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Monday, November 9, 2009

Goodbye is not The End

Keep in mind that everything you do professionally reflects on you and your practice. This includes the way you deal with difficult clients. Someone once advised me, “If your clients have a great experience, they will tell one or two other people. If they have a terrible experience, they will tell ten.” Sometimes things don’t work out in the clinic. Perhaps you find your client personally hard to work with and you cannot find a way to improve your relationship. Perhaps your client has had an upsetting emotional release or reacted badly to a misunderstanding around something you said. Or perhaps the acupuncture simply does not work as quickly as your client would like, and he decides to stop treatment. Whatever the case may be, when things do not work out, you still have to be professional and deal with your client openly and with compassion.

I recently heard a story of a teacher who told his class that when he didn’t like a client, he needled her badly, so she would go away and not come back. Now, I heard about this third-hand, so I am going to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt and assume that this was meant as a joke. It was not, unfortunately, heard in that way by his student, who thought this was a valid option in the clinic. I am going to… suggest… that intentionally causing pain to a client is not only a horrible and immoral idea, but that it is also a terrible business practice. This one is for all you out there for whom “horrible and immoral” is not enough to deter you from thinking that this intentional-bad-needle thing is a good idea: If a client were actually treated in that way, you would not just lose one client. That client would revile you, by name, every time acupuncture came up in conversation.

Imagine a group of people talking at a party somewhere. One person mentions that he is considering trying acupuncture for the first time. Standing nearby is a former client of yours who, for whatever reason, was not helped by your treatment. One of two things happens next. In the case where you intentionally caused her pain in order to get rid of her, she chimes in that she tried acupuncture and saw YOU (she will remember your name) and that you were terrible and it was the most painful thing ever. Hmm... In the case where you held a compassionate space for your client, dealt openly with her and perhaps referred her to the homeopath down the street, she chimes in that she tried acupuncture, it didn’t work out, but that her practitioner (she might not remember your name) tried very had and ended up referring her to her awesome homeopath who did such wonderful things for her.

Everything you do professionally reflects back on your practice and your name. So treat every client how you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Keeping an Open Heart

It is inevitable in building our practices that we will see clients who are belligerent, unpleasant, and just “push all our buttons.” The most important thing to ask yourself in such a situation is whether you can have love for this person. In order to do your best treatment, you need to feel a love-your-fellow-human love for each of your clients. This love helps you to see the best in people. When you see the best in your clients, you will be looking for possibilities for growth and healing, and your treatments will always be successful. Regardless of whether symptoms go away, you will be moving your clients towards a better state of health in their lives, and doing your job correctly.

Without love, you can get bogged down in your work by things your clients may do or say that upset you or make you feel diminished in your authority and validity as a practitioner. You do not have to like everything your clients say and do. What you have to do is be as grounded as you can in the face of whatever comes, and address things that have become difficult. A strain on the relationship between you and your client that is not addressed will grow over time. It will be like the proverbial elephant in the room for you, and will create a distance between you and your client. At that point, you will no longer see the best in them, you will miss opportunities for helping them get to their best health in life, and you will end up allowing your own greatness as a practitioner to be diminished.

The other day, on my way to work, I was stopped at a traffic light near some road construction that narrowed the space for cars to get through. As the light was about to change so I could go, a lady surged forward and stopped suddenly to spectacularly block the grid, forcing everyone to wait until we could squeak around her. For three blocks, I was pissed off. After that, I was able to breathe and think about the look on that woman’s face. She wasn’t trying to inconvenience anyone. She just made a mistake. And she was clearly embarrassed and off-center as she sat in the middle of the intersection. This is what I mean by love. When I was angry, all I saw was the bad in her. When I was able to open my heart, I had compassion for the fact that she was probably a good person  who was just having a bad day.

Your clients will have bad days. Heck, they could be in the middle of a bad month or year when they come to see you. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Hold a space of love for them. Try to see the best that they could be, and do the best you can to help them. And if all else fails, do the right thing and give them a good referral to another practitioner you respect and who you genuinely think could help them.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Point Geometry and Dynamic Insertion

Coming in 2010

This class delves deeply into the subtle characteristics of acupuncture points. The geometric rhythmic movements of points will be presented, along with the ways in which changes in the point affects the direction and formation of vectors and the core needs of the point in order to more fully release it with a needle.

The role of Wei Qi on the point will be shown, along with a detailed examination of different client presentations that alter the ways in which you as the practitioner can access acupuncture points for treatment.

This class in for students and practitioners of any style who wish to have a more profound appreciation of the nature of acupuncture points and how they relate to each other and the meridian system as a whole.

Prior attendance of at least two other Art of Acupuncture classes is required. Participants of any style of practice are welcome. All materials for this class will be provided.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Understanding Points and Vectors

There is a wonderful feeling when you are in an airplane on your way home. The plane comes out of the clouds, and you look down out of the window and see your home city far below you. The buildings look like tiny little dots at first. Then, as you descend, they get bigger and bigger, until you can see the streets and the cars, and finally the sidewalks. There is also an altered sense of perception that occurs, so that the cars and people look larger-than-life when you get down near the ground level.

