Arlene K. Faulk - Walking on Pins and Needles: A Memoir of Chronic Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis

Praise for Walking on Pins and Needles

I have known Arlene since I started my integrative medicine and neurology practice at the Heartwood Center in 2013. I know firsthand the healing effects of Arlenes Tai Chi classes through the experiences of our mutual patients and clients. After reading her memoir, I am honored to know such a truly exceptional individual. Her book documents her journey as she navigates the highs and the lows of life with multiple sclerosis. More importantly, its an inspirational account of the power of self-healing. I highly recommend this book to anyone going through their own personal health and healing journey.

Rowena Chua , MD, Integrative Medicine and Neurology

In Walking on Pins and Needles, Arlene Faulk delivers a gripping memoir of her exciting professional trajectory, first interrupted, then ultimately flattened, by chronic neurological disease. Hitting a dead end with western medicine, she explores other healing modalities, including the ancient, low-impact movements of Tai Chi. Slowly, steadily, her health returns. A powerfully inspirational story, exquisitely written.

Christopher C. Cinnamon , JD, MS, head instructor, Chicago Tai Chi; author of Tai Chi for Knee Health: The Low-ImpactExercise System for Eliminating Knee Pain

This is an amazing story of resilience. Arlene finds a way to reinvent herself, obstacle after obstacle. Along the way she finds the healing powers of Tai Chi, and as typical for her, uses this to help heal others. This book is a living example of the impact exercise and a positive attitude have on health. It is also a reminder for those of us in the medical field to be persistent in finding positive solutions for our patients and acting as their partners in health. An excellent book to read and share with others who need inspiration!

Lisa Kokontis , MD, neurologist

With a quiescent calm and intimacy, Arlene takes us on her journey from getting off the couch to teaching Tai Chi in response to a debilitating disease. When western medicine offered no or unsatisfying answers to what she later learned to be multiple sclerosis (MS), Arlene listens to her body and embarks on the world of eastern medicine and changes her life. This is an inspiring read for acupuncture and Tai chi students & practitioners and for those with chronic illness who are bold enough to look outside of the box.

Dr. Lori Howell , L.Ac., DAOM, associate professor, Pacific College of Health & Science

This riveting book tells the astonishing true story of Arlene Faulks reshaping of her life as she reclaimed it from multiple sclerosis. From her start as one of few women climbing the corporate ladder, she movingly takes us, step by step (literally), through her wrenching descent into a nearly immobile existenceand then her miraculous rise into an active, happy life grounded in the practice and teachings of Tai Chi. Like its author, the book conveys deep truths with deceptive simplicity, straight from the heart. Along with her many other students, Ive found inspiration and healing in Arlenes approach to teaching Tai Chi, a gentle way of re-orienting those of us with physical challenges whose echoes resound through this compelling narrative.

Elizabeth Mertz , JD, PhD, long-term Tai Chi student

Arlene Faulks memoir of self-healing shows two decades of ignoring symptoms, burying suffering, and refusing to quit. Her succinct, unadorned chapters read like eating popcorn. No woo-woo, no religious visions, but powerful, simple steps that change her illness to life energy.

Nancy Beckett , founder of Beckett & Company, Creative Writers Collective Chicago

Arlene vividly shows how perseverance, changes in lifestyle, and daily commitment to healthy exercises can lead to health. She lives out what Ive learned through my years of clinical research. Be inspired and get ready to begin your healing journey, a step at a time!

Terry Wahls , MD, author of The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions, and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa

Some names and identifying characteristics of persons referenced in this book have been changed to protect their privacy.

Published by River Grove Books
Austin, TX
www.rivergrovebooks.com

Copyright 2022 Arlene Faulk

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by River Grove Books

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group and Mimi Bark
Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group and Mimi Bark
Cover images used under license from Shutterstock.com/nicostock;
Shutterstock.com/Anne Mathiasz; Shutterstock.com/Annartlab

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-63299-492-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-63299-493-6

First Edition

For Mom and Dad

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
LAO TZU, Chinese Taoist philosopher, b. 600 BC

Contents

Prologue

I am twenty-two years old on the afternoon when all feeling in my body vanishes from my waist down. As a management trainee alone in the stockroom of my department store, I extend my hand to touch my leg. Nothing. After kicking off my left shoe, I rub the sole of my foot across the floor. Nothing. My brain urges my foot to take a step. As the weight of my leg hits the floor, my knee buckles. Its the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year. All hands need to be on deck. This is the day I have to show leadership, rally the team together to handle the multitude of shoppers.

My head spins. Whats going on? Am I going to be paralyzed? My heart pounds, faster. And faster.

This wasnt part of the plan for my life. Just a few years before, Id been voted Most likely to succeed as a senior in high school. I am on track to live out that label. Growing up in a town of 7,300 people in northern Illinois didnt stop me from dreaming big. At thirteen, I saw myself as a professional basketball player. At sixteen, I thought I might be a female Roger Ebert, an A-list movie critic. I grew up believing I could do anything, be anything, through hard work and with an education. I saw Mom and Dad exhibit qualities of perseverance, working long hours, saving money. My brother, sister, and I all had a bank account by the time we were six years old. We werent rich, but Dad, a family physician who emigrated from Europe, developed a thriving practice from scratch.

I kept the strong work ethic I inherited from Dad and Mom when I went off to college in 1966. Diligent with my studies, I faced social upheavals outside of class. During my sophomore year, parties with beer and scotch changed to marijuana and quaaludes. Student anger increased toward the Vietnam War, with regular protests and violence on campus. I, like many fellow students, lost trust in government leaders. They lied. I lost trust in big companies like Dow Chemical. Its Agent Orange killed people. As a journalism major reporting for the University of Iowa newspaper, I interviewed people and researched events that gave me an up close and personal account of how those in power made decisions, how many of their actions were self-serving, contributing only to their wealth and power.

As my senior year progressed, my direction after college wasnt clear. Maybe I could strive to be a leader, with enough authority to make decisions that could positively impact a broad range of people, not just a few. While in college, I was elected to a university-wide judiciary committee and got a lot of ridiculous rules for women, like curfew, thrown out. During year three when I chaired the committee, we got the entire judiciary process abolished. When I accepted a management trainee position at this department store right after college, I hoped to continue my work to change outdated policies from the inside.