Acupuncture Meditations

Seattle is lucky enough to have a low-cost community acupuncture facility called "Communi-Chi". The place is run by a wonderful man named Jordan, who has the patients sit in a large room, filled with recliner chairs. Needles are stuck in the head, arms, legs, hands and feet. Sometimes, I am the only person in the big room during my treatment. More often than not, there are one or two others there with me.

The room has big windows and is kept warm enough so that you don't need a blanket while having your treatment.

I have been having the most wonderful and fulfilling meditations, while I rest and let the needles do their work. One of the best things my mother ever did was to have her daughters learn Transcendental Meditation, when we were teenagers. I believe I was 14 or 15 years old when I got my mantra. My sisters and I learned the technique and we all still practice. While I know I need more discipline (and a quiet place to sit) and should be doing it twice daily, at least I always meditate during acupuncture.

Recently, I felt myself leave my body and hover above it for several minutes. This is only the second time I can remember experiencing that. It is an incredibly freeing feeling. My entire field of vision is expanded - seeing with the mind, instead of the eyes. The only other time I can remember this happening was back in the early 1980's, in the parking lot of an enormous mall called Park City, in Lancaster, PA. My sister and her husband had gone inside for a while and I was meditating in the Volkswagen. I distinctly remember being above the car, and watching them as they strolled from the Mall entrance back to the car. When they opened the door, I had the abrupt sensation of coming back into my body. When I opened my eyes, my field of vision seemed incredibly narrow. The interior of the vehicle and the interior of my own body were blocking part of the world.

I do not remember going back into my body during my acupuncture meditation, however. It must have happened gradually. Last week, for several minutes, however, I had the sensation of being bathed in golden light. I may have been sitting in a vinyl Lazy-Boy surrounded by Asian women, but in my mind, I was alone, surrounded by a golden field and watching a radiant sun. I felt only peace and contentment.

Perhaps the acupuncture needles align my chi and allow these powerful meditations to occur. I feel very safe in that room, during my treatments. Safer than I feel most other times in my life, right now. So many changes recently - my life is stable at the moment, yet very much up-in-the-air.

These meditations are providing me with much-needed nourishment and I am very grateful for Jordan and Communi-chi.