E5: Acupuncture and Integrative Healing with Jacques Depardieu

Acupuncture has been integral in my healing journey. Today, on the Heal podcast, I am so excited to discuss acupuncture and why it is so pivotal to improving your health with special guest, Jacques Depardieu. Jacques is the Director of Everyday Vitality and has over 25 years of experience healing Lyme and other chronic illnesses with acupuncture.

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Transcript

Intro  (00:00):

Welcome to Heal, a podcast for all things related to Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses. I’m Mimi MacLean, mom of 5, founder of Lyme 360 and a Lyme Warrior.  Tune in each week, to hear from doctors, health practitioners, treatment experts, and Lyme warriors for tips, strategies, and real-life stories to help you on your healing journey.  I am here to Heal with you

Mimi (00:45):

Jacques, thank you so much for coming on today. Jacques is one of my favorite people. Um, I met Jacques when I was 20 years ago when I started going to acupuncture in Darien Connecticut. What I love about Jacque was not only he was so well versed in traditional Chinese medicine, but he also has a way of explaining things that made sense. Our talks before each session were crucial because he's always allowed me to deal with the emotional piece of healing as well, not just the acupuncture. I stopped going to acupuncture for a couple years, but once my health deteriorated because of the Lyme, I started to go back to acupuncture regularly. I found that this is one of the essential tools for my healing. Jacques, I would love for you to tell our listeners how you came to studying traditional Chinese medicine soon after from graduating from Colgate University. I think it's a quite fascinating story.

Jacques (01:34):

Okay. Well, first of all, I want to thank you both for, uh, for having me do this with you and for sharing. And I really appreciate what you are creating together as some vehicle, which it is a vehicle. It's a vehicle, an invisible vehicle to get information out, but information, anybody can read a book, but both of you guys I'm sure have living stories of this, you know, and when somebody tells you something and it's a living story, it becomes real. And that's what this is about. That's what I've learned recently from these, you know, from podcasts and from zoom webinars and from zoom meetings is about connection, it's about when somebody is authentically connecting, then it becomes real. And so that leads me. First of all, not only the thank you, but that leads me to answering your question, which basically is, you know, I was, uh, I got out of college and I was neuroscience premed and I was in this 10 year program. And I said to myself, after the first semester, there's no way I can do 10 years of school. So when I was in high school in college, I taught sailing. So I decided, well, it's good time to go sailing. So I got my hundred ton merchant Mariners license, and I was running a charter boat on Martha's vineyard. And you know, my brother is like Columbia engineering, MBA, went into banking. So my parents were, you know, obviously concerned that I was on the vineyard, like doing charter boats. So I'm going to keep this brief. So basically I injured myself, severely a spinal injury, and I was told, uh, yeah, you're never gonna lift more than five pounds. You need surgery and a Tanker Captain that I knew who worked for Exxon sent me to his wife. He's like, ah, she does acupuncture, go see her. I got acupuncture and I was dumbfounded. First of all, I started to get better. Second of all, I could not believe that it worked. And what I mean by that is it not only changed my physical experience and I started to heal, but also it changed my consciousness. And what I mean by that is in retrospect, I was, I was 23. I was clinically, I was like told I would never live. It was my life, you know, and I had already broken my arm and I had a plate put in my arm. I had been a little bit reckless as a youth. So I was so profoundly transformed by the acupuncture, and that I'm the type of person, if I want to do something, I just do it. So I was like, I'm going to China. So yeah, you know, I had this charter business, I left the charter business, I started looking to just go to China. So I met this Chi Gong master in LA when I was visiting my wife, she was my girlfriend at the time. And, uh, um, I said, okay, I'll travel to China with you. My parents, obviously at this point were it's time to take him to the Lenox Hill psychiatrist, which is a true story. They're like, you're going to go see somebody, and now they're like, bring your needles, bring your needles. So you know, why I did that was, is I went to China to study. And from there I studied in 1993, and those are the actually exercises I'm teaching right now that I learned in 1993. I was in Shanghai for a couple of months, came back, got my, uh, at the time there was no PhDs in the United States. In '97. I did all my five years. I got a double masters in herbology and acupuncture. And that was the beginning of where I am today. And hopefully I can explain to you in the simplest of terms, what acupuncture for lack of a better term is, or what it facilitates, what it awakens, what it accentuates in each one of us as a human being.

