This is the beginning of what I hope will be a 500 word/1000 word stint of my thoughts on acupuncture that will highlight what I've learned, what philosophical questions I can pose to myself and my future patients. Hopefully it will illuminate certain ideas so it will reinforce some ideas I've accrued - "stir something loose" so to speak. The way day one began with orientation I got the impression that the board is well-intentioned - the Dean, a taskmaster and nice guy, I should consult some of those names of herb experts - cause I am interested inthe history of Herbalists - Taoists - I keep asking myself - is it the Taoists "that school of thought, that used acupuncture and herbalism" - when did, or rather, did that play a role in influencing acupuncture and herbalism - the idea that we're all intended to be on the path - like a natural flow to the universe? Goes back to my admiration of Li Ching-Yuen. Tortoise - Pigeon - Dog Man, the Taoist Immortal. My main focus, my drive is on the longevity and sustained longevity with a boost to health. Do we not caricature everyone when we meet them - what a profound thought - I guess the true way to getting through to a person is to accept them for who they are. I have so long failed to grasp this idea - the thought just occured to me - try to see what a splendid human being people can be. I'm rushing to get somewhere with clinical terms, but istn't the meat of the program the learning of these points (& what of the mannequn? zshould I not get one or two?). The measuring. The answer is no, or is it? I choose your body (I love your body). There is plenty of time for the soul, Verlaine says. Why aren't they more defined. What are we looking for, pores, what of - when I underwent treatment I noticed, anyway, I would report that my practicioner identified a point & - he felt the qi during my inhalation in order to stick the needle in during my exhalation?
Yesterday I discovered I had caricatured everyone I ever met instead of characterizing them. I realized accepting people for who they are. Period. End of sentence. Behavior may be erratic. What option have we but to accept I am having a difficult time getting over what Dr. Lustig said to me after my test. The way she said what she said - it's like echoing in my head - on replay. What Jude said was true - I must channel that into something positive. I will do good for myself & for others - I know that. Forgetting a name and a point, in the long run, will it motivate me to do better - I think so. One thing I am sure of, there is more new words in A&P books than in fiction books combined. Maybe it is a matter of using a telescope in hopes of using a telescope in hopes of someday using microscope.
I seized up again today & felt like all eyes were watching me - but I later figured it out on my own. I learned scraping and other rubbing techniques. It was enjoyable & I made some stempds toward my future - buying a lab coat. This gave me a greater respect for massage - I just thought it was rubbing the skin with no concern for control - but it really is a delicate skill.
I noticed an improvement in circulation and wellbeing since Tai Chi and massage. I didn't believe I would be reaping the benefits of practice with others this soon.
I had a difficult time getting through Frazer's class today because I don't think that, obviously they are just feelings she is expressing, it appears that she is very morbid & cynical - in many ways she is like a person who feels she can't be redeemed that she has seen too much and that she's seen enough. She's channeling some fears and some trauma & at this point I cannot, I will not try not to let it rub off on me. Channel what she's seen enough. She's channeling some fears & some trauma & at this point I cannot, I will not try to let it rub off on me. Channel what she's saying into something constructive.
Right now I feel I'm making progress, I feel as though I've gotta cut through the bullshit, but right now the bullshit is the meat, the "times tables" - the stuff you gotta memorize to move on to bigger things, greater applications. I think I'll have good luck with the flashcards & I've got a good framework right now - new class tomorrow which I believe continues til end of the month and beyond.
Look ahead but don't delve really - you need a trained acupuncturist to clarify the material. Hard to say concretely what I've learned except to get a feel for the body.
I am hoping that this journal will generate ideas for a research project & at least it will keep me writing. I am not worried about the paper - in fact research and writing and citing are my forte. I want to really make the writing without to-be verbs and have it humorous pithy, interesting and not some fluff/bullshit English Lit paper I wrote. Wednesday I plan to make the trip to East Orange to look for a mannequin - I should contact Kate for a ride - I wouldn't want to damage it on the bus, I must hone in on the types of qi points and how the well points are interrelated to Mu/Shu points, Xi Cleft points, etc, cause I'm really not getting it seems way more in depth than we've really talked about. I plan to consult the new book to see how the page numbers line up. Or simply to create a shortcut to those well points. I am geting a better idea of what qi is and how it changes "It is still the one qi" even though there are many types. A good idea for a project or a treatment option is the TAI - in Columbia, MD, perhaps how the trend has changed from Traditional 5-Element Constitutional Acupuncture to many forms. Analogy of Fly-fisherman - purist versus rod and reel - style is different - a joke about Obama in there - has Obama ever tried acupuncture? What about anyone in his cabinet?