This is a lot like what goes on when learning how to palpate an acupuncture point well. In the beginning, the point is just a vague depression in the skin, and this is like seeing the city from high up in the air. As you develop your palpation skills, the geography of the point expands in your senses. Like coming down in the airplane, you begin to notice the streets, and then the cars, the sidewalks, and everything else. An acupuncture point is a small world underneath your fingers. Within each point there are several different spots that can be treated effectively with different techniques for different reasons.

This is the focus of the first part of the class. You will learn the physical and mental tools that will enable you to take your palpation skill to the next level and notice more about the points you treat. We will discuss what different palpatory findings mean, and when a point is appropriate for needling or when moxa treatment is better.

The second part of the class is on vectors. A vector is the angle of opening into an acupuncture point. Most points have multiple vectors present and connecting to different levels of depth in the meridian system. You will learn several methods for palpating vectors, and how to choose between multiple angles of treatment.

By the end of this class, you will have an appreciation of the different levels of palpation at your disposal, and the skills to choose between them for the best results in your clinic. You will also be able to find the exact treatment point for your treatment goals and for your client’s overall presentation. Like all the classes in The Art of Acupuncture, this material is not limited to any style of treatment. However you work in your clinic, you will find that the techniques taught here will improve your treatment efficacy, and increase your understanding and enjoyment of acupuncture.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Very Special Set of Continuing Education Classes

The Art of Acupuncture
With Zachary Parsons, Lic.Ac.

Level I:
April 24-25, 2010 - Simplifying Pulse Diagnosis
May 15-16, 2010 - Understanding Points and Vectors
June 19-20, 2010 - Point Release and Appropriate Insertion
July 17-18, 2010 - Energy Signature and Vibration Techniques

Level II:
*TBA - Point Geometry and Dynamic Insertion
*TBA - Non-Inserted Needle Techniques
*Require completion of 2 or more Level I offerings

This ground-breaking material will teach you to identify and communicate directly with the Qi of the acupuncture points.

Improve your ability to respond to any clinical situation quickly and correctly through the use of immediate and verifiable feedback from your clients’ bodies. Easily evaluate your treatment and prognosis using information found by your hands and at the tip of the needle.

Participants: We welcome practitioners and students of all styles of acupuncture!

Your tax-deductable investment: $295 per weekend ($250 students)
Register for the entire series and receive one weekend completely free of charge:
Six weekend classes for the low cost of $1475
($1250 students)

12 PDA’s per weekend. Complete all 6 classes to receive certification in The Art of Acupuncture
Classes run from 9:00-4:30pm at Sage Acupuncture,
62 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA
Class size is limited to 15 to ensure individual attention and plenty of Q &A,
so don’t delay, register today!
To register, send an email: thesilverneedle@gmail.com, or phone: 781-860-8808

Friday, September 25, 2009

Balancing Act

So where have I been for the last two weeks? I have been working in the clinic, I have been under a deadline for getting my classes for 2009-2010 finished with the NCCAOM, I have been getting things in place for my upcoming wedding in December, I have been cleaning house for a big yard sale next month, I have been putting together the flyer for the upcoming class series that is starting at the end of October… and I have been apple picking.

Acupuncture is only a part of what we do and who we are. “Balance!” is the cry from Traditional East Asian Medicine practitioners to our clients. And yet it is so tricky for many of us to practice what we preach. When I started out, I was working the better part of seven days a week. It was an unbalanced time for me, and I do not think, in retrospect, that my schedule helped me do the best job I could for my clients, either.

A balanced life brings joy into living, and helps us appreciate what health is really all about, and why we want to be healthy. With this understanding, we can see more clearly what is healthy in our clients, instead of just what is unhealthy. Having the skill to see when disease and disharmony are present or absent makes one a good clinician. Having the skill to see when health and joy are present or absent makes one a good healer.

And what is the difference between the two? A good clinician sees what has to be done in order to get a client out of a state of suffering. A good healer sees what has to be done to allow a client to live a more joyous and healthy life.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

New Class Schedule is Up!

The schedule for classes from October 2009 to January 2010 is now up.  You will find them listed on the left side of the blog page.  More detailed descriptions will follow very soon.

Monday, September 7, 2009

You Know What Happens When You Assume?...

The last post talked about the pulse, and addressed the importance of first determining what the base pulse characteristics are for the individual client at the time of treatment. This is incredibly important. The general principle can be applied to many different areas of palpation and treatment. Each client will have a unique set of pulse characteristics at different times of the day, so it is important to take some time to assess the overall pulse before looking for anything else. Palpation is all about finding what is different from the harmonious whole. If you do not take the time to register what the harmonious whole is right now, you will not be able to see what is different.