Mimi (06:06):

That's a, that's such a fun story. I have to say really, you know we all say everything happens for a reason and you have that injury and now look where you are today. So thank you for that story. So acupuncture has been a viable healing source for over 3000 years or something like that. Can you tell us the basic principles of acupuncture and why it's such a trusted therapy?

Jacques (06:32):

Sure, so acupuncture is when somebody, have you ever had acupuncture before?

Mimi (06:44):

I have not. I know Mimi is an expert, but I have not. So I'm eager to learn.

Jacques (06:48):

So, so acupuncture itself is something that is a unique experience. So each individual, when they have acupuncture will have a unique experience saying the word acupuncture is like saying the word music. Like if somebody says, Oh, have you ever had acupuncture? And somebody is like, yeah, I had acupuncture. Yeah. That's like saying, Hey, you ever heard music? Yeah. I heard music. We all know, like, especially if you have children, like what they listened to and what I would listen to if I feel a little bit different. So, but acupuncture is similar. So to answer your question in a non evasive way, the Chinese theory, the theory behind acupuncture, and this is going to be translated. I'll use some language, but I don't, I'd really like to try to leave out terminology that makes people not understand in simple terms, what acupuncture is. So basically the Chinese theory describes that our body is one energy. Okay. Which we know from quantum physics is correct. We're packets of energy. Two, that that energy is unified or is contained or holds a shape for some reason. And what does that, we really actually don't understand as far as, you know, our science, the Chinese believe that there are these meridians that travel through our body. And over time they have developed relationships between parts of our body, internal organs, emotions, seasons. And so it's not something that necessarily is disconnected or like something that, you know, you need to know, like yoga, you need to know chakras, right? You don't have to believe in chakras. You don't have to believe in meridians. Right. You know, when acupuncture was first introduced into the United States, it was actually the veterinary medicine, which jumped on it because it was being kind of observed in the 70's as like, yeah, that's kind of weird. And they saw videos of animals getting acupuncture, it works on babies. And so they were like, well, it's doing something. And, but you know, in our society, what happened was is they just put it off as like, well, we can't, doesn't make any sense. So we'll call it the placebo. Secondly, it's not, you know, the, uh, you know, a Korean system might only use the hand and, uh, Japanese system might only palpate the abdomen, a needle, you know, the wrist. And so then that even more confounds our society because we're like, wow, this all these different kinds of systems what's the one that's best. Right. We all want to know, like, what's the best thing, but it's the same. That's why I use the analogy to music. So in terms of returning to your question, the basic theories are that we are energy and that by stimulating that aspect of our bodies, that it can facilitate change. Okay. So now I'm going to jump into, uh, the aspect of an acupuncture treatment and an experience. So if somebody asks me what acupuncture does, which you didn't, but in a way you kind of asked me about the history, I would say that it facilitates a communication between your physical reality, your emotional reality and your mental reality. And what do I mean by that? So we'll keep it simple. And since, so we'll talk about Lyme. Do you want to ask me the second, the, you know, do you want to ask me any more questions before I go forward? Or, you know, because I can just keep going, uh, your, your call. I want to pause there for a second so that I can explain before I get into the acupuncture or the experience of it, would you like me to give a specific example, given this is about Lyme.

Mimi (11:18):

Yeah, that's perfect. Why don't you just talk about how acupuncture heals or helps somebody who's going through chronic Lyme.

Jacques (11:26):

Okay. So chronic Lyme, that's a whole other topic, but we're gonna touch on that and I'm not going to stray. So chronic Lyme, as you both know, is how long is the list of symptoms? It's, it's too profound. It's too big, you know, everything from neurological psycho-emotional, physiological, and everything from feeling fibromyalgia, like pain from head to toe, chronic fatigue, like presentations to, you know, similar to attention deficit, to emotional reactions, to significant digestive disorders. I mean, and, and also the treatment strategies. Right? You know, because like being on an IV pick for six months in and of itself, you know...

