Saturday has become one of my favorite days of the week.  My Saturday ritual has become taking the bus down to the Downtown Sarasota Farmer’s Market with my two shopping bags to buy fresh vegetables.  This particular Saturday was extra special as EcoFest was taking place.

EcoFest was put on by Natural Awakenings, Sarasota’s main source for natural and green living news and events.  A portion of Main Street was shut down for the event, and it conveniently coincided with the Farmer’s Market.  After buying some fresh veggies, I began to make my way through the festival booths.  One of the first I came to was the Pineapple Healing Center booth.  They had a few reclining chairs set up, and I thought perhaps they were giving mini massages (which I could really use).  But instead, they were giving free mini acupuncture treatments.

I do believe that certain eastern practices likely have much merit, but I had never had a reason to seek out acupuncture.  Being the adventurous type, I decided to give it a try!  What did I have to lose?  The lovely and kind Lauren Rathvon, who is a nationally board certified and Florida-licensed Acupuncture Physician, was giving the treatments.  She was a wealth of knowledge and patience.

The treatments she was giving were in the ear and were meant to treat anxiety.  I wasn’t experiencing any anxiety, but I went ahead anyway.  She inserted 5-6 needles in each ear.  With a few of them, there was an initial pinch, but once they were in, I couldn’t really feel them.  My ears seemed to get a bit warm, and I imagine that was a result of my nerve endings being stimulated and the like.

She left them in for quite a few minutes – actually until I indicated I was ready to go.   As I said, I wasn’t experiencing any anxiety that I needed treatment for, but I was in a great mood after leaving the booth, so it couldn’t have been all bad.  I would definitely consider the treatment for other things.  According to their brochure, acupuncture can treat arthritis, allergies, anxiety & depression, colds & flu, digestive discomfort, headaches & migraines, hypertension, infertility (not sure about that one), insomnia, joint pain, lower back pain, menopausal symptoms, pain syndromes, PMS & painful periods, post-stroke symptoms, sciatica, sexual dysfunction, tennis & golf elbow and weight loss.  That is a monumental list of conditions.  I know acupuncture is centuries old, and I tend to believe it works.

While I was sitting there, Lauren also explained that they can provide B-12 injections and other injections.  It seems like Pineapple Healing Center is a full service alternative healing center that can help you cope with certain conditions without the use of manufactured chemicals and drugs.  I’m very interested in exploring that next time something comes up with my health.  Some insurances will cover acupuncture – I’ll have to check with my provider (BC/BS).

Pineapple Healing Center also offers other “spa” services like facials, manicures, pedicures and massages.  And they’re conveniently located on at 1435 South Osprey Avenue in Suite 200, which is south of Bahia Vista near the hospital.

After I tried acupuncture, I left the booth feeling fuzzy all over and continued my tour of EcoFest.  I shortly ran into Jasmine and Steve McAllister of Modern Hippie Magazine who conducted a video interview with me.  Perhaps it was the acupuncture that made me giddy, but I was awfully perky during the interview.