The study of health isn’t new to acupuncturist Zea Friesen, who “grew up with a fairly health-conscious mother,” but for her, Western medicine just wasn’t good enough.
To some extent, she said, it works best for temporary relief of symptoms or in a first-aid situation. But older methods — including acupuncture — have benefits, too, perhaps more.
“Chinese medicine really focuses on preventative medicine and treating the whole person, looking at the underlying issues, going to the root of problems and helping the person recover to a natural state of health,” said Friesen, who owns Balance Point Acupuncture, which recently relocated from downtown to the Creston Zendo.
Acupuncture, she said, can be used to treat everything from pain to addiction.
“It’s a pretty versatile medicine,” she said.
Friesen used to work as a hospital nutrition aide, where she came across “horrible food", like pureed veal and Boost.
“I was really awakened to practices there that weren’t beneficial to people,” she said. “It really helped me pursue the other path.”
The Winnipeg, Man., native moved to the West Kootenay in 1997, where she began attending Nelson’s Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences, from which she graduated eight years ago.
While there, Friesen studied massage, nutrition and chi gong, taking six years to complete her schooling because she was taking both the acupuncture and herbal programs, both three years, at the same time.
The school was her first exposure to acupuncture, through founder Dr. Warren Fisher.
“I knew nothing about acupuncture,” Friesen said. “I’d never received it before. … He really helped me. I was struggling with energy and depression. He totally shifted that.”
After graduation, she worked in various Nelson clinics, and also joined with a few other acupuncturists to start the Nelson Community Acupuncture clinic four years ago, offering affordable treatment to groups. In November 2012, Friesen moved to Creston and started Balance Point Acupuncture, filling a greater need than there was in Nelson.
With traditional Chinese medicine taking a different view than Western medicine, Friesen tends to explain the process in Western terms, making it that much easier for patients to enjoy what is a relaxing treatment, which offers a natural high as it releases endorphins.
“Generally, people have more of a sense of well-being that lasts several days,” she said. “But it doesn’t last forever. That’s why you need to come back — just like when you take a course of medicine for two or three weeks.”
Of course, in this case, that sense of well-bring comes from the insertion of a needle — many, depending on the course of treatment — but that’s not something for potential patients to worry about. It can range from feeling like a mosquito bite to an electrical twinge to aching, all of which are temporary.
“It just shows me the point’s being activated, then it settles down,” Friesen said.
To make the treatment a positive experience, she’s happy to explain what’s going on if it gives patients peace of mind.
“I don’t want to push anyone out of their comfort zone to a point where it’s not a good experience for them,” she said. “I definitely take a lot of care to try to put that into my technique.”
And at the core of the acupuncture treatment, Friesen is simply helping her patients to heal themselves.
“It’s really about activating a person’s own healing energy or life force,” Friesen said. “It’s always there and I’m just tapping into it. It still amazes me how people heal themselves.
“I never say I do the healing. I have to access the points you need to do the healing.”
