Stephanie Doucette, M.S., L.Ac.

Musings of an Acupuncturist in the Time of Coronavirus

Dear Acupuncture Patients,

It’s Monday, March 23, 2020. Here in the Bay Area, we have been under a government-mandated shelter-in-place order for nearly ten days. My acupuncture practice ground to a halt just as the shelter-in-place orders came into effect. Given the data on how the COVID-19 virus spreads, it became increasingly unethical for me to maintain a hands-on health practice during this time. In order to slow the rate of virus transmission through our community, to reduce the imminent overwhelm of our medical system, and to save lives, the most important thing for us (who could possibly do it), was to socially-distance ourselves by STAYING AT HOME.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

This is a really intense time that we are all going through. The spread of COVID-19 against our like-never-before-globally-interconnected backdrop, its social and economic effects, its health impacts including what's looking more and more like inevitable loss of loved ones--these are unprecedented in our lifetimes. The time we’re living through right now will rank up there with major historic world events like world wars, etc.

How are you doing? I’m thinking of all my acupuncture patients, and wondering how things are going in your lives. I hope you are staying healthy and safe. I hope you are finding ways to deal with the emotions and overwhelm that will arise as this situation intensifies. I care about you all, miss our interactions, and hope you are managing to navigate this strange time.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

It has been strange for me to suddenly, in the course of a day or two, stop having face-to-face interactions with my patients. Not to mention, to stop driving my kid around to all her various activities, to stop exchanging chit chat with my kid’s teachers, coaches, friends and their parents. I imagine all of you have experienced similar mammoth shifts in your routines during the past week.

I’ve been at home with my daughter, leaving the house only for short walks. I’ve been learning some new things, like how to attend an online Zoom meeting or order grocery delivery service through my computer. But mostly, I’ve been re-calibrating. It’s been a time of cozy & sweet moments with my daughter, of rest and reflection, but also a time of sharp emotions: grief, fear, anxiety, confusion… to name a few. It has been something like an unplanned meditation retreat.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

All of us are re-calibrating now. Nothing is *normal* at the moment.

My friend says it is like forty days in the desert, like Ramadan or Lent.

In this context, I remind you, as I am constantly trying to remind myself, take it easy. Be gentle with yourselves. Stay safe. Take care.

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As a healthcare professional with a hands-on practice, this is an uncertain time for me. A strange time. Illness is raging through and threatening my community. And the best thing I can do is to sit at home.

Among my colleagues, there is talk of transforming our practices to encompass tele-health. Honestly, it all seems quite overwhelming to me. It’s all I can do to keep up on a fraction of the COVID-19 newstreams: the latest scientific findings on the new virus, the ever-evolving public health guidelines. Transitioning my acupuncture practice to some sort of online format is quite another challenge.

In this context, I’ve wondered what I can do to keep somewhat professionally active at this time, and perhaps to be helpful to some of you. For me, it is most natural to start with writing. Ten years ago, before my acupuncture practice got busy, I wrote regular electronic newsletters with articles on topics in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Perhaps I can go back to something like that.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

I have been slowly digesting some interesting information coming from China about how Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, (acupuncture and herbs, in particular) have been used during the past few months to support conventional/western medical treatment of COVID-19 patients. As one teacher puts it, there have been over 320 large-scale epidemics in China between the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty (approximately 2,000 years.) Some of the most important traditional Chinese medical texts that TCM practitioners draw on today were written in the context of these epidemics. They are studies of diagnosis and herbal treatment of infectious disease processes moving, stage-by-stage, through human populations. These works are highly relevant to modern-day viral epidemics, such as the one we are experiencing right now. The knowledge in these texts is being used with good effect in the current pandemic.

I’m hoping to write a series of blog posts on ideas from Traditional Chinese Medicine and herbology relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But before I launch into a bunch of essays and theories, it seems important to take a deep breath, and acknowledge this unprecedented moment that we are all in.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

A viral pandemic is at our doorsteps. Our roads and tourist-centers are suddenly quiet. No one is taking plane trips or crossing borders. Most of our schools and many of our workplaces are suddenly empty. Doctors and hospital staff are heroically preparing for the flood. Many of us are on lock-down, sheltering at home.

Art Credit: Ricardo Levins Morales

This is a potentially transformative time, for us as individuals and as a society. No doubt things won’t be the same after we get through this pandemic.

In any case, this is a time when much-needed deep rest and re-calibration will be available to many of us, even as we grieve. Maybe tomorrow I’ll write out some suggestions on staying healthy during the pandemic. Maybe the next day I’ll spell out some ideas from Traditional Chinese Medicine. But today I need to rest.

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There have been so many lovely poems & images floating around the internet as we go into this pandemic time apart-together. I’ll close by sharing one of my favorites. Artist/activist Ricardo Levins Morales created this beautiful "What To Do in a Pandemic" poster & has made the images available for free download from his website:

Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio: What to Do in a Pandemic (Animals)