New Yorker of the Week

NovMon 2009 Filed in: New Yorker of the Week

Ryan Smith

Craft: Acupuncturist
In New York: 5 and half years
Lives: Morningside Heights
Why we think he's cool: Wants to push to have acupuncture more available in our hospitals
Where to find him: ryansmithacupuncture.com
Interview by: José

Jose: How are things?
Ryan: Great.

J: So we’ve known each other since college and here we are 10 years later and you’re treating me with acupuncture putting needles in my face!
R: I know its crazy. UMass/Amherst seems far away.

J: Alright, let’s start with the obvious. How the hell did you get into acupuncture?
R: While I was in Paris I read this book called No Boundary by Ken Wilber. It is an introduction to the major methods of growth and transformation--from egoic to humanistic to transpersonal--and shows how these approaches are related to each other. That was really interesting to me. After returning to the States, I continued to read related material, world mythology - I’ve always loved world religions.

J: What were you doing at that time in your life?
R: At the time I was working at Fidelity looking around my cubicle thinking, "I don’t want to be in this situation, I don’t really want to do my job, my boss' job or boss' boss' job." I didn’t want to be with a lot of paper, if that makes sense.

J: It does. Then what?
R: So then I started doing a lot of training at the Synthesis Center - which is a comprehensive approach to psychological health and well-being. I learned guided imagery and stuff like that. That’s when I went to New York to work at the library at the Jung Center, which I found really interesting. I considered analyst training, but decided I was more interested in working with the body. The thing about acupuncture is that there is a whole metaphor, a whole mythology about health that includes the body, the mind, and the spirit.

J: And it’s all about the heart, right?
R: The heart is the mind. Exactly. It fascinated me that whole world of health and well-being is expressed through the Chinese health mythology. So I thought that would be the perfect subject for my Ph.D. thesis in psychology - psychology from an ancient Chinese perspective; how did they incorporate the mind and the body as one? I thought it would be cool if acupuncture were used to treat mental disorders and different types of psycho-spiritual issues. Then when I got into acupuncture school, my interest turned to the medical side of it in treating the total body stuff.

J: Where did you go to school?
R: Tri-Sate College of Acupuncture.

J: I hear they’re the best in the country.
R: They’re not on a system the way Newsweek does rankings for other Colleges and Universities, but it's considered one of the best acupuncture schools in the World, because they teach you three different styles of acupuncture. Tri-Sate has a unique philosophy - they want us to compare and contrast different styles of acupuncture, so that you end up walking away with more tools in your toolbox.

J: What are the three different styles of acupuncture?
R: There’s a Japanese style, which utilizes a palpation sequence to find reflexes, areas of pain, which indicate internal imbalances. We choose points that release the reflexes. When using the Chinese system we rely on questioning, observing tongue and pulse, and palpation to come up with the diagnosis and treatment. The third style is known as Acupuncture Physical Medicine. In terms of myofascial pain, acupuncture can release tight bands, or "knots" in the muscle, which can often be the prime source of a patient's pain. Trigger points, tender points, and classical acupuncture points are chosen for treatment.

J: So you’ve been treating me with the Mei Zen technique because of my history with Bell's Palsy. Can you explain that?
R: When there is any kind of atrophy such is in the case of Bell's Palsy and Chinese medicine, it's known as a Chi and Blood deficiency. Bells Palsy is known as a "Wind Attack" and usually due to Qi and Blood deficiency. And one of the ways we bring Qi and Blood to an area is to needle the area locally. So we put very small needles into the acu-points on your face at a very superficial level, which is a technique that brings Qi and Blood to an area. Qi is like energy. It doesn’t have form - it's more like the function of the area. So if you know your face isn’t functioning, it's like bringing this life energy there or activating what was supposed to be there. You know, Blood is not exactly like the same Blood thought of in Western medicine, but it's related - it brings nourishment; it's physical. It brings warmth and nourishment to the area. So we're just getting things moving in there.

