On this episode of Soul Wellness with Kristen, Dr. Jessica Watson explains the many facets of Ancient Chinese Medicine and how specifically acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine work. These modalities are used to treat any kind of ailment from physical symptoms to psychological issues.
Transcript: An Interview with Dr. Jessica Watson
Kristen: Thank you for joining us. Today I have Dr. Jessica Watson with me. She’s an acupuncturist and a Doctor of Ancient Chinese Medicine, and also a tenant here at Soul Wellness. Welcome.
Dr. Jessica Watson: Thank you for having me. I’m excited.
Kristen: I can’t wait to talk about all the things you do, because I’ve heard you incorporate several different modalities into your sessions. Let’s start off. How did you get into this?
Dr. Watson: Sure. There were a few different things that intertwined and led me to this medicine. One being that I grew up as a more sensitive individual and went through my own periods of depression and social anxiety in high school. I knew I wanted to get into the healing arts in some capacity, but between high school and entering college, the only avenue I knew at that time was modern mainstream medicine. So I thought I wanted to become an occupational therapist- because for one, I would be helping people, but two- I could keep some creativity within that field.
And then when I was in college, I witnessed my mother navigate a breast cancer journey with overwhelm, fatigue and stress. There was miscommunication between her nurses which resulted in two infections. From an outside perspective, there were just some things about the system that I perceived to be a little off. I imagined that if I was in her position dealing with something chronic, I would want to be in an environment that seemed more warm and personalized.
What is Ancient Chinese Medicine?
Kristen: That makes perfect sense. Tell me what exactly ancient Chinese medicine is.
Dr. Watson: Sure. Ancient Chinese medicine is an indigenous holistic medical system that’s been alive and practiced for over 2,000 years in China. It zooms out to the whole and perceives the interrelationships between different functioning facets of the body, and how these facets interact with and communicate with one another.
For example, we often look at the twelve organ networks. The heart is considered the center of the organ networks, and has this gesture of opening and connecting everything: from cellular function, emotional expression, and the way our symptoms manifest in the world. So we’re viewing these interrelationships, say, between all of the organ networks: the lung, the kidney, the liver, the heart, and we’re seeing how they are interworking together.
As practitioners, we’re constantly perceiving these relationships between things and how those manifest at the surface. The medicine is based on the notion that the subtle rules the dense. We are eliciting subtle changes, subtle pivots of directionality in the body that manifest both internally and externally, physically, mentally, emotionally. And within Chinese medicine, many different modalities can be utilized: acupuncture, dietary changes, herbal medicine and more. You can pretty much apply anything to ancient Chinese medicine itself.
Kristen: And it can be used to treat anything?
Dr. Watson: I mean technically, yes.
Kristen: Because it’s about the flow of energy between your organ systems, and when there is a blockage or something isn’t flowing, that’s when the physical symptom occurs. Is that what happens?
Dr. Watson: Exactly.
Kristen: And that’s when most people run to their doctor and want a pill to fix that, rather than looking at why.
Dr. Watson: Right. Something in the body wants attention. And sometimes it’s not even about the “why,” it’s simply about noticing that something is calling for attention. Acupuncture is how we make contact with that. When we insert a needle, we’re bringing awareness to the area that wants to be contacted. The needle reminds the body that energy flows there. We’re creating these subtle interactions in the body.
Kristen: That’s interesting. And if someone hasn’t had acupuncture before, they should probably know that the needles that you use are almost like a hair strand. They’re tiny. They are way smaller than your typical shot needles. I’m a complete needle-phobe, and I’ve had acupuncture many, many times. But I’ll tell you, when they zing you… that is a very unusual sensation. What is that about?
Dr. Watson: So we call that de qi, the qi sensation. It’s the feeling your body elicits when it makes contact with something. It can feel like expansion, like a stream of energy, deep relaxation, or a spark. There are many sensations that can occur when the needle enters the body.
Kristen: And that’s basically the area getting the attention it needed?
Dr. Watson: Exactly. And all of those sensations are normal.
Education & Training
Kristen: Tell me about your education, because I know it’s extensive.
