This past monday I ran into Joseph, a new Jersey City local.
It was the summer solstice [go sun go], 7am, and I was practicing sun salutations and downward dogs with 900 other people in the middle of Times Square. What?! I don't think I need to tell you that TSQ is probably the worst place for yoga. Try clearing your mind of clutter while tourists snap photos of you from the second tier of a bus and a 50 foot "Persian" Jake Gyllenhaal stares down at you as if laughing. But it was worth it,
if only for the spectacle.
Somehow, in the middle of all that craziness, *ahem* relaxation, I ran into Joseph. Turns out he's into wellness. Not surprised? Well, I was surprised to learn that he's an acupuncturist. He described his approach to practice and how he's shifted his focus over time from muscles to fascia - the tissue that connects our muscles and runs through our entire bodies, bound to every part of our systems. Fascinating stuff.
"I've got some books on acupuncture you should see", I told him. And here they are:
The practice of acupuncture is thousands of years old. Impressive. They say that there's no counterpart in contemporary medicine, but I can think of at least one; shiatsu [it's a stretch to call it contemporary medicine - but you get my point].
Both of these focus on the concept of health and wellness as a balancing act within us. Our bad habits -poor posture, junk foods- throw us out of whack and these healing practitioners come in and communicate to different parts of our system, coaxing them back into a harmonious balance. There are points along the meridians of our bodies and the application of needles [acupuncture] or pressure [shiatsu] to those specific points promote the flow of blood and energy.
The topic makes for a good read, but it's the aesthetic of these books that really get to me. Beautiful and hilarious. In the end, it
is all about balance, and what better way to promote balance than learning about ancient techniques and laughing-from-the-gut at photos of those techniques being put to use in the 70's.
The practice of acupuncture is thousands of years old. Impressive. They say that there's no counterpart in contemporary medicine, but I can think of at least one; shiatsu [it's a stretch to call it contemporary medicine - but you get my point].
My last read, A Single Pebble (John Hersey), was a thoroughly pleasant surprise. It was a little vintage book I plucked from the dollar rack at Housing Works Bookstore. I'm a sucker for old books and this one was beautiful inside and out - easily worth the price.
ng engineer who travels to China to survey the Yangtze River for the building of a Dam. The young man's observations of a foreign people and landscape are simple, yet thorough and subtly complex. In short this is a beautiful and thought provoking little book.