We are all guilty of this omission in treatment, as we rush forward with the best of intentions to help our clients. In doing so, we invariably look for pulse qualities or other palpatory findings that are different from what a textbook or a teacher told us was “normal.” What I have found in my own practice is that when I take the time to really identify what is the general state of my client and what stands out as glaringly other, I get better results than when I make assumptions about what should be “normal.” Should is a word that has gotten me into all kinds of trouble over the years, because each client is so unique that there are few universal shoulds that apply to everyone.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Background Music

It is a beautiful late summer day, and I am fortunate to be sitting on a deck enjoying the warmth and listening to the crickets making noises in the nearby bushes. I find the chirping of crickets wonderfully illustrative of how to approach pulse differentiation. If you sit and really listen to them, crickets together do not make a continuous repetitive sound. They form an every-changing and harmonious background noise that is punctuated here and there by different whistles and peeps that come into the foreground for a moment and then fade away.

This is what the pulse is like, too. The beating of the vessel in the different positions makes a harmonious rhythm with small variations that come to the foreground momentarily and then fade back into the chorus. Unlike crickets, however, the pulse will almost always contain some persistent qualities that are disharmonious with the whole. It is these qualities that we use to diagnose and plan our treatment points. But when you first lay your fingers on the pulse, you are “listening” to what the harmonious pulse is right now for this one person. You have to discover the background noise first before you can pick out the different ways in which qualities and positions form a contrast to the characteristics of the whole. If you approach the pulse like listening to crickets, you can soften you focus and allow the general harmony to envelop your senses. Once you appreciate the whole, noticing the differences becomes easy.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Movie Time!

The first of the teaching videos have been posted!  Videos of the Parallel Variation and Side Variation of the One-Handed Needle Turn are now available on the blog and at TheSilverNeedle channel at You Tube.

Watch for the companion text for the two Variations over the next couple weeks.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

War... HUU... Good God, Y'all...

The term “Jaki,” or “Xieqi,” is often translated as “Evil Qi.” When I began my practice of acupuncture, this term always brought to my mind the image of the Wicked Witch of the West (the movie portrayal, not Elphaba of the book and play) – a twisted, hunched, green-skinned malevolent being. “Pathogens” seemed to me to be sinister forces with an almost conscious desire to destroy the body by invading through the Six Stages or Four Levels. To help my clients deal with such forces, I felt it was my duty to go to war with them.

The problem was that when I started working using this mindset – of killing or destroying the pathogen and saving my client from Jaki – it did not work as well as I would like. At the time my treatment results were good, but not as good as I wanted them to be.

And then one day I saw a picture in the newspaper of a war-torn country. What struck me most about the photo was the condition of the land. The land was devastated. Houses were torn down, crops were savaged, and everything was in ruin. It occurred to me that in going to war with evil pathogens, the landscape where the battle would rage was my client’s body.

I realized that no matter how well intentioned I was, the way in which I was working was not honoring my client’s body. When my intention was to destroy, that intention was Jaki for my client, and had to be processed and dealt with like any other Jaki. When I had this realization, I began to change the way I worked.

It is much more descriptive of the behavior of the pathogen to call it "Inappropriate," rather than "Evil" Qi. Pathogens and Upright Qi are both part of the landscape – part of the client. Pathogens are the voice of dissent and change in the body – some of the body’s Qi does not agree with the rest, and is not working in harmony with the Upright Qi.

One of the great strengths of America is that we tolerate dissent – heck, our whole country is founded on the idea of that toleration of dissent makes for a stronger, happier, and better place to live. As an American acupuncturist, I have to apply the idea of tolerance to dealing with the Inappropriate Qi of the body. If it is wrong to destroy people because they disagree with the direction in which our country is moving as a whole, how can I think it is right to try to destroy Inappropriate Qi because it disagrees with the direction in which the body is moving as a whole? After all, the goal of treatment is health, and that means making the body the strongest, happiest, and best place to live that it can be. What I want for my country, I want for my clients, too.

Dissent is resolved through dialogue and understanding. So here is my advice for today – the next time you find Jaki in your client, take a breath and calm the thoughts that rise to the surface that Jaki is something other, and to be despised. Open your heart instead, and look at it as a part of the whole – a dissenting voice of the client’s own body. Work to resolve the difference instead of punishing it. Coming from this place, the treatment will work better than you can imagine.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Can I Get a Witness?

Every breath taken is one perfect moment that will not come again. Breathing is the clock by which we count out our days of life. To be allowed to be present with our clients, to really see them and be with them as they inhale and exhale, and to offer them a place of peace to process and make sense of what they have encountered and known in their lives, is a great gift. It is a gift for our clients, and it is a gift for us.

