7.29.2011

free friday

Today is my 2nd Free Friday event. I am offering the community an opportunity to learn about acupuncture and to experience it firsthand. Based on how it went the first time, I decided that this time I'd better schedule appointments!

I decided to start doing this event as a means to bring the medicine to the people. While I am surprised at times with the open response to acupuncture when I talk with people about it, I realize that few in Lake County have been exposed to what the needles look like, what a treatment consists of, and, most importantly, what they experience in a treatment. It is my intention to offer free treatment events throughout 2011, once a month.

So yeah, from 11am-3pm today, I am giving away treatments. Each person that signed up gets a half-hour of chat, diagnostic interaction, and a simple, safe treatment so that they get a sense of what acupuncture is all about.

I have not set dates for Free Fridays going forward, and, in fact, it might be a different day than Friday next month. I will keep you posted here, on Facebook, via Twitter, and at my website as I determine the date and time.

I will write more about the experiences of the day this evening, but in my excitement about the event, I wanted to put some quick words down about it.

To witness someone experience a shift in their being, be that their level of pain, in their thoughts or emotions, or in their spirit, is truly remarkable. To see someone get up off the treatment table feeling different, however that shows up, is amazing. It is a gift that I feel honored and grateful to be a part of. For me, that's what this work is all about--helping people. Working with another from a place of trust and respect is uplifting and inspiring to me.

One of my teachers talked often about taking in what we learned and then making sure we give it away. Thanks, Bob, for the lesson.

7.28.2011

Intention (and how it relates to acupuncture)

Greetings.

I hope this finds you well.

My name is Austin Homrighaus, and I practice acupuncture.

I opened my clinical practice, Lake Erie Acupuncture, in Willoughby in May 2011, and I am a consultant for Enlightened Health Management, a pain management clinic with offices in Willoughby and Youngstown, and Great Lakes Health Institute, an integrative, holistic, patient-centered medical office in Lyndhurst.

Today I want to write a bit about intention, as I believe it is an important aspect of acupuncture (at least how I practice it).

Intention is the thought, aim, or purpose behind words or deeds, a guiding of one's doings with an underlying principle.

It is the intention of this blog, for example, to offer its readers new perspectives and possibilities in regards to living, being, and feeling well. I will be posting entries several times a week relating to everything from how to source locally-grown food, to ways in which one can live in harmony with the seasons. I will be posting entries that educate the public about what acupuncture is, how it works (or better put, how I think it works), and how it can serve them.

It is my intention as a practitioner of acupuncture to serve my patients needs as best I can at the present moment. What does this mean? By having the intention of being truly present in the moment with another human being, I am able to develop a greater sense of what that best service would be. I have no preconceived notions. I am open to things arising as they do. I experience this sense in many ways that I learned through rigor in school: with my senses, through touch, and other specific diagnostic methods, such as taking pulses or palpitating the abdomen. I can check in on what it is I'm sensing with the patient and engage them in the process. I can offer, through words, through touch, through moxa and needles, what is needed in the moment.

Acupuncture is very personal medicine, unique to each person and our interactions. I'll give you an example. A woman comes to see me because she has migraine headaches. From the moment she enters my office, I am engaged in observation. What do I hear? What do I see? What do I feel in her presence? I ask her questions and make sure that I'm correctly understanding her answers. I get to know her, through our interactions, and get a sense of who she is and how I can help. We may discover that her headaches are tied to her menstrual cycle or how she is handling the stress and responsibility of taking care of her elderly mother during a health crisis. How I help her with her headaches is not necessarily the same way I would help another person with their headaches.

I find myself wanting to write more, but it is also my intention to keep these posts digestible, so I'm going to stop here for now. I'll just offer this--if you have questions, please ask, either as comments to this post or private emails. I'll do my best to answer.