When I was nearing my ninth month of pregnancy, I got a bout of excruciating back pain. Of course, no one was surprised by my cries—this is super common when carrying another human inside you at such a late stage. When I told my doctor about it (i.e., begged for help), she said anything I could take or use to relieve me (like Advil, Aleve, or even a heating pad) wasn’t allowed while pregnant. She suggested I try an alternative remedy, like seeing a chiropractor or an acupuncturist.
I left her office desperate—I could barely walk a block. Each step sent a shooting pain up my lower back region, and I didn’t know how I would make it through another month like this. Through amazing hashgacha pratis (Divine providence), a story for another time, I found Miriam Pineles. I reached out to her on a Sunday and she squeezed me in for an appointment the very next day at her midtown Manhattan office [NOTE: She has since moved her practice to Cedarhurst, NY.] Throughout that week, I went for treatment three times, and by Friday I was totally healed. I couldn’t believe it—what was this magical voodoo I was now eternally indebted to?
She used a variety of treatments on me—the standard acupuncture needling, gua sha (a skin scraping tool), a deep massage and a heat treatment over the course of those three visits. The remedies worked—and not just on my back.
Now I joke that with acupuncture, you might go for the body but stay for the effects on the mind. I started out a skeptic, but after connecting with Miriam on a soul level, there was no doubt she was the real deal. The results, of course, don’t lie, but it was more than that—Miriam’s ethereal nature added a level of healing to her work with me that I couldn’t quantify. She carries with her a sense of calm that sends almost tangible waves of tranquility throughout her whole office, currents you start absorbing the second you step inside.
I continued to see Miriam for treatments to prepare for childbirth and even after I had my baby, for continued mental clarity. When brainstorming powerful women to interview for Chai on Life, she shot to the top of my mind. She integrates Torah wisdom into her practice in a way that’s unique and thought-provoking.
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COL: Miriam, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Let’s start with the basics. What is acupuncture?
Miriam Pineles: There are many theories as to what is happening during acupuncture and why it works. In essence, in Chinese medicine, the human body is a microcosm of the universe. Everything you see in nature—from the sea to the sky to rivers and to the way plants grow is how the Chinese see the human body.
All the acupuncture channels and points are based on a map. If a person has a symptom somewhere, it’s a sign that something is stuck. If you look at the human body as a little world, with various rivers and oceans, sunny parts and darker parts, you can start to figure out what is going on. If a person has IBS or Crohn’s disease, we know there is dysfunction in the center of their body. The water there has stopped flowing.
With acupuncture we go into that area and clean up what is causing the system to go awry, get the river flowing well again and heal.
How did you know you wanted to be an acupuncturist?
I always knew I wanted to help people. I was planning to be a psychologist. But after I graduated college [at the University of Pennsylvania], I went to Israel for a year. While I was there, I was really growing in my spirituality and meeting a lot of interesting healers who were experts in herbs and nutrition, because I was having some imbalances internally. It was there that my eyes were opened.
When I got back to New York, a friend referred me to her acupuncturist. I fell in love at first sight. I knew after just that one visit that this is what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Now, I’ve been practicing for 11 years.
Wow, how did you know that? What struck you?
[The doctor] was the best listener I had ever encountered. He sat with me for two hours, just learning about my life and history. I had been to therapy before, and I’d seen other healers, but this was different. It was fascinating because I went to him for a hormonal imbalance, but he asked me all these questions about my life and childhood, and I was thinking, “Why do these things matter? What does that have to do with what I’m feeling right now?”
Then he took my pulse, which is a moment that really stands still in time for me. I was in awe that my body’s pulse could tell him what was wrong and what it needed in order to get better. There was such magic in that moment. I was amazed at this comprehensive way of helping the body and mind. I literally applied to Chinese medicine school that week.
What was different about it from traditional talk therapy?
It’s a good question, and I do recommend therapy, too, but I think there’s a special kind of therapist who has done the self-work and training to hold space for someone else in a specific kind of way. I think there was just a warmth about it. It wasn’t a medical office where someone was just taking my blood pressure. There was a gravitas. In that moment, I felt like there was nothing else in the world but what I had to say. That was important.
People come to me every day for help, and in order for me to give them that, I need help from Above.
Miram Pineles
It still seems a little “woo-woo”; it did to me and does to a lot of people. Can you explain why it works?
Western science has shown that acupuncture and herbal medicine reduce inflammation. We know it can regulate hormones and calm the nervous system. It also has been shown to enhance blood circulation, boost endorphins and block pain signals. Modern science is learning more about it, but it’s important to remember that this is a medicine that’s been in effect for over 3,000 years and it’s never changed; it’s just as accurate. Science is just proving that.
Now, there is a lot that has been written about the actual needling effect. Yes, it has the ability to move what we call “chi,” for energy to move the blood. But why does sticking a needle in a person’s ankle help their shoulder? I don’t know how science is going to prove that one day. The only way to explain it is going back to the body being a mini world and everything being interconnected. It may not make sense in Western medical science, but if you learn Chinese physiology, it makes perfect sense.
In a Chinese medicine textbook, you’ll see that they look at the way the sun hits the body, for example. The sun hits the forehead, the chest, the stomach and the front of the leg—those are considered regions where the sun hits you head-on. Then, you have parts of the body that are more inside, like the inner thigh, the pelvis; that’s where the sun is hidden, so it belongs to a different organ system and is treated differently. You have the back of the body, which is another section. There are a lot of organs that govern different physiological functioning.