Mimi (12:30):

It's awful. I've done it.

Jacques (12:33):

Yes. But I don't really, I don't, well, we can focus on that later on if you'd like, or we can discuss that a little bit now, but basically, so let's pick a couple of things. So basically you get diagnosed with this and it's not just like, Oh yeah, my elbows, you know, I feel achy. My elbows hurt and my joints hurt. It's debilitating your life. You're a young athlete. You're a mother with three kids, you know, you're not sleeping your digestion, isn't working the treatment strategy that you were told it didn't work. And then the other person's like, well, it worked for me. And then all of a sudden, now you've been put into this kind of category. So nothing is just like physical. There's always an emotional component. And then the mental component is like really tough too, because you're like, how come I'm not getting better? And they're getting better. Right. What can I do? What can I take, give me something to fix this. Okay. So now that we've gotten into that, how does acupuncture approach that? So from a purely physiological point of view, what ultimately we're looking to do is to, in a simple terms, increase the body's savings and cut its expenses. And if you cut your arm, you don't have to go, Hey, let me send some white blood cells and platelets. Right? So, so what debilitates our body's own immune function from working physically being taxed. Right? So if somebody comes in and they're like, yeah, I drink like 10 red bulls a day, I smoke a pack a day, you know, I sleep two hours a night, their physical reality can't like pay those bills and then heal. And, you know, likewise, if somebody is like, well, I was born with, you know, I'm an asthmatic, I have IBS and I, you know, had my gallbladder removed. Okay. So that person is going to have a lot of more work to build up that energy in order to manage this kind of crisis, because we're all unique. Okay. So simply put or specifically put: the first thing is to figure out how to help their physical reality. So how to support their own personal immune function. The second thing is what's going on in their lives? You know, they got little kids or they got a stressful job, or they might lose their job because of this, that needs to be addressed. And then the other one is, is try to assist them to reframe the way that they think of Lyme. Definitely there are, and you guys are aware of that. And you know, it takes a few minutes. You know, I, hopefully what you guys are doing is, is really trying to hone in and help people so that they don't have to go through the same paths, you know, that, you know, possibly you had gone through or that that Mimi just recently discussed. But basically the idea is your body is miraculous, support its healing function, and you'll be able to manage it. And so that's a very classical, traditional understanding instead of avoiding what makes you have allergies strengthen your body so that the, that, which you're allergic to can go away. And, you know, that may seem farfetched to some, but I have treated a multitude of people over the years, including with severe peanut allergies that their allergies, you know, disappeared. And of course, you know, then they dispel that off to like, well, you know, they probably grew out of it or whatever. However, you know, there were like severe cashew allergies, anaphylactic and I gave him four treatments and they went and got tested and like, they weren't allergic anymore. So of course that's, it can't have any correlation with my treatment, which is fine. I got no problem with that the kid's happy. Cause he can eat nuts. Right. You know, those are many, many stories, but you know, ultimately it's about supporting and enhancing each unique individual to have enough energy in their body to have enough emotional focus and enough mental focus so that they can then take care better care of themselves. It's about self healing, acupuncture, facilitates an acceleration of our own self healing. And you know, and to me, you don't have to, okay, now I'm going to get in trouble maybe with some practitioners, but it's like, you don't have to do chi gong. You don't have to do yoga. If your yoga is a bike ride or a sudoku puzzle or a dance party, that's where it's at. Anything that makes you feel joyful, creative and you have a sense of wonder is going to physiologically heal you, psycho-emotionally heal you, and mentally give you a break. Right. And that's what right now I'm trying to share with everybody with the situation we're in right now, is that message because then you don't have to get something and take something. Although those things are good. What can we do today? You know, what can I, what can I do today to take care of myself? So, you know, there are, uh, there are a multitude of different types of acupressure that can enhance your immune function. There are multitude of different types of movements that we can do, you know, that people call chi gong, Tai Chi, there are many, many herbs which are, have been found highly effective for Lyme, which, you know, the list is lengthy. Most of them are translated into English now. Like, uh, I think, sweet wormwood all those are all, they have their own Chinese herbal names, but you know, those are all, those are all Chinese herbs.

