The Point of Change, Acupuncturist to Artist: Alexandra Strawbridge Maurer, Maine Artist

And today I have with me and artist and also health colleague, Alexandra Mauer. It's great to have you in the studio with me. Thank you. It's great to be here. It's only this, the second time we've actually done this in the studio. So it's, um, kind of been an interesting year, I think for you and I and others in the health profession, getting used to seeing people face to face without math. Yes, it has. I'll say that I did not practice much during the pandemic, so, and I still continue to practice in a group home where we're still masked. It just seems to be right. So, And your practice is acupuncture. Yes. Trained in traditional Chinese medicine. So tell me about that. I know that you're an artist and you're recently affiliated with the Portland art gallery, but you have this interesting parallel track that you've been doing from at the beginning. Yes. And, uh, I was introduced to Chinese medicine because I've always had an interest in plant medicine. So I took the nature, pathic pre-med track, then bumped into Chinese medicine and resonated with that paradigm of the system of medicine. It felt, um, very, it resonated with me as an artist, actually, the way you describe the diagnostic paradigm. So as a paradigm, you're talking like the five fees is the seasonal element. Um, the relationship between, um, the seasons and the Oregon systems. Um, and that, and that is very nature based. Yes. And it's a very refined system. So you can, once you study the system of Chinese medicine, which some say, it's easier to go to Chinese medical school than allopathic medical school, but more challenging to practice because then what you do is you, I always say that I'm always asking seemingly unrelated questions when I'm collecting data on a person's mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. So that is a wonderful fluid art. And it also recognizes that people change all the time. So it's not, um, it's yeah. People change. So with every treatment with every day, and it takes that into account as people evolve so much like art, I guess you could say, well, tell me about that. Tell me about the changing of your art. Well, I will say that I've been primarily a parent for the last 27 years, and I think I've kept the thread of acupuncture and art going so that when I have my time freed up, which is beginning right in this phase of life, um, I now have opportunities that are opening up to dive deeper into both, um, which is really exciting and both really, um, inform one another. Um, I find that when I get into a place where I've sort of nailed a painting, I feel like it's hit me at a core that feels really balanced and complete. And then when it's revealed to a greater audience, when it can touch people, it's an amazing experience when someone resonates with a piece of work, when it kind of touches, I just read something about Kandinsky, like color when it touches the human soul. That's, that's what it's about. And that's a lot like putting someone into a very balanced state, through an acupuncture treatment. It's like life gets out of their way and they can just be, and that's, I think where we all heal because we're capable of it if we get out of our own way to some degree. So I think you bring up a really important point and that is that, um, parenting really is its own way of, um, creating and being part of the artistic process and also, um, enabling essentially humans that are evolving to be the best versions of themselves to kind of, you're just trying to get things out of the way so that they can do what they're going to do. Did you understand that as you are raising your children At times, uh, as a parent you're really involved, I think there's a stage where they, um, you're trying to have them in the en develop a really grounded sense of self regulation. And that comes with them being deeply connected at a young age to some form of caregiver and then slowly individuating step-by-step. I used to say that parenting is about sound strange chronic morning, so you give birth and that's over. That could be sad for some people. And then if you nurse and you start to introduce foods, that's kind of sad. And then they start to eat their own. Then they get on the school bus. And then, so you have to practice letting go all the time. And I think if you don't do that, it can be very challenging when they go away from home, like first living situation away from home, the college or a job or camp. So I think you just have to practice that all along. And I think that the irony is that they are secure. You think they're going out into this crazy world, but they have their feet on the ground, I think. And that's kind of how we, my husband and I, yeah, I think that's how we raised our kids. For the most part. I'm really relating to this idea of letting go. And even this idea of, I think with my firt, with my son, who's now in his late twenties, the first time, you know, I, I gave him put something in his mouth that didn't come from me. That wasn't my own milk. It, it was, it was, it was