I learned the 12 Cranial Nerves, the diagram of dermatomes and Myotomes and that I must drill these A&P names into my head. I had some words of wisdom that made me feel better - Prof. Oneil saying first year you don't know anything. How many of my classmates will be here for herbs - none so far - perhaps some will change their minds - otherwise, how will they mix in students from previous years. Will I feel as though I am apprenticing? Or perhaps transfer students. I am considering buying some moxa, for on its own for incense. I am learing some interesting terms - insulting - one organ insulting another is an organ injuring anotehr because of an imbalance - say a liver not ascending can affect the heart qi - that crisscrossing action of "axis" better helped me understand the positioning and movement of qi spleen, stomach, lung/kidney - might have to double check on that.I'd like to do a summary of what I've gleaned from OTA's because of the archaicness of the language I do not grap it - ideally I would like t things to come into focus - in the most simplest terms possible - I've learned a great deal in 2 1/1 weeks - I am 16 days in & I can massage & palpate the major bones and muscles of the body. I know techniques for sanitation & health of skin, I feel like I've learned more about the human body - who am I picturing when I think about the structure & functure - a model, or a patient - am I visualizing them?
I organized papers - I looked over an intake form for the first time & a problem, or rather, a question arose about current vs. historical conditions and ongoing health habits. I'm distressed just now that I have not yet referred anyone to the clinic - I am happy to be off today and tomorrow - gives me a chance to be thorough and catchup a tad - I should consider getting a manakin this Thursday. I dunno what I can do to supplement my learning of the points - there's a credibility & spirit element too that I never considered - will I be too sickly - visibly showing an imbalance. will we know how to turn it on and off. For instance - just looking at me now - do you have the ability to suspend your clinical analysis - will I find myself evaluating haphazardly - without ethics - willy/nilly so to speak? If so, is their a solution?
Short and sweet tonight - watched videos tonight on osteoblasts - bone formation and osteoclasts - bone deregulation, osteoid and so forth, osteoporosis & storic (sp?) - that inhibit bone growth, structure of bone, it's importance to stabilize body, and the effect of osteoporosis. Good videos
Take a good - 60 minutes, or 1/2, that time to type the transcript of the YouTube videos vital information - don't forget telomeres.
My focus is schoolwork - the rest will come later - I would like to be surprised - so far this material is do dry - I guess at first it is - rubbing, scrubbing, pushing, wiping, and foulage - have we done foulage yet - it is a dredging technique I know I can't recall. I am familiar with the different Tui Na styles and know their Chinese phrases, functions, and indications. It is best I look over finger manipulation - the second class, I am still confusing one techinique with the otehr on the first few. I really had fun with the first set and I was encouraged with his comment that I was using good technique. Fear of being a test subject needs to leave me - we're all going to be tested on - Tui Na, Palpation, Yin/Yang, Exogenous Factors, 6 Yin 5 Yang Organ Theory, and history of point location and acupuncture supplemented with A&P & Human Biology, is what I've learned thus far. It is time to extract some fun from what I'm doing. So far I've expressed my reservations, fear, it is something that has taken me far from my comfort zone. It is encouraging that Mike O'neil says we know little or nothing after Year 1. Biology class one night a week will free up my schedule - January will be wider open and should culminate some things. Things will get better I will have to believe.
I am interested to know what our projects will entail and I'm eager to do research. I am wondering what my thoughts onnotes will come out to - thinking freely about what my first impressions were before Yin/Yang and after and how this has become more complicated will definitely be good brainstorm material for whatever the project is - Getting a thousand 1500-2000 words will be helpful I think 0 to give me an idea - to wrap my mind around these concepts - expecially for OTA.
On the herbal front I sampled my Valerian root before bed tonight. I'm interested to know if it will aid my sleep. I am feeling like I have nothing to show for what I've learned because there is no sum-total test of all this material - at the outset I may have come up with the question - if there was an aid or a practice test that would gauge how I would do on the beginning material of acupuncture study for boards - NCCAOM - like the PSATs were the SATs. Something to tie all this material together? I need a bag of rice.
Since we will not start Ground Rounds for 5-Element Acupuncture until next semester, I have been told that we are by omission to write our own history of TCM and Japanese Acupuncture styles, that is, in our own words, and I have looked at very little of the requirements after History & the date it's due is the 8th of January 2013. I was also told we will not be doing a manikin but I think I may do one anyway. I am going to look through the rough copies of meridians to be able to diagram LI, SI, LU, LV, HT, and Pericardium of the hand and we will be learning the foot next Tuesday. I am looking forward to mapping with markers - this really is the meat of this program. Zheng though put it to us to always ask the question Why? for the treatment we give our patient and to design our own program rather than one by the book because, it seems, indications may lead us on the wrong path - she seems to say that we are finding out what is true for us and our patient.