Living energy systems naturally move from a state of imbalance toward a state of balance when they are witnessed. We can call this a State of Grace, or simply a State of Healing. Witnessing is terribly important in acupuncture, and in fact it is one of the great privileges our profession grants us. It has been said, and rightly so, that having someone to witness your life – to take note of the comings and goings of your daily activities, and to validate and give worth to your existence merely by caring enough to really look at you – is the reason why people come together in the first place.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics was simplified for most of us when we learned about it in high school. To say that entropy means that things fall apart, and that there is no avoiding, it is not correct. The Second Law applies to isolated systems, meaning things that are not interacting with their surroundings. Acupuncture allows us to witness our clients, which means that they (and we) are not alone, and that means that there is no isolation. When there is no isolation, decay and decline is slowed. The term “quality of life” is really about feeling isolated. To offer our clients the best quality of life through our treatments, being present to them and witnessing their lives is more than good business, it is good medicine.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Recap of the Virtues

The videos of the One-Handed Turn did not make it up to YouTube this weekend, as I had hoped. I was feeling a little guilty about not getting this done in the time I had wanted, but as a wise friend said, “weekends are meant for rest.” You can see the “Video” bar at the top left of the page, which is already linked to my currently empty TheSilverNeedle Channel on YouTube. The videos are coming. And if all works as I hope it will, there will be many videos to follow.

I remembered something as I was writing up the virtues of the one-handed turn. Many years ago there were several of us who all learned the parallel variation of the turn at the same time. We began to show it to members of the community and, as I said, there was a class for a couple years at NESA in which I spent a good deal of time teaching the turn. Not long after, there was a rumor going around that one could not be a good acupuncturist without knowing the turn. This was followed by a bit of backlash from those talented acupuncturists who do not use the turn, some of whom dismissed it as a mere parlor trick that was not worth studying.

As is often the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Certainly you do not NEED to know the one-handed turn to become a skilled acupuncturist. The nine posts I made about the virtues should not be taken to mean that it is the ONLY way to reap these nine benefits. However, there is so much to be gained from it that I really can’t recommend a better single addition to your clinic routine that regularly practicing and using the turn.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Nine

Benefit #9: It lets you go really fast.

With practice, the one-handed turn becomes an automatic movement you make with your needling hand, allowing your palpating hand the luxury of locating the point, determining the direction and type of vector you want to treat, and understand through palpation which needle technique will have the best results at the point. The movements of the needling and palpating hand occur simultaneously, so that as you have finished your palpation of the point, the needle is loaded and ready to insert.

Seirin needles work very well with the one-handed turn, because you can free them from their tubes by twisting the handle with your needling hand, and then use the turn to load them into the tube you are already holding. If you have a package of needles open in front of you, your palpating hand is free to roam over the entire treatment area to find the live points without having to stop and take part in readying the needle. Treatment of multiple points in an area proceeds very quickly in this way.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Eight

Benefit #8: It trains your hands to recognize the needles you use.

As I said in an earlier post, the more you handle different metals, the better your hands become and detecting the differences between, say, silver and steel, or between two different alloys of steel. The one-handed turn facilitates the development of this skill, since you will be handling your needles with a relaxed hand that is ‘open’ to the Qi.

In addition, if you use several different needles in your practice (I use five different needles with regularity), you will learn to feel each needle by its weight and length. This means that every time you perform a one-handed turn, your brain will automatically think, “Aha! Here is a Seirin #1, 40mm!” By the time you have loaded the needle for use, you have already put your mind and intention where it needs to be to make the best use of your needle.

You can try this for yourself: Pick up any needle without using the turn, and put it into position as though you were going to insert it. As the needle reaches where your client’s skin would be, you will have a moment when you feel yourself adjusting for the length of the needle. The turn removes this momentary hesitancy because you will ‘recognize’ the needle as you feel it load with the one-handed turn, allowing you to focus more fully on the treatment point and your needle technique.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Seven

Benefit #7: It teaches your hands positions that are useful in advanced needle techniques.

When you begin to practice the one-handed turn, you will find it awkward to glide the handle of the needle over your fingers. As you practice, and the movements become smoother, you will train your hands to better move in ways you will need to when manipulating the needle during insertion. There are many of the more advanced techniques that become easy to learn if you have practiced your one-handed turn. Even rotation and pecking, however, become smoother, easier, faster, and require less effort after spending time practicing the turn.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Six

Benefit #6: It releases tension in your hands.

Let’s see… better Qi flow to the hands… increased dexterity and strength… what more could we ask? Well, by practicing the one-handed turn, you will also loosen and detoxify the muscles of your hands. You hands (a.k.a. “the most valuable tools in your practice”) accumulate tension while you work. When you only use some of the muscles in your hand, and by this I mean the ones around your thumb and forefinger for most practitioners, you will develop patterns of tension. Most people do not notice it at first, but after about 4-5 years in their acupuncture practice, they begin to feel pain and stiffness in their hands. The one-handed turn will relieve this tension and pain, and keep you from worrying that you might have to find another career just as you are starting to get the hang of this acupuncture thing.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Five

Benefit #5: It strengthens your hands.

