A Vision of Wellness
After spending 16 years in rural New York, acupuncturist David Jones and his wife, Lisa, who studied art history at Yale and later found her way to culinary nutrition education at Cornell University, were craving an urban environment and set their sites on Atlanta, “a city which has a beautiful diversity and people easy to get along with,” says David Jones. They moved to the city last year and opened up their new business, Visionary Healing Center for Wellness. It’s the ultimate rejuvenation station that leaves you feeling rested and ready to take on a new day. Learn more about their unique services from the owners themselves! What services do you offer? David: “I offer traditional acupuncture in a Japanese or Chinese tradition, cupping, Gua sha (a scraping technique), energetic healing with Reiki Craniosacral (a subtle adjustment of spinal fluid), and Zero Point Balancing (subtle energetic manipulations of deep energies in the body.)” What is acupuncture? David: “Acupuncture is the use of needles along with some herbs burned on the skin for the purpose of clearing blockages in channels within your body in which energy flows, referred to as Chi. Basically, we’re removing blockages to your flow of energy by using very fine needles and in some cases adding a little energy where there is a deficiency. What we try to achieve is a balance of the energies in your body allowing you to heal.” Why should someone get acupuncture? David: “I think acupuncture is a modality that is one of, if not the most holistic way to treat the body. The energies that we move and facilitate the movement of are very deep. And once cleared, symptoms far-ranging as digestive problems or depression and anything between those or around those tends to clear up once we balance energies. And it’s painless.” What are the benefits for somebody that is HIV positive? David: “Lisa and I have a long history of working with people with HIV. Almost 20 years ago we worked with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center in New York City. Providing nutrition and that was very early on in the crisis, so we have stayed with the AIDS crisis until now when things have improved considerably regarding drug therapy. What acupuncture does do is stimulate the immune system and balance the body’s response to things. So we can strengthen your immune system and provide a certain amount of emotional stability while doing that.” What is DRYFT Floatation Therapy? Lisa: “Floatation therapy is when you place your body in magnesium enriched salt water in an enclosed chamber. The idea is the magnesium enriched salt water enables you to be completely buoyant on the surface of the water creating a weightless feeling. It’s great for recovery and for any tension or physical ailments that you may be suffering from. While you’re floating in the water, your body is absorbing magnesium through the skin transdermally, so you can take in a lot more magnesium that than you can in supplement form. Most people are magnesium deficient, so this magnesium infusion is incredibly therapeutic to the body because it really plays a big part in brain and heart function, and nerve and endocrine system health. Clinical data shows cortisol levels reduce more quickly in floatation therapy than in any other relaxation therapy, and they stay lower for a much longer prolonged period up to five days. This is very significant for people suffering from cortisol-related heart disease, or cortisol-related weight gain. It has an infinite number of benefits, not to mention the fact that it’s super cool to be floating weightlessly on top of the water in a dark chamber. It’s like meditation on training wheels.. One of the great things about being in a floatation chamber is you’re completely in control of the space. If you feel uncomfortable or anxious about being enclosed or you’re start feeling claustrophobic, you can open the lid and float in an open lid chamber. Very few people actually manifest a claustrophobic reaction, but I always encourage people to know they’re completely in control and they can very quickly open the lid of the tank and be released.” Do you offer nutritional advice for patients? Lisa: “I think we have a really neat model of working with people as nutrition consultants because we only give nutrition advice out after my husband has had someone in his office and gotten a diagnosis from him. We use the information of what is happening to their bodies, where their systems might be imbalanced and we can call on the Chinese tradition of food therapy and answer their specific problems with food results. It’s really fascinating if you have spleen deficiency which can manifest itself in a lot of mental fog, fatigue, depression, and stubborn weight gain. It’s a very specific nutritional response to your situation and it’s quite powerful if people decide to actually take the advice and eat those foods.