such a deeply, um, changing experience in a way that I think I wouldn't have realized it would be. And it, and it's, I think before I became a parent and our children are roughly the same age, I, I assumed that there would be a more rational approach I could take to all of this. And, uh, and when I got into it, it was so much more deeply emotional than I thought it would be. Did you have that experience? I think at times, I mean, parenting is emotional and actually I'm going to take that word back parenting my husband and I always joke about how parenting was not a verb when we were being raised. You were a parent and now it's like, it's a different thing. And I think it, um, I still have to non that whole concept, but, um, I think it implies like being super attached all along the way, versus just you're a parent, they're the child. And there's some sort of individuation between both parties with that. Um, yeah, parenting is emotional and I thought that babies were hard at the time. I thought that middle schoolers high school before they are 21 or, but now recognizing children as adults, that's a whole nother challenge of, uh, yeah. And hopefully if you learn to change along the way, that can make it easier, but it's still tough. One of the things that I did when my youngest was getting ready to go away to school was to find something almost to, um, jumpstart my own next stage, which was to, I actually went back and got a business degree, even though I have other degrees. And it was really, I think at the time I wanted to learn something new. I wanted to acknowledge that this was a different phase, but it also maybe was a way of distracting myself from the sense that something really had significantly changed. I know that you built a new home and out of the family farm, you said in 2017, was there any, um, bit of that that could have been a means of moving into the next phase or even distraction? Yes. And I think we were ready to downsize 17 acres and whatnot, old farm house. Um, we weren't sure what was going to happen. We sold the farm without a plan. Um, and it was a disruptive hard three years, but I have to say at one point, someone said, someone's not speaking up in this. And, uh, I meditated on that cause we had some bumps along the way, like the failure of the sale of our house, the day before it was supposed to sell, or there were a few other things. And, um, I actually found more of my voice in the whole process because I'm pretty much, I'm, I'm very privileged and have lived a very, um, comfortable life. And so I often feel like, well, it's all gonna work out. It's good. So sometimes I don't put my voice in when I really would like something a little different. So I found my voice in this process. I put my foot down, said, Nope, we're going to do this. And we built this wonderful house. That's a near net zero house. It's a efficiency house. It's all electric, 12 inch walls, triple pane windows. So now we're living another level of our, um, the way we feel like we should live in the future as responsible people who were able to do this, you know, with our, um, state of the world, climate fuel, things like that. So I will say I've been reflecting on this point of life in that this, I feel like is the maintenance stage. So for the last 30 years I've been getting degrees, I've been getting, getting things, getting house, getting kid, getting kid, or getting a career, getting, getting, you know, all that growing, growing. And that, um, is perfect for that. And now I think the challenge is entering a maintenance phase, so not consuming to feel grounded, like being okay with okay. Nurturing what I have, what is, um, being really instead of human doing, I guess you could say. So, um, that is a challenge when you've been busy or distractable for 30 years. I think that's the biggest challenge right now. How do you get yourself back to that place of maintenance? What are some of the things that you've needed to notice about your tendencies in order to put yourself into that place? Um, Without sounding sort of the way people think now, gratitude practice and all that, but like really stepping back and using words like enough or gratitude for what is, um, as opposed to the storyline of, I'm not this, I'm not that I don't have, you know, like trying to improve all the time when, um, I'm pretty lucky to have my health, my mind, my healthy family, and just sitting with that also as a Testament, that that's a great model for people in our culture to be. And I think the pandemic, I have a lot of friends who were pretty grateful to have the pandemic. It allowed, especially the introverts to take a breath out. I don't know if you're familiar with the book, quiet, it's an amazing book. And really, since the industrial revolutions, introverts have really had to struggle to promote themselves right. And laugh. So this was, it was, they, they have a lot to teach us, you know, just be, you know, Do you consider yourself to be an introvert? Well, that's a good question because I feel as though I am by nature an introvert and by nurture an extrovert, I was cultivated to be an