I am getting a map of what the structure of the brain, spinal cord, and now the peripheral nervous system and now eyes and ears are like according to diagrams. I really took to heart & I felt better once I heard Mike O'Neil's story about the optometrist who went to study at the Community College and the Professor went into way more depth w/ the eyes than even he knew - needlessly complicated comes to mind - & that he's gonna make it as simple as he possibly could is very nice of him. For Constance to - her kindness in easing us through the course is very nice. I do need a bag of rice to practice on & an idea of what the old stones used to look like - cover page with bian stone on it - for TCM, Japanese style - or Kiiko style has less history but the blindness thing is quite astonishing, not according to modern standards, practical or reassuring, maybe as a thing to set modern patients at ease - the fac tthat I have eyes is an advantage. Though I don't expect a multimedia approach, I do think a day to use our imaginations to craft acupuncture in a way we can understand and implement it is of vital importance - Is a good question for a patient - do you have a high pain threshold & will we learn points that have a high degree of danger - have these stories been published - do licenses get revoked, not to say that I won't be extra diligent in future needlework - obviously traumatic stories - but they really, got a lesson in the process.
Today was perhaps my finest day as an acupuncture student. I feel organized for the first time since I started and I have simply to go over Sheila's Lectures & my notes, some of Constance Frazer's videos and practice my Tui Na on a rice bag and I feel as if I'll have accrued some knowledge and skills. I have still yet to know my anatomy terms cold - from Lustig's course - that I may be able to tackle next Friday. Self test is something Constance Frazer mentioned that you might care to bring up - and verify that you've received those Berkeley professors' lectures - is that perhaps where the self-test - did she mean test ourselves on what we learned. Or is she to give us a take home quiz and explain that I just would like some clarification - that's all a student wants when they email a professor - what she plans to do. I know the basic outline of the eyes and ears - I have just to crunch it on Wednesday evening. This week, once I catch up on lost sleep, would be a good time to look over some library books for research project - Japanese and TCM styles of Acupuncture. And of course to hand in absentee forms. My impressions are that there are connections & correlations for the structure and functions of the points that lie on a particular meridian - I am unable, as of yet, to tie their relations - their relationships together so neatly - it hasn't come into focus, drilling the fundamentals of 5 element into my head will helps things seem more concrete & less like pores (individual), just dots that are not interconnected.
I am surprised I like Tai Chi & I regret the judgements I am making about our Qi Gong teacher, I've really gotta accept people for who they are. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. If Japanese style is like Kiiko Matsumoto's style of acupuncture, simple - wirelike stick this point here - internal qiring will affect the pain here, draining, surround key source points with needles, then I really like her style - hr. and a half appears to be "4 disciples" - very demanding, however, that's the schedule Chris Meister keeps.
No research ideas popped up during studying and class time & I did not study any acupuncture material today. I am eager to use some tips like thumb/pinkie measurements & that the meridians go in pairs.
I know generally where the meridians run on the hand and foot (leg) and I am happy I found three dimensional diagrams of points with shadings from Acupuncture Products. I am going to spend a half hr. this week drawing them myself. Still no research done on paper. Dr. Meister must be contacted tomorrow & an appointment for treatment scheduled with Kiiko's and his observation hrs. I would have 6 hrs. here and 10 hrs. outside, so 16/40 hrs. 24 hrs. to make up - perhaps for Thanksgiving Break.
For the most part, I reviewed Tui Na techniques w/ Norman and Deanna and really essentially gotthem down pat. What am I don't in acupuncture study? What do I find most interesting - I keep drawing parallels between ayahuasca treatment/healing and acupuncture - acupuncture is the scared healing technique of the Chinese - I dunno what their sacred vine is. I must read ahead for what? Is staying ahead so important, especially considering enrichment and the weekend class I will be missing? Look ahead even two weeks because away from school you're away from study habits, which are hard to break. The study of the history of acupuncture is quite fascinating with the advent of bian stone. What is the lure or the allure, why would someone want to stick needles in - the fact that from a marketing perspective there is evidence-based research that inserting needles into certain points in the body trigger the realease of endorphins, the body's natural opiates, from the brain - they are neurotransmitters that block pain receptors - or inhibit pain, I guess my job is to encourage a "human face" to put to acupuncture. Does health care crisis - did it trigger the rise in acupuncture as a Health Care field? Bush Medical Care - insurance premiums post 911 to a healthy alternative.
Doubly long tomorrow w/ factoid - for History of the style.
I feel as if I have nothing to show for my efforts - certainly I must do what I have been prolonging to do that is to look up definitions of conditions, syndromes, diseases like ischemia, amenorrhea, and so on - having at least an idea of the realm, genre or indications of such conditions will help me to define organ function, blood movement, and what happens - anything else that I left up. Sign up for treatment and ground rounds for after the wedding weekend and obviously verify that Dr. Meister will see me - hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone and get some hrs. What is fascinating to me about acupuncture so far? Proof is in the pudding - I have felt better & suffered less pain with - Tui Na techniques & palpation and such. I like mapping the meridians - It's fresh and it's new to me. My god the human dissection I may have nightmares about it.
