Thursday 12th January
Went to see Fredrick Steele who is an acupuncturist to talk about everything, it really struck me just how massive TCM is, it’s daunting and I think I’m going to have to learn to read and speak Chinese at some point. Rest of the day was pretty lazy, had a bit of a dose post physio. Spent a nice evening gorgifying myself!!
In retrospect the full impact of this day has come to mean a lot more to me, and I can remember a lot of it in quite acute detail.
I remember driving nervously around the area of Bedford near his house, my mind full of old memories. Robinson Park where Shellie and Julia and I ran away, and then going up the hill to near Julia’s house, and the old wonder of where and who she is now.
Then the moment I met Frederick, and thinking he was a little bit eccentric with his waistcoat and his pocket watch. Sat nervously in his lounge with my little notebook, sipping green tea and laughing at myself for not having realized that’s the kind of tea an acupuncturist would give you!
I remember him studying my face very closely and it had made me nervous at the time, though clearly now I understand exactly what he was doing, and am fascinated to know what he thought.
I also remember him asking me what atmosphere I thought there was in his house, and I hadn’t known what to say. It was odd and there were piles of books and things everywhere and yet it seemed very still and very calm, and I remember it in my mind now as being very green.
We then went upstairs and he showed me his herb dispensary, and I was just in awe of all the weird looking things in jars covered in Chinese writing. It was so beautiful to listen to him talk, he spoke with such knowledge and such passion about everything in his room. He was very excited about the fact he was learning Chinese, I thought that was so sweet,
Then we went into the treatment room and he picked up a beautiful copy on the NanJing and explained how parts of the characters meant water and silk, and how that related to the structure of the body, then this bit over here meant yellow, which was of course a nod to the yellow Emperor. It was at that moment that it struck me just how massive and how beautiful this was, and how very much I wanted to know it all.
He then began to explain to me that when his patients were on the couch he would often do Qi-Kong moves as part of the treatment. I smiled politely, thinking he was a little mad, but then he did a little demonstration and the entire energy of the room changed, and went utterly still and flowing at the same time. Oh to see feel Qi, such a priceless and beautiful thing.
On the walk back into the centre of town on a street I don’t know the name of, but could place to the very house I was stood in front of I decided that I would be an acupuncturist and that I would become fucking awesome at it.
