Monday Mission: Season 1, Episode 2

Your Monday Mission for this week, should you choose to accept it, is to try to use your average number of points in more of your treatments, and force yourself to be more efficient in your point selection based on Actions and Effects. For this week, try to make your average number the maximum number of needles you insert. So if you found that 13 was your average number of needles, for example, try not to use more than that for any treatment this week. If you need to insert more, that is fine – the needs of your client will, of course, take precedence over the Monday Mission. So if you put your 13 in and decide that you have to put 4 more in the ears, or 3 more for the local treatment, or 20 more because it is appropriate for the treatment, go ahead and do so.


What I recommend you pay close attention to this week is the situations where you want to put in only a few more points than your calculated average. Such cases happen all the time, and are excellent ones to look at more closely after hours. Take home the files for the clients you wanted to add only a couple more points. Grab your copy of Deadman’s, or whatever other point book you prefer, and spend some time trying to see if you can make the point combination you selected for treatment a little tighter. Perhaps you are using two points to do the job that one could? Spending 15 minutes going over one case in this way can give you a tremendous amount of insight into old habits you may still be holding onto in how you choose points, but which no longer serve you. Be creative, think outside the box, and find a way to shave off those last few points from your treatment. Write the adjusted prescription in the client file (or use one of those 3M sticky notes). The next time you see that client, try the new prescription instead.

And when you try the new prescription, don’t check your critical thinking at the door! Check in with the pulse, the abdomen, or palpating the Meridians to get a sense of how well the adjusted point list is working. You may decide that some more points are, in fact, necessary. More often than not, though, you are likely to find that the new prescription works better. We all hold onto certain ideas about what points are “supposed” to do that do not actually hold up in the application of our own clinical style. This is an opportunity to say, “Hmmm… Large Intestine 4 and 20 are supposed to be good for sinus congestion, but I find that Large Intestine 6 alone does a better job!” And when you find such things out, congratulations! You have just used your Monday Mission to make your practice a little more effective, and a little more in-sync with who you really are as a practitioner and the unique gifts you bring to your treatments!

Try to do this practice every day this week. If you cannot do every day, go to the book twice this week. Every little bit helps, as long as it fits into your lifestyle. Keep notes of what you find. Talk it over with a Mission Buddy. Or post a comment below! This is an individual process for everyone, but we all learn from each other.