Life - It Just Keeps on Going

Acupuncture With Help From The Other Side

• James LaPann • Season 4 • Episode 10

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This episode starts out with an in depth discussion about the principles of Chinese medicine and acupuncture.  We explore the concept of the five elements- water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, which correspond to different seasons and various emotions and organs.

Jessica explains how these elements influence the body's energy and discusses the importance of balance in achieving well-being.  

Then Jessica shares insights into her intuitive practice and the importance of energetic boundaries as a healer.  She receives information from her guides and spirit, and uses that information to determine a course of treatment for the client. 

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I'm very happy to be back with Jessica Resh, acupuncturist extraordinaire, and very nice person and great interview subject. And we have been talking in a previous episode about acupuncture and about the work that she does and how she got into it and that sort of thing. And when we've last left off we were talking a little bit about the fact that in acupuncture. One of the real basic foundations of it is the seasons and how each season has factors that go with it. Can you explain that? Welcome back, by the way. Jessica.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Thank you for having me back. It's such a,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

a little bit about what is it about each season there are a certain number of factors that come with season. what are those?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So in Chinese medicine, the seasons and something called five elements are interchangeable, if you will. So, you know, we're used to hearing about four seasons. Well, in Chinese medicine there are five, and there are different ways to hold that. And the way that I'll share today is that there are five of them. There's winter, which is the water element. There's spring, which is the wood element. There is summer, which is the fire element, late summer, which is earth and fall, which is the metal element. And. The elements are just the elemental world, it's what makes up our natural world. And in Chinese medicine, for each of these elements, there are emotions, colors, gifts in terms of like ways of being organs that relate to each of them. A different sort of feeling energetically to each of them. And so,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

me stop you there. certain organs that. In each of these five, what did you say? Factors or five

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Five elements

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

in each of the five elements, there are certain organs that are,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

associated

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

They're associated with it. That's the right word.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. And can be affected by it. And can be affected by it, you know. I, I think, and I should probably say too, Jim, the idea for Chinese medicine and any of this that I'm talking about, I guess the overarching goal is balance, right? To find balance to live a life of balance each day. You know, not in extremes, to find the middle way and to live in balance with the natural world. That's sort of like an overarching framework. If you.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

there's a lot of talk about mind, body, and spirit, I think acupuncture. Right? You want to get all that working together, I guess.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that's right. Exactly.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah. so of these elements has a certain, body or organs or whatever that, that

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

with it. That's, that's, that's fascinating. And there are certain meridians. That have to do with those organs. Right.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Exactly. Perfectly said.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So if I, if I am having some kind of a, liver situation, you know exactly where to go to stimulate that meridian. Right.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

exactly. And that would tell me something about your spring energy. So liver and gallbladder belonged to spring and the wood element,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

be observable through the pulse, is that correct?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Through the pulse. It also me will be through the color I see on your face. There's a color associated with spring and the liver and smell. I typically have people come in, don't wear cologne, don't wear perfume or lotions, because you might smell like spring. So then that would be a little puzzle piece for me. Oh, okay.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

see. You're artificially smelling a certain way when Yeah. You're trying to observe their natural, yeah, Let me just jump in there. So the, the idea that we're talking about the liver, let's say, and there's a meridian that has to do with that, and we haven't really talked about the, the, the basics of that. There are needles that get inserted into that meridian. Could you tell a little bit about that please?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Sure we use the needles as our tool. There are other tools that we use as well, but the needles are very fine. think of like the width of. A couple pieces of hair if that. They're very fine. They're solid, they're only used once, and then they're disposed of you know, they're sealed and I may find a point, this is not liver, liver is more on the leg, but I'll find a point on you and then I'll have you breathe in and I tap the needle in and the needle only goes in, in the way. I practice a few, just not even millimeters down into the skin. Until I would access the qi.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay. does the needle. Activating the chi, does that have anything to, to do with blood flow or do they have any relation