In addition to gaining dexterity from working all those little muscles you probably never knew were in your hands, you also gain strength! As the Qi flow to the hand increases, and the muscles get stronger, you will notice that you have much more power in your grip. If you practice Tui Na or some other physical massage in your practice, you will appreciate this benefit greatly. Otherwise, while your newly-found, Incredible Hulk-like grip may not be of any direct use in the clinic, it will mean that you will never have sand kicked in your face at the beach and that you will never need any tools to crack open walnuts.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Four

Benefit #4: It increases general dexterity of the fingers.

Working the small muscles of the hands will improve the overall dexterity of your fingers. And while this will help you with your typing skills and your ability to solve the Rubik’s Cube, you will also notice that you will be better able to locate acupuncture points through palpation. Searching for the point itself, and then the little vectors coming off of it requires nimble fingertips. The more you palpate points the better you will become at feeling them, but practicing the one-handed turn will accelerate the process so you will see faster improvement.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Three

Benefit #3: It increases awareness of the tip of the needle.

Somewhat related to the last post, the more you handle the whole length of the needle, the better your kinesthetic awareness will be, and the better you will be at feeling exactly where the tip of the needle is. That is to say, where you think the tip is will be the actual location of the tip, and not a few millimeters away.

Aside from the benefit of not poking yourself with the pointy end, there are a great many acupuncture techniques that require you to focus on the tip of the needle while it is inserted in your client. The more accurate you are in your sense of where the needle tip is, the better you will be able to sense and manipulate Qi at the acupuncture point. This means that your techniques will work better, and you will be able to get a more complete release in opening up the acupuncture point for treatment.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part Two

Benefit #2: It increases confidence and skill in handling needles.

One of the first things you will notice when you see a talented acupuncturist working with needles is how adeptly the needles are handled. Confidence and skill with needles comes with practice. In the beginning, we all fumble awkwardly as we try to force a needle handle into the tube with both hands. There is almost an appearance of fear, as though the novice is afraid of being stabbed by the needle point.

The one-handed turn forces you to move the whole length of the needle across your hand, protected and sterile in its tube. With frequent practice, you develop a kinesthetic awareness of exactly how long the tube is. With this awareness, you will rapidly move through your own apprehension in handling needles and get rid of any awkwardness in your needle technique.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Virtues of the One-Handed Turn, Part One

I am back from vacation and getting ready to teach the I Ching. I had hoped to post a few more entries over vacation, but the water was oh so nice and my nephew was oh so talented at picking up the magic tricks I was teaching him. Now that I am back, though, let us get into the one-handed needle turn. As I said on July 6th, I will be posting videos of the turn for those that have not learned it. For those who have learned it, but who have not been practicing it, I will count down the Nine Not-So Ancient Virtues of the One-Handed Needle Turn. Every time I have taught this, someone asks me why they should bother learning the movements. So in no particular order, I will begin ticking off the benefits of making the turn a daily part of your acupuncture practice.

Benefit #1: It brings Qi to the whole of the hand.

The mind leads the Qi, and the Qi leads the body. One of the virtues of practicing the one-handed needle turn is that repetition of the movements brings Qi to all parts of the hands. When you begin practicing the different turns, you will find that some of your fingers will not respond the way you intend, and will feel “empty,” “heavy,” or “hollow.” This is the feeling of deficiency and stasis in the body – something that is not desirable in the hands of an acupuncturist. As the one-handed turn becomes a part of your daily life, you will notice this empty feeling begin to recede, and it will be replaced by warmth in your hands.

There are two main variations of the one handed turn. One ends with the needle held in a parallel grip (the handle being almost parallel with the thumb) and one ends with the needle held in a side grip (the handle being at 90 degrees with the orientation of the thumb). Each of these variations has its place, and I recommend practicing both of them. While it is certainly possible to simply switch your grip on the needle, from the standpoint of increasing Qi flow, you will notice that the parallel variation increases the flow to the index finger and thumb, while the side variation increases the flow to the middle, 4th, and 5th fingers.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Vacation Post

It is vacation time for me, and I am at Truro on Cape Cod with my family. I was just showing my sister the blog. She read the post “The Self is the Guru,” and we were talking about the importance of being self-empowered in one’s area of expertise. As she looked over the rest of the blog page, she noted that the term “Followers” on the left side was probably not in keeping with the spirit of my posts. I agree with her wholeheartedly, and have changed the title of that section to “Community.” It is definitely the better term. As we are fond of saying at our clinic, “we are all in this together, and health is better when it’s shared.”

Monday, July 6, 2009

The Jimmy Fingers

Some people have the “Jimmy Legs” in that they twitch their legs when they sleep. I have the “Jimmy Fingers,” although not so much when I sleep as when I am awake. I have a constant need to move my fingers, tap rhythms, and trace geometric patterns on any available surface. I have learned to minimize this unconscious activity over the years – mostly because the constant drumming and pattern tracing has become very annoying to my loved ones – but I still have a sense of comfort when my hands are engaged in patterned movement.

