 Acupuncture for me was not love at first sight. In fact, I'll share a guilty confession with you here that it took me two years to actually start liking acupuncture. I'm a super sensitive person. For the practitioner I was going to, it actually hurt a lot for me for just the second before I was let to sit. So it was not love at first sight, but the results to me were undeniable. Now in this video, I want to share a little bit about my history and my experience with acupuncture, especially the first time I got it. Hey, I'm Alex Hyan, current doctoral student in traditional or classical Chinese medicine, author of the book Master the Day. Now I've also included this free e-course. It's the first link in the description box. It's how to add 10 years to life with traditional or classical Chinese medicine. So that's the beginner's guide to five practices I would recommend you study. It's the first link there in the description. Check it out and we'll get back to the video now. So the first time I went, it was actually because I, since I was a kid, I had a long term history of constipation. It's genetic problems related to digestion run on my mom's side. And so I had this kind of trifecta of asthma allergies minus the eczema. And there's asthma allergies and eczema all over my family, right, my maternal line. But in particular, the thing that really bothered me daily was despite eating an incredibly healthy diet, I was always prone to constipation as a kid. Now for me, for someone that ate so well and exercised, I was really annoyed that this was happening. I didn't understand why that would happen when I saw people eating the crappiest foods imaginable, not exercising, and having no problem pooping every day. And I'm here like, I'm doing it all right. What the hell? God, like, what's going on? So in any case, we actually went to a naturopath first. And the naturopath just used three acupuncture needles, but I was younger and definitely more afraid and more anxious. And so I was not interested in getting acupuncture, not interested in needles, not interested in like, like, is this really going to work? I mean, you're sticking something that's like a hair thin into me. How's that going to make me poop, right? Like, is anyone else thinking this witchcraft, some voodoo stuff? Now, what's interesting is that when I had it, the first time I had it, I didn't notice much sensation at all. You know, I didn't, she put the needle in, I didn't really notice much. I just kind of hung out and relaxed. I also did not really notice an effect after. And I find that in my experience, this is unfortunately more often the case than not. That a person sees someone that's like a PT or a naturopath for acupuncture, and they're not necessarily as well trained for what they're looking for in terms of sensation. So I didn't notice anything as far as results, nothing as far as discomfort or anything really shifting at all. The next time I got acupuncture, it was by someone who was only trained in Chinese medicine, had a long history of seeing hundreds of patients a week. So I knew that he was legit. And this time, number one, it was very intense, but I had a few interesting sensations happen. The first time, number one, I was nervous, obviously. And I noticed that when you put the needle in, sometimes I would get the sensation going down my body or going up my body, which I thought was interesting. When he came back into the room, he said to me, yeah, like you're describing where the large intestine channel goes or lung channel goes, which I thought was kind of crazy. I also noticed that after about 10 to 15 minutes, I felt a deep sense of calm, like the level of calm you feel before you're about to nod off for a nap, where you're like, you know, it's the afternoon, maybe you're on vacation, you're laying down, maybe a tropical area, and you're just like, you're just no worries. And you're just about to drop off like a second later. So that time I actually did fall asleep. And for someone who really almost cannot physically nap his whole life, that was pretty amazing for me. So I had all these crazy dreams. I had a really restorative sleep. And when I woke back up, I thought it was so interesting because I started getting the sensation of laughter. Like when you're in church and someone's like, your sibling's poking you and you can't laugh because you're going to get smacked by your parent and you're like, don't laugh. And you just try so hard. And then eventually I just busted out laughing. And it was like this huge weird emotional release. And after that, I felt so calm. So my first experience, nothing happened. It also wasn't uncomfortable. The second one, there was a little bit more discomfort with needles, at least when they went in. And after that, it was fine. But the deep sense of calm to the point where I fell asleep, I started laughing uncontrollably, and it was like I was reborn. So your results, your mileage may vary with acupuncture. And it's more about, it's not about going to see someone who does acupuncture. It's more about finding the right person. This is really big in my profession where there's, for lack of a better word, this quality control issues. So my advice here to you is if you didn't notice any effect, go see someone else. And go see someone else on a personal recommendation. But that is a bit about my own experience with acupuncture. Again, it was not love at first sight, and I'm super sensitive to it. I was afraid of it. It took me a couple of years to get used to it. But now it's something I really crave, and I noticed that there's nothing on earth that can have that effect that I've seen. Not popping a painkiller can do that. Not a drug can't do that. Not massage, not sleep can't do what acupuncture does. So to me, this has been a very rewarding experience, both being a patient and now the practitioner. So I hope that helps you guys. And before you go, I've included that free print off. It's like a little infographic, five daily practices to help you add 10 years to your life with traditional or classical Chinese medicine. You can download it there. It's the very first link, and I will catch you in the next video.