In acupuncture, there is a special point, situated under the kneecap, called Zu San Li, or longevity point (stomach 36). It is called this way because it is supposed to heal all our organism, several organs (including liver and kidneys), metabolism, cardiac function, blood pressure and blood sugar irregularities. I could go on. What I like about it it is its general purpose. As one of my masters, Jeffrey Yuen, said, if you don’t know how to treat an illness you can massage it and your body will thank you.
Massaging this point and putting needles on myself has been one of my endurance secrets during the path. Some minutes everyday just to give to my body breath and relief from the daily efforts.
By the way, I am not an acupuncturist (even though I love Chinese medicine), and I want to stress it because this is the core of the post.
I started practicing acupuncture on myself when I was 20 years old. I searched the points on books (later on the Net), and tried to heal myself with a constant and rigorous practice. If I think about the first attempts, with sewing needless or toothpics, I laugh a lot. But it was fun. And it was a way to know myself.
Starting the Camino means working with sewing needless and toothpicks. If you think you need a specific preparation or a degree to do that, you won’t do that. Because the more you will read about it, the more you will be submerged by fears. You will find reasons not to do it and start believing that your life will be the same without it.
Maybe it is just like this. The more we know about something, the more we lose recklessness. And for every difficult choice we make in our life, from changing a job to marry a woman or having children, we need to deal with recklesness.
Coming back to the acupuncture:
Is this practice effective? I suppose so...
Is it a placebo? I don’t know.
Am I an acupuncturist? No. And I am not intending to be one.
But I know how my body reacts to different kinds of needles, points and pressures. At least for me, it is a good way to conceive medicine and finding a connection between mind, body and soul.
