During one of my teaching sabbaticals I studied with a medical doctor who specialized in acupuncture. One of his patients told him I was a yoga aficionado who had studied in India and my interest in maintaining a healthy body triggered an interest in acupuncture. When he learned I was auditing classes at one of the local acupuncture colleges in Los Angeles, he contacted me and asked if I could create a series of exercises to trigger “chi” through the acupuncture meridian channels. He said I could work with some of his patients to see if the exercises increased their healing time. I was delighted with the offer, but I soon discovered that most of his patients were not comfortable in their bodies and did not have a good sense of their body, especially when their eyes were closed. It was difficult for them to merely stretch their toes and far more difficult to exercise the meridian stretch positions. Only one of the six patients was successful. She had been a ballet student in her youth, was totally in touch with her body and was able to stretch each of the twelve major meridians properly. Suffering with intense back pain, she feared she’d have to cancel a planned trip to Europe. I suggested she practice the twelve stretches five times a day, and a month later I received a card from her thanking me. The card was postmarked from Switzerland.

My keen interest in acupuncture led me to apply to the Academy of Chinese Medicine in Beijing, and when I was accepted I applied for another teaching sabbatical. It was approved, but at the time my elderly myrig became seriously ill and I had to cancel that learning experience. I never did get to China because I transferred that energy from acupuncture to researching and writing a story about my mother’s survival from the Genocide, which took many more years than I had envisioned.

I still find acupuncture fascinating. There are such interesting aspects of how acupuncture relates to our physical and emotional bodies. For example, the organs of the body are compared to a society. The lungs are likened to that of a population’s prime minister, the liver to a General and the heart is referred to as the Emperor. The human heart is protected by a membrane and in acupuncture that membrane is referred to as the jester whose job is to keep the emperor happy. Why? Because when the emperor is happy, the population will be happy. How does this relate to the human being? Does it mean that if the heart is free from stress the rest of the body will function harmoniously? Chinese medicine says the heart rules the mind. If that is true, and it most likely is, I immediately know what is meant when someone says, “He has a big heart.” A wise and great soul once said to me:

Your heart is the center of your life energy
And the center of your mental and intuitive energy

How often have you heard people say
"It was heartfelt"
"My heart is broken"
"I learned it by heart"?

People say, "I love with all my heart."
They never say, "I love with all my brain"
You may think you think with your brain.
But you do not.
You think with your heart.

Is there such a thing as an Armenian heart? And is this Armenian heart with its history of longsuffering the reason why Armenians, one of the most ancient of peoples, if not the most ancient, have had the courage to endure and survive through the ages while other ancient ethnic groups have not?