One of my greatest fears is to come home and find that my house has been demolished and my family has disappeared. I get a huge boulder in my chest when I think about mourning the loss of a loved one, replacing everything I own, or living without electricity for months because a disaster hit my neighborhood.
Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) has never been called upon so many disasters as we were last fall — hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the shooting in Las Vegas, and the wildfires in California left millions of people in the U.S.
It's important to remember that these are only the disasters that have happened in North America. According to a news report,1 the floods in Southeast Asia this summer claimed 1,200 lives and affected 41 million people. A mudslide in Sierra Leone killed 600 and affected 6,000. Given the rising number of disasters occurring all over the world, our opportunities to sit with people who are in distress will only increase. In many of the healing arts, there are techniques around energetic shielding to effectively help people process deep emotions without taking them on ourselves.
Grief sometimes elicits anger, anxiety or fear which can be difficult to support. The tendency can be to try and fix it so the person will stop expressing the emotion we perceive as negative. In Chinese medicine, all emotions move qi (life force) through us. Emotions are in service to our health and they will not be endless. When people feel things intensely, we can learn to give them space and empathy.
The community-style acupuncture that AWB uses is a powerful way to interrupt the development of post-traumatic stress. It nurtures hope and resilience in individuals, families and entire communities. AWB's small staff and dozens of AWB-trained volunteers have been providing trauma healing treatments in Texas, Florida, Las Vegas and California.
Florida: AWB collaborated with acupuncturists throughout the state of Florida to provide inspiration, mentoring and outreach support for trauma treatment clinics in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Clinics were offered by AWB-trained volunteers in the Tampa/St. Pete area, Naples, the Keys, and Marathon, Florida. Our staff also offered support to acupuncturists seeking to provide local treatments to the Puerto Rican community in Florida.
Nevada: In response to the October 1 shooting in Las Vegas, AWB worked with the Chinese medicine community to provide trauma recovery treatments at Wongu University throughout the month of October. AWB also provided outreach support to inform the local media of the availability of these free treatments, and to contact AWB-trained acupuncturists throughout Nevada so they could be involved as their schedule allowed.
California: In Sonoma county, AWB volunteers set up clinics in evacuation centers and medical centers to treat evacuees, first responders and other members of the community. Clinic locations included: Petaluma Armory National Guard, Santa Rosa Fairgrounds, Petaluma Veterans Center, Napa County, and the Permaculture Skills Center in Sebastopol.
Making a Difference
It is powerful to see the effects that our needles can have on folks who receive acupuncture after a disaster. The NADA treatments, administered in a group setting, foster community healing, help to relax an overactive nervous system, and allow people to breath better than they have in days. We can't replace people's homes or bring back what they have lost. We give them a pause, sometimes a reset, so they can find the strength to wonder what comes next.
We are in a time where many things are changing and being lost. Sometimes, the growth on the other side of loss isn't immediately obvious. In a world where disasters have become common and the stresses of daily life can become overwhelming, health practitioners, acupuncturists, therapists, doctors, and all healers are being called to step out of the treatment room and into leadership. Our culture needs more individuals who are able to diagnose problems and implement treatment plans at the personal, community and global level.
Reference
- Cook J. "As the U.S. Reels From Harvey, Deadly Floods Ravage Other Parts of the World." Huffington Post, Aug 31, 2017.
Gerri Ravyn Stanfield is the executive director of Acupuncturists Without Borders, and the author of "Revolution of the Spirit: Awaken the Healer."