Here on the east coast, community acupuncture hasn’t quite caught on yet — but on the west coast, in places like Northern California and Portland, it’s all the rage. Community acupuncture is a way to bring this usually expensive healing technique to the masses, by keeping it affordable and accessible — which is accomplished by offering it in community settings for a sliding scale ranging from around $15-$40 a treatment.
I want.
I was excited to learn that the next Community Acupuncture Network Conference, which is happening this October 15 and 16 in Manchester, NH (two points for the east coast!), is going to feature an exclusively vegan menu (catered by Rasa’s Vegan Kitchen)! And, to tickle your tofu even more, according to community acupuncturist Michelle Faucher (a vegan and animal rights activist), this decision to go cruelty-free was based on feedback from the first conference. Huzzah! This is just a friendly reminder that people are reading those comment cards, so whatever conference you plan on attending, be sure to leave feedback asking for vegan options, or thanking the organizers for the ones they provided.
It’s especially gratifying to see that this group of progressive thinkers is embracing the good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, great-for-animals mindset of veganism. Though I’m not an acupuncturist and have only partaken in it when it’s fit my budget (where-oh-where are my community acupuncturists?), any kind of holistically-minded practice should, IMHO, organically ditch the dead animals and focus on whole, plant-based foods. And since I never get to tout this, let me just say that my graduate degree is in Integrative Health Sciences, and I also hold a certificate in holistic health counseling. Back when my holistic health career was my main interest, and even further back when I was studying these experiential healing techniques, I was miffed more than a dozen times when the idea of embracing veganism was barely more than an afterthought. It seems to me that, holistically speaking, you are what you eat, and that alternative health practitioners should know better.
So I tip my hat to the Community Acupuncture Network for making this connection (and for reading the comment cards). Oh, and icing on the cruelty-free cake? The conference includes a party, and the party, of course, will include a jello wrestling ring. And yes, the jello will be vegan.