By Charlotte DeFazio
PURIST: What initially sparked your passion for acupuncture and Chinese medicine?
Jill Blakeway: I was amazed at how well it worked for long-term, chronic health conditions. I love how the medicine takes a look at the whole body and the patterns of disharmony between symptoms, and then offers the body prompts to self-heal in a way that is really effective. I founded the Yinova Center because I wanted to take these ancient medical treatments and translate them in a way that met the needs of busy New Yorkers.
PURIST: What can readers expect from your new book?
JB: It’s about a subject that is often considered esoteric. The book explains that the human energy field is measurable, and that we are affecting each other energetically in a way that can be measured. For example, at the University of Connecticut, they put two people in separate MRIs, and when one thought healing thoughts about the other, their brain waves synchronized. That’s the same feeling you have when you think about someone and they text you. In the book, I explain why that happens.
PURIST: What do you think can be accredited to the surge in mindfulness and holistic healing, and where do you foresee the medical field heading?
JB: We live in anxiety-provoking times, and I think people are looking for ways to find peace within, rather than looking outside of themselves for solutions. Meditation and breathing techniques have been used for thousands of years to calm the mind, and as an acupuncturist, I know that calming the mind calms the body, and a calm body goes back into homeostasis, where it is capable of healing itself. In Energy Medicine, I take this a step further by looking at a variety of healing prompts that provoke the body’s intelligence to self-heal. These range from acupuncture and hands-on healing to breathing techniques and the placebo effect. I believe that in the future, medical doctors will pay more attention to our self-healing abilities and start to look at these prompts in a more serious way.
PURIST: Is there a story you can share about the benefits of healing practices at Yinova?
JB: I once treated a doctor who was in premature ovarian failure. The stress of her residency had put her into menopause in her 30s. I gave her Chinese herbs and regular acupuncture and her FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) level, which was abnormally elevated, began to decrease. I was going to suggest to her that she be monitored by a reproductive endocrinologist and have intrauterine insemination, but before I could, she conceived naturally and had a little girl.
PURIST: How do you feel about the center’s recent expansion?
JB: I’m thrilled that we’ve opened a second location in Brooklyn Heights. We chose it because we found that a lot of patients coming to our Flatiron spot commute from Brooklyn and we wanted to serve them closer to home. My hope is that we become a community resource there, in the same way that we have in downtown Manhattan. We want people to feel comfortable dropping by to discuss whatever ails them. yinovacenter.com.