Today we’d like to introduce you to Philip Barlow.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Philip. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My interest in health really began as a child. Growing up with five brothers and sisters, my financially stretched parents tried to limit the certain costly effects of our appetites. They allowed each of us to pick our own single box of cereal, for example, but we had to make that last for two weeks until the next round of food shopping. While my siblings chose the delicious, sugary options, my cereal choice was “Total®”: a meal, the box boasted, that would provide “100% of the daily recommended allowance of at least 11 vitamins and minerals that your body needs to be healthy.”
However naïve my early notion of a nutritious meal, the exercise marked an important moment of self-realization. I discovered my willingness to sacrifice immediate, pleasures for longer lasting benefits. The experience foreshadowed the focus health was to assume in my life and served as kindling that has fueled my enduring pursuit of a balanced body and mind.
I carried these principles with me throughout my life as a competitive athlete. I played varsity basketball at Arlington High School and later at Tufts University, where I received a BA in Psychology. In each school I was the starting point guard from the time I was a freshman, and I was forced to deal with numerous injuries common to the sport. This deepened the urge to understand my body and the astonishing mechanisms it has developed for healing and maintaining health.
Such experiences laid the groundwork which led me to an extended, formal study of the functioning of the body and mind. I have great respect for the many advances that Western medicine has facilitated in human health, and at one time I considered entering traditional medical school. Over time, however, I learned that a different approach, one that complemented, but also sometimes challenged Western assumptions, and one that was frequently less invasive and worked naturally with the body’s systems, carried particular appeal for me. For several years I trained and worked as a muscular therapist, before ultimately becoming inclined to intensive, formal study of Chinese approaches to medicine.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a good road, a privileged road, but not without its challenges (most of them important and useful). During my four years and more of training at the New England School of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine I was fortunate enough to study with some of the brightest minds in our field. I felt extremely well prepared to open my own clinic and to start helping others. I currently work in a welcoming community that has been in need of alternative healthcare options. What I do each day – addressing health concerns while connecting with patients and promoting well-being– is intrinsically rewarding.
With that said, Chinese Medicine has a way of humbling one. In many ways it is always a struggle because, even for a seasoned practitioner, limitless opportunities present themselves to improve as a clinician. Classically, Chinese medical doctors would spend the day in their clinic treating patients; their evenings were occupied with the study of classical (generally ancient) medical texts, as the doctors probed for wider wisdom and clinical guidance.
This concept of persistently revisiting old ideas may seem counterintuitive, for it is nearly the opposite approach of modern Western science. The West values the New -new research and information, cutting edge technology, innovation, and new medical drugs. This has obvious virtues and has led to many discoveries. By contrast, the classical East emphasized the Old, the Venerable -placing value on a deeper understanding of teachings and techniques that were investigated empirically and have stood the test of time. As in the study and reconstruction of history or our personal lives, every advance and discovery may also entail a forgetting and loss, or a weakened ability to see things from multiple perspectives. It is important to be conversant with more than one way of thinking and understanding ourselves and the world. This becomes critical as we develop language to be able to have productive discussions and to be understood by physicians in all medical fields.
Having spent considerable time with Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), I have also endeavored to study the classical Chinese texts and their approaches to medicine, approaches that are not taught in modern Traditional Chinese medicine schools. My main area of study concerns itself with The Neijing -the foundational text and basis of Chinese medicine. This practice provides a constant challenge to engage, grow, and evolve within the medicine.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about North End Acupuncture – what should we know?
I opened North End Acupuncture in 2014 to provide an affordable and effective healthcare option to a neighborhood in need of alternative medicine choices. Since then, I am very proud that the clinic has grown to become an integral healthcare provider in the North End community and city of Boston.
The concept of specialties in Chinese Medicine is somewhat foreign. The holistic nature of the medicine requires practitioners to be comfortable treating most diseases and complaints since we do not divide the body into independent entities as modern medicine does.
While I do treat these wide-ranging maladies, my particular specialties lie in orthopedic acupuncture/pain management and digestive complaints.
North End Acupuncture is a distinctive Chinese Medicine clinic in that we employ a functional medicine model to create a more integrated approach, particularly when addressing specific digestive complaints, such as what modern parlance indelicately calls Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS). This process combines traditional biomedical lab testing while utilizing exclusively Chinese medicine for treatment such as acupuncture and Chinese herbs and supplements.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Chinese medicine is still in its infancy in this country. Even while it has become more accepted, the depth to which we can treat and the capacity to be of service to those in need is only beginning to blossom. In the short term, I plan to maintain my local relationship in the North End while continuing to expand treatment into underserved communities.
I truly believe this medicine has the ability to transform our healthcare structure by providing wide-ranging treatment at a fraction of the cost of our current system. To this end, I envision helping eventually to create a larger, more complete treatment center. One that emphasizes not only treatment, but also the balanced lifestyle approaches laid down in classical texts: in particular, diet, movement therapy, and mindfulness practices. I would like to see an integrative healthcare clinic, located away from the distractions of modern life where patients come to stay and address deeper health issues. Ultimately, I will be working toward this goal in whatever form it eventually takes.
Pricing:
- Initial consultation and treatment= $105
- All follow-up treatments= $75
- Herbal consultations- $65 initial/$45 follow-up plus cost of herbs
Contact Info:
- Address: 256 Hanover St 2nd Floor
- Website: www.AcupunctureNE.com
- Phone: 781-859-9828
- Email: Philip@AcupunctureNE.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthEndAcupuncture
- Twitter: @philipbarlowLac
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/philip-barlow-lac-dipl-om-lmt-boston-3
Image Credit:
Eddie Lau
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