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Well there's been more science to that, and this is something, I wanna read more into, because I think there can be a chemical release, endorphins, things like that, that can be released through that, not necessarily the blood. But there are ways to use the needle. So say, I might notice your, you were talking about liver. That channel might be a little wiry, a little stressed out, a little tight. I may put a needle in and sedate it, turn it counterclockwise, to sort of unwind that energy versus something that is a little more deficient. I might put the needle in and turn it clockwise and take it out right away.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

there are different ways to

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

okay. I, I wanna get

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

manage.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that you mentioned earlier, which is. This is not a magic wand that you wave over the person. The, is a process that, that, if you want to get a good result from it, typically, would it, would you say typically you need more than one session?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes, for sure. When someone starts, it's in a perfect world, you'd see them twice a week for the first two to three weeks, and then, you know, once a week for up to six to 10.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Oh, okay. Oh,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

if.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

of months. That's months that you're doing it?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It could be at the beginning. Yeah. I tend to see people weekly when they start, you know, unless something acute, say someone's just had an accident, I might wanna see you twice a week for the first two weeks.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah. And then you kind of see, right? You, you see how the person, the patient's feeling do they get results. And then those results last a few days and then things start to go back the old way I. You wanna sort of create staying power, if you will

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I see, I

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

to.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right, because it's not. Only in the pulse that you're able to determine progress or not? would the person be able to recognize feeling better or how, how does that

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

they should immediately, and, and typically at the beginning, you're gonna set up some measures maybe with the client, like if their paying's a 10, outta 10, and then they leave the, room and it's a five outta 10. Okay. How long does that last and where are you next week? Yeah, and also lifestyle. I'll tell you, Jim, I'm not God, I'm not a miracle worker. Lifestyle has a lot to do with it. If you're coming in for one hour a week and you feel better, you also have to be changing the habits that can create, the dise if you will.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right I find that that phrase so interesting. It's thise. It's everything is functioning well and everything's in balance, then you have ease.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

if there are things wrong, then you get dise and, Yeah, I, I've heard before that there are different, energy levels that extend beyond the human body. and does. Acupuncture have anything to do with those,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Are you thinking like the chakras and

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that, that there's a no, I'm, I'm thinking of

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Oh, the auras?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. In

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

there are, there are different energy levels. What I've been told is that if you have a problem and you just don't take care of it, gonna work its way through that energy into your body. And,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

That's right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

then you're gonna have a problem.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Exactly. So there's this thing in, in Chinese medicine, and I'm always curious about, in Chinese medicine it's called this, and Ayurvedic, it's called this. I'm always interested about. Where everything intersects, but we have certain layers of energy, and one of those is called your way chi, which is your protective layer of energy that's sort of most out from your body, you know? So there are three certain layers of energy, but how do you keep that protective layer strong is through sleeping well, eating well, exercising, living in balance, finding them in a way with how you live your life, you know? And when you don't, that protective layer can get compromised. And that's where people get sick,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

they catch a cold because they're run down. And if you live hard, you know,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

back in the day. Back in the day, I did some hard living.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah, I mean, and some you gotta enjoy life too, right? But if you really have done that for many decades, that is gonna deplete, what we call your pre heaven energy. You know, this idea that you're born with a certain amount of energy and you don't wanna ever start tapping into that. But some people do,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I have

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

you know?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that phrase before. Did you say pre heaven energy?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes, it's a more of a Chinese medicine term, a traditional Chinese medicine term

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

heard of

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

What, what is that again?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that you're born with a certain amount of chi, a strength chi. Some people are born compromised, some aren't. And then. You're meant to just take care of yourself, right? And then you'll never, you, that's sort of like your bank account, your retirement account that you never wanna touch, you know?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

right, I know people that whole lives, they've never had as much energy, physical energy as other people. I. They, they just have always had to really watch what they did because they run out of energy. But, and then there are other people that just seem to never stop and,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

just fine. And so I guess

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

to do with how much q were you born with?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right. Right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

so interesting. That's so

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I mean, it's kind of cool because it makes sense, right? You're like, I know people like this, yeah,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right. And for them, that's just a natural life is I've

