PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 9, 2021
LIFE
of the Week
presented by
Serenity
in the tip of a pin
By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes
LINDA BAKER
Where and how
do you volunteer?
"Nine years ago I founded Keizer
Homegrown Theater and that is
the center of my volunteer eff orts.
For almost thirty years I have been
involved with the Keizer Junior
Miss/Distinguished Young Women
Program and I am a Board member
of Keizer Rotary, Salem Theater
Network, The Keizer Heritage
Foundation and Children’s Theater
Foundation."
I
f Travis Bueckner had his way, he’d
stick a needle in the top of everyone’s
head, and maybe have them sit down and
put together a moderately diffi cult Lego
set.
Before panicking about the needle,
know that Bueckner is a licensed acupunc-
turist and owner of Monarch Health and
Wellness at 4855 River Road North.
“Imagine your body having roads and
highways. For the most part things func-
tion pretty well, but then you have an acci-
dent and develop pain – or even struggle
with depression or PTSD – those are traf-
fi c jams. Acupuncture is the same as [the
Oregon Department of Transportation]
going in and clearing up the roads and
replacing bridges and allowing things to
move smoothly again,” said Bueckner.
For those new to the idea, acupuncture
involves the placement of needles in the
skin to stimulate nerves, muscles and con-
nective tissue. The techniques are rooted
in traditional Chinese medicine as a way
of balancing the fl ow of energy through
the body. Placing a single needle at the
vertex of a patient’s skull produces, in
some, a quick release of tension through
the shoulders and sternum. The sensation
is akin to dropping a towel and letting air
fl ow across the chest.
“It may feel a little weird at fi rst, but my
goal is to make you fl oat away on a cloud,”
Bueckner said.
Bueckner is well aware that not every-
one relishes the idea of needles, especially
the ones inserted into them, but he has
intention behind every decision in his
approach. His fi rst technique for disarm-
ing patients is his offi ce décor, which is
Lego-themed.
In the Monarch lobby, there is an 878-
piece bonsai, a 5,923-piece recreation of
the Taj Mahal, a 1,68-piece model of the
Statue of Liberty and, his latest acquisition,
Why do you
volunteer?
"For years, I have had a postcard
that reads, ‘Get involved, the world
is run by the people who show up’
I believe that. People who want
a better community or a better
world need to show up and make it
happen."
TOP: Lego's recreation of the Colosseum in Rome clocks in at more than 9,000 pieces.
LEFT: A Lego bonsai tree. ABOVE: Monarch Health and Wellness owner Travis Bueckner
with a reproduction of India's Taj Mahal. It was Bueckner's largest Lego project at the time
and helped him process grief after his mother lost a battle with cancer. Bueckner's mother is
pictured in the photo above the model on a trip to India. Photo by ERIC A. HOWALD of Keizertimes
a 9,036-piece reproduction of the Roman
Colosseum in Italy. The hallway is lined
with smaller Lego models of major city
skylines from around the globe. He is in
the process of acquiring Lego bouquets
for each room where he treats patients.
“I decided on the skylines because I’ve
had a number of patients with PTSD and
that can make the outside, outdoor world
a very scary place. The skylines are a
reminder that seeing other places can also
be peaceful,” Bueckner said.
The Taj Mahal in the lobby was the
fi rst large-scale project he tackled, and
discovered how therapeutic and cathartic
Lego-building can be. He built it in mem-
ory of his mother who lost a second-round
battle with cancer. She visited the marble
mausoleum in India and came back with a
forced-perspective image of her touching
the top of the dome.
“Building it was a very meditative
experience. There were times when I was
crying as I built,” Bueckner said.
He hasn’t gotten to the point of com-
bining Legos and acupuncture yet, but he
Continued next page
What does volunteering
do for you?
"It has been my experience that
volunteering is like tithing - my life
is better because everything I have
ever done for my community has
come back to me one-hundred-fold."
How would you get
others to volunteer
in their community?
"Do it the Keizer way by making
volunteering what the cool kids
do. Then open the door and invite
everyone in."