GREENFIELD — Orange native Joshua Warren left his hectic life in Washington, D.C., to open an acupuncture and herbal medicine clinic in Franklin County.
The 36-year-old Turners Falls resident opened Connecticut River Acupuncture at 14 Miles St. on May 6 and has been steadily adding new clients after six years in the nation’s capital.
“Working in DC has been really hard in a lot of ways, but mainly because people are so stressed and overworked and don’t have time to slow down and chill. [themselves]“And they have to take the steps that are necessary to take care of themselves,” he said in the 575-square-foot space he rents, “and it’s complicated by the kind of identity that they’re funding through their work.
He said that while the people he met in the state capital had trouble letting go of these strong identities because of health issues, Western Massachusetts residents “are much more open to change,” even if they have chronic health issues.
Warren said his fellow New Englanders, accustomed to cold winters and wet summers, are used to having to adapt to change, and that ties in closely with his medical practice: acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine that involves inserting thin needles into the body to relieve pain and other health problems.
“The basic concept of Chinese medicine is that life is yang. It’s warmth, it’s movement, and we get that essentially from solar energy,” Warren explained. “And the concept of Chinese medicine is that our bodies reflect those seasons, their seasonality. In the first half of the year, the yang in our bodies is rising up and out towards the surface of the body. So midsummer is when the yang is on the surface of the body, and then the inside of the body is relatively cooler. And then in the second half of the year, which is fall and winter, the yang basically starts to move back in and towards more storage.”
Warren said acupuncture, like moxibustion, began as a treatment using the burning of a Chinese plant called mugwort to heat certain parts of the body. The treatment often creates blisters, which are then pierced with needles. Warren also specializes in herbal medicine and can create treatment plans for patients, including lifestyle and nutrition advice. His clinic has two treatment rooms.
Warren, 36, grew up in Orange and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in ethnoacoustics, the study of cultures through sound, in 2010. A few years later, he moved to North Carolina to attend the University of Taoist Traditional Chinese Medicine in Asheville, North Carolina, where he earned a master’s degree in acupuncture and herbal medicine in 2017. His education focused on the classical roots of Chinese medicine.
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Warren then moved to Washington, D.C., to take over a colleague’s clinic, and he said he has mixed feelings about his time there, because while he built a great community of friends, there were also aspects of the cultural landscape that he didn’t like.
“I told people I was an acupuncturist,” he recalled, “and they didn’t know what to do with it.”
Acupuncture can treat everything from pain and scar tissue to anxiety, digestive issues and infertility, Warren says, and while some may be skeptical, she encourages them to give it a try.
“Chinese medicine has thousands of years of unique observations and unique diagnostic techniques and traditions,” he says. “For me, the skepticism has to do with something much deeper, and it has nothing to do with medicine at all. It has to do with authority. In my observation, it often has to do with the distrust people have of their own bodies.”
More information about Connecticut River Acupuncture or how to make an appointment can be found at connecticutriveracupuncture.com or on their Facebook page. There is also a QR code on the door at 14 Miles St. Warren does not currently accept insurance.
Contact Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.
