Acupuncture – a gateway to another way of thinking
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things”
When I was at acupuncture college, I learned a system of medicine we know as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Actually, that label is a Western translation of an observational system that, at a profound level, describes how disease unbalances the energetic flow of the body and its surroundings (and vice versa).
There are many rabbit holes in learning a Westernised version of ancient Chinese scripts. When learning about the digestive system and the crucial function of the Spleen, I felt compelled to mention that my friend had had his Spleen removed following an accident, and yet he was still able to digest his food! “Ah”, said the lecturer with a withering look. “We are talking about the spleen with a small ‘s’. It’s different”.
In the clinic, a patient asked me if I was following the nerves in her leg.
“Kind of” I replied,
If I were working solely with your energy imbalances, I might use acupuncture points along the meridians, invisible yet deeply significant channels of energy that run through the body and are often associated with internal organ systems (with a small letter). Alternatively, if I were working more scientifically, I might use muscle points or skin areas to alleviate her pain.
Often, the treatment is very similar for both systems, perhaps for different reasons, and always to obtain the same result.
The question for me is what my patients will want to know? I’m increasingly of the opinion that, at best, people have a casual interest in nerves or meridians; what they really want is help in solving their problem. In her excellent substack, Lisa Rohleder argues that there are two types of therapeutic approaches: descriptive, an explanation which may present a way for interpreting and making sense of a condition using curiosity or prescriptive, where the therapist provides advice or rules providing for a way of responding to a condition.
There is little doubt we live in a prescriptive world, awash with rules, advice, mis – misinformation and argument. I like the description, it’s subtle, nuanced and, in this age, less polarising. You can still be critical whilst being descriptive!
Have a lovely Christmas, look after that spleen! Rest, digest and be happy.
Chris