Grand Master P (as in Puncture......as in acu..)

I have baffled my acupuncturist!  (I call him Dr. Needles.)  I was doing really well and had not had a migraine in over 3 weeks and was feeling really good and almost cocky that I had gotten rid of them.  Then, came the smack down!  Almost every day this week, I have had a headache.  Some were full-blown migraines, others were just bad enough to make my day miserable.  There doesn't seem to be any reason for it.  No major changes or anything.

SO - since Dr. Needles couldn't figure out my deal, he set up a free session with his teacher and mentor who I will call "Grand Master P".  This guy is like the triple black belt mac daddy of acupuncture.  He is a sweet, tiny, Chinese man who drives in from Texas about once a  month or so to consult with and provide guidance to his student, Dr. Needles.  (Apparently, like music, acupuncture is an ongoing learning process.) 

Grand Master P was very helpful.  He asked loads of questions before diagnosing me with "Qi stagnation".  According to him, Qi is life energy and it flows throughout the body.  Sometimes, it flows into a part of your body but doesn't flow back out for some reason.  This is Qi (pronounce "Chee") stagnation.  In my case the Qi is flowing to my head and is getting blocked up there.  The energy has to go somewhere so it comes out as pain.  He said that the remedy for me is to pull the energy back down from my head.  (I don't know how much of this I subscribe to.  I'm just saying what he said.)

He put a lot more needles in than usual and I have to say they stung a bit.   He said that if it stings a little, that means it's working.  If it burns, then that's not good.  Two of them burned like hell so he had to adjust them.  I think he put them in deeper than usual.  As he did this, we had a very nice chat about life, music, and everything.  He plays the western as well as the Chinese flute and was very interested to hear about my oboe playing.  We agreed to play some duets and swap CD's next time he comes into town.  Very cool guy.   

As Grand Master P was leaving the room to let me rest with the needles in for 20 minutes, one of them fell out.  It happened to be the one near where my head had been hurting that morning.  When I told him this, he said "That's good!  When that happens, we don't put it back in. When the body redirects energy, sometimes it rejects a needle and pushes it back out.  When it does this, it means it doesn't need that needle any more."  Isn't that crazy?  If it hadn't had this happen to me, I don't think I would've believed it.  I have never had a needle come out before.  I don't know what it means, but there it is.

I have to say, I felt tons better and way more relaxed after my visit with Grand Master P.  This is good because I have friends staying at my house with 2 little boys aged 5 and 3.  I totally need my energy this weekend!  :-)