Reisen Acupuncture needles
Blood supply, blood vessels, platelets, blood movement, and what blood is composed of and how it flows was what we learned today. Geographically I got an idea of the 4 chambers, ventricles and atrium and the movement of the Atrial Fibular sp? movement, downward movement of the blood from the heart as it branches out to the outer lower limbs. The end products of metabolism are H20 and CO2 (invariably) and the different things that are carried in blood - iron - hemoglobin and I cannot recall the blood - ahh albumin. I am happy with the information I've retained and I am eager to look up for some of those terms for internet files on diseases and conditions I might come across needling & to consider how I might treat them - much like PLA - case studies - pratcice tests or brain busters could facilitate the application of principles of acupuncture. I feel like I have my foot in the door and the potential - the magic is on the horizon - for my health and health and prosperity ahead and the joy of present - moment to moment - actual enjoyment, inspiration, enthusiasm, confidence, and love.
I neglected to write in my Acupuncture and that is really inexcusable. I need material, double, maybe triple the insight, journal writing helps my creative skills, but not freeform insight into what I'm learning and I relearned the secretions of hormones from the Pancreas tonight and was given some vital information about the minutes of the student representatives meeting (which is open to anyone - I was thinking of attending two weeks from now just to see how it goes and to see how the administration is feeling about our and the other class's wellbeing - only with Alla's permission. Rereading the minutes may be insightful. Just getting a treatment from Dr. Meister and shadowing will give me a great amount of notes and I'm hoping to write a paper - maybe I an pencil an 11:00 in on Monday with Dr. Meister post Heather.
I don't think I have expressed this, so I will adress the issue right now - the popularity of 5 Element style acupuncture - our, I know mine has, attention spans have dwindled down so much that that kind of special attention seems impractical and a poor use of time. I believe it has its place because I have through personal experience seen the benefits of talk therapy & in many ways it is indispensible - you may have a healthy body but a diseased mind - and that is not complete victory. The pace and stress and pressure and most of all fears of the life in America is crazy - it can be soul crushing - so patients need the patience of a 5 element acupuncturist - perhaps the idea of talk and then later in the week an acupuncture session. Is there an element (joke) of psychology to 5 Element and what percentage of referred patients are head-cases and is their a dual psychologist/acupuncturist partnership somewhere out there and is it functioning.
*******************A brilliant notion struck me - why not learn how to draw the anatomy of the body - what better way to know it - like the staff artist in that crazy Gunther human dissection - this must be the best way to learn the anatomy and the points - like how rich are the guys who made illustrations of the naked men and women with the points?*************************
Acupunture Synopsis
Yesterday I discovered I had caricatured everyone I ever met instead of characterizing them. I realized accepting people for who they are. Period. End of sentence. Behavior may be erratic. What option have we but to accept I am having a difficult time getting over what Dr. Lustig said to me after my test. The way she said what she said - it's like echoing in my head - on replay. What Jude said was true - I must channel that into something positive. I will do good for myself & for others - I know that. Forgetting a name and a point, in the long run, will it motivate me to do better - I think so. One thing I am sure of, there is more new words in A&P books than in fiction books combined. Maybe it is a matter of using a telescope in hopes of using a telescope in hopes of someday using microscope.
I seized up again today & felt like all eyes were watching me - but I later figured it out on my own. I learned scraping and other rubbing techniques. It was enjoyable & I made some stempds toward my future - buying a lab coat. This gave me a greater respect for massage - I just thought it was rubbing the skin with no concern for control - but it really is a delicate skill.
I noticed an improvement in circulation and wellbeing since Tai Chi and massage. I didn't believe I would be reaping the benefits of practice with others this soon.
I had a difficult time getting through Frazer's class today because I don't think that, obviously they are just feelings she is expressing, it appears that she is very morbid & cynical - in many ways she is like a person who feels she can't be redeemed that she has seen too much and that she's seen enough. She's channeling some fears and some trauma & at this point I cannot, I will not try not to let it rub off on me. Channel what she's seen enough. She's channeling some fears & some trauma & at this point I cannot, I will not try to let it rub off on me. Channel what she's saying into something constructive.
Right now I feel I'm making progress, I feel as though I've gotta cut through the bullshit, but right now the bullshit is the meat, the "times tables" - the stuff you gotta memorize to move on to bigger things, greater applications. I think I'll have good luck with the flashcards & I've got a good framework right now - new class tomorrow which I believe continues til end of the month and beyond.
Look ahead but don't delve really - you need a trained acupuncturist to clarify the material. Hard to say concretely what I've learned except to get a feel for the body.
