Archive for May, 2009

CommuniChiZ – First Edition

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Logo_OnscreenCommuniChiZ…The online newsletter of your local community acupuncture clinic.

In this edition:
1. Introduction
2. Bon voyage Serena
3. Welcome Amber, Sam, and Upel.
4. Free Friday – May 29
5. Acupuncture is Like Noodles
6. Join us on Facebook

1. Introduction. Welcome to this first edition of CommuniChiZ, the online newsletter of CommuniChi, and thank you for helping to launch the affordable acupuncture revolution in Seattle. By telling your friends about our low cost sliding scale clinic, we’ve steadily grown these past two and a half years and even through the economic downturn of the past half year, our community clinic is approaching a level of sustainability which makes it increasingly evident that we will be around for years to come.

2. Bon Voyage Serena. Jordan: It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that Serena, the co-founder of CommuniChi, will be leaving us to join her family in the Virgin Islands and open a community acupuncture clinic there. Energy movement is part of life – the comings and goings of friends, the cycles of life, the changing seasons, every in breath, and out breath. When we hold these constant fluctuations in focus, we awaken to our deeper nature.

It has truly been a pleasure and an inspiration to nurture our shared dream of affordable community health alongside of this woman of great integrity and bright spirit. I have learned and grown both as an acupuncturist, and a human being, working with Serena.  Although Serena will be moving on, answering the call of family service, please be assured that I will continue to strive to further the highest standards of care within our affordable community oriented business model. Please stay tuned for updates on our Summer Party to honor Serena.

Serena: It has been such a great joy and gift to work in community with all of you over the last few years. This is a vibrant and enriching community and I have loved being a part of your health care team and supporting all the transitions, adventures and plans you are embarking on. And yes, sometimes helping pick up the pieces and dusting you off.

Working in a partnership with Jordan to create CommuniChi and make affordable community medicine a reality in our community is something I will treasure always. I love this clinic and what we’ve created and while leaving has been a difficult choice, it’s the right one for me and my family. I know and trust I leave it in good hands. I too have learned much from Jordan’s presence and inspiration. His commitment to living in integrity and alignment with his beliefs serves CommuniChi and the greater community well. Please know that I will hold all of you in my heart as I head into the horizon. It’s time to be a full-time aunt and sister, with the bonus of bringing affordable community health to the Islands.

Jordan and I will be spending time with both Amber and Sam during the transition to help them come to know you as we have. They are both bright and warm and I feel comforted by their coming on board. In the presence of spirit, Serena

CommuniChi group photo.13. Welcome Amber, Sam and Upel. Expect to see some new smiling faces on a regular basis at the clinic. Amber Blankenship graduated from Bastyr University in 2006 with a Masters in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine. She recently finished editing a textbook on microacupuncture – a modality which will blend in very well with the various styles already employed here in the clinic. Amber has taught gymnastics to children and swings from a trapeze as a way to keep her Chi flowing.

Sam Weng graduated from the Seattle Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 2007 with a Masters in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine. He has extensive experience in community style clinics, including at the Pike Market Senior Center, and at Consejo Counseling and Referral Services. For self-care, Sam enjoys organic gardening, and drum circles.

Hsieh Yu Chin (a.k.a. “Upel” – that’s pronounced “Oo-pel” recently started as a receptionist. Born in Taiwan, Upel teaches Chinese to middle school students part time and volunteers for the Tzu Chi Foundation. She is the mother of a six year old girl and the loving wife and friend of Jordan, co-founder of CommunChi. She is also studying English as a Second Language at Seattle Central Community College

4. Free Friday May 29. 50 Days to Light Rail Celebration! If you know a friend, or friend of a friend, who might be interested in experiencing our clinic, we are offering free acupuncture to new patients all day on Friday, May 29. They can reserve an appointment online.

Noodles5. Acupuncture is Like Noodles. Now Available for sale in our Bookstore! Acupuncture is Like Noodles is written for patients looking for more information on how best to utilize this wonderful medicine. It is also a timely contribution to the debate on national health care, offering an understanding of how Noodles publicity  community acupuncture can become an integral part of the solution to the  our national health care crisis. Written in an accessible and satirically humorous style, this book will help you understand why we do what we do. A portion of the proceeds will go into a micro-lending fund of the Community Acupuncture Network, a national nonprofit organization devoted to the spread of affordable acupuncture nationwide. Consider a gift copy for a friend. Sliding scale price: $20 to $25.

6. Join us on Facebook, and help our affordable network grow.

*Our office is located at 2524 16th Ave. S. #301.
*Clinic hours are Monday through Saturday.
*For more information, please visit our website.

Thank you!
Mil gracias!
Xie Xie!

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Get Your Bowl of Noodles at CommuniChi

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

NoodlesThis is a fundraiser book to inform you, dear member, of the story behind community acupuncture. Read about our beginnings and what you mean to all of us who own community acupuncture clinics. Read about how and why we do this. And finally, buy a copy of this brilliant book to help start more community acupuncture clinics in America. For every book sold, a portion of the proceeds will help fund a micro-lending program for new community acupuncture clinics. Buy a copy now! Just $20-25 (sliding scale, includes sales tax).