8 years ago or so, I watched someone do a version of the one-handed needle turn. I was immediately hooked. Here was something related to acupuncture that I could use to keep my fingers occupied for hours of practice. And it looked so darn cool! I admit that the cool factor was a big part of my initially wanting to learn it. A few years later, I was taught a second, cleaner, way of performing a needle turn. Since that time, I have used the turn to load almost every needle I have inserted in my clinic, and have found that several needle techniques are easier to learn if you have first practiced your needle turn to good proficiency.

Several years ago, I taught a class at NESA where I could spend a good 90 minutes over three weeks teaching the movements slowly. It is possible to learn the movements in a single sitting of about an hour and half, but for most people the movements are more easily digested in clumps, with time in between for the hands to catch up with the brain. So since I am not going to teach the turn in a continuing education class, it is a perfect topic for the blog. I have scripted a video, which I hope to have up on the web in a few weeks. In the meantime, I will be talking about the turn, and enumerating the many virtues of this wonderful skill. If you know the turn but are out of practice, take this opportunity to give it some attention again. And if you haven’t learned the turn yet, stay tuned!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Dinner Fork or Salad Fork?

I ran a supply company for 5 years, specializing in high quality acupuncture supplies. One of the great things about that job was that opportunity to handle a lot of superb Teishin (blunt-ended needles) made of different metals. What I noticed, after only a short time, was that I could tell what material the Teishin was made of just by handling it. Although platinum, silver, and zinc all look similar, the feel of each is very different. And although 14K, 18K and 20K gold look quite alike under low lighting, Qi passes through each of them in a totally distinct way.

Different alloys of steel also have different qualities. If you perform the same technique with two different brands of acupuncture needle, you will notice differences in the way each feels during treatment. Some needles feel heavier, others transmit changes in the Qi of the point more quickly to your fingers, some might feel duller and have less Shen, or still others may feel bright or shiny when you use them. I have had people tell me that certain Teishin “sing” to them while they work. And while a machine-made filiform needle does not have the uniqueness and depth of character that a handmade Teishin does, a good steel filiform needle can still hum a quiet tune from time to time.

If you want to see what I am talking about and you only use one kind of needle, go support your local acupuncture school bookstore and buy some boxes of another needle that is of the same or higher quality than the one you currently use, but in the same size and length. You can alternate between the two brands on different days, with different clients, or as your whim dictates. Pay attention to how the insertions and manipulations at different points feel in your hands while you work. If you find that you like or don’t like certain properties of the needles, force yourself to express why. For me, it is never enough to think, “this one is not as good.” I push myself to come up with clear reasons why I do or do not like using one brand of needles over another.

When you are not treating, handle the needles you use often, and experiment with how it feels to pass Qi through them in both directions. Remember that a needle not only transmits Qi into the client for treatment, but also transmits the Qi of the client back to you for evaluation and feedback. In addition to handling your needles more, become consistent in the way you load them for insertion. I am a huge fan of the one handed needle turn, and I will post more on this soon. But whatever method you choose for readying the needle, spend some time doing it without a client present – just loading and unloading, over and over. In this way you can compare two needles easily. You will be surprised what your fingers will pick up while you do this.

If these exercises proved interesting, I recommend you make a habit of them. Over time you will develop increasingly deeper awareness of what you feel during needlework that comes from the properties of the needle you are using, and what comes from your technique. Separating the two will give you better palpation skills and greater understanding of what techniques and which needles are appropriate in different clinical situations. If you want even more information about this, come to my upcoming class on Advanced Palpation Skills, and the other Advanced Skills classes coming later in the year.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Self is the Guru

Sometimes you will see me walking around in my favorite T-Shirt, which Rachel gave me a few years ago. It says "The Self is the Guru." This is my mantra and my call to acupuncturists everywhere to recognize the power within each and every one of them.

Every so often someone calls me "Sensei," which is a term of respect and means something along the lines of "one who has been there before" or "one who is walking a little further up the path from me and can give me some guidance of what is coming toward me in life." A Japanese colleague of mine shared another definition of this term in saying that "Sensei really just means 'Mister' these days." So while I am flattered that someone means to respect me when they call me Sensei, I am not a fan of this term for two reasons.

Firstly, the American acupuncture profession (I can't speak for other countries) is mostly made up of women. Among the many female senior practitioners who have shaped my life and made me the practitioner I am today, only two have ever to my knowledge been called "Sensei" regularly by their students. Perhaps the word really does mean "Mister." If we are going to have a term of respect for our senior practitioners and cherished teachers, let's get one that we apply evenly to men and women.

Secondly, "Sensei" is not an English word. There are certain words from Chinese and Japanese that are difficult to translate satisfactorally into English, like "Qi" or "Shen." So while I often will use the word "energy" when talking with clients, "Qi" and "Shen" convey concepts I cannot easily express in Engligh. But I am pretty sure that we have a number of excellent words in our language to appropriately venerate our teachers.

In using our own words, we own the acupuncture we practice as part of our heritage here. There is a balance: we should respect the East Asian sources of our art and be greatful for the teaching that came from China and Japan, and we should also equally respect ourselves as the ones who are carrying this lineage forward and shaping our practice of acupuncture into something that is uniquely American.

