Is Virtual Acupuncture a Thing?
What flurry of the last two weeks! Never in a million years did we think we would close our practice to patient visits, until we retired. There was no contingency plan, until 2 weeks ago.
I can honestly say deciding on no more 1:1 visits, until we knew more about infection, transmission rates and immunity, was hands down the hardest business decision I’ve ever had to make in my career. On the one hand, never before has there been a case like this for stress relief to protect your immune system. On the other hand with some training in public health from the University of Florida, I could see the writing on the wall in terms of spread weeks ago. In my heart I knew that social distancing and personal hygiene is the ONLY thing that will prevent this from devastating our western medical system. We closed temporarily because we love our community.
Because we care for so many nurses and doctors, trust us when we say we want to give them stress relief. The real treatment though is keeping them from being overwhelmed on the front lines, by doing our part to stop the spread within our community. While we like to think cumulative acupuncture treatments change lives for the better, there is no single acupuncture treatment that will save a life in this type of acute situation. We are all humbly aware of that. Herbs, however, may keep you out of the hospital and that is a win for everyone.
We are ALL essentially being asked to treat our “sick” community in a stage of acute illness and honor social contract to protect those that are at risk. But what about you as the individual?
Personal responsibility to health, hygiene, social distancing and taking this opportunity to strengthen your body and any underlying health conditions you already have from a natural and wholistic perspective is the best medicine you could be giving yourself right now, every day. This is especially true if you have an underlying heart condition, high blood pressure, a propensity to diabetes, or an autoimmune condition. Many of you don’t know this, but I have an autoimmune condition with a hyperactive immune system. I have had to take a hard look at myself and how I choose to manage stress in these unprecedented times so that I can stay well while revamping our business so that we have something to come back to when the dust settles. Staying calm in the current environment is another level of mind training I had no idea I was entering, but I’m doing it right along side of you! I tell you this, because I want you to know we get it. The worries, the insomnia, the what if’s, the sudden change of learning how to do the job you love, concern about our patients and loved ones and the loss of connection is there for us too. We are in it with you and we want to share with you what we are doing and how we are doubling down on our self care so we can support you in new and innovative ways. Extra meditation, herbs, and exercise have been my personal saviours.
We want to help you do that online with us. If you have been our patient for a while, you know that while the needles provide the hard reset to the nervous system and the body work unblocks the physical structure of the body and relieves pain, those are only two of the tools that we use in the treatment room. Many of you have used self moxibustion, dietary therapies we have prescribed, self acupressure, meditation and chi kung techniques, and mind level coaching with us during your treatments and on your own as homework. We want to support you in the biggest assignments of all of all our lives.
We now have virtual appointments available to you where you can count on us to tell you what you need in this unprecedented time. We think it is more important than ever. Just because you are trying to avoid getting and spreading COVID-19 doesn’t mean that your pain has suddenly gone away, or that your desire to have a child has stopped, or that your cancer diagnosis has suddenly vanished. For many of you, it means you are now experiencing symptoms that you don’t normally dance with like high anxiety, depression, insomnia, gastrointestinal changes, and feelings of impending grief. Chinese medicine has been addressing these symptoms herbally for thousands of years and this time in history is no different.
The importance of a virtual check in with your provider is because we need to understand what pattern is unbalanced in order to give you the correct herbs for your “symptoms,” so that we can correct the underlying imbalance strengthening you in the process. I wrote a blog post over the weekend about using what you have in your medicine for viral protection should you see yourself in a pinch unable to connect to one of us for guidance. While certain herbs do help with viruses, understanding your terrain and constitution helps us to know exactly which formula will serve you best. We can give you the correct dosages for you and instructions of when to take and not take tonics if you are experiencing viral symptoms.
Unfortunately, there is no cure all, or we would be screaming it from the mountain tops. It is an individual approach like always in TCM. I happen to think that western medicine is going to benefit from COVID when all is said and done, when it comes to their diagnosis techniques. While they have amazing technology like x-rays fo rate lungs, ventilators, and testing kits- why does this particular virus take someone down and not someone else? Never before have men seemingly been the target of a virus. It all comes back to the terrain or the constitution you are working with, not the virus itself. Western medicine is getting a first hand look at what we call stress and terrain in TCM. How we have cultivated our terrain up to this point is what will dictate how our bodies react to the same stress of COVID-19 should you contract it. We feel that cultivating your own health is needed now more than ever. I hate to tell you this, but this virus is not going away anytime soon. It’s time to train for health as if you were training for a marathon.
While we can’t take your pulse or give you needles or cupping through the computer, we can listen to what you are going through and how your body and mind are reacting, take a look at your present symptoms if you think you may be sick, address all of the things you were already seeking treatment for, and prescribe with confidence what will help you to stay balanced. We can meditate with you, do chi kung with you, show you stretching and acupressure points you can do at home, deliver your herbs if you are distancing, provide you with meal plans that will help you stay balanced as we are all now learning or relearning how to cook for ourselves. And lastly we can stay connected at a time when humanity needs it most.
We are working on rolling out virtual classes (meal plans, chi kung, fertility and pregnancy support groups) to help you do what you can on your end for prevention and stress management as well as provide a space for connection and community. More updates to come on that from Art of Acupuncture. To start with there is an ability for you to listen to guided meditations and healing hertz music for free at www.MusicalMedication.com. This is a project I have been engaged with for past 3 months and we are offering it for free until June 1. If it asks you for a coupon code it is HARONY20. For all of you parents suddenly home schooling or if you suddenly find yourself working from home, I highly suggest you turn on this music in the background for stress relief.
Lastly, there is one other way we can help you and your family that will also help us keep our doors open.
If you have a family member or friend you are worried about and want to help, we are now able to see them virtually as all HIPAA and state line medical laws have been lifted. Previously to be considered for telemed we would have had to met you once in person. This has been temporarily suspended at a national level. We have no idea how long this will last. If there was ever a family member that you wanted us to see, now is your chance. They can book online or call our office M-F, 9-5 to book. If you know what you already need vitamin and supplement wise, or need refills on your regular formulas the office is open M-F 12-3 for pickups and local delivery is happily arranged by phone by our stellar front desk staff. You may also order some of your herbs through mail by visiting our fullscript dispensary that has 20% off at checkout. Virtual visits are half priced.
We love you and we can’t wait to get back to serving you in person. Until that is safe for our community though, we are willing to be inconvenienced to protect the herd while learning new things like technology and overcoming our fears of video because we are all in this together.
Love,
The A of A staff