From the Introduction:

Why, all over America, is there suddenly a profusion of dimly lit rooms full of second-hand recliners, filled with peacefully dozing people of all ages, races, backgrounds, and occupations, all napping together? And why, if you look closely, do all of those people have very tiny needles sticking out of their hands and feet and heads? What is this, some kind of a cult?

No, it’s a revolution. Albeit a very quiet one.

The purpose of this book is to explain, and also to advance, the community acupuncture movement. It is meant as a response to many of the questions that different people have asked us over the last couple of years patients, acupuncturists and acupuncture students, as well as journalists, educators, and plenty of folks who are simply curious about what we call, affectionately, the revolution.

But what does acupuncture have to do with revolution?

Imagine what would happen if a pharmaceutical company announced that it had invented a drug which could effectively treat practically everything that could go wrong with a person. The short list would include asthma, arthritis, indigestion, PMS, sinusitis, insomnia, fibromyalgia, hot flashes, high blood pressure, infertility, constipation, the side effects of chemotherapy, and the common cold, not to mention every conceivable variety of pain. And imagine that not only can this drug address all of these problems, but all of its side effects are positive: it has stress-reducing and mood-elevating properties, and in fact is so relaxing that some people who have nothing really wrong with them like to use it on a regular basis, just because they enjoy it so much. And yet it isn’t addictive, and there’s no way to overdose on it. Think about the potential market for such a drug — and how it would challenge our assumptions about how medicine works.

Now imagine that this drug isn’t a drug, but a practice so old that it cannot be patented or claimed by anyone.

A practice that requires almost no materials and potentially costs almost nothing.

In a country that is not only in the midst of a health care crisis due to skyrocketing costs, but also sunk in the worst recession in memory.

See where are going with this?

But wait — imagine that unfortunately this practice that should cost almost nothing and should be available to virtually everybody has somehow become so expensive that almost nobody can even afford to try it. And to add insult to injury, imagine that it’s being used more and more to do facelifts for the very wealthy, because not only can it lower blood pressure and get rid of migraines, it can diminish wrinkles, too. And so what ought to be an inexpensive treasure for everyone, especially in dire economic times, has
become an overpriced luxury for a very few. Doesn’t it sound like it might be time to talk about a revolution?

Congratulations, you’ve just imagined the community acupuncture movement! We are writing this book because we started the revolution, put the community acupuncture movement in motion, and we believe that it could go so much farther than it has already. Acupuncture is not only valuable because it is an extremely inexpensive, nonpharmaceutical therapy for pain and stress, but because it challenges the way we think about healthcare. Its profound simplicity is an antidote for the greed and bureaucracy that have created the American healthcare crisis.  Community acupuncture is, by its very nature, healthcare reform. This is why so many people are so excited about it.

There are a lot of books about acupuncture, but none of them are as simple as this one. Our critics will undoubtedly be horrified at what they consider our oversimplification of acupuncture. However, the contributors to this book have more than forty years of collective experience doing acupuncture, and all of us have been treating more than fifty patients every week for years now. We do a lot of acupuncture; it’s how we make our living. When you do something with intense focus for a long time, you are able to see it with clarity, and what originally seemed complex and overwhelming becomes simple and transparent. It is this simplicity and transparency we want to share particularly
with patients and new acupuncturists.

We also believe that there is a great need to create a different culture around the practice of acupuncture. Instead of acupuncture being esoteric and inaccessible, it could be widely embraced and appreciated. Part of what can create that embrace and appreciation is understanding, and so we want you to feel that you share in the understanding we have acquired over years of practice. We want you to feel that you understand some basic and essential truths about acupuncture: what it is, how it works, why people need it. Instead of acupuncture being some kind of overpriced, exotic, New Age indulgence, it could be humble, universal, and infinitely useful. We hope that this book provides the recipe for that transformation.

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Free Friday (new patients) on May 29

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Hi Healthy Community,

Acupuncture is sometimes an up and down business. You see, when you’re doing your job correctly, a lot of people with more acute pain issues start feeling better after a while, and need to come less often, or do fine taking a break. The sun, our other great community partner in healing makes an appearance.

What we need from you when our wishes come true (you feel better, the sun comes out) is to keep telling your friends about CommuniChi and how affordable acupuncture helped you! Now you have a perfect opening.

On Friday, May 29th, we are hosting a Free Friday at CommuniChi. We will be offering free acupuncture all day to new patients. The day also marks 50 days until the opening of Light Rail in Seattle. Very soon you’ll be able to ride the train to our very doorstep on Beacon Hill. Woo hoo! Health and sustainability keeps getting better and better in our little nature-bejewelled corner of the world.

To make an appointment, Click here!

p.s. If you are a regular patient, you are welcome to make an appointment for this day also, and enjoy our everyday low cost sliding scale.

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