Meet your Cook County Neighbor: Charles Bishop
Aug 31, 2023 06:02AM ● By Editor
By Boreal Community Media - August 31, 2023
How did you "land" in Cook County? What drew you here?
Like many transplants to the North Shore my wife Grace and I have been coming up here for years for camping trips in the BWCA and visiting friends. After about eight years living in the Twin Cities we were starting to feel ready for a change. While on a visit to Grand Marais in 2018 we half-jokingly said, “What if we just moved up here permanently? Wouldn’t that be lovely…” Well within that same week about 12 different things happened that signaled we should indeed relocate to Grand Marais. So many doors opened all at once that we looked at each other and said, “Well I guess it’s decided then!”
Tell us about your business. How did you get started in acupuncture?
There was no singular event that drew me to study acupuncture, more that a steady accumulation of interests slowly pushed me in this direction. As child I was obsessed with making potions (which usually gave a person super powers or immortality), as a young person I read and re-read a few classics of Chinese natural philosophy, and in undergrad I studied philosophy and botany. My philosophy professor also taught free Tai Chi and Qi Gong classes after school and I was the only regular attendee. Much later it dawned on me that acupuncture might be a great career. As an acupuncturist I would get to directly help my community, apply Nature philosophy instead of just pondering it, and best of all make potions from plants! There has not been a single day where I have questioned this decision.
My business is Artemisia Acupuncture & Apothecary located at 1910 W. Hwy 61 just up the hill from downtown Grand Marais. My office is a general practice acupuncture clinic utilizing Korean and Classical Chinese acupuncture as well as herbal therapy, cupping, acupressure, and moxibustion. We also offer guidance on lifestyle modification, Qi Gong, and dietary therapy. Artemisia Acupuncture is a general practice clinic looking to help whomever we can in the community.
Acupuncture and Traditional East Asian Medicine looks at health and healing through a very different lens than Western or allopathic medicine. Rather than looking for a singular cause of disease or dysfunction, like a virus or chemical, we focus on patterns of dysfunction. An acupuncturist looks at the whole person including their facial color, how they move their body, changes on the their skin, and even their tongue (tongues have a lot to say!). We ask about a person’s experience with the pain or illness and changes that happen at certain times of day or even correlations with weather or emotions. Ease of sleep, digestion, thirst, temperature regulation, it all matters. Through this evaluation we can make conclusions about what caused the health issue and what is keeping it in place. But most importantly understanding the pattern a person exhibits gives us guidance on how to treat it. And while acupuncture is undoubtedly great for treating pains conditions, its applications in healing go far beyond that.
Is there a favorite go-to spot in the County where you go to practice self-care and unwind?
We live in an area with almost limitless natural splendor. While I really love to visit new-to-me lakes and small rarely trodden trails, you just cannot beat sitting by the Big Lake. I love to go fishing down by the shore and do not really care if I don’t catch a thing.
Do you foresee acupuncture treatments growing in popularity over the next few years?
Absolutely, without question. I only wish that essential healthcare was less often seen as an unaffordable luxury.
Lastly, for anyone hesitant to try acupuncture due to a fear of needles, what words of comfort and encouragement can you offer?
Talk to an acupuncturist and do not be afraid to explain your fear or hesitancy. An acupuncturist should be knowledgeable, skillful, and trustworthy. It is very normal to have a hesitancy around needles and a good acupuncturist will move at your pace and adjust their technique to accommodate your sensitivity level. The vast majority of people who try acupuncture for several sessions end up really loving the treatments. And if getting acupuncture was really that bad then no one would ever come back!
