Poking the Devil With a Short Stick

One of the greatest healers of all.

by Tamra Ana

How many sayings and quotes can you recite about HOPE?

Hope springs eternal; Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. (Desmond Tutu);  Hope is a waking dream. (Aristotle);  Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.  (Emily Dickinson).  In Greek mythology, Elpis is the spirit of hope, found lying at the bottom of all the evils within Pandora’s box.

On March 15, 2012,  60-year old Amoury could barely walk, with two canes supporting him, into Heavenly Bodies Clinic as a new patient. He walked with two canes, hunched over, and his eyes were dark and brooding. His chief complaint was back pain and numbness in his leg so severe that he couldn’t stand or walk for more than a few minutes without resting and he couldn’t turn over in bed without assistance.

Some of his other ailments included: asthma, psoriasis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraines, diabetes, arthritis, hepatitis, and ratcheting fingers that were so stiff they clicked at the knuckles to bend. He was taking a long list of prescription drugs and his doctors had told him there was nothing more they could do to help and this was as good as things would get for the rest of his life. This prognosis was led to depression.

His treatments at Heavenly Bodies Clinic proved the prognosis wrong!

After his first treatment, he could stand upright and walk without pain, reporting that he put himself on a regimen of several 30 minute walks every day.   Amoury reported that for the first time in three years he could get out of bed unassisted. His fingers could move freely and smoothly. His eyes lit up, he did a little spin around the waiting room and exclaimed, “THIS IS AMAZING. I FEEL LIKE I COULD DANCE AGAIN.” He became very serious and his next words were touchingly sincere. He said, “You have given me more than pain relief. You have given me hope. I have not felt hope in so long and it feels amazing.”

Two years later, after regular treatments, taking Chinese herbs, and doing the full body detox program these are his results: 50 pounds of weight loss, sparkling eyes, nimble fingers, walking without a cane, off almost all of his prescription medications, asthma inhaler reduced to emergency use only, cholesterol and blood pressure numbers stabilized, liver enzymes within normal range (something that baffles his doctor’s at NIH).

Today, he throws his head back to laugh and his eyes dance as he says, “All those years in my youth, I spent poking the devil with a very short stick. It caught up with me.

“I was miserable with declining health for many years. You gave me hope, you stabilized my health. I have a second chance. NO MORE POKING THE DEVIL!”

We are experts in the use of acupuncture to treat chronic back pain; acupuncture for neck pain; acupuncture to treat infertility; acupuncture for weight loss; acupuncture detox cleansing; cosmetic acupuncture; and Thai massage.  Our Arlington-based Northern Virginia acupuncture clinic has openings every day for new patients.  Contact us today.