Mimi (18:57):

I didn't realize that. Okay, okay.

Jacques (19:00):

Those were traditionally used in ancient times to kill parasites. So those were herbs that were used for parasites. You know, you want to talk about, I don't know this, you, you talk about the history of Chinese medicine. They were, you know, the 1000 AD and if you look at our history, in 1000 AD they were having young women urinate on rice paper and dry the, the, and when the urine dried, they would scrape it and give it to women who had menopause. Okay. And what do we use? Horse urine. Okay. So people don't know these kinds of things, but all of these, all of these hormonal strategies...

Mimi (19:57):

Wait where are we using horse urine?!

Jacques (19:57):

For women's hormones! Oh, you don't know that well then they made it synthetic. So anyway, you know, you can cut this part out if you want to, whatever, but why I'm trying to say that they were using it. During small pox, they were vaccinating people before we, you know, when we were drilling holes in people's heads, you know, that they would take the crust of the small pox and put it in a tube and blow it up somebody's nose to inoculate them. How smart is that? C'mon, you know.

Mimi (20:38):

It's like divine intervention, right?

Jacques (20:38):

It's just, it's literally when I started to really study Chinese medicine, I was like, I love that you said that I was like, how could beings be so evolved to understand a system that actually now explains what we know in quantum mechanics and quantum physics, Chinese medicine is quantum physics. We all exist in a state of probability. And our probability is whatever that materialization is. If we can change the way we observe reality, then we can change reality. That's what a miracle is, whether you've prayed it, or whether you, whatever you believe in your conscious attention and intention is what ultimately has the most force to transform our physical experience.

Mimi (21:34):

So I want to just jump in as a novice here. And just because I think this is a very basic question. How would accupuncture, let's say somebody with chronic illness, putting the actual needle in the skin ... I want you to tell me what happens in that process, what happens with the body or the energy, or how is that particular technique, a healing mechanism?

Jacques (22:03):

So I thank you very much for that question. And Mimi has experienced acupuncture, not only, you know, from, uh, myself, but from other people as well. And she also knows that every acupuncture experience, every time is different. And what that means is, and I'm going to use the analogy, the music, again, you can hear the same song. You can play the same song a hundred times. And every time you listen to it, depending on your mood or state of mind, you'll hear it or experience it in a different way. Okay. So most acupuncturists do not explain to the patients what's going on and they might not even understand what's going on. They went to a school, put the pins there, that's for stomach pain. That's a headache. They do that. The person lays there, and then not all, all the time, but often there'll be like, well, I went out, I fell asleep or kind of was like in a dreamy thing. Then they come out of it and they're like, whoa, I feel really weird. And then they're like, huh, that's funny, my shoulder feels better. So you're asking me in one way, what is actually occurring? So it's a personal experience because the practitioner in a sense, guides the patient to whatever their personal issue is through the discussion at the time to either do a breathing exercise or something. That's how I practice, other people might just be like, well, it's your iliotibial band and needle it. Um, I personally believe that you, you know, a lot of clinical results, for instance, like, you know, I have a high rate of like significant clinical results in a short period of time, because I spent a lot of time trying to assist the person. I'm not just like, okay, come three times a week, you know? And, uh, here's a pin in your shoulder for five minutes, read a book and then leave. And so that's another reason why so many, you know, it's just like literally the analogy of music, you know, you're like, here's some terrible music and you're just like, yeah, that's not interesting. Right? And then you hear something you're like, wow, that really touched me. From our understanding physiologically, at this point, there is nothing that makes sense of why acupuncture needle going in these specific points can facilitate something. But I can tell you this. I have dozens of patients who are physicians, some of them are also professors at Yale. And in the first, you know, 10 years, they would say, don't tell anybody. And then the second, 10 years they sent me all their patients, and their families that's the most important, not they're just their patients, they sent me their families, they brought their families and because they got better. And all of the patients that I've treated, who are physicians are still at a loss to explain what the experience is, but you know, not to get into another, like, it's like a sunset. Like, can somebody explain to me why I love watching a sunset or my children running in the backyard or a glass of wine? You know, that's what I'm all about because I think information is beautiful and it's important. And I think what you guys are sharing is really important. This is 20 years of doing this, and in the beginning you would have heard me 20 years ago, I would have listed off all the herbs, different stuff. Now it's like, my shortcut is like, everybody is miraculous. Everybody is their own, their own authority. You like, you are your own authority and you should trust yourself with that and inform yourself and empower yourself. Because basically that is you're right. It's my right. It's our right. And I'm not trying to sell you anything. I have never solicited anybody for acupuncture in 20 years. And I don't plan on doing that. I'm just sharing it and if you think what I'm saying is out there, you know, that's cool. I'm used to that, but not anymore. Now, all of a sudden when I first did it, you know, people are like, what? Like, and now everybody's like, Oh yeah, I get acupuncture here. I get acupuncture there. So, you know, I hope that was, uh, you know, I know I kind of was a little bit, not to the point, no pun intended on that, but basically, you know, it's really a personal experience that hopefully if you're interested, you'll find out, you know?