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

of what you got. So that's, that's all. That's where I'm at. And

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

That's right. And I have to be cautious and I have to like,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Take care of myself and tend to myself a little bit better than most people. Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

right,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

And I wanna talk about the different seasons and

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

during our break we talked about that you do have a you do have like a chart or, or that you could show us. Would you please change the camera of yours over to show us the the poster or whatever that you brought?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I'm happy to.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Great.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So this is, it probably looks a little complex, but I think the biggest thing I wanna show you are the circles. Okay. Five element chart. And so I thought it would illustrate the five seasons I spoke about earlier. Okay. The five elements and the five seasons are interchangeable, if you will. So this one at the very top is summer.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So imagine this circle here. What it's representing is the movement of energy, right? So the movement of energy meaning heavier, denser, more darkness, right? Dropping energy. So you think of between, you know, September to December and the days are getting short or what have you. And then from here, this is winter. So this is summer

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yes.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

fire element. This is earth, late summer. This is fall, the metal element. This is winter, the water element, and this is wood, the spring element. So right now we're like here, you know, we just passed the, we just crossed over, the holiday season, December 21st, the solstice, and at the time of the solstice, that's like the deepest, heaviest energy, you know? It is the time of the most quiet. Where we can really access that sort of, that stillness, you know, and turn within, imagine a seed in the ground or the sap in the trees, that's what's going on here in the, in this hemisphere, if you will. Right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

know, now that, now that you're talking about it, it's, I look back the, the winter holidays that, you know, this was winter solstice and all that, really is a different feeling. People, I think, around that time, it's

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Mm-hmm.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

middle of summer. It's a really different feeling and it's, and I, I think it happens so naturally and so gradually that we don't really notice it. We, you know, we're not comparing, oh, I'm in winter and now all of a sudden I jump into the middle of summer. It's like, okay, it, one day at a time and I'm moving through these cycles. But, but I never really thought about it like that. But there's a very peaceful. Feeling around the shorter days and the, time and, and things like that. It's it's,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

interesting that this involves that, I guess this is a natural way that people have always been

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

And I think it's so astute of you, Jim, to pick up on the fact that it's not like a light switch.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

You know how like sometimes people will be like, oh, December 21st, it's winter now. No, it's not a light switch. It's subtle. It's more subtle than that. It's an everyday thing. You know, you and I in this meeting, this is sort of like nighttime. This is, on a holographic or a minute scale, in a day. This is the morning we rise up. That's like summer energy, right? We could go, or no, excuse me. We rise up in the spring, we wake up and this, it's the morning, the light has started. The day is, then we go about our day and we're getting a bunch of stuff done. That's like summertime energy. We're accomplishing, we're getting things done, and then we're starting to close down into the afternoon and then. As the sun starts to set, ideally, we're quieting. We're churning inward. We're at home with our loved ones, we're getting quiet, and we're preparing for sleep, which is winter,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yes. Oh

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

So. That'll hap that'll happen every day. That'll happen in, in our meeting. You and I had a beginning of this meeting. Well, we will have

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

right.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

an ending as well, so it's like this natural rhythm that's happening all the time. But we're so used to living in it that we don't notice the nuances. Like you said,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yes.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

notice the leaves dropping or the snow, but if you really start to pay attention, you'll start to see, those tiny. Tiny. Early February, mid-February, you'll start to see things awakening a little bit.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

And so in the human being, are we able to do that? Have we rested enough in winter so that comes spring, we're ready to jump up and rise and get going, right?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Mm-hmm.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

But when I was in corporate, I hated this time of year.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Oh, okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I didn't even like hearing the, the birds sink, Jim, in the morning. It would make me angry. And guess what? Anger. Anger is the emotion of this one. Right? But anger's not always a bad thing. Anger's really just a creative force for change, right? But anyway, because I hadn't rested.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

like, it's like if this is the water element and this is the tree, the wood element, it's like a tree with no water. Well, it's brittle and it's breaking down, you know?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

not ready to wake up because I haven't gone to sleep yet.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. So I was a really fried, dried, brutally angry, depressed person, you know?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Well, and, and I don't think that's uncommon. I. In the