Dr. Watson: So I got my undergrad in health sciences thinking that I wanted to be an occupational therapist. And then my final semester of undergrad, I was learning about alternative healing modalities and healing medicines, which I didn’t even know existed. And I stumbled upon an introduction book to Chinese medicine called “Between Heaven and Earth.” Within reading the first five pages, I felt a deep resonance with the theory behind Chinese medicine and how it speaks to gestures in nature that also express themselves in human beings. There was a connection that really just felt validating and authentic to me, so I decided to pursue it.
So from my own research, I stumbled upon different schools of acupuncture. Acupuncture is typically the most well-known modality within Chinese medicine in the United States. There were two schools which I really liked because they presented their curriculum as more than just technical; their approaches seemed to honor the root, spirit and ancient philosophy of the medicine.
Kristen: They just felt good to you?
Dr. Watson: Yeah, it felt right. So I ended up going to the National University of Natural Medicine. In between that, I took two years to kind of explore and travel and get out my little inner hippie experience.
Kristen: Probably smart. Everybody should do that, but we just typically don’t.
Dr. Watson: Yeah. And within that time, I was staying at this community in Panama, and I met a practitioner of Chinese medicine and Ayurveda who sort of validated that I should pursue this path. At that time, I had never received acupuncture or taken herbs. So I didn’t really know what I was jumping into, to be quite honest. I just knew that I loved the theory behind this. And honestly, I think it was good that I was a little naive. I didn’t know what the program that I was pursuing entailed, and that we would be learning how to read classical Chinese Hanzi characters, or interpreting ancient texts, but I’m so grateful for that now.
Kristen: How long was the program?
Dr. Watson: Five years. One of the unique aspects about where I went to school is that we had something called a “traditional mentorship tutorial.” We were exposed to a bunch of different styles to practice, because within Chinese medicine and within acupuncture, there are actually so many different ways to practice. So we chose whoever’s style we resonated with, and then we learned from them for a year. I did that with both acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Kristen: Was it obvious who you resonated with?
Dr. Watson: Definitely. I took more than one tutorial because I was so curious and interested and fascinated. But there were certain ones that I definitely resonated with more than others.
Kristen: That’s fantastic. You obviously are meant to do this. I mean, it shows. Your curiosity and your passion for it show very much so. And then was there anything after that? Are you ready to practice at that point?
Dr. Watson: After graduating, I joined one of my herbal mentors, Heiner Fruehauf, on a retreat to China. We met some of his mentors of both Qigong and herbalism, and some of his colleagues. I was able to see the birthplace of this medicine and where it came from. Then after that, I passed my board exams and then began practicing.
Approach: Beyond Needles
Kristen: Wow. Well, I have to say, I’ve heard about you. I’ve heard other people say that you are more than just an acupuncturist. You are somewhat intuitive, there’s an energy component to you. You’re not just sticking needles in someone and letting them hang out for an hour or so. There’s more to it. So talk to me about that too.
Dr. Watson: Sure. So as practitioners, we’re continuously perceiving gestures: how internal patterns express outwardly as physical, mental, or emotional manifestations.
Kristen: Gesture meaning a symptom?
Dr. Watson: Yes. So there are twelve organ networks that we’re looking at within Chinese medicine. Those speak to various expressions of patterns that we are moving from. And what I’m doing is I’m trying to piece together the symptoms you’re telling me, but I’m also looking at your tongue and I’m feeling your pulse.
In Chinese medicine, there are actually twelve pulse positions and different depths. Beneath that, we’re feeling for these impulses and these different expressions, which tells us something about the inner dynamic going on at once. So what I’m doing is I’m taking all of that information, taking some and leaving some, because there is always room for things to just present themselves- room for me not to put things into a box, but to keep things dynamic as they are, as if is life. And then what I’m doing is I’m going to feel the different meridians and see where there seems to be a blockage, or an area that wants attention.
Kristen: So if someone comes to you with a physical problem, an issue, a symptom, and you’re working on them, do you have the patient actually explore some emotional things as well?
Dr. Watson: So, I’m not a counselor. That is outside of my domain. But I will often want to know what’s going on in someone’s emotional life. There’s even dream work within this field, where dream symbols can correlate with Chinese medical symbols.
I see practitioners as guides and the modalities as vessels. There’s always a part of the patient’s awareness that is required in their own healing. This happens naturally in most people. The only time that maybe it’s not so helpful is if someone gets fixated on the modality itself as something outside of them that is the answer. Because the transformation is always happening within the person. And as practitioners, we’re just guiding things to make contact.