Mimi (27:12):

So Jacques can you tell along with what Alicia was asking, can you explain why you always look at our tongue when we come in? And also I always find it interesting how sometimes the pins hurt, the needles hurt. And then sometimes they don't like, I remember one time you poked me and it hurt really bad. I was like, what is that? And you were like, Oh, that's your liver point? And I was like, Oh, of course cause I had four drinks last night, you know? Like, it's funny how it's like, you know, it always hits the point. That's like, okay. Yes. Because my stomach hurts us my stomach point. So can you explain like why those points hurt more than other times you don't even feel it go in. And two, why you look at the town?

Jacques (27:51):

Okay. So if you have, you don't have to have children for this, but if you have children or if you, you know, the reason is is you wind up looking at your kids tongues more than anything. Right. You know, you generally don't ask your significant other or somebody at work. Hey, can I see your tongue? Right. So if you look at someone's tongue, after they've taken antibiotics, you'll see a big thick white coat, almost 99% of the time. If it's significant, um, you'll see yellow and white. That's an advanced stage. Generally, if someone is always cold and they want to always drink hot tea and they always prefer warm. Their tongue is going to be white. And if you see, if you ask somebody, they're always like hot and they're just like, you know, they always want ice drinks and you know, they don't sleep well. They have difficulty sleeping, always see it's more red or dry red and a pale red. And then the tip will be red. So, so basically the tongue expresses our physical, it's an expression of a lot of physical symptoms. It's unbelievably accurate. However, when somebody takes a lot of pharmaceutical, I'm looking at, do you know what a redheaded woodpecker is? They're about this big, they're literally that big one is literally just, uh, which is right outside the window here. It's amazing.

Mimi (29:39):

But is he pecking, is he pecking your tree or your house?

Jacques (29:42):