J: A lot people kept asking me, “Doesn’t that kill?” They couldn’t believe how many needles were in my face. I hardly felt them. Only a few were “pinchy” as you described.
R: Yeah, sometimes when the needle goes in, it hits a skin pain receptor so you feel it for a second as a small pinch, but the needles are hair thin. People associate needles with the doctor’s office. Those needles are hollow, hypodermic needles. When a hypodermic needle goes in to the skin it has to cut a circle, whereas our needles are so thin, they’re solid. That’s why people usually don’t feel anything.

J: What’s the biggest misconception about acupuncture?
R: The biggest one is that it's still considered by some to be a primitive form of medicine. That’s really based on superstition. I don’t think people realize that there is research that shows definite physiological changes in the body's regulatory systems when the needles go in--that there’s actual stuff that’s happening that can be measured and is measured. That the healing capacity is activated that’s measured by the rest and digestive responses.

J: How do New Yorkers react when you tell them what you do?
R: New Yorkers are generally open and interested. This is an "anything goes" kind of city. There's still a lot of mystery around acupuncture, so I'm often asked, "Does it work?"--which kind of makes me laugh, because imagine if I said no. I think they're asking, "How does it work?"

J: Since last summer you’ve been going back and forth between the City and P-Town. What would you say is a big difference with New Yorkers?
R: Stress and fatigue - I think New Yorkers burn themselves out. Many New Yorkers come to acupuncture to resolve a persistent low level of fatigue.

J: What are you finding that patients need the most help in?
R: For whatever reason I get a lot of fibromyalgia, but also muscle pain is a big deal. If someone has a pain issue, that becomes more than just a local spot of pain. It affects their relationships and their quality of life, because it's persistent and they can’t do things the way they used to, which has a huge emotional component to it.

J: What are your thoughts on the fact that a lot of health insurance companies still don’t cover acupuncture?
R: I definitely think it should be covered. It’s sad that people don’t have access to it and that it’s still considered a luxury. There are people who can benefit from acupuncture that either can’t afford it or it's not available to them.

J: What would you like to see change in your profession?
R: Well, you know, one of my goals is to push for acupuncture in hospitals where people have access to it. For example, if someone is undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, they’re part of some kind of oncology treatment. I’ve seen how acupuncture can really benefit people in that situation. It would be so easy to have an acupuncturist in oncology units and hospitals, and then people would have access to it.

J: I think that's a great idea.
R: Yeah, and not just the patient, but for the family, because when someone has an illness, it's not something that just impacts the person with the illness; it has an effect on the family as well. So if the family is in the hospital and there is an acupuncturist there, the family can also be treated. This, I believe, will impact tremendously the process of getting better for the patient as well, because they’re part of the family and that’s their environment. If you’re treating the patient's environment, you're treating the patient.

J: That makes a lot of sense.
R: Yeah, I mean there are a lot of other things I’d like to see in the hospitals as well--yoga, aromatherapy, not just acupuncture. These are modalities we know that can benefit people who are trying to get well. I think it's a human rights issue that they have access to those modalities.

J: What's next?
R: I’m about to teach a six-segment course called “Tendinomuscular Meridians and Myofascial Release” to the Pilates instructors of Strength and Clarity Pilates in Provincetown. There is also a very knowledgeable and experienced personal trainer in the class. Tendinomuscular meridians, are like tubes of muscle and fascia that run from the hands and feet to the head or chest. I started doing Pilates last summer and began to see many correlations between East Asian Medicine and Pilates. Knowing the fascial connections between muscles, the Pilates instructors will design routines that assess, target and unravel their clients' postural and movement challenges. I'm very excited.

J: Ryan, I’ve known you for a long time and I’m happy to see that you’re doing something you’re truly passionate about.
R: It's been a great ride. Thank you.

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5 Outsider Questions:

1. List 5 things you have in your fridge:
R: Cage-free chicken eggs, goat cheese, arugula, oj with lots of pulp & natural peanut butter.

2. What freaks you out most about NY?
R: Long winters!

3. Describe a good NY cheap date:
R: Rollerblading followed by a burger & frozen custard at Shake Shack at Madison Square Park.

4. What's your favorite NY Icon?
R: Donna Karan.

5. Where do you go to escape NY?
R: That's easy - Provincetown, MA.

Tags: Jose, new yorker, Acupuncture