Are there any risks associated with it?
Mostly no. That’s the beauty of the medicine. It’s so effective that with a qualified practitioner, there is little to no risk. The only issue I have is with people who have a very strong vasovagal response [are prone to fainting]. I won’t do acupuncture on those people. I’ll just give them herbs. Sometimes, people will have a cathartic response, so it’s a big emotional release, which you could say is positive or negative. It’s hard, but ultimately therapeutic.
Acupuncture helped my mind just as much as my body. How do you perceive the connection between the two?
In Chinese anatomy and physiology, every organ is related to an emotion. The liver is related to anger; the stomach and spleen are related to worry; the heart is related to sadness and joy; the gallbladder is related to courage—everything is yin and yang, they’re always connected. I do always feel like I’m treating the physical body and emotional body. That’s another beauty of the medicine; it’s doing both simultaneously.
By treating somebody’s physical ailments, we’re automatically treating the emotion associated with it. If someone comes in with just the emotional concern, like anxiety or depression, their body is going to have the positive benefit anyway.
I don’t think people just get a stiff shoulder, though, because of something random or physical. I think something gets stuck. Could it be related to poor posture? Sure, but where does that poor posture come from? How we feel and how we hold our bodies are intimately connected.
Why do you see so much menstrual pain and PMS dysfunction in women in their 20s and 30s with a history of anxiety and depression? Why are people who get sciatica all under an incredible amount of stress, where they don’t feel supported? There are so many things that go together that it’s very hard to separate the emotion and the body.
What’s fascinating is that you can treat emotional issues like sadness and grief by treating the body. I had a recent case where I treated a woman in her 20s who had PMS, extreme mood swings and a history of anxiety and stomach issues for a good 10 years. I gave her herbs to balance her hormones and calm her spirit, and in one week, that anxiety was lifted 75 percent. So, you can see, I treated her body; I didn’t give her therapy. You can’t pull them apart.
The body’s capacity to heal is just beyond anything any of us really understand.
To an outsider, it seems like Chinese medicine is based on its own tradition and religion. As an Orthodox Jew, does that ever come into conflict for you?
It’s interesting, because I did have to question this a lot myself. The short answer is that no, there is no conflict, but it took time to get totally clear with that. After college I did go to Israel for a year and that really strengthened my Judaism. Even though I was raised Orthodox, I needed to find spirituality for myself.
When I started my Chinese medicine career, I didn’t know about Buddhism or Taoism and it was jarring. I’m very spiritually sensitive so it was hard not to become confused, but I found G-d in it—they would talk about a oneness, but they don’t call it G-d. It was a different language than I was used to. I came to realize, though, that my spirituality and course of life is rooted in Torah and the tradition of our ancestors. The way I treat the body, using needles and the herbs isn’t spiritual, it’s actually medicine. I don’t take anything else from it other than how to heal and prevent disease.
That makes sense.
Yes, that being said, though, it wasn’t always so clear. I went to one Chinese medicine school that blended the teaching of medicine with Buddhism and Taoism. I didn’t like what was happening internally, I felt like they were encouraging people to become a Taoist.
I almost quit, actually, but I talked to a rabbi I knew, who assured me there was nothing wrong with what I was doing. He and other mentors helped me get back on track. So, I switched from that school to one in New York, where it was purely medical and practical training, and I got my degree there.
Now that you’re a practitioner, how does being an observant Jew influence your work? With treating the body primarily, do you bring your own spirituality into the medicine?
G-d is definitely with me every day—I start and end every day with prayer and meditation. I know that what I can do is only because of Hashem, so I try to acknowledge that and ask for guidance daily. People come to me every day for help, and in order for me to give them that, I need help from Above. Everything is one, Hashem Echad. Everything I’m doing is intimately connected, so getting to know the body and healing on this level is an incredible entryway to get closer to Hashem.
I would imagine things become even more mind-blowing the deeper you get into your work.
It is infinitely humbling. The more I know and learn, the smaller I feel. The body’s capacity to heal is just beyond anything any of us really understand.There’s so much we don’t know, and I’m constantly being confronted with that. I’m so grateful to be in a position to give to people and help, but I’m in constant awe of the body and what it is that we’re doing here.
Many people ask if the benefits of acupuncture are long-term, or if you have to continue going regularly to keep them up. What would you say?
There are both short-term and long-term benefits. I’m learning that life’s work is an ongoing process of healing old wounds, discovering who we really are and getting closer to an awareness of our souls. But in the short-term, Chinese medicine provides the relief we need to be able to do that healing.
If we have stomach and hip pain, and we can’t sleep, we’re not going to be able to do our work in this world, whether it’s being a parent, or showing up to work every day or developing our connection to Hashem. We all move through different stages of life and constantly need that work. The physical blockages can get in the way of our ability to thrive. Chinese medicine strengthens the body, making it a strong container for us to do the work we have to do in this world.
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For more information on Miriam Pineles, or to book your own appointment, visit conscioushealthandwellness.com. To find an acupuncturist in your area, you can visit acufinder.com. If you’re on the east coast, you can also visit NCCAOM.org.
*Pro tip from Miriam: If you’re in an area with an acupuncture school, you can call them to ask for referrals. Schools also offer sessions with students at a reduced rate if you’re looking for something more affordable.
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