Learning the One-Handed Needle Turn?

To those of you who have come here looking for the video tutorial on the One-Handed Needle Turn, welcome! The links to the two videos can be found on the right side of the page, if you scroll down a little. I have been told that the links are sometimes working and sometimes not, so if you are having trouble loading the video here, just copy and paste the following address into your web browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ix-C1HJKk

There are two videos uploaded about turning the needle: the Parallel Variation and the Side Variation. If you are learning this technique for the first time, I recommend you start with the Parallel Variation. The link above will take you to that video. When you get that down, your acupuncture skill will benefit greatly from taking the time to learn the Side Variation as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH3xMKKoKgY

HOW will you benefit? The One-Handed Needle Turn is one of the single most beneficial foundation skills you can practice to improve overall needle technique and the ability to feel and manipulate Qi with your hands. Look over these past posts for nine things you can expect from just practicing this one movement:

http://thesilverneedle.blogspot.com/search/label/One%20Handed%20Needle%20Turn

The key word with the One-Handed Needle Turn is “practice.” The Turn is a foundational skill, and as such, you can think about it like scales if you play the piano. Even concert pianists do scales every day, and you will see the best results if you practice your Turn every day. When I started learning the Turn I practiced with each hand whenever I had a break in my schedule. I also got into the habit of doing this technique before inserting every needle during an actual treatment. I have performed a One-Handed Needle Turn with virtually every needle I have used in the past 10+ years. It has helped me learn a great deal about where I hold tension in my body, how Qi flows through my hands, the ability of different needles to conduct Qi to and from the point, and changes that occur at acupuncture points in different clients. It is, truly, a marvelous technique.

I hope that you will enjoy using the One-Handed Turn in your own work as much as I do. Please read the past posts, watch the videos, and practice, practice, and practice. If you have any specific questions, please comment below! I would love to hear from you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.