I am hoping that this journal will generate ideas for a research project & at least it will keep me writing. I am not worried about the paper - in fact research and writing and citing are my forte. I want to really make the writing without to-be verbs and have it humorous pithy, interesting and not some fluff/bullshit English Lit paper I wrote. Wednesday I plan to make the trip to East Orange to look for a mannequin - I should contact Kate for a ride - I wouldn't want to damage it on the bus, I must hone in on the types of qi points and how the well points are interrelated to Mu/Shu points, Xi Cleft points, etc, cause I'm really not getting it seems way more in depth than we've really talked about. I plan to consult the new book to see how the page numbers line up. Or simply to create a shortcut to those well points. I am geting a better idea of what qi is and how it changes "It is still the one qi" even though there are many types. A good idea for a project or a treatment option is the TAI - in Columbia, MD, perhaps how the trend has changed from Traditional 5-Element Constitutional Acupuncture to many forms. Analogy of Fly-fisherman - purist versus rod and reel - style is different - a joke about Obama in there - has Obama ever tried acupuncture? What about anyone in his cabinet?
I learned the 12 Cranial Nerves, the diagram of dermatomes and Myotomes and that I must drill these A&P names into my head. I had some words of wisdom that made me feel better - Prof. Oneil saying first year you don't know anything. How many of my classmates will be here for herbs - none so far - perhaps some will change their minds - otherwise, how will they mix in students from previous years. Will I feel as though I am apprenticing? Or perhaps transfer students. I am considering buying some moxa, for on its own for incense. I am learing some interesting terms - insulting - one organ insulting another is an organ injuring anotehr because of an imbalance - say a liver not ascending can affect the heart qi - that crisscrossing action of "axis" better helped me understand the positioning and movement of qi spleen, stomach, lung/kidney - might have to double check on that.I'd like to do a summary of what I've gleaned from OTA's because of the archaicness of the language I do not grap it - ideally I would like t things to come into focus - in the most simplest terms possible - I've learned a great deal in 2 1/1 weeks - I am 16 days in & I can massage & palpate the major bones and muscles of the body. I know techniques for sanitation & health of skin, I feel like I've learned more about the human body - who am I picturing when I think about the structure & functure - a model, or a patient - am I visualizing them?
I organized papers - I looked over an intake form for the first time & a problem, or rather, a question arose about current vs. historical conditions and ongoing health habits. I'm distressed just now that I have not yet referred anyone to the clinic - I am happy to be off today and tomorrow - gives me a chance to be thorough and catchup a tad - I should consider getting a manakin this Thursday. I dunno what I can do to supplement my learning of the points - there's a credibility & spirit element too that I never considered - will I be too sickly - visibly showing an imbalance. will we know how to turn it on and off. For instance - just looking at me now - do you have the ability to suspend your clinical analysis - will I find myself evaluating haphazardly - without ethics - willy/nilly so to speak? If so, is their a solution?
Short and sweet tonight - watched videos tonight on osteoblasts - bone formation and osteoclasts - bone deregulation, osteoid and so forth, osteoporosis & storic (sp?) - that inhibit bone growth, structure of bone, it's importance to stabilize body, and the effect of osteoporosis. Good videos
Take a good - 60 minutes, or 1/2, that time to type the transcript of the YouTube videos vital information - don't forget telomeres.
My focus is schoolwork - the rest will come later - I would like to be surprised - so far this material is do dry - I guess at first it is - rubbing, scrubbing, pushing, wiping, and foulage - have we done foulage yet - it is a dredging technique I know I can't recall. I am familiar with the different Tui Na styles and know their Chinese phrases, functions, and indications. It is best I look over finger manipulation - the second class, I am still confusing one techinique with the otehr on the first few. I really had fun with the first set and I was encouraged with his comment that I was using good technique. Fear of being a test subject needs to leave me - we're all going to be tested on - Tui Na, Palpation, Yin/Yang, Exogenous Factors, 6 Yin 5 Yang Organ Theory, and history of point location and acupuncture supplemented with A&P & Human Biology, is what I've learned thus far. It is time to extract some fun from what I'm doing. So far I've expressed my reservations, fear, it is something that has taken me far from my comfort zone. It is encouraging that Mike O'neil says we know little or nothing after Year 1. Biology class one night a week will free up my schedule - January will be wider open and should culminate some things. Things will get better I will have to believe.
I am interested to know what our projects will entail and I'm eager to do research. I am wondering what my thoughts onnotes will come out to - thinking freely about what my first impressions were before Yin/Yang and after and how this has become more complicated will definitely be good brainstorm material for whatever the project is - Getting a thousand 1500-2000 words will be helpful I think 0 to give me an idea - to wrap my mind around these concepts - expecially for OTA.
On the herbal front I sampled my Valerian root before bed tonight. I'm interested to know if it will aid my sleep. I am feeling like I have nothing to show for what I've learned because there is no sum-total test of all this material - at the outset I may have come up with the question - if there was an aid or a practice test that would gauge how I would do on the beginning material of acupuncture study for boards - NCCAOM - like the PSATs were the SATs. Something to tie all this material together? I need a bag of rice.