The Self is the Guru. The universe will give you help and teaching when you need it, but to truly fly with your life and your art, you have to recognize the wonderful teacher inside you and own your own power. The Self is the Guru - say it with me.

I Ching Class Flyer

I Ching: Understanding Yin and Yang
July 25-26 9:00-4:30 (12 CEU’s)

Every acupuncturist needs to understand Yin and Yang in both theory and practice. The Classic of Change can be used to improve your knowledge of acupuncture philosophy as well as treatment. In this class, we will review the rules that govern Yin and Yang, and show how these rules apply to increasingly complex patterns. We will cover the Ba Gua, or eight trigrams in detail, and show how they develop and expand into the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching.

Participants will begin to develop a personal relationship to the hexagrams, and how to apply this knowledge to both life and treatment. Expect to leave this class feeling confident in your ability to use Yin and Yang, the eight trigrams, and the I Ching in acupuncture and all forms of Qi-based medicine and exercise.

I Ching: Yin and Yang in Action
August 22-23 9:00-4:30 (12 CEU’s)

This second class is appropriate for those who have taken the first weekend, or who have experience working with the I Ching. This class will focus on the deeper relationships that exist among the hexagrams.

We will consider natural flow and how individual choice shapes the direction of change, giving you greater recognition of the power that you and your clients have to change the pattern of energy in the health care process. You will leave this class familiar with the entirety of the I Ching, and with a thorough understanding of how to use the I Ching for assessing prognosis, advising your clients, and anticipating shifts in clinical energy patterns.

Class to be held at: Sage Community Acupuncture
62 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420
Cost: $295 for one weekend $525 for both weekends
($250 / $495 for students)

Register by e-mail at thesilverneedle@gmail.com, or by phone at 781-860-8808

Come and learn more about this and other acupuncture topics at
thesilverneedle.blogspot.com

Instructor: Zachary Parsons, Lic.Ac. In 1996, Zach enrolled at New England School of Acupuncture, where he earned a Master's degree in Acupuncture and a certificate in Chinese Herbology. During this time he also trained in Craniosacral Therapy with the National Institute of Craniosacral Studies. Zach has a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University, and has completed Master's level study in Kinesiology. Zach has taught at New England School of Acupuncture and at Boston Bodywork School of Shiatsu and Complementary Therapies. He specializes in the treatment of structural disorders.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Blog Gua

In acupuncture school, the lessons on Yin and Yang usually stop at the eight trigrams, or Ba Gua. In order to understand the I Ching, it is essential to first understand the Ba Gua, and in the class at the end of July we will be looking closely at the trigrams before we explore the larger hexagrams. Each of the eight trigrams has its own characteristics that will change depending on different circumstances. Once the nature of each of the trigrams is better understood, there are applications for using them in treating the Extraordinary Vessels, taking the pulse, needle technique, Qi Gong, and other aspects of acupuncture practice. We will touch on some of the applications that are possible, and will discuss resources that are available for further study of specific uses of the Ba Gua in treatment.

The trigrams will also be of great use in remembering and defining the hexagrams. As I touched on in the last post, the names of the hexagrams contain information about the overall energy pattern represented and also the balance of Yin and Yang that are present. The names are there to help make the nature of the hexagram more understandable. The truth of the hexagrams, however, is in the symbol. These symbols can each be broken into two trigrams stacked on top of each other. The top is called the "Outer Gua," and it is "over" the bottom or "Inner Gua." When we describe the symbol of a hexagram, if, say, the trigram for Wind is on top and the trigram for Mountain is on the bottom, we say it is "Wind over Mountain." This is a much more useful way of remembering the hexagrams than by the name or number in the book.

There are actually four trigrams that are immediately present in any hexagram, with one or more of them possibly in transition. Going from seeing the two trigrams stacked on top of each other to the four trigrams present in the hexagram requires only a simple progression in conscious awareness. With this new awareness comes a deeper understanding of the movements of Yin and Yang and the ways in which they transform and interact in medicine and in life.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Gender in the I Ching

Last night I went out to see some old friends and colleagues from Japan. The dinner we had did not agree with me, and my stomach woke me up two hours ago. I figured I should channel my discomfort into writing, and and post a blog entry since I wasn't able to put one up yesterday.

I want to start out talking briefly about two definitions that are important when studying the I Ching. The first word is "Feminism," meaning the view “that women and men are equal politically, socially, and economically." The other word is "Ching" (or "Jing," depending on how the Chinese is written in English – as in the Tao Te Ching, the Nan Jing, the Huang Di Nei Jing, and the I Ching). This word is translated as "classic." Or, as one of my teachers once explained it to me, "If you disagree with this book, you just don’t understand it well enough." Certainly a little glib, but classics do tend to be full of deep meaning that takes some time to absorb.