extrovert. So all my friends will say, oh yes you are. But I think, um, it's like, I'm ambidextrous. I think I'm a bit of both because of that. Have You needed to be more of an extrovert professionally where you practice traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, If you're asking if I've needed to work that? No, because it just comes to me. I am an extrovert on a certain level. I like to, um, gather stories out of people. I like to, um, I like to connect people. I just love the idea of getting people together, who I think are very interesting introducing them. Like say if we have a party and then my biggest fantasy is once that's going, I go upstairs and I read my book and let the thing happen. So maybe that's the halfway between introvert and extrovert, but I just adore getting people together, gathering people who I think just can be creative together or, um, create new. Yeah, just a really, I really enjoy getting interesting people together. So that's somewhat similar to what you're describing about getting out of the way, just allowing things to happen. Kind of removing obstacles. Yeah. I don't always do it, but that's, that's where I need. That's my work right now. I think. Has it been challenging for you to begin putting yourself out there as an artist? My gut says, now I'm ready for this. I've just never consolidated the energy enough to step into this, um, different realm of an audience and I'm loving it. It's so exciting. At some point you made the decision that you would like to have representation and you began an affiliation with the Portland art gallery. What was that moment? What was that decision point? And why did you think that that became important at that time? That was a completely organic circumstance. I had built a studio in our new house. I've been clearing it out. I've been starting to work more regularly. Um, I went and got smiley glasses. Next door. I walked into the gallery, saw Emma Wilson, just chatted. Didn't even think about it. And the next day I was at the Portland art museum and someone said, you should, you should go meet with Emma about this. I was like, okay. And then I did, and then I did it. And everything just happened within like a week or two. So it really, it was wonderfully organic and hit me sight, you know, it was perfect. It was like a perfect timing thing, which is what I also like about it. And for this point in time, this is a right fit. Do you subscribe to the idea that, uh, when the student is ready, the master appears Certainly I would Def yeah. Yes. Which is not to say that the Portland art gallery is the master Whatever vehicle to elevate yeah. One skillsets or one's place or One's Ideology, whatever. Yeah. Is it hard to ready yourself to be in that place or is this all part of the practice you've been describing with the meditation and the gratitude and the grounding and the looking at the next stage of your life? You know, I think it's all just synchronicity at this point. I mean, I'm still dumbfounded that it's sort of rolling in this direction. It just, it's just happening. And I'm rolling with it. The piece that we have next to us is called holy cow and it's these brilliant, um, I always hesitate in front of artists to describe colors because I am not trained in art, but, um, this brilliant orangy sky and some darker colors down below, um, you were telling me that this is all related to a study of colors with a very specific artist, um, style. Is there something thing that you do on a regular basis that you look at a set of work that's being done by a specific artist and try to find out what you can learn from it Sometimes. And I think because I do believe that no, idea's completely original. Um, we're all influenced by our various sensory organs. So whether it's taste, sight, sound touch. Uh, so this is, um, someone who was exploring teaching this winter. He's a fine artist. Um, asked if I'd be a student of his, for a sitting of a model painting in oils with what's called the Zorn palette. Andrew Zorn was a painter. Um, and he painted up until the late 1920s, mostly portraits and the Zorn pallet. It's amazing work. I just got introduced to, it is basically ivory black titanium, white, yellow ochre, and Vermilion, which now a lot of people use red cat man. And with those four colors, he was able to do extraordinary work, a little bit more challenging with landscapes. So if you were going to do more of that, if I do, um, an ultra Marine blue introduction can help that just because of the spectrum of greens and blues. But so then I started to play around with that, with this. I have a friend in Texas who we were working on the concept of a painting for her. And, um, this is what I came up with, but I was working with the Zorn palette and I was very much like, yep, this is done. And, uh, it's not quite the pinks, purples skies of where she lives in Texas. So, but I really needed to stop at this point and not continue, um, for her needs. And that will happen at some point I'll hopefully paint her a lovely painting, but, um, and this was all good, which was great to do with her. Cause she inspired