It is a large pine that he's making his way down the bark of the tree. But anyway, I hope, you know, you can cut that out. I'll take a picture of it for you if you want. But, so to go back to the tongue, if you, if you take a lot of medications, then it's not accurate. So I learned that a long time ago, I would look at people's tongues and I'd be like, Whoa. And then, and then I, and then I would look there on like five meds, the medication. So the tongue is not generally accurate in diagnosis if the person takes a lot of medication, a lot of people don't know that actually. So including, I don't think they even teach that in school. So the pulse, right, the pulse and the tongue together are two classical ways that people take diagnostic tools. Okay. So, so the tongue, if you want the little, you know, if this, if the front I'll say it, right, I won't because not everybody's going to see this. So the back of your tongue is is generally your bladder and your kidney, the sides of your tongue are your gallbladder and your liver, the tip of your tongue is the heart and the small intestine and the lung, and the center is the stomach and the spleen. Now I do not use that terminology anymore because that does not, it does mean your organs, but more so means relationships and each organ, each has a relationship with an emotion, with a season, and just joking around, you know, since you mentioned that it's not because you drank four drinks that your liver hurts. It's the liver has to do with the smooth flow of emotions. And it's not your anatomical liver, but it's an emotional expression. So the reason you had four drinks is because you wanted your liver to relax. You understand? That's the, so the point itself is to release the tension. Alcohol is definitely not a bad thing but sometimes, you know, it can also have adverse effects, but you know, that's like kids, "I don't want, I don't want to" screaming. You know, we don't have tantrums. If people had more tantrums, then there would be less pissed off. And then they would drink less. You know, because like we don't, we don't express our emotions, you know, break in. Mimi knows that break stuff. Like I used to say, go home and like break some eggs or like break some glass. You just crush it. And then when you do that, you get a release. We should have a just break stuff, you know, party and not, then some people got person you don't want to, the person's like, yeah, yeah I want to break. Then you're just like, nah, you got to chill out a little bit. Right. You want to tell little kids, just break things. They'll just like, yeah, I'll go to town doing that. So, um, so the tongue, hopefully I answered the question. As far as the reaction to the points that is specific to relationships with your physical body. Like for instance, if I have a really bad shoulder injury, I went skiing and I fell. Then when I do a shoulder point, like over here, then the person will be like, Oh, that's hurts. And I'm like, move your shoulder. Like, eh, it feels better. That's weird. Okay. When it comes to a chronic disorder, like, like Lyme, which I really put line to me is in an autoimmune illness. When I look at Lyme disease, I look at it more like auto-immune. So I go after trying to help the person's auto immune system to regulate, that's the best way that I can help somebody quickly as possible. Because a lot of times, people who have chronic Lyme don't sleep well, their digestive systems don't work. And \ you can't get better if you're not sleeping and you're not digesting and you're supposed to be trying to heal while you live your daily life. So, you know, you need 80 units of energy to heal and, and you only have 60 and your body is spending and you need 70 to get through the day. Does that make sense? So it's just like you just fall backwards that way, you know?

Mimi (34:33):

And, and when you're treating someone with line or an auto immune disorder, are there, do you recommend a particular way of eating or lifestyle changes to go along with acupuncture and the type of treatment that you're doing.

Jacques (34:49):

Generally speaking, yes. And that's an individual thing. And the reason is let's say it's like a mom with an infant toddler and a five-year-old or something like that. So, and she's living on sweets right now. Okay. Sweets and coffee. This is not the time to tell her, stop eating sweets and stop drinking coffee. Like, you know, how many people have come in their faces? Like, they're like, I went to like, you know, a functional medicine or, you know, whatever. And they're like, this is I'm allergic to all these things. It's like 72 things. They're like, I can't eat anything. It's like so traumatic for them. Now. Other people that list is like no brainer for them. They're like, yeah. You know? So there are people when I meet them, I'm like, listen, you cut down on this and this they're like, no, that's no problem. I can handle that. Other people. It's like, that's my only thing I love. You're going to take that from me. Definitely don't take it. Then first help them feel good. And then when they start to feel good on their own, you then support them. And then you like, you know, why don't you cut out this or try to eat fruit instead of like, you know, the chocolate and, you know, assist them. It's all individual, you know, like when somebody is already hurting, the last thing you want to do is make them suffer more. You got to know people like some people like, Oh yeah. What do you want me to do? Like, you know, okay, run five miles, no problem. Like, and other people it's like, you know, I can't run five miles. I can't even run down to the, you know, telephone pole, like that's a hundred yards. So you don't wanna make them feel bad. That's I personally think that's one of the most important things in all of this is helping empower people, not make them feel worse. And you know, [inaudible] definitely once, once somebody gets into victim loop, that is a big danger game, especially young people, because then they identify with it and then it becomes their reality. And that is very hard to pop somebody out of. That's very difficult. It's not my business, but I assist them to try, you know, to get out of that because you start, not you, but like individuals start telling themselves that story every day, they will create that reality for themselves. We have to know that we can do something that we're empowered, that we can change our lives right now. Same thing. We can change our lives. Yeah, no, absolutely. Even if it's the smallest thing.

