One day in 2023, I was stung on my face by a scorpion. Scorpion venom anywhere is extremely painful, but on my face, it was unbearable. Luckily I had learned that acupuncture can really, really mitigate the discomfort of a scorpion bite and help move the poison out of your system more quickly so you don't feel so systemically awful. I had two acupuncturists I really like in the East Valley, but one moved to Portugal and the other suspended her practice and never resumed it.
So I tried to find a new place for acupuncture, and the only place that had appointments that day and didn't charge an arm and a leg was Modern Acupuncture in Gilbert.
I was really suffering by the time I arrived for my appointment. Somehow, though, I pulled myself together enough to be professional and behave appropriately when I walked into the clinic. There were two people in the reception area: a really small woman I had talked to on the phone, and a really large man whom I screened out, since the woman knew who I was and why I was there.
But the guy didn't ignore me. In fact, he said to me, "Everything is going to be OK. You can calm down now," but I was focused on what the woman was saying to me and didn't respond to him.
So he tried again, after I filled out the paperwork, and inserted himself into my conversation with the woman. "I can see your energy. It's huge. It's clear out to here," he said, raising his arms above his head and spreading them wide. "I need you to bring your energy back down to...."
"Don't you condescend to me," I said, interrupting him as he drew his arms close to his body and made tight fists with his hands. "I am doing the best I can. If you don't like my energy, go right ahead and tell me to leave, and I will. But don't tell me I have to exist differently to suit your comfort, when all I'm doing is existing."
He was pretty taken aback. Apparently he feels completely qualified and at liberty to police the energy of everyone who walks into his place of business and does not get much pushback. It would have been different if I had directed my "energy" at him, or if I'd caused a scene. But I didn't. I was respectful and polite and was just trying to conduct appropriate business at a capitalist enterprise while I was experiencing significant pain. If he really didn't like my energy, he could have just put up a shield to protect himself from the way I failed to focus on him. And if he really has such a problem with someone whose energy is weird because they're in medical distress, maybe he should find a different business.
The treatment room, which contained about half a dozen people receiving simultaneous treatments, was a dark, cavernous space with new age music turned up very loud and multiple TV screens showing lots of fish, neither of which I found relaxing. I also didn't like being seated in a chair instead of supine on a table. The acupuncturist was fine; his insertions were clean, and he happily responded to my requests for additional needles or for tweaking the ones already in my body. But the overall experience wasn't nearly as healing as being alone in a small treatment room.
When the treatment was over, the acupuncturist gave me his recommendations for future treatment: he wanted me to come in three times a week for at least four weeks. So even though Modern Acupuncture offers the least personal, private, individualized acupuncture sessions I've ever had, being treated there is far more expensive than at any other any other acupuncture clinic I've ever patronized in the 30 years since I first had acupuncture. And to manage the greater expense, Modern Acupuncture wanted me to give them permission to charge my credit card every month.
Needless to say, I won't go back. I also recommend that others find an acupuncturist who can provide more personal, private treatment. read more