As we read the I Ching, we see gender showing up in the text in ways that can be difficult to relate to for a modern reader. Women are sometime spoken of a objects of ill-omen or things to be feared and shunned in the text. I have wrestled with this over the years, trying to find a common ground between the what I consider the truth of "Feminism" and the possibility that I am missing something when reading a "Ching.

There is a contrasting negative male reference as well, which is that of a man who is overly aggressive, and this is the key to understanding why women get such a bad rap in parts of the I Ching. Confucius’s commentaries aside, any reference to “male” or “female” in the I Ching should be read and understood as “Yang” or “Yin” by acupuncturists. The “fearsome strong woman” and the “foolishly aggressive man” are both allusions to an inappropriate and potentially destabilizing Yin or Yang energy, when looking at the overall balance of the hexagram.

Equating Yang with “masculine” and Yin with “feminine” is the conceptual point at which using labels really starts to limit our understanding and appreciation of Yin and Yang. I encourage all readers of the I Ching not to take gender references literally if you want to actually make use of this text in a meaningful way.

Most translations of the I Ching tend to venerate the Yang more than the Yin, so the disparaging of the Yin is more common. However, if we keep in mind that this is a book about concepts that were (and are) difficult for most people to fully grasp and apply, and that the majority of commentary and translation has been written by men, we can move beyond this unpleasantness and develop a close understanding of the symbolism that will be of such great use in the acupuncture setting. It is the symbols that are the heart of the I Ching.

The translation I prefer for people new to this study is “The Complete I Ching” by Alfred Huang. The book has several good and bad points if you compare it to other translations, but on the whole I find it very accessible and more useful than other texts in understanding the character and Shen of each hexagram. But if you pick up this book and flip to, say “The Marrying Maiden” as you leaf through it, just remember that it is about the relationship of the Yin lines to the Yang lines in that hexagram – their overall balance and placement. So cringe, as I do, and then as you ponder this hexagram you can always think of it as “Thunder over Lake” instead.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

First Class Coming Soon

I am itching to put palpation and needling classes up to teach, because I have a lot to say on those subjects. But I am not going to start with them. The first class for 2009 that I am teaching is on the I Ching. Now, I know you may be asking, “What the heck does the I Ching have to do with acupuncture?” And the answer is, “A lot.”

The I Ching is the go-to book on Yin and Yang. As acupuncturists, we learn a good deal about the relationships of Yin and Yang in school, and most of what we do with Yin and Yang is use them to make comparisons based on agreed-upon correspondences (like hot and cold, excess and deficiency, and interior and exterior) to understand our clients’ physical and meridian health.

Yin and Yang are also the guiding forces behind all changes in the world around us and in states of health. The hexagram format (six lines of Yin or Yang in specific configurations) allows for an extremely sophisticated way to apply the relationships of Yin and Yang in any situation. This gives us better understanding of the treatments and choices we can offer to improve our clients’ wellbeing on a deeper level.

As much as I am looking forward to teaching palpation and needle technique, I am even more excited to lead off with this class. Actually, there is too much to learn about even the basics of the I Ching to fit into one class, so there is going to be a second class about a month after this one to finish up with the whole book. I should have all the links and dates in place by the end of this weekend.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Place for Sharing

When I was an acupuncture student, my childhood acupuncturist told me, “Never marry an acupuncturist. You will be spending your days in the clinic helping people with sadness, pain, and suffering. When you get home, you want to have a wife who will take your mind off your day and fill your home with laughter and song. If you marry an acupuncturist, all you will ever do is talk about acupuncture.” He was correct about that last part. My fiancĂ©e, Rachel Hartstein, and I have been together now for almost 9 years and most of what we talk about is acupuncture (although our home is full of laughter and song).

What my acupuncturist did not know was that it is a blessing to have someone close to me who truly understands what I do and can share in my work. And so, for the past almost 9 years, Rachel and I have been developing theories, refining techniques, and discussing all parts of our field, from daily readings from the Nan Jing to comparing the pros and cons of different needle brands on the market.

We used to teach, but took a break about 4 or 5 years ago and started focusing much more closely on building our practice and refining every aspect of how we work. We have also been writing down everything we have found along the way. The trouble is that teaching is something that I have missed terribly, because teaching brings me great joy.

Rachel turned to me a few weeks ago and told me that I should gather together all the information that I thought an acupuncture school graduate would need to know in order to work in our clinic with my blessings. This was particularly good timing, since we recently took on a fabulous intern and have started training her. I sat down and outlined the information and set it into continuing education class format. I came up with 19 classes, but I know there are several small things that are really important, but do not fill a whole class. I thought a blog would be the perfect way to share all of these thoughts that might one day fill part of a book but do not fill a class right now.

As we start to teach classes, I will post descriptions and dates here. I will also be posting thoughts and details that are significant for upcoming classes, as well as those little things that are not going into a class right now, but could be of use to the thoughtful and creative acupuncturists who I invite to join me here, and who I am so happy to call my community. As we are fond of saying at our clinic, we are all in this together and health is better when it’s shared.