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I would say

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I think that the expectations and the demands that sometimes, not always, but sometimes corporations and businesses place on especially they're, more capable and higher functioning people. They, they,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yes.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

you can do it, then let's do twice of it, you know, two times that much. And so I, I think it's fairly common, but I understand that it's, that that's not balance.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It is not. And our, and I would say as, as a Western culture and, and where we live, which is the DC New York corridor, it is about producing. So we, people are very comfortable in spring, very comfortable in summer, you know, late summer of course, but not many people like. Fall or winter, it's dead. The trees are dead. No, it's not dead. It's like, you think of the depth of the ocean or a seed in the ground. It's, it's becoming itself. It's germinating. It's like all the mystery and magic of what wants to grow in the spring needs the depth of winter and even the solitude in letting go of fall to be able to do this.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

make sense?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

it makes perfect sense. And

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

the, the translation of let's use, let's use spring, the translation of the spring there

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Uhhuh.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

my body when I come in for treatment.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yep.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Tell me how the, that translates.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. Beautifully put. So this is the wood element. This is, are you able to rise? Do you have vision? Do you have are you able to like. See a task that needs doing, initiate it and actually get it done, like move it forward. Are you able to have a new creative idea and sort of like, are you able to deal with like, this is what I'd really like to accomplish in 2025. This is like my, my dream, what I wanna create. Right. You able to sort of like, move. It has a lot to do with the sinus. It has a lot to do with the eyes. And, being able to have clarity, vision, decisiveness. This has to do with the liver and the gallbladder. The liver is more of like the yin organ of the wood element, the spring element, whereas the, the gallbladders, the young liver sees the big picture. Gallbladder has to do with carrying out the details and all the decisions that we take care of every day. I don't know if that helps and when I mention it does, when I mention emotions, I use anger is the emotion here. But anger's not a bad thing. I think anger is that the force, the upward force in the spring of that little tiny grass green thing that can push through the concrete,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay. Okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It's not always a bad thing, but we see stagnant anger most of the time. We see road rage anger in our culture. So we think anger's bad, but anger's really just about creating change.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay, I, I didn't understand what you said. We see stagnant anger. Did you say

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah. Like road rage would be an unhealthy spectrum of anger.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Alright. It's not starting a change. It's not bringing about change.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

you, if you use anger to say, I don't like this, but I'm gonna make a change to that then,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It's about creation. Creating something new. Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. And, now could you swing that camera back onto you again please? Great. Great.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Very passionate. Jim, can you tell? I get all excited when I start.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

fascinating. I love it. I love it. And I hope that this is not the last time that we, have these interviews and I wanted to leave enough time here in today's talk to talk about the fact that you. Are a human being and you are spirit as well, and that

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

You receive information into you. I know people have called it, I got a download or this or that, and you receive information that has to do with your work. Would that be a

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

it?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes, I would

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

could you talk about that a little bit? Because I've,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

sure.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

never heard of that being involved with acupuncture

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I don't know if you could use the word intuition but for me, how that shows up and I've had to cultivate this, I was a little bit in my head at the beginning

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

as,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

of

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

we all are. Right.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

exactly, and I've learned that. if I sort of get outta my own way and empty my mind and ground myself to the present moment, I will receive information. I may receive an acupuncture point. I may receive an insight to what that client on the table may need. People that have been with me a long time, I may even wake up in the morning. they're on my schedule that day and I'm like. I'm seeing Sally Joe's back, as an example. Why am I seeing her back and then I show up in the office and they injured their back

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Okay.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

or, what have you. So I attributed to when I'm present and if I empty out my mind of all my clutter, then I can receive clarity around what that person might need.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I, I know that I work hard to meditate every day and I've. Read a lot about it, and I've studied about it and I've heard about it that our thoughts think us, you know, we don't think them necessarily, they come into our mind but if you are able to do like you're doing, I wouldn't call it a skill necessarily you develop that feeling, I guess, right. of

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It's kind of like A practice.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Practice.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yeah, developing that stillness. I use the words emptying, like, emptying out to self, like emptying out my stuff, you know what I mean? And that can happen for me. If I do meditate, I can get a clearer, more spacious, open mind, and that's where I tend to get a lot of wisdom and clarity or direction, you know, in that way.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Comes to you when you're not really thinking about it.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes like if I wake up in the morning, yeah, for sure.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I think that the ability to recognize that you're receiving these messages is one of the keys because I've been told that I do receive messages from the other side, but I don't recognize them that yet. But that I perhaps will, I'm hoping to, but I know that in times I have received things from the other side, it's very fleeting to me.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

a wisp that goes by. But if you are able to recognize it, then you can, then you can say, oh, okay, I did get that message. And