me to do this kind of content. So, but I was experimenting with that sworn palette again. Why is it called holy cow? Um, I thought it, it's just, I think it's kind of a funny painting. It just looks like a photo bomb of a cow. And I also think that at this point in life, I think we need some whimsical, lovely things to look at and everything in between, um, to touch our souls because our souls are being touched with some pretty hard things. So to, um, put a compliment to that. And I think just holy cow is just a fun statement. You know, when you say holy cow, it's sort of like, wow, Well, I'm glad I asked. And now that I'm looking at the piece, there's kind of, there is what seems to be a figure over to the side, which as, as you've said, this, it absolutely now looks like a cow. That's stuck his head in inside a landscape. So that is really fun. And there is something about that that, um, kind of makes me laugh. And actually, this is one of the reasons why I really love some of the pieces that, uh, Paige Eastbourne O'Rourke does and hers are art in a really different way, but I feel like you're onto something, there's something very serious about what we've been living through and what we're all continuing to work with and trying to, um, kind of connect back to that childlike nature. I think in the way of seeing the world that doesn't feel so threatening. Yeah. Kind of a innocent purity direct, um, way of looking at things like children do My sister practices, acupuncture. She was also trained out on the west coast and she's in the Portland area. And what she told me is that her practice is just full. There are so many people that are really wanting this type of healing that are really needing this connection. Um, and the levels of stress are, are so high. And, um, I think that it has been hard for her as I think it has been for many people in the healing fields because there we, we, we want to help, we want to bring people back to a state of balance. Have you found that also to be the case? Yes. Um, although my private practice is really dwindled significantly, so, and actually it was okay because we became general contractors during the time. So that was fortuitous. Um, I work in a group home with co-occurring adults. Co-ed co-occurring illness is substance use disorder with mental health. And that it's a residence of up to 12 people. And I do the, a protocol once a week there. And I also do additional individual treatment because the, not a protocol, national acupuncture, detox association, your acupuncture should be delivered daily. And I can't do that there. So whoever wants individualized treatment, I offer that, um, interestingly, these are people who clearly don't live outside the pandemic, but clearly do. I mean the level of other things that continued to happen other than COVID still happened, opioid addiction, homelessness. And so to some degree, their lives were just the same as ever except masked. Um, it sounds strange, but to, so to some degree, I didn't see that stress as much at that house I did with the staff because just navigating all the new protocols. But, um, I think stress is blind. I think that, um, acupuncture does an amazing job at resetting the central nervous system, the sympathetic versus the parasympathetic fight or flight versus rest and digest. We need to be living in our parasympathetic rest and digest 99.9% of the time we don't. So that's, I think the ultimate service in a basic way that acupuncture serves is that getting the reset into that because the cascade effect of that is better digestion, better sleep, better emotional regulation. And when all those happen, less destruction, less, busy-ness less, um, for lack of a better description, poor choices happen. So, um, that's what I love about acupuncture. It's a great, great equalizer of the person just grounds them into the parasympathetic. So I don't think I could smile any more broadly because I resonate so deeply with what you're saying. And as someone who's trained in, um, Western medicine and practices, family practice, family medicine, uh, but also has had this parallel path for 15 years or more. Um, there's something I find that so much more useful with acupuncture in many cases than any of the other things that I have ever learned. And when I'm a patient that comes to see me and many times they're referred by other, um, family physicians or PAs or nurse practitioners, and they'll say to me, well, I need you to, I need you to take care of my shoulder pain. And it's something that's very focal and I'll say yes. And also, let me tell you about this other aspect of acupuncture that I find to be really, um, deeply healing and people don't, I think quite understand that. So it's a, it's a reeducation for them. I think it's different. Maybe when they come to see me than when they come to see you. Cause I would assume they have a little bit more of an understanding of what acupuncture is, but I don't want to assume that, Um, yes and no, sometimes we're the last stop. My husband's a nature pathic doctor he's often the last stop. Um, and then often it is the first stop. If there