In Good Hands: Acupuncturist pinpoints problems

in The Beacon, Spring 2006
By Cheryl Lecesse, Staff Writer

Bryn Walsh has always felt a connection to Asian culture.

When she was young, she remembers poring through her older brother’s Asian history schoolbooks, and collecting “Made in China” labels. That connection has led her down the path of practicing traditional Chinese medicine.

Walsh, a Lincoln resident, opened Acupuncture Plus in Acton about five years ago, but has been practicing acupuncture for 16 years. For 10 years prior, she practiced acupressure.

“When you study acupressure you study the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine,” she said. “It resonated with me.”

Originally from Nova Scotia, Walsh never dreamed of being an acupuncturist, but she has always been interested in holistic health. She started practicing yoga when she was 16, and tai chi when she was 18. “It’s just an interest of mine that’s gone back a long time,” she said.

Walsh learned the effectiveness of massage and acupressure while working in New York as a professional dancer; both were a great help in overcoming injuries. She finally decided to train in Swedish massage, at the only school in New York that offered licensing, and later went to a Shiatsu school for two years.

While acupressure requires the use of the thumbs and fingers on pressure points, acupuncture is the insertion of tiny stainless steel needles to regulate the flow of vital energy. The process directs vital energy, called qi, to areas of deficiency and drains it from areas of excess, restoring balance in the body.

Walsh said about a quarter of her clients say acupuncture triggers a feeling of warm water running down their legs. About three-fourths of people fall asleep during the process. “People are always incredibly surprised by how relaxed they get,” she said. “And that it doesn’t hurt.”

The paper-thin needles are placed in specific pressure points on the body to get the qi flowing in the patient. “I think it works on a really deep level because it’s working on the whole energy system rather than the muscles and skin,” Walsh said.

Walsh said her training as a dancer, and her knowledge of anatomy, is a great benefit. “I have a really good take on the body and how it works,” she said. “I’m always diagnosing people by how they stand and how they walk, by how they hold their bodies.”

When it comes to helping a new client, those who practice traditional Chinese medicine do not take into account the Western diagnosis. Instead they look at a combination of signs and symptoms that are what the Chinese call a pattern of disharmony, Walsh said. “They look at the whole person rather than the disease,” she said of those who practice traditional Chinese medicine. “It really is a holistic medicine.”
For example, a client came to Walsh with ringing in her ears and headaches. Ringing in the ears could mean two things: insufficiency of qi, or life force, in the kidney, or too much heat in the liver energy system. “The liver rules the head,” Walsh said. “A lot of the time headaches are liver-related.” In addition, the whites of the client’s eyes were red, which is another indication of too much heat in the liver.
“The orifice of the liver is the eyes,” she said.

Some clients are too cold, and need heat in their body to get the qi flowing. Walsh uses a heated moxa stick, made from an herb, to transfer heat to her clients through acupuncture needles. The moxa stick is something clients can use on their own as well, by placing its heated tip on their pressure points.
Acupuncture isn’t a cure all alone; Walsh said people have to tweak their lifestyle habits, including diet, exercise and sleeping habits, in order to get better. “They need to get involved in their health,” Walsh said of her clients, saying she prefers to call herself their partner instead of their healer. “If you go 100 percent, then I can almost guarantee you’ll get better.”

Walsh also shows people different exercises they can do to complement their treatments, such as Chi Kung, a combination of movement, posture, breathing and meditation with the intent to build and circulate qi. “Sometimes there is no movement but you’re holding a pose,” she said.

Chi Kung works well to release anger. Anger that is locked in the body can disrupt the flow of qi.
Acupuncture is generally associated with pain relief, but originally it was used as prevention against disease. Walsh has been trying to educate people on the benefits getting monthly acupuncture treatments.

“If you can keep your qi flowing, which keeps your blood flowing, it keeps you healthy,” she said. “I think that’s the way it was kind of created to begin with.”

Learning From Success

A Member Profile
from Holistic Practice Fall 2000

Acupuncturist and more, Bryn Walsh shares her story  

We all admire the renaissance person. But how about the renaissance acupuncturist? That’s exactly what Bryn Walsh is. Walsh, who practices acupuncture and more in Acton, Massachusetts, holds to the belief that one size does not fit all and that broad holistic knowledge is the key to successful healing.

Starting as a dancer in New York City, Walsh gained direct experience with pain. The grueling demand of dancing wreaks havoc with the body. Walsh helped by massaging her own sore feet and then those of other dancers. At that point she saw her calling and there was no stopping her. Walsh enrolled in and completed acupuncture school. But that was only a beginning. Ever since she was a youngster she felt a strange attraction for China and other countries in Asia. Walsh first went to Asia in 1983, where she gained first-hand experience with Far East remedies. She contracted dysentery and went to an herbalist and got better quickly. With her insatiable learning desire, she bought many of the herbal formulas and took them home to try to figure out what they were and how they helped. Since then she has visited the Far East more than 10 times and always includes study on her trips. Walsh comments, “Once I studied a kind of herbalism in Indonesia that’s called Jamu which is based on the Chinese herbal system. I found formulas and powders for various ailments. They sold them in little envelopes with pictures of the ailments they cured.” When someone comes to see Walsh for the first time, she “reframes” his or her Western diagnosis into what the Chinese call an energetic imbalance.

“I always look at how a person stands. I look at their whole body and I can see how they are out of balance. I guess its because of years and years of dancing and yoga and studying anatomy and physiology. It just all comes together in my mind.” Because of her broad education in holistic and alternative medicine, Walsh treats her patients from many different aspects. Walsh tells people about their diets and sometimes teaches meditation. Acupuncture does fine, Walsh explains, but it isn’t the best for all things. For example, if someone comes in with a muscular skeletal problem, acupuncture works, but a combination of acupuncture, heat, herbal liniments and massage, she comments, “works a 100 times better.”

Walsh grows her skills with constant education and improves her practice by giving talks and introducing people to the whole concept of traditional Chinese medicine.

Walsh continues to expand her horizons. She has several books in the works and hopes that by learning, teaching, and practicing she will be able to help more people to lead a healthy, holistic life.

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