My list of 3 things I love about Heart & Hands Community Acupuncture, by Dawn Marie Smith

In the raw and utterly spontaneously authentic. The longest and loveliest love letter our little poke factory has received to date! We love our work and we’re tickled pink that our clients love it just as much. Peace to you Dawn (our favorite princess & the pea).
~Christina Chan, R.Ac.

Here it is, fuelled on boredom at a ferry terminal and the sound of seagulls, my list of 3 things I love about Heart and Hands Community Acupuncture:

1. Accessible affordable alternative medicine is important to me. First, it’s the  Economics of Accessibility. I can’t afford to spend 80 dollars per session and still do it regularly,  and not a lot of the folks I know could afford it either. It’s a thing I like, for a cost I can afford. Win and win. Secondly, it works for me on a Social Justice level. To my change maker friends out there, I  would say that the revolution will not be televised, it will also not be fuelled by raw personal guts alone. We all gotta rest sometimes, and especially for those activisty-change-the-world-or-die-with-no-knees-left-from-the-effort types, community acupuncture is a great option. Hey, it’s your value system (affordable, accessible, holistic!), surrounded by happy dozing citizens also getting treatments, and it will leave you revived and healthier. What’s not to dig? Reschedule a %#$%* meeting and take an acu-nap.

2. And Acupuncture as a healing system is just plain awesome. I know the needle thing isnt everyones idea of a really great afternoon, but it works for me. Really, really, works for me. I’ve gotten acupuncture treatments for everything from a sore throat to emotional overwhelm. Fight with the girlfriend? Bummed about election results? Sprained ankle? Theres not much in my world that isn’t resolved, or at least given a better perspective, after some great pokes, and a 90 minute nap in the comfy  chairs. (If the needle thing is kinda freaky for you, but you still want to try it, I’d recommend letting your acupuncturist know and start slow. Acupuncturists are a mild mannered kind thoughtful lot, they remind me of massage therapists. No poky-wielding mad men and wommin here. also, the volunteers are great, and some of them are very, very cute.

3. I  consider the clinic a part of a super hero team of folks/beings/and places that cocreate my beautiful world with me. I’d be less effective, joyful, productive and healthy if it wasnt for my visits there. Goofy right? Goofy. But I spend a bazillion hours a week crawling around  attics/reading bylaws/facilitating meetings with natural builders, so my sanity (but not my commitment apparently) should have been in question for a looong time. I love my work/life, but only if I feel rested and in my potential. And you guessed it, Acupuncture is one of the single most effective things to keep me rested and motivated. It’s up there with day long hikes in the woods and an afternoon in bed with my Sweetie

See yah around the clinic. I’ll be the person covered in green blankets snoozing in the corner.
~Dawn Marie Smith