Kristen: In other words, if they’re coming to you for acupuncture thinking this is going to fix me and I don’t have to self-reflect, I’m just going to show up and have acupuncture and be fixed, then it’s not going to work? You’re going to have to do some inward reflection on yourself to let this work. Is that what you’re kind of saying?
Dr. Watson: Acupuncture and herbs will move things. But I think if that’s the question someone is looking for an answer to, with healing in general, it’s not always the most helpful question. I think the more that someone can bring some kind of awareness to patterns is only going to deepen the medicine for them. Does that make sense?
Kristen: And probably accelerate their healing.
Dr. Watson: Yeah, I would think so. But just realizing that the change is happening within the person. It’s happening within you. That’s where the change is happening. So that’s where the focus, I think, is most helpful. And using acupuncture, using Chinese medicine, is a beautiful modality, in my opinion, but knowing that at the end of the day, it’s a modality. Fixating on the modality itself misses the point.
Kristen: Yeah. But you can treat or see patients that have any kind of ailment?
Dr. Watson: Definitely. So whether we’re starting with something physical, quite literally a headache, being irritated by something mental or physical, feeling anxious or depressed- any of these are entry points that we can work with. And Chinese medicine can help to move things. And I mean… Chinese medicine, and why I love Chinese herbal medicine specifically, is because we are looking at this picture of what’s going on synergistically in the body to kind of open space for this internal alchemy to happen.
Herbal Medicine & Internal Alchemy
Kristen: Talk to me about herbal medicine.
Dr. Watson: So Chinese herbal medicine is a modality that we use within the framework of Chinese medicine to send a gentle and subtle stimulus to the organ networks, which helps them realign with their innate gestures. Each time we take an herbal formula, we’re sending this stimulus again and again until the body begins to pick it up.
For example, in the body, the gesture of the lungs is to descend. Say that I notice in someone that the lung is not descending at its highest function: one is depressed, one has stagnation in their diaphragm, they’re urinating frequently, their water metabolism is off, they get frequent colds- I prescribe an herbal formula that helps the lung to return to its function of descending and then these symptoms will start to move and clear up.
Kristen: I see. That’s fascinating. So what if somebody has like a cancer diagnosis or something, and they decide that they don’t really want to go through chemo and all of these really harsh treatments. Can you treat somebody? Can you send them on a different path?
Dr. Watson: So legally, we cannot say that we treat cancer or any diagnosis with a western medicine name. But I will say that if I or someone I loved did have that diagnosis, which in Chinese medicine we call an excess of phlegm, then one of the first places I would look for support would be with someone who practices Chinese medicine, and who practices herbal medicine in particular along with acupuncture.
Energy & Subtle Work
Kristen: Okay. And then what about energy work?
Dr. Watson: One of my teachers, Brandt Stickley, always emphasized that “the subtle rules the dense.” Chinese medicine moves from the subtle energy field into the physical body. Compared to chakras which are more expanded, the meridian system is much closer to the physical body. It’s much more involved in the inner workings of things, the day-to-day structure, patterns. So it’s just closer to the physical beingness of things. And, I mean, yea it’s energetic. But it’s also material. It’s also literal. We’ll see literal physical changes. So that’s what I love about the lens of Chinese medicine because it intertwines and it validates both aspects of life. That there is spirit, quite literally spirit means that something is inspirited. And there is also this physical manifestation, this literal aspect that we’re working with at the same time.
What a First Appointment Looks Like
Kristen: Tell me what a normal first appointment looks like with you. Like how long is this appointment? What are you doing? What kind of things are you asking? I’m curious about that.
Dr. Watson: So typically during the first appointment, I want to find out what someone wants to work on. Where are you in this healing journey? Are we working on constipation? Are we working on a deep life transition? What are we doing? And then we do an intake so I can get an idea of what’s going on and what we call someone’s Qi dynamic.
I do a tongue analysis and I feel the pulse for quite a bit of time, maybe five to ten minutes.I might start immediately with a few acupuncture points from the get-go. And then I will energetically palpate the meridians themselves to see if there’s any blockages or areas seeking attention.