Since we will not start Ground Rounds for 5-Element Acupuncture until next semester, I have been told that we are by omission to write our own history of TCM and Japanese Acupuncture styles, that is, in our own words, and I have looked at very little of the requirements after History & the date it's due is the 8th of January 2013. I was also told we will not be doing a manikin but I think I may do one anyway. I am going to look through the rough copies of meridians to be able to diagram LI, SI, LU, LV, HT, and Pericardium of the hand and we will be learning the foot next Tuesday. I am looking forward to mapping with markers - this really is the meat of this program. Zheng though put it to us to always ask the question Why? for the treatment we give our patient and to design our own program rather than one by the book because, it seems, indications may lead us on the wrong path - she seems to say that we are finding out what is true for us and our patient.
I am getting a map of what the structure of the brain, spinal cord, and now the peripheral nervous system and now eyes and ears are like according to diagrams. I really took to heart & I felt better once I heard Mike O'Neil's story about the optometrist who went to study at the Community College and the Professor went into way more depth w/ the eyes than even he knew - needlessly complicated comes to mind - & that he's gonna make it as simple as he possibly could is very nice of him. For Constance to - her kindness in easing us through the course is very nice. I do need a bag of rice to practice on & an idea of what the old stones used to look like - cover page with bian stone on it - for TCM, Japanese style - or Kiiko style has less history but the blindness thing is quite astonishing, not according to modern standards, practical or reassuring, maybe as a thing to set modern patients at ease - the fac tthat I have eyes is an advantage. Though I don't expect a multimedia approach, I do think a day to use our imaginations to craft acupuncture in a way we can understand and implement it is of vital importance - Is a good question for a patient - do you have a high pain threshold & will we learn points that have a high degree of danger - have these stories been published - do licenses get revoked, not to say that I won't be extra diligent in future needlework - obviously traumatic stories - but they really, got a lesson in the process.
Today was perhaps my finest day as an acupuncture student. I feel organized for the first time since I started and I have simply to go over Sheila's Lectures & my notes, some of Constance Frazer's videos and practice my Tui Na on a rice bag and I feel as if I'll have accrued some knowledge and skills. I have still yet to know my anatomy terms cold - from Lustig's course - that I may be able to tackle next Friday. Self test is something Constance Frazer mentioned that you might care to bring up - and verify that you've received those Berkeley professors' lectures - is that perhaps where the self-test - did she mean test ourselves on what we learned. Or is she to give us a take home quiz and explain that I just would like some clarification - that's all a student wants when they email a professor - what she plans to do. I know the basic outline of the eyes and ears - I have just to crunch it on Wednesday evening. This week, once I catch up on lost sleep, would be a good time to look over some library books for research project - Japanese and TCM styles of Acupuncture. And of course to hand in absentee forms. My impressions are that there are connections & correlations for the structure and functions of the points that lie on a particular meridian - I am unable, as of yet, to tie their relations - their relationships together so neatly - it hasn't come into focus, drilling the fundamentals of 5 element into my head will helps things seem more concrete & less like pores (individual), just dots that are not interconnected.
I am surprised I like Tai Chi & I regret the judgements I am making about our Qi Gong teacher, I've really gotta accept people for who they are. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. If Japanese style is like Kiiko Matsumoto's style of acupuncture, simple - wirelike stick this point here - internal qiring will affect the pain here, draining, surround key source points with needles, then I really like her style - hr. and a half appears to be "4 disciples" - very demanding, however, that's the schedule Chris Meister keeps.
No research ideas popped up during studying and class time & I did not study any acupuncture material today. I am eager to use some tips like thumb/pinkie measurements & that the meridians go in pairs.
I know generally where the meridians run on the hand and foot (leg) and I am happy I found three dimensional diagrams of points with shadings from Acupuncture Products. I am going to spend a half hr. this week drawing them myself. Still no research done on paper. Dr. Meister must be contacted tomorrow & an appointment for treatment scheduled with Kiiko's and his observation hrs. I would have 6 hrs. here and 10 hrs. outside, so 16/40 hrs. 24 hrs. to make up - perhaps for Thanksgiving Break.
For the most part, I reviewed Tui Na techniques w/ Norman and Deanna and really essentially gotthem down pat. What am I don't in acupuncture study? What do I find most interesting - I keep drawing parallels between ayahuasca treatment/healing and acupuncture - acupuncture is the scared healing technique of the Chinese - I dunno what their sacred vine is. I must read ahead for what? Is staying ahead so important, especially considering enrichment and the weekend class I will be missing? Look ahead even two weeks because away from school you're away from study habits, which are hard to break. The study of the history of acupuncture is quite fascinating with the advent of bian stone. What is the lure or the allure, why would someone want to stick needles in - the fact that from a marketing perspective there is evidence-based research that inserting needles into certain points in the body trigger the realease of endorphins, the body's natural opiates, from the brain - they are neurotransmitters that block pain receptors - or inhibit pain, I guess my job is to encourage a "human face" to put to acupuncture. Does health care crisis - did it trigger the rise in acupuncture as a Health Care field? Bush Medical Care - insurance premiums post 911 to a healthy alternative.
