One of the most common questions I get is why did you become an acupuncturist? Here’s my personal story…
My favorite memory from growing up is playing in my suburban yard, finding bits of plants – berries, twigs, leaves – and making potions in the drain outside our walkout basement. We’d stir it with rain water and pretend to taste them. My favorite bits were the seed balls that fell from the big sycamore tree and the juniper berries from the bushes! It wasn’t until recently that I made the connection – I’d always been drawn to the healing power of plants. Back then I had no way of knowing the path I’d discover!
When I was a freshman in high school, I began having lots of abdominal pain with exhaustion and weight loss and change in bowel movements. After a colonoscopy and biopsy, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I was immediately put on antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs, with a stint of Prednisone which is a heavy duty steroid that can only be used short-term. My face puffed up, and things mostly got under control. But something wasn’t right. I was dependent on these drugs for my every day functioning. If I stopped taking them, what would happen? Pain? Progression of the disease? I remember feeling weak, and scared of the pain returning.
During my junior year of college I went on a 3 week camping trip across the American west, studying plants and ecosystems. My passion in college was wildlife biology and ethnobotany, which is the study of how humans use plants. I don’t know what possessed me, but sometime in those 3 weeks, sleeping in tents under the stars , I got the idea in my head to just stop the meds. Was it because I was feeling good, being out in nature, exploring, which is my heart’s true home? Was it a personal dare to see what would happen? Was it the land exerting a longing for freedom from outside in? I remember having a flare up in my tent, which consisted of pain for a few days. Around the same time I changed my diet – no more wheat, no more dairy. Having been vegetarian and then vegan for the past few years, I slowly reintroduced animal protein as well. My body was changing, and finally I was learning to listen to the cues.
After graduating college, I still was having digestion problems, although different from Crohn’s symptoms, and painful periods every month. I made an appointment with a doctor of Oriental Medicine and instructor at National College of Naturopathic Medicine’s School of Oriental Medicine, and he and his students listened to me as I explained all my symptoms in great detail. They felt my pulses, peered at my tongue, gently probed my abdomen. A diagnosis was formed, and both acupuncture and an herbal tea administered. I was so impacted by the thoroughness and hopefulness with which the doctor cared for me, and the humility I sensed in the students. They had solutions. Real, naturally derived, time-tested solutions.
My health journey from that point on was one of hope and discovery and relief. I found relief from cramps, from Crohn’s, and a better understanding of how healing is found in nature. Again, I was in awe at the efficacy and stark contrast to the medical system I’d been a part of for the previous six years.
There was no going back. Answers and solutions as to why I was sick and how to change my internal environment using substances that don’t require infinite dependence. I went into remission from Crohn’s after coming off the medications, and have been CD free ever since. And soon after that first encounter with the student Chinese Medicine clinic, I enrolled in a graduate program so I could bring this healing wisdom to others.
Through both my studies and my personal health journey, I’ve come to understand that health is also a mindset. Ultimately, I wanted to understand my own body, and how I tick, and a way to navigate life with vitality, hope, and joy. This is what I want to give to my patients. A way out of suffering, a deeper connection with oneself, and the trust and hope to be the version of ourselves we came here to be.
If you are ready to discover your inner wealth and tap into that potential for wellbeing we all possess, I urge you to call me to schedule an appointment.
~ Amy Cohn Rieselman
