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Live From 27th Street: Ayla Yavin, Acupuncturist

ayla! (via www.acupunctureinmanhattan.com.)

[When friends ask me for an acupuncturist recommendation, which they sometimes do, I send them to Ayla Yavin. I go to Ayla, and have for years. She's talented, but not dogmatic, or weird. She rides her bike from Brooklyn to her practice in Manhattan, and I feel comfortable with her. She was a dancer --used to be in De La Guarda! -- and she understands both the body and busy urban life. I caught up with her to chat, and got her to talk about what she does, and why.... ~MR.]

I started having acupuncture in high school. I was originally a dancer and I was in excruciating pain because my hip sockets were inflamed. The pain went away after I tried acupuncture. Then I went on to pursue a career in dance. I danced for ten years professionally, but then I tore a ligament in my knee. As part of my rehab I started seeing an acupuncturist twice a week. I started to change my diet and my habits and I started living a more balanced life. I decided I wanted study acupuncture to help other people. I started eating more vegetables and fresh food. I sat still while I ate and paid attention to what I was ingesting. I stopped smoking and drinking coffee. Acupuncture helped me realize that injuries were opportunities to improve yourself. 

According to Chinese medicine the body is comprised of meridians that makes the chi flow. Without the proper flow of chi you can’t live. These channels connect deep into the body. We bring chi to areas where there is weakness. Yin and yang are polar opposites. They cannot exist without one another, and they create one another. Yang is like the sunny side of the mountain and ying is like the shady side. Yin and yang is the fundamental duality that the universe is predicated on.

People have a fear of needles because of how needles are used in western medicine. Western needles are much more painful. Western doctors aren’t using needles in the context of making them feel better. You go to the doctor and get a shot. It’s about preventing disease and drawing blood. In acupuncture they’re used for a different kind of  healing. 

One of my favorite success stories happened recently. A woman found me on the internet. She couldn’t work because her carpal tunnel was so bad. She’d contacted me as a last result. She’d never even considered acupuncture before. She came in once and I never saw her again. A couple weeks later I called her thinking she’d say it didn’t work at all, and she told me that she was a hundred percent better, that she went back to work and was completely cured.

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