has been an experience or a word of mouth experience or a determination not to say have surgery, let's, let's try this. So to speak. Um, it's all very, it's all varied. I will say that most people who I begin to treat, I, I like to say that you need to practice getting acupuncture because the first you need to get a few treatments to really understand it. Cause it's shifting your body into a potentially new way of being, um, I'm a tennis player, I'm a rackets player, hands down, whatever racket I have in my hand, I, I love it. So I often say a treatment acupuncture treatment is like getting a tennis lesson for the game, which is out in life. So in terms of back to the parasympathetic, you're basically creating cellular memory of deep relaxation that you either intentionally or just because your nervous system has re um, reawakened, the parasympathetic that you can call up in your daily life. So that's really how I work, especially with the group home, like notice how you feel at the end of your treatment. And then throughout your day, your week, take note of that, of where you are in that moment. Don't try to get back to the acupuncture feeling, but notice the space, the distance of that. And I think instead of trying to relax, if you just notice where you are, you'll remember on some level, the capacity your body has to reach that parasympathetic, that rest digestive state, it involves the amygdala, really that part of our brain, that stores our emotional memories, which is neuroplastic and that's a whole nother pathway. We can change this kind of stuff. So great. It's really, it's really an interesting time, both mentally and physically with medicine. I think with what we now know, Well, one of the reasons that, um, I'm very glad to be in Western medicine and also know what I know and practice the way I practice is because I feel like some of the things like, um, acupuncture that have always been here, been here longer than traditional Western medicine, um, are going to become more useful because we are at a place where we realize their medicine is good. For some things, surgery is good for some things we need emergency care. And also things like substance use disorder or things like, um, grief maybe are better served by doing something else that's not been within the Western medical model. So it's kind of fun because all of these years I've been trying to convince other people that this is a good idea. And here we are, and people actually are starting to understand. So it makes me really happy to hear that you're using the nada protocol because I'm trying to get this from, from my lips to the universe's ears and say this right now, as I'm trying to get this within our medical system. And, uh, you definitely understand the benefit of this, but even start from the beginning and say, um, this is not a, this is what this means. This is what it has to offer. It's interesting. It's interesting to have to be kind of the, um, the proponent of that. Yeah, The history of not As very interesting, it started in Lincoln hospital, in the Bronx, in the seventies where they didn't have enough funding for pharmaceuticals, for withdrawal symptoms. There was a medical doctor, Michael Smith, who is an acupuncturist who said, you know, I've got this ear acupuncture protocol, let's give it a go. And it reduced the withdrawal symptoms without medicating, which is hugely success. Amazing. Considering that I think at the time one needle was 5 cents or something. So you're using 10 needles. That's great. Uh, and uh, fast Forward, it has spread to a lot of different places. I was trained in Portland, Oregon at OCOM Oregon college of Oriental medicine. And I, again, another synchronicity David Isen was brought from Boston by a judge in Portland, Oregon to start a court mandated, not a program and not a again, national acupuncture, detox association protocol. It was court mandated. Um, it was public health and we were in all sorts of clinics. And that was in the early 1990s. So when I moved to Maine in 1994, I tried different various ways to do it. I was going to be a full-time parent. So that was a big one that got in my way. Um, but I did little pilot projects. I started one at Preble street. It was an eight week one. Um, we used a dental surgical office across the street from Preble street in Portland. They sat on like gurneys and I just did air acupuncture. That was great. Um, I ran a, then there's this community acupuncture clinic model, my classmate, Lisa Rohleder started it. And basically it's a sliding scale community room. So, um, it's somewhere between 10 to $30 a treatment. Um, there are a few in Maine that do this. And so I operated one Friday mornings out of my office so that for affordability, people could come see me a few times, but it's nice to get treatment weekly. So they would come in on the Fridays when I knew what the protocol was and not have to be charged as much. So I did that for awhile. Um, Wildwood medicine, I worked there for a while. They have a public health, uh, community health clinic. And then what was really exciting was three years ago, I think 2018 