Tiffany, a friend that I know through Toastmasters and a practitioner of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, had long suggested that I come and give acupuncture a try. I was always curious, but had never quite made the leap of faith for some reasons, probably the needles. However, with my imminent return to China, I decided to give it a try for the sake of a new experience and to perhaps help out with occasional knee pain I had. Before leaving for China, I had three sessions. I’ll talk about the first here; it was the most revealing.

Needles in the back (they’re painless)

The first thing she did was feel my pulses in both wrists for several minutes. I had no idea, but a lot can be determined just by listening to a patient’s pulse. As a result, Tiffany also suggested we treat my digestion, which felt weaker than it should probably due to my experience in Peru eating some bad food, to say it mildly (I ended up in a hospital in Lima for three days).

I then laid supine on the table. Tiffany introduced me to a needle within it’s tracking case. The cases are thin glass tubes used to keep the thin needles straight when they’re inserted. Before I had the chance to say, “Oh, those are the little cases. So how do the needles go in?”, she made a quick tap on the end of the case and the test needle was inserted. OK, painless! It’s true that there were occasional tiny stings, but it’s pretty insignificant. Within a few minutes I had eight or so needles in strategic places – some in my side, feet, and the two most significant ones in the fleshy part of my hand between thumb and index finger. Apparently, the points in the hand are called “Hegu” in Chinese,   “the Great Eliminator”.   As I lay there wondering what to expect, Tiffany told me about the mysterious “Qi” (pronounced “chee” in tone 4, the quick downward tone in Mandarin Chinese), the life energy running through living things.

(This is the character for “Qi” in simplified Chinese)

I won’t go through a description of “Qi” here, that’s beyond my skill, but there are plenty of websites available. The purpose of the needles in specific locations, however, is to influence the movement of Qi, remove “blockage”, and so on. Tiffany asked me to be aware of a strange energetic sensation, that being the movement of Qi. I found myself honestly thinking to myself, “How strange could it be? Could I have felt it before? Maybe I’ll think I felt something and convince myself that’s Qi.” After a few minutes of no sensations, Tiffany tried to induce a movement of Qi using the point in my right hand. I believe this corresponds to the liver, but I don’t recall exactly. She manipulated the needle by one gentle movement.

I then felt a powerful and unmistakable wave of energy starting in my right hand and running through my body! It started in my hand and seemed to move down to my feet in just an instant. It wasn’t a shock; it felt like a wave and it was undeniably energy. It was intense enough that my eyes instantly teared up. Tiffany remarked, “Wow, that was intense. OK, no more of that for you today.” I also had sensations of a sky blue color. This wasn’t a hallucination or anything like that, I just kept imagining that color. Tiffany later wrote me and told me, “The sky blue color often relates to the kidneys which are related to fear, will power, resources. But it could also relate to lungs…inspiration, aspiration, grief and letting go. These are just keys words mind you.. not the whole enchilada.”

As for the results of the acupunture, it’s hard to say but they were subtle. However, the various Qi sensations that I had afterwards (though none were as intense as the first one), basically proved to me that there’s something palpable to this form of medicine that’s been becoming popular in the West. Ever heard of Acupuncture for pets? It’s real.