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!
