Pins, needles, and pressure points

 

                     
                       The Acupuncturist 

                                                    Written by Keith Boyd 

When you think of Bloomsburg usually the first thing that might come to mind is the Bloomsburg fair, the college, or even the local stores on main street. What about an ancient Chinese alternative medicine that dates back thousands of years do you think about that when you think about Bloomsburg, my assumption is probably not. Debbie Smith is our one and only friendly neighborhood acupuncturist in town and she treats various patients from day to day using the medical treatment known as Acupuncture. For those that don't know Acupuncture is a therapeutic technique involving the insertion of thin sterile needles into specific body points to balance energy flow, also known as qi, and stimulate the nervous system for pain relief and wellness. I was invited in by Mrs. Smith a middle aged women, with a weary smile with her braided grey hair with the tail end being a ponytail dressed in grey and blacks into her beautifully painted spectacle of a house and taken into her office space where she works on her clients, between me and her lay a coffee table where various books about acupuncture and other alternative medicines lay closed neatly in a stack. There our two couches on opposite sides of the coffee table both covered with tapestry, blankets, pillows each one adding to the vibrant yet soothing atmosphere.

I choose the couch closest to the exit and she sits at the couch opposite of me, be hide her our lay a giant almost endless shelf of herbs, vitamins, minerals, medicines that I cannot began to name, but I can tell you won't find any of these at your local CVS. She has two pet cats that move from room to room and occasionally choose to sit next to her, during the interview on of them even came up close to me to smell me. The front window faced both of us letting in only a glimmer of light that hit my face, but not so much that it was distracting to talk to her. On a counter a few inches from where I am sitting pressed up against the window lay a lamp, a common house plant, and two gemstones rose quartz and amethyst both trapped away in a see through glass container that refracted the light creating this stunning spectrum effect in the room. The most eye catching object that lays on this counter was a medium size statue of Buddha standing there in a idle pose on top of a a mini piece of log with various pressure points marked for the untrained eye to gawk at in wonder if I ever accidentally hit one of those points. Debbie originally had a degree in graphic art and worked at her friends at an upstart business in Connecticut, she developed Asthma while there.  Rather than go to the doctor to get a asthma pump her friend suggested an alternative treatment, "You know your Asthma seems to be worse with certain foods you are eating. I know this lady who can help you with that and she did NAET she was in Danberry and it helped a lot I didn't need my inhaler for 10 years after that." she said with a placidly, polite tone. After this she began her deep dive into the ancient medical art known as acupuncture she eventually applied to Acupuncture school, got accepted to the New England School of Acupuncture in Boston, Massachusetts and got her Master degree in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine at the age of 32. Acupuncture was heavily influenced by Chineses philosophies like Daoism and confucianism Debbie elucidated. She has these tiny, sterile needles that go into your skin and hit your pressure points to release chi and balance the yin and yang energy flows in your body she clarified. The benefits of acupuncture cannot be underestimated it has helped with chronic pain with people with all sorts of diseases or disorders from anyone with simple chronic back pain or someone with Cancer undergoing chemotherapy and "while it might not cure the disease itself it will at least ease the suffering of those who suffer from chronic pain due to this disease" she articulates that her medicine should not be the only thing people depend on and should be seen has only secondary. She is also known to help people with infertility issues and gives people a chance at having children, sometimes after her pregnant cliental  will bring the children back to Debbie who then treat them for whatever alignment they have Debbie finds the entire idea lovely. Another understated benefit is how noninvasive her treatments are if your afraid of surgeries acupuncture gets to the point of the issue If you'd like to visit her go on her website Feel Good Acupuncture and book an appointment online.