I’ll usually stay with the patient for a good bit of time and then maybe leave them to rest for 15 to 20 minutes to integrate the needles. A lot of the time, I also integrate craniosacral therapy holds on the head, or on the feet. I often use a non-insertive tool called the Teishin, which works with the outermost layer of qi called the Wei qi.
I also have an option for those who don’t want to try needles from the get-go called “Meridian Therapy.” We work with the Meridian system using modalities other than needles.
It’s really important for me to connect people with what we’re working on because I’m just the vessel and they’re the ones undergoing the actual change. So I’ll always send a follow-up email about what we worked on from a Chinese medicine perspective.
And I’ll usually ask the patient if they’re interested in herbs. If so, I’ll prescribe them an herbal formula through Golden Needle, which is an herbal medicinary in Western North Carolina that will ship the herbs directly to their house.
Kristen: And herbs support in between the appointments?
Dr. Watson: Yes. It’s like giving yourself an internal acupuncture treatment each time you take the formula. Herbs help keep things moving between sessions.
Kristen: How long is a normal appointment with you?
Dr. Watson: So the first one is 75 minutes, and follow-up appointments are 60 minutes.
Kristen: Okay, very good. And it sounds like there are all kinds of things that you have in your toolbox. That’s amazing because I know when I’ve gone to acupuncture in the past, that’s it. You’re getting some needles and then you’re going to sit for 30 to 45 minutes or maybe even an hour, but there’s no craniosacral, there’s no energy, there’s no intuition, there’s no herbal medicine either. So that’s really cool that you offer so many things.
Dr. Watson: I really have my mentors to thank for that. I mean, I really did love my education. We were always told to follow what resonates, and we were always reminded that within the meridian system, there are so many modalities that we can bring to it.
Western Medicine Training
Kristen: Your education is similar to what a Western medicine doctor is studying as well, because you’re studying the entire body, correct?
Dr. Watson: We definitely do study the entire body. And I think what many people don’t know about acupuncturists is that everyone, doctor or not, has to take 500 hours of modern Western medicine courses. And then we have to pass a Western medicine board exam to get licensed.
Kristen: Wow. I didn’t know that.
Dr. Watson: Yeah. And this is just to express that we can take these reductionist medical understandings, these modern biomedical understandings, and apply them to a larger picture of what’s going on.
Kristen: That’s fascinating. I mean, you’ve got nine years of education.
Dr. Watson: Yeah, if you count undergrad.
How Acupuncture Works
Kristen: So tell me how acupuncture even works. If someone has never had acupuncture before, tell us the elementary explanation of how acupuncture works.
Dr. Watson: So from a Chinese medicine perspective, the meridians are kind of like rivers of communication that flow between different organ networks. And basically what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to free those lines of communication. One of my teachers says that there’s only one pathology: flowing against. So we’re ultimately trying to return the flow which means internal harmony.
From a biomedicine standpoint, acupuncture stimulates the central nervous system, the vagus nerve, it increases circulation and blood flow, it contacts nerve endings and opens neural pathways, releases serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine. So there are many ways of looking at it, and we are pretty much trying to restore circulation and communicative flow between all aspects of someone’s being. So when something is off, there’s a blockage: something isn’t flowing or it needs attention and it needs to be made contact with. Acupuncture restores communication across the entire being.
Kristen: This sounds similar to terms energy healers use, like congestion or blockage.
Dr. Watson: Sure. And also, within Chinese medicine, we have different parameters. One that we often use is excess and deficiency. So a deficiency would be somewhere that needs more warmth and charge for circulation. And then an excess would be somewhere that has a little too much buildup and it needs to be unconstrained, released and returned to flow. So that’s one way that we can look at it.
How to Find Dr. Watson
Kristen: Okay. This is super fascinating. So tell everybody how to find you. What’s the best way to find you if they want to reach out and maybe consult or have a first visit with you?
Dr. Watson: So you can go to my website, rootsofharmony.com. You can also find me on the Soul Wellness website and you can directly call, text, email me or schedule online. There’s that option.
Kristen: That’s awesome. I hope that lots of people reach out to you and find you, and especially those that, you know, have seen too many doctors and need a different new perspective. This was fun. We’ll do this again, I’m sure.
Dr. Watson: Thank you for having me.
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