And now for tomorrow.

A homework assignment, proven valuable.
Here goes:

Jessica Maynard
Bio and Acu explanatory
Business Management I
Summer 2010

Jessica grew up in the beautiful city of Madison, WI, home of three natural lakes, amazing bike routes, and one of the most fabulous farmers markets in the country. There, she became intimately familiar with the beauty of the changing seasons and learned to endure long, harsh winters. After moving with her family to Bloomington, IN, where she attended Indiana University, graduating with a history and Spanish degree in 1999, she found her way out to the magnificent pine tree, ocean, and cascadia-bound city of Portland, OR in 2001. In Portland she has enjoyed a cyclic route to the path of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. She has waitressed, carpentered, taught gymnastics, and provided interpreting services for latino patients in western medical settings. Finding her way through college courses in chemistry and biochemistry at Portland State University, she found her feet landing on a path to the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, from which she graduated in 2011, a decade after landing in PDX. Her excitement for this medicine is bountiful. Her commitment to your health and wellbeing is unlimited. She is excited to meet you and discuss your health concerns and goals for healing in this city, and in this world. Welcome!

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a complex and beautiful way of tapping into a person’s healing network. Referred to as the meridian,or channel, system in Chinese medicine, a type of energy called Qi flows freely and harmoniously when a person is in a condition of optimal health. Blockages in the flow can cause mild to severe health issues. By encouraging these channels to reorder and reset through applying very fine needles(the main tool of the acupuncturist)to specific points on the body, healing occurs and the patient is able to achieve the health we all are capable of experiencing. Other methods of therapy in Chinese medicine include moxibustion, cupping, and gua sha, medicinal herbs, and herbal formulas.

Finding Resonance

I began a journal entry and it turned into this poem last night, and I felt it deeply. I wonder if others can see its message and would feel it too.

My wish/desire,

simultaneous diametric opposition:

I wish to be better.

And I wish to be less hard on myself.

My embarrassments run aplenty,

harsh criticism of my own actions run deep.

My light shines.

I am raven.

How perfect is my imperfection.

Accepting once and ever again until no more~

delight shadows a bright encounter.

Where does the curtain close, yet open?

How do I continue

in trenches

and in trepidation?

The warrior simply does not listen. (for that is how he/she conquers fear)

The warrior is still.

My warrior fights on.

Kicking, stepping, defeating.

Tripping.

Falling

Alight, on toes and

dancing.

The fire in my core taps into sunlight,

today not clouds.

Still, where does one find that bootstrap,

the face to fight again

(the reset button)

the noteworthy to no one but yourself--

that I have made it this far.

And on I go. And I will do it all.

Again

and again.