Doubly long tomorrow w/ factoid - for History of the style.
I feel as if I have nothing to show for my efforts - certainly I must do what I have been prolonging to do that is to look up definitions of conditions, syndromes, diseases like ischemia, amenorrhea, and so on - having at least an idea of the realm, genre or indications of such conditions will help me to define organ function, blood movement, and what happens - anything else that I left up. Sign up for treatment and ground rounds for after the wedding weekend and obviously verify that Dr. Meister will see me - hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone and get some hrs. What is fascinating to me about acupuncture so far? Proof is in the pudding - I have felt better & suffered less pain with - Tui Na techniques & palpation and such. I like mapping the meridians - It's fresh and it's new to me. My god the human dissection I may have nightmares about it.
Reisen Acupuncture needles
Blood supply, blood vessels, platelets, blood movement, and what blood is composed of and how it flows was what we learned today. Geographically I got an idea of the 4 chambers, ventricles and atrium and the movement of the Atrial Fibular sp? movement, downward movement of the blood from the heart as it branches out to the outer lower limbs. The end products of metabolism are H20 and CO2 (invariably) and the different things that are carried in blood - iron - hemoglobin and I cannot recall the blood - ahh albumin. I am happy with the information I've retained and I am eager to look up for some of those terms for internet files on diseases and conditions I might come across needling & to consider how I might treat them - much like PLA - case studies - pratcice tests or brain busters could facilitate the application of principles of acupuncture. I feel like I have my foot in the door and the potential - the magic is on the horizon - for my health and health and prosperity ahead and the joy of present - moment to moment - actual enjoyment, inspiration, enthusiasm, confidence, and love.
I neglected to write in my Acupuncture and that is really inexcusable. I need material, double, maybe triple the insight, journal writing helps my creative skills, but not freeform insight into what I'm learning and I relearned the secretions of hormones from the Pancreas tonight and was given some vital information about the minutes of the student representatives meeting (which is open to anyone - I was thinking of attending two weeks from now just to see how it goes and to see how the administration is feeling about our and the other class's wellbeing - only with Alla's permission. Rereading the minutes may be insightful. Just getting a treatment from Dr. Meister and shadowing will give me a great amount of notes and I'm hoping to write a paper - maybe I an pencil an 11:00 in on Monday with Dr. Meister post Heather.
I don't think I have expressed this, so I will adress the issue right now - the popularity of 5 Element style acupuncture - our, I know mine has, attention spans have dwindled down so much that that kind of special attention seems impractical and a poor use of time. I believe it has its place because I have through personal experience seen the benefits of talk therapy & in many ways it is indispensible - you may have a healthy body but a diseased mind - and that is not complete victory. The pace and stress and pressure and most of all fears of the life in America is crazy - it can be soul crushing - so patients need the patience of a 5 element acupuncturist - perhaps the idea of talk and then later in the week an acupuncture session. Is there an element (joke) of psychology to 5 Element and what percentage of referred patients are head-cases and is their a dual psychologist/acupuncturist partnership somewhere out there and is it functioning.
*******************A brilliant notion struck me - why not learn how to draw the anatomy of the body - what better way to know it - like the staff artist in that crazy Gunther human dissection - this must be the best way to learn the anatomy and the points - like how rich are the guys who made illustrations of the naked men and women with the points?*************************
Acupunture Synopsis
This Acupuncture
Synopsis concerns all of the material I have accrued during the first semester
at Eastern. It will be written in a freeform fashion to encourage brainstorming
ala the journals I wrote for my Freshman seminar. Alrready I have gotten off to
a rough start – I am continuously self-correcting. That is not the point of
this exercise. A good topic to start off with is Theory. I will put off talking
about the body. In theory, a disease, an ailment, even to go so far as to say a
feeling, can be classified as either yin or yang. Of course, that something is
either yin in relation to yang, or yang in relation to yin. There are two
situations when this theory can be applied: for two opposing features within
one phenomenon or two different phenomenon with opposing characteristics. To go
a step further in evaluating the body, or any phenomenon in existence, the Five
Element Theory can be applied, but not without first citing the Yin and Yang
Theory. One can go further to apply the Eight Principles. So we’ve got the Yin
Yang Theory, the 5 Element Theory, and the Eight Principles. Thus far I have
only really seen the 5 Element and a little bit of the Yin and Yang displayed
in clinic. What do I like about Yin and Yang. Well, it makes it easier to
diagnosis disease and pain in a person because you can further break it down –
that is the function of the Theory I believe – in order to get to the root
cause of imbalance and the reason behind those symptoms that manifest as
disease. So we are getting at the source root. Or root source, rather. Everything
and anything is cited as an imbalance – as in an imbalance in the weight of one
element, one more Yin thing than a Yang thing, something that shows up on the
surface, which at the moment, is about as much as we can evaluate – as novices.
