Tallahassee Veterans Acupuncture Project

Composition IV (Battle),
Wassily Kandinsky

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
We are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
--Spirits in the Material World, The Police

Relax, said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!
--Hotel California, The Eagles

I can feel your anger...
it gives you focus, it makes you stronger!
--Chancellor Palpatine, Star Wars
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We here at Ranger would like to recognize the Tallahassee Veterans Acupuncture Project (TVAP), a weekly free acupuncture clinic offered to veterans and their family members to help reduce stress and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome [PTSD].

The clinic focuses on reducing anxiety and irritability and seeks to "alleviate hyper-vigilance, flashbacks and nightmares." Their flier says, "The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) developed a simple five point treatment using acupuncture needles to the ear for drug addiction. It has since been found that this same group of points can be used for PTSD. . ."

Ranger kindly invited me, and the clinicians, Anna Lee and Rachel Kelley, were kind enough to treat me as a fellow traveler. I reckoned I should qualify under duress via fraternization.

Several needles are painlessly placed in each ear, and the client sits back in quietude for 30-40 minutes, focusing on peaceful thoughts.

Lisa counted it a success, as a muscle spasm between her shoulder blades disappeared at some point during the treatment and she came out of it feeling greatly refreshed. For her, it was a wholly satisfying experience.

Ranger, OTOH, did not appear to receive noticeable benefit, but we are told the results of the treatments are cumulative. His acupuncturist told him that she noted he was hostile, and with barely veiled pride he asked how she knew. She said she had read it in the comments at RAW. She also told him that he would probably live a long life, at which he seemed not so much thrilled as at the idea that his anger was recognized.

After yours truly suggested that angry was no way to go through his anticipated long life, Ranger became agitated and the practitioner intervened, saying that it was, indeed, one way to go through life. That seemed sensible to all, and the total undoing of the serenity was avoided.

As an aside: Do not be troubled that Ranger might keel over of hypertension. Despite his anger, he has an amazingly low resting heart rate and blood pressure. Perhaps this is because he so effectively dispels it onto his environment.

If you have such a program in your area, we encourage you to avail yourself of this helpful healing modality. (For those local, the Tallahassee clinic is held Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m.) There is no discomfort, and anything that may help one avoid becoming hostage to Big Pharma is worth a try.

As they used to say on the old Hee-Haw, with feeling: Tallahassee Veterans Acupuncture Project: Sa - lute (or in Slovakian, salutovat.)