Nice Needles: My Experience with Community Acupuncture

I have been on a huge kick of “self care” or, as I like to call it, soul care. In the last month, I’ve had my first real facial (SO amazing), gotten a haircut in an actual salon, made some amazing meals and dessert from scratch, and, finally, have tried acupuncture.

My past experience with acupuncture was brief, and it was referred to as dry needling, when I was in grad school. In the state of California, physical therapists aren’t allowed to dry needle in the real world, but our school wanted us to be informed, so we had one lab where we were exposed to this type of modality.

I remember my quad being poked with one needle and my muscle freaked out, twitched, and finally fatigued into a release. It seemed simple enough, but that was just poking the surface.

Fast-forward to now, and I’ve been wanting to experiment with different modalities and ideas of thought for healing, including Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture. I was able to get in with a local practitioner and friend, Marisa Blume, who I’ve met through the intertwining social circles here in Encinitas, in her and her partner’s brand new clinic called Be Well Acupuncture. It was an idea that was birthed in the middle of quarantine, and brought to life quickly and beautifully.

@bewellenicinitas, Photo by Arielle Caruso

If you’re unfamiliar with acupuncture, I advise that you read these Frequently Asked Questions, with answers straight from the source. I may understand a handful of things well, but TCM is not one of them… yet.

In short, my visit with Dr. Blume was breezy and peaceful. She made me feel so comfortable in the space, which was shared during a community session. Community acupuncture is meant to make this treatment more readily available and at a lower cost, which I think is so important.

@bewellencinitas, Photo by Lauren Duke

We started with an overview of my history and what I’m currently working with: some insomnia, recent skin breakouts that are rooted in stress, and continuing to support my period which was supposed to come in the next week. She was able to assess my pulse and tongue afterwards to confirm any hypothesis she had, which is a method of mapping out symptoms correlated to the body’s organs so she would know how to approach my treatment aka the placement of needles. My mind was blown as she took the time to explain what she was seeing and what that all meant.

Turns out, my symptoms were related to many things, including spleen dysfunction/dampening. I’m not going to pretend to have remembered what every single needle placement meant, but I trust that they were correctly placed and I received exactly what I needed.

Now, needles have never really scared me. Getting shots never bothered me. The acupuncture needles were SO tiny, you barely feel them being put in. There was one instance where the needle felt intense, and all Marisa did was pull it out slightly. No wiggling, no jabbing! What was explained to me was that these needles help move any stagnant energy, or chi, in the body, creating more flow and balance in your body.

The session felt like a perfectly timed nap, with an interesting sensation that I could only describe as small threads connecting from needle to needle and throughout my body. I’m not even sure how long I had the needles in, but the entire time spent in the clinic was about an hour. One of the best parts was waking up to seeing my friend going through his treatment and feeling like there was a collective healing happening in our community.

Just like with physical therapy or any other modality for healing, consistency is key when dealing with acute problems. And since this experience greatly exceeded my expectations, I will, without a doubt, be back for more community acupuncture.

Want to know more about this particular acupuncture collective? Visit their website HERE.

If you like learning about these different modalities of healing, tell me below! And P.S. this wasn’t a paid post by any means. I choose to share the experiences that resonate with me on my healing journey, and this one did.