four acupuncturist did a year long, um, study. We did one week, every month at milestone on India street where we introduced the nada protocol and milestone is a acute detox, uh, placed acute meaning five, five to seven or five to 10 days, um, in Portland. And that was great too. And then there's the veterans clinic that a lot of people have, um, volunteered for which again, that shut down during pandemic, which was challenging And the veteran's association hospitals, they use a lot of battlefield acupuncture, which is, which is also ear acupuncture. And what I love about your acupuncture is it's, it's really so simple and so powerful. And I, and I wonder sometimes if part of the reason why acupuncture hasn't had as much of a hold until now within mainstream medicine is because it's so simple. It's something that people don't understand that using these needles, it can, it can really move things in a way that, um, we wouldn't expect. What do you think? Well, um, having done a few acupuncture, irregular acupuncture courses, uh, the ears are so close to the brain and they're so innervated. So they do have a potency. That's a little different. And just for viewers or the interesting thing, if you look at the ear, it kind of looks like, you know, the fetus. So when you map it out, it has the spine and the different parts. It's, it's very, very cool. So, uh, one thing I was going to say about the beauty of this protocol and this I think was truly discovered after nine 11 was some people need to talk. Some people need to be touched and some people don't need either. And acupuncture offers all that full spectrum. When I'm treating someone who does not need to talk is not used to talking about emotions. Acupuncture works. If I need to work with someone who needs to process verbally acupuncture works. Um, and in between some people are really not comfortable being touched. So it's, I think that's where, when they started doing the protocol and trauma, um, zones, that's, that's where it really, uh, was a Testament to a new level of access, not just addicts or whatnot. Well, this is one of the reasons we actually have our, um, our, our sculpture behind you with the large ears is just acknowledging the, the importance of, of the ears in lots of different ways. I'm, I'm really struck by the fact that, um, like art acupuncture is, can be both simple and complex and it can be experienced on so many different levels. And, um, and it, and it sounds like you've really spent time doing that. You've worked in studies with different, um, color palettes. Um, you started this back as an undergraduate, I believe. And have you had any revelations over the course of doing this now for, it sounds like a few decades, three decades, perhaps. Oh, certainly. And the one that stands out that I thought was pretty neat was, um, I'll just give one example. Um, Tom Curry is a pastel artist in Brooklyn, Maine, and I did some pastel, I guess you could call planner workshops with them about 10 or 15 years ago. And his method is he starts his pieces with the complimentary color of what he's going to do. So orange compliments blue. So if you have a blue sky, he will start with orange and then work blue over that. And that's when you study a very precise, uh, system like color wheels that's as precise as system is Chinese medicine. So you've got diagnosing to me involves internal, external, excess deficient, hot or cold, um, distal, proximal. Um, and then you put all of these in a very, very specific system, and then you have freedom. So you have a very solid boundaries. And that's my biggest challenge with painting is creating my own boundaries so that I can be free within it. And I think that's just a great metaphor for a lot of things. When we feel like we're confined or we create that boundary or structure, sometimes it seems as though we're limiting ourselves. But I think when you go through that risk of creating those structures, you actually open up to a wider spectrum. And I think DEET Lynn might've mentioned that. She said, when you shut a door, another one open, she said, no, no, no, you opened the window and jumped out. I loved that what she said. So that's what I think about with art. I have to put a lot of self-imposed boundaries on it because anything can happen. Yeah. Well, speaking of gratitude, I'm very grateful that I've had the opportunity to have this conversation with you today. I've learned a lot. I've really enjoyed getting to know you better. I think you and I have connected over the years, but to have this time to, um, really have more of a deeper conversation has been wonderful. So I appreciate your willingness to come join me today. Thank you. This was really a pleasure. I've been speaking with Alexandra Mauer, who is an artist of her own, right. But recently with the Portland art gallery, if you'd like to see more of her work, go to the Portland art gallery website. And, um, I hope that maybe you'll have a chance to come join Alexandra and I at an upcoming opening at the Portland art gallery, which I've have recently gone live again. Thank you for joining us today on radio Maine.