Mimi (37:54):

Right, right. Can you tell us about, I know you just started because of the coronavirus and being in quarantine, these online classes. Um, so can you talk about what you're offering online now?

Jacques (38:06):

It ties in with Lyme, for sure. In, in this way. So what I started to do was I started one-on-one zooms for people that I'd been treating. And as I did that, I realized, you know, something that I go back to '93 in Shanghai, simple ways that people can self heal and self care. So acupressure movements, and I modified them and I call them vitality awareness exercises. So that's a mouthful, but why did I say that? Because if I say it's chi, then all of a sudden it's esoteric, right? Oh, I moved the chi. People are like oh, he's an energy healer. I'm like, Hey, what's up. No! So you know why? Because as soon as somebody thinks in those terms, like, I met those people. I've treated many energy healers. They come to my office to get you because they're like, wow, you fixed, we fix them up. I need help. I'm like, okay, you're an energy healer. I'm like, all right. That's whatever.

Mimi (39:25):

Like 15, 20 years ago you gave me the VCR of like the Tai Chi. We're dating ourselves. It was like the VCR. And it's just like trying to learn how to do that. I dunno. Yeah.

Jacques (39:39):

So, so that, so like who has time for that kind of stuff? Right. So, I've learned a lot over the years. So, so basically with the zooms I teach people for instance. So after, after about a week of doing these, I decided to do these classes and Mimi will get a kick out of this. And probably you guys all already experienced this. So I sent out this email and because I wasn't collecting email, I had like 8,000 patients. I never took emails. And so I probably in the last five years, I've like have a thousand emails or so, so I sent this out. I was like, Hey, I'm going to do this zoom class. And like, so people jumped on it. And there were like 50, 60 people, like all jumping on the screen and a bunch of them know each other. And then all of a sudden, like the thing started shutting off, you know? And, and so that was really kind of ... I was like, wow. But anyway, what I did was I combined acupressure... The first class I did with these vitality awareness exercise, because vitality is what we are. We want, if you feel vitality, you feel young, you feel vigorous, that's health, right? Awareness is awareness of feeling that way, like after a bike ride or after dancing, or you just feel good, that's the intent of these. And then, so I use movements, which are like simple that I actually put together so that even people can do in a chair. I combined acupressure, mostly for the heart and the lungs specifically for this virus, because our lung has to be powerful and healthy. And so many people are having anxiety. So I put those two things together. So people could feel less anxious and feel, you know stronger. And then I do a guided, it's not a meditation, you could call it a meditation, but it's an awareness of feeling sensations in our body. And then there is a little bit of an intention. Like we're also, you know, think of it this way. Every cell in your body right now is alive and joyfully alive. And I believe has intelligence. We studied biology, you know, it's miraculous? How do our organs form? How does our body heal? And so the classes are about that. And then one leg from next to the next and tonight I'm doing and that's, I was just telling Mimi before facial rejuvenation, why? Because my wife's like, look, everybody's stuck. You teaching about, you know, uh, sleep and, and anxiety and back pain and neck pain. And once you teach, uh, you know, facial rejuvenation. So I taught that in a lot of people email back. So I'm gonna do another one tonight for the people missed it.

Mimi (42:51):

So I think you're going to give me another analogy about music, but how long would you tell our listeners would be the average amount of time they would go see an acupuncturist? What is the length of their healing? Or do they, they continue it for a lifetime.

Jacques (43:09):

