etiology of her symptoms in my mind. I think the best I can do to describe this is to say, I was looking differently at her spleen and the patterns of worry affecting it.

Fortunately, I'm not a machine measuring things, and I get to step back, maybe laugh at myself, and shift my thinking to reflect the reality that every single patient is Good and worthy and part of the same world where yin and yang and the five elements are at play.


**************

I made a trip to New Hampshire recently and got to see Andrew Wegman and his Manchester Acupuncture Studio. Here's one photo of a portion of the treatment room.

I got to see Andy at work, interacting with the good people of Manchester, and just experience yet another unique example of community acupuncture, where the clinic really reflects and respects both the particular and the universal of another place on earth.

A bald eagle was flying north up the Merrimack as I entered the building. A nun and some other really funny, sweet, grumpy, and loud guy were walking out, both looking lightened and shiny.

I fell in love with the whole movement yet again.