Today as I approached the gates of Whole Foods at my days end, my heart quickened at the thought of what mysteries lie in the waters ahead. Going grocery shopping has always felt like an adventure. Even as a child, my mom would make me captain of the cart as we waded through the seas of boxes n bags n bottles…oh my. We filled our ship with whatever loot we wanted, paid and then sailed on home to feed the restless crew.
Wandering through the “Isles of Bulk Foods” I encountered a sweetheart of a client who I hadn’t seen in some time. She and her newly wed husband 😉 hailed to me as they passed then circled back to talk as I filled my water canteens at the Fountain of Eternal Youth, commonly known as reverse osmosis water (more on this another time).
“So good to see you, LeAnne!” she sang with lilting tones. “We were just shopping at the “perimeter of the store”, just like you taught me. You remember my husband?!”
“Of course, hi there…wait….husband?! When did you get married?” I shamelessly plied them with questions.
“We had the ceremony two weeks ago” he informed me. “It has been a very busy couple of months…. Hey, I have a question for you. I know you do acupuncture, can that help with low back pain? I’ve had it on and off for a while but with everything going on, I’d really like to get better.”
“Well, that’s a good question. I treat low back pain a lot. Low back pain is one of THE most common conditions referred to acupuncturists, even from Western doctors. Actually, some spine surgery centers in Santa Barbara have acupuncturists on staff because it makes such a difference with low back pain. You should definitely try it. You sit a lot with your job don’t you?”
“Yes, definitely”.
“Well there are a few areas I would check to see where the origin of your problem is coming from. And another important area that we’d want to address is posture.”
He looked a bit sheepish as soon as he heard the dreaded word….posture. Now why is it that people get so confronted about the topic of posture? Certainly folks have some preconceived notions about it, but it’s time to demystify it…. A fellow shopper was attempting to pass through our narrow channel. We all shuffled two shakes over and two shakes back- a grocery store waltz, if you will. Okay back on topic. Putting a pin the Posture rant for another blog.
“My clinic team likes to integrate the acupuncture and posture therapy, so give me a call and we’ll get you all set up. For someone so young , you certainly can make changes and get better.”
They happily accepted my business card, his shoulders relaxed, a bit relieved at the prospect of feeling better and not having just to live with it. They turned and steered down the “Aisle of Domesticated Living” , shelves of goods arched in around them as they passed, dog treats and kids snacks, trash bags and kitchen sponges. It seemed a fitting path for the newlyweds.
Okay, now where did I leave that water container…