The avoidable loneliness of our profession

At some point in your career in Chinese medicine, you’re going to be stopped cold by the sudden realization of how little you actually know. What knowledge will you find yourself lacking? All of it, most likely. Some common themes? Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, diagnostics, patient management, various aspects of business, how to keep balance, how to run a practice when you’ve got so much work to do on yourself – the list goes on. If not knowledge, then skill will be the missing piece. Or maybe a little of each. Or something else. Some nagging sense that all your ducks aren’t in a row, and you’re not quite so sure about what you’re doing anymore. Some of us run into this a little bit every day. Others have it coming in fits and starts. Still others get levelled at some point by the bulldozer of comprehension and don’t get up for a while. As a teacher, I tend to see this happening in the transition between the second and third years. For those who are not at NCNM, the second year is the info bomb (herbs and points in the same year) with an increasing level of responsibility in the clinic. The third year raises the specter of the great equalizer of courses – formulas. And folks are tired at this point, and realizing they’ve got a lot of work still to do. For me, this experience recurs about every six months or so, if not every six hours. Every patient opens doors into the unknown. I’m sorry, but no amount of preparation, spiritual, intellect...
Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Tags: Community and Cultivation Source Type: blogs