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yes

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

and is it similar like that for you?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

it is. And I feel like the more I cultivate stillness, we were hanging out in that winter. Season, winter and fall.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

The more I cultivate those sort of spacious, quieter, deeper energies within myself, that's where I tend to then receive more. It's not when I'm doing a million things, blah, blah, la

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

yeah.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

know.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Life. Life happens.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

When I'm, yeah, and now sometimes that might happen. You might get like shocked by something, driving down the road or what have you. But on the whole, I tend to experience more when I'm well rested and I've created more stillness for myself, you know?

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Mm-hmm. Is, is being an acupuncturist, it a stressful profession?

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Well that's a good question. I. Is it stressful? I don't know that I would see it as stressful. I think owning, having your own small business comes with its own stressors. You know, I think the hardest part for me, Jim, is that I feel everything, and so sometimes I absorb. they teach you in school not to do that. That there's ways of holding energetic boundaries that you don't take away other people's stuff. I think I don't even know how to word it. Maybe how I grew up and how I sort of gain these sensitivities. I just feel everything, and that's not always healthy for me, and I can feel overloaded and then have to sort of like. I treated two, three days. I need a day. I don't wanna see anybody. I don't wanna do anything. And that's not necessarily healthy really,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Well, Being able to establish boundaries is easier said than done. I.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah. Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I mean, if you really, truly care about people and how they are then you want to go deep into their situation. so it's hard, I think to still want to treat them and, and be good to them, but then be able to look out for yourself as well. I, I think that's a tough tightrope to walk.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It is, and I'm still, I would say that's my biggest challenge is boundaries and energetic boundaries Cause I'm full in, you know, part of my, when I'm there, I'm, and a part of it is just being who you are listening. People need to be heard and loved and acknowledged. And that's a big part of, if I had to say, oh, I'm an acupuncturist, but what do I really do? I bear witness and love,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yes. isn't that a great job to have Really tiring and and emotionally draining. but what a wonderful thing to go to work and to give that love and attention that your clients really are. I think. I think we all are. We all want that.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

And then I wind up learning so much from them. They're so, you know, all my clients, they just become part of your family. You know what I mean? And people have been with you for years. You just, you just love'em. They're your, they're your family.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

That's

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that's right. Well, I, I was in the lawyer business and, but we had a, it was a small, one, one lawyer practice, and my wife Kathy worked with me. She carried a ton of the weight of it, and, our deal was, you can't care about the people and show'em love and support and really care about the problems that they're having, if you can't do that, then just don't be in it. It's,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Right,

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

worth doing. And not

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

right.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

who's in that, that was my way of practicing law. A lot of lawyers don't. They, they don't look at it that way. And that's fine. That's them. But that's the way it was for me. And I was very, very lucky to be able to, to be with. that I love. I love people. And so yeah, that's, it's it's, it's a great profession that you're in. And I, I am hoping you and I talked briefly that perhaps I could come to your shop. There and I could get an acupuncture treatment and we could talk about, on the next interview, we could talk a little bit about what happened and what were my situations. And I would like that very much because

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Oh, that. I think it would, it would help too, this conversation. It would give you an embodied experience of some of what I'm talking about, so I would love for us to

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Oh,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

that.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I look forward to it. And yeah, I wanna know how's my energy doing and what's what's going on? And so

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yeah.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

I look forward to it. I can't thank you enough for coming on and giving two interviews here and it's, it's great. And I really do look forward to more interviews and more talking about, about how as individuals can, give that love and support and caring to other people on a day-to-day basis and in my book, it makes a big difference in this world. So,

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

It sure does, and we need it. We all need it.

james_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Yep. Me do. thanks again and I appreciate it. I look forward to next time.

jessica--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_134052:

Thank you so much, Jen. Bye-bye.