Getting closer to Zen

I walked into Ed's practice today and immediately felt a sense of calmness wash over my body. He was very mellow and easy going and after filing out a little bit of paperwork we went over my medical history. I told him about my 3 ACL knee surgeries and 1 Meniscus - and he asked what they used for the tendon. Suddenly a light went off - back when I was 18 I tore my ACL and had Joesph Engman from Ballard Sports Med preform my surgery. He used a portion of my right hamstring to do the ACL repair. It's been over 10 years - and now I'm having issues with the very area where they tore a chunk of meat out of. Interesting.

Let me be clear - I made the appointment this morning despite my years of needle paranoia. Ever since I was an infant, I've had a severe phobia to needles. I suppose it was rooted in being poked a million times to help me breathe. I had serious asthma as a child - and still do - and when I started to turn blue in the face at 2 years old, my panicked mother would rush me into the doctors office to get shots of adrenaline. To this day I have a hard time with needles - and have bolted out of many doctor offices before. But not today - I was a brave little girl. :)

Ed started with me laying on my tummy and did some core rubs. He noticed my liver was feeling a little interesting - but didn't put me in any discomfort. He worked down to my legs - cracking each toe just like my dad did when I was a kid - and to his delight he heard me giggle. Then he worked my arms - cracking each finger and triple cracking my thumbs. "That was a good one!" He giggled.

Flipped over on my stomach he felt an immediate difference between my two legs. My left glute was super tight - and my right flexible and supple. Then he started sticking the needles in. The first set addressed the general pressure points. The first one he inserted gave me a zing down the leg and then a constant dull ache in the knee. He then continued to insert them - on both legs, with varying degrees of zings and aches. Then he focused on my hamstring. When he inserted it into the muscle it felt like it was severely cramping and then released. An odd sensation I've never ever felt before. I almost bolted, but told myself to relax and enjoy the ride. Then he moved to my butt and zowie! That felt strange. After the initial tinge my muscle relaxed and he was done. Next he put some Masa (sp?) on it and lit it on fire causing a warming and then hot feeling. It stunk pretty bad - Ryan asked me if I was smoking when I came home.
Ed suggested I come back in a week and do another session to fully release the hambone. And much to my surprise, I signed up again. At least the next time I'll be prepared for the zingers.

Time to watch some Fletch. Gotta love that Chevy Chase. It's out of print now and the video store keeps it behind the counter. Sweet.