by Colleen M. Quinn

The website of The Body Connection quotes Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh: “Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees, the clouds, everything.”

Eric Meleney lives and works by this philosophy. Eric’s work as an acupuncturist in Boulder, Colorado focuses on the ideal of healing and healthy living. “Acupuncture changes the way you see things, how your habits affect you,” he says. “You start to feel your body, and a sense of connectedness.”

Eric relates to acupuncture on a more personal level than just as a practitioner. He was introduced to the modality as a result of an injury he sustained while as a varsity runner for the University of Colorado. Right away, Eric was amazed at how well acupuncture worked in helping him heal. But, he didn’t think seriously about studying it until he was in a serious car accident in 1992. “It really propelled me towards [acupuncture],” he says. He received his B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Colorado, studied at the Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, and is now a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Colorado.

These personal experiences give Eric his unique empathy of his clients’ aches and pains, both in discussing the issues at hand and in helping them through the healing process. Many clients are athletes themselves who are looking to recover from specific sports injuries, chronic problems like tendonitis, and joint pains. But Eric’s practice is hardly sports-only oriented. “My work is very diverse,” he says, “I’m definitely not exclusive to one thing.” Many clients come with digestive and menstrual problems, as well as allergies and chronic headaches.

Acupuncture is part of the tradition of Chinese medicine, an ancient holistic system of healing that Eric has studied and practiced since 2001. A practitioner applies tiny, sterile needles directly to the skin to literally direct the flow of energy in the body to cure certain ailments and to enhance overall health. The advantage of acupuncture is that it addresses the source of problems instead of just symptoms, and thereby bringing a complete feeling of health to the body.

Acupuncture is based on the concept that there are 14 meridians in the body, pathways through which the body’s energy flows. Any number of external or internal forces can disrupt this flow of energy and cause a blockage of energy, whether it’s an emotional trauma or a physical problem like dehydration. Using acupuncture needles on the skin at each meridian point, Eric redirects the body’s energy and removes this block.

However, this sometimes is only the alleviation of a symptom. Often times, says Eric, the things that caused the blockage in the first place will still be present. A lingering emotion or a repetitive physical motion like lifting badly will, over time, cause the same or similar problem. “It’s changing the real problem or pattern,” says Eric, “We also look at what you are doing to contribute to the situation.” For many clients, some lifestyles or habits have to be altered to permanently resolve a problem.

In addition to acupuncture, Chinese medicine incorporates the use of herbal remedies, and Eric combines them expertly with his acupuncture work. He uses only the highest quality herbs grown organically in the United States, which are put through rigorous safety testing. Eric believes that herbs provide a healthy alternative to prescriptions in many cases because they can solve ailments with minimal side effects. “I strike a balance with many herbs, so there aren’t any serious side effects,” he says.

Whether a client needs herbs in addition to or instead of acupuncture, Eric maintains a thorough process by which he puts together a picture of a client’s background, to more fully understand what their problems are and what treatment is needed. A session with Eric normally starts out with an in-depth interview about the client’s health background and lifestyle. Eric says that it may seem like a lengthy process, but this is perhaps the most important aspect of a session.

In fully knowing a person’s background, he can determine in the best way possible what kind of action is needed. Often times, it’s the subtleties in a person’s life that can tell him the most about the problem. Eric also does a routine tongue diagnosis and a pulse diagnosis, which involve observation of the tongue and pulse, and indicate the location and nature of many ailments.

The effects of acupuncture can be subtle, but also deep and far-reaching. Because it works with the body as a whole system, acupuncture can reveal other, unseen problems a client may have forgotten about, or not even known was there. For example, a subconscious emotional issue could be causing the health problems a person experiences. “Acupuncture changes you on an emotional level, too,” Eric says. “Sometimes a client needs some different support - a therapist might be needed.” It is the bigger picture that Eric keeps in mind as he works with each client, helping them to find the best possible way to heal and become healthy.

True to that sentiment, Eric and his wife Alice have built their own business, The Body Connection, on this concept of complimentary practices. They started The Body Connection five years ago with the idea that they would bring their unique skills and knowledge to others seeking alternative ways to live a healthier lifestyle.

Alice is a personal trainer and a certified teacher of Gyrokinesis, which is part of a system of exercise called the Gyrotonic Expansion System. Developed by a dancer in the 1960s, Gyrokinesis exercise focuses on the fluid movements of the body, drawing from practices like tai chi and yoga. “With Gyrokinesis, there is a lot of breath work, and work with the core muscles,” Eric says. “It’s much different than regular exercise because you work so much more with the body’s energy system.”

The pair has found that building this business together has allowed them to help their respective clients more fully. Eric may recommend a client do strengthening exercises on their own in addition to their regular acupuncture sessions; if they choose to work with Alice, it gives them that extra incentive to do their “homework.”

"Our work compliments each other, but we also don’t exclusively refer to each other,” says Eric. He and Alice have also established a network of skilled practitioners in many fields, to provide their clients with as many options as possible. As Eric has said, it is about providing that extra support a person might need when healing and becoming healthy.

While Alice’s and Eric’s areas of expertise overlap in several ways, Eric feels that the strongest correlation is simply in how they can help a person on a deeper, personal level. Gyrokinesis has very positive effects on a person’s energetic and emotional well-being, just as acupuncture reaches beyond the body to relax and rejuvenate. “Acupuncture is so profound and relaxing. You just feel better afterwards,” he says, explaining that because of the way it can alter a body’s energy, it can have deeper effects than other forms of touch-related therapies.

It isn’t just the work of The Body Connection and other practitioners that heal injuries and improve lives, however. Eric stresses the importance of responsibility on the part of the client, to uphold a healthy lifestyle and to actively work with him to get the most out of their experience with acupuncture. “The person is really the one who’s doing the healing. We [practitioners] are sort of a conduit for the healing process,” says Eric. “You have to be willing to heal, to let these changes happen.”

The path to completely healing isn’t always an easy one to follow. Eric says it’s very important to understand that results don’t happen overnight. Sometimes the effects of acupuncture can be felt right away, but over time the body will revert to its old ways. This is why, more often than not, a client must return for several sessions with Eric. Much like reinforcing the foundation of a building, a client has to continually build their strength, inside and out, over a period of time for positive changes to become permanent.

As Eric himself can attest to, healing can become a way of life. His own journey through injury and recuperation has given him as much insight into the importance of a healthy lifestyle as his training and education has. Furthermore, Eric believes in what he does because of how he lives. “Working out and decreasing our stress, we live the lifestyle we talk about,” he says. “That’s why I have the conviction to teach what I know. It’s about being an example for others to follow.”