Yeah, I really like your questions specifically because they're not only clear, but the over the years, what you've asked is what most people ask me. And in the past, and I will, I will forsake the music analogy, but it's it's, uh, and what I mean by that is, is your questions are really clear. You know, many people would wake up, you know, you have to remember most of the population I treated, especially for the first 10, 15 years, no one believed in acupuncture. And I don't know where you grew up, but the East coast, Darien is not really considered a place where people are burning incense and, you know, doing yoga at the park. So my practice was built by people who are like, this guy fixed my back and my golf game is killing it now. Right. And, you know, and he didn't tell me to like eat grass clippings and told me like I can have margarita. They were like "Hey, this guy's cool." Right. So, so, so however, your question is really clear. And people would get up and go, how could this, what? And then I'm like, does it matter? And they're like, no, whatever, like catch you later. So the first thing is I personally believe the most important thing is you find somebody that you feel comfortable with, that you can have a relationship with that you have a connection with. That's the most important thing, because it's an intimate experience. Now, many people might disagree, agree with me, but that's my personal opinion. Secondly, you might really like each other, but if you're not getting any clinical results, there's better things. People might like hanging out with me. Cause I like to laugh and have fun, but like, they're not going to come if like their shoulder is not getting better. Right. So the first thing is making a connection. The second thing is having a strategy and connecting with the person and really listening from what you have something to say, if they're not listening and they're like, Oh yeah, whatever. Like, honestly forget it. Like, it's, you're not a machine and they're not fixing anything. There's nothing wrong with you. I told these, I had students, Mimi doesn't know that, but like I had students coming for Bridgeport University, I was running an externship clinic and I was like, you're not doing anything. You're not fixing anything. And they were like, what? You know, like, I want you to understand you're there to facilitate their healing. You're just assisting their healing. And that's not the case with herbs. You can make herbal suggestions that can really help somebody. And you can also make them that really screw somebody up. So that's another ball game herbs, you know, herbs are just like, can be taken like medications. They can be inappropriately diagnosed. So that's, that's something I think is really important as you go to an herbologist acupuncturist, but acupuncture itself, you're looking for a connection. You're looking for a, a clinical result. And you're looking for somebody who's can explain your experience. You know, for instance, you're like, you know, after the treatment, it really hurt or I've got a bruise and they're like, Oh no, that wasn't. Or I had a migraine after the treatment. They're like no, no, no that had nothing to do with the, absolutely not very likely, you know, that they may have triggered a migraine. Now, if they're good at what they do, I shouldn't say that if they're knowledgeable and have a lot of experience, they might have seen that many times, you know, I think I've done like 60,000 treatments, you know, something like that. So I have a lot experience. I've seen some wild things, so I know. Yeah, definitely. We don't want to aggravate that. What did you eat? What, you know, it's, it's, you know, all healing, you don't have to suffer in order to get better. Sometimes that's the case, but generally that can be avoided. Okay. You know, it's not a no pain, no gain thing. All right. So I hope that kind of answered to some extent, uh, you know, as far as how many treatments, some people do three times a week, shorter treatments, other people do once a week. Yeah. Six or eight treatments, unless it's something which is really severe, you should definitely see some results. Even people who have severe conditions should see something. My patients ongoing radiation, chemo. That's another story. You know, when, when you're treating them, basically they need to come in. As often as they feel it's going to benefit them. You know, I have a few people right now that, you know, I just need to support through that. And I've done that many, many times. So

Mimi (49:07):

Jacques, this has been awesome. I really appreciate your time. And speaking with us, I think we've learned a lot and...

Mimi (49:18):

Loved it. Loved it.

Mimi (49:18):

It was great.

Jacques (49:21):

Thank you!

Mimi (49:21):

I want to share your website so that if people want to come find you and find your online classes, it's everydayvitality.com and he will have his online programs on there as well for people to take.

Jacques (49:34):

Yeah, I truly thank you for having me and for what you're doing and sharing and just keep going. And I hope that you and your families are all well in this time. And we can all use this in some way to transform ourselves into more opportunity for a better, better society, better communities and better, better life.

Mimi (50:05):

This is great. Thank you. And I'll see you in a couple of weeks when I come back East.

Jacques (50:09):

Oh, cool. Big hug.

Mimi (50:10):

Thanks again for your insights. Yeah. Yeah.

Mimi (50:16):

Thank you so much.

Jacques (50:17):

Bye bye.

Outro: 
Each week, I will bring you different voices from the wellness community so that they can share how they help heal their clients.  You will come away with tips and strategies to help you get back your life. I am so happy you are here. Join our community, Lyme360 Warriors, on Facebook. Let’s heal together!