A good place to start would be 5 Element and work our way inwards. But it may
be true that that is a backwards way of learning things. That in order to work
with needles you’ve gotta have a good spirit & that comes from within the
deepest part of ourselves, to the subatomic particles, the essence of what we
are composed of. I beg to ask the question – if I have a history of imbalance
within myself – a long history of disease and imbalance – am I qualified to
work on treating an imbalance in another. Are there such examples of doctors of
acupuncture that did this – in China
or elsewhere – Eastern Medical doctors. The one that comes to mind is Ernest
Che Guevara, who had an awful case of asthma and treated patients – and he
didn’t really take care of himself because for him, maybe it was a never-ending
cycle of illness he didn’t bother to put up a fight for.
Really, can Yin and Yang be applied to something as
fundamental as right and wrong? I don’t think they really can be applied. Basically
from the I Ching comes the notion that is the embodiment of the Ying Yang
Theory, and that is change – things are constantly in flux. Things that don’t
change in the universe stagnate and die – and this can be applied to the
functioning of the organs as I’ve seen. Obviously we are looking for an optimal
functioning of the organs down to the tissues down to the very cells of the
body and the blood that moves materials. These are the fundamental substances
that makeup the human being. Structure dictates function. There’s blood and the
interstitial space where particles move, and muscles and bones and tendons and
ligaments and cartilage and enamel and tongue and eye and hormones and
chemicals like neurotransmitters – these all have, as Sheila says, a job
description, a function. Even though I feel sometimes like a lump, there are
multitudes of activities occurring within my person to “keep me right.”
As winter approaches the body and the mind, and the spirit
are going to be nurtured and nourished by more yin activities – of, I’m
guessing, rest and relaxation, storage, more heat I suppose to offset the
external environment which is going to be colder. Whatever I can do to foster
such an environment.
Obviously the dilemma I face is that I want to achieve
longevity, but I don’t want to do any activities, well some things I don’t mind
doing, that will produce longevity.
_________________________________________________________________________________
"You're walking around with a cheat sheet - your own body" - Jeremy Steiner - very true - once you can really own and know and break down your body anatomically, into meridians deep and superficially (SCM and those surrounding it was what I was thinking of) & as Tai Chi instructor advised us about those who do not have a good "body of work" or "body at work" so to speak, he will not let them touch his body. Commercially that's important - and having a good Qi gong program in place is important to me - scheduling the discipline will be something different for me but the rewards will be great. Getting down on paper (and condensing) the breadth of my knowledge about acupuncture may be a good exercise and the penultimate brainstorm - may jostle something loose. Thursday is the time for that undoubtedly.
I have an accurate mental picture of the way the Central Nervous System works and also how the adrenals, the senses sense, adrenals adrene, and I'm beginning to understand the composition, the function and structure of blood from a Western perspective. I must needs review adrenals and blood again prior to the midterm. I am going to cut out the majority of history and extra notes that I took and lookover the concepts that she wrote during in class notes - and I've gotta get an idea of the Mu Points and how they relate to the generational cycle. This is a full time job. I live and breath acupuncture or at least, acupuncture introduction - Western Medical terminology has not settled in yet and neither have the points - they need a thorough looking over. I'll be ready as I can be.
Very little was retained today, regarding blood, sometime this week would be a good time to do a brainstorm of what interests me about acupuncture mvoing forward and I feel as though I must have something concrete. Obviously I know some tricks, or rather, some ways not to let the patient come between me and achieving the goals for healing them - do you want your ____ to go away" must be blunt. I have many unresolved feelings about Dr. Meister's suggestions about antidepressants psychology, and what I should get out of my classes at Eastern and my opinion of him has been shaken. He speaks his mind freely but I feel like he unfairly rails against people - though he said he hates people - more than likely he hates himself - he's so full of resentment that it comes out in his conversation w/ people.
I learned some points on the Lung Meridian today - Lung 1-3 and went through Ren Points of the Conception Vessel only to see the Du Points of I must commit these to memory. We went so quickly through the Ren channel that I'll have to look on the Ken Doll to analyze these points.
Terminology and diseases I want to know well so I will be able to do an intake a referral, a diagnosis, and long term care - if I have patients long term I should know their patterns, disease patterns if necessary and Western knowledge is essential, the terminology can be looked up but speaking the same language as a professional - as if I were a physician, it feels important to me - and perhaps knowing what the common causes of complaint and what to be ready for - and whatnot to expect when ready for the unexpected - that's obviously the ideal mindset of the acupuncturist - Wednesday perhaps spend a bit of time writing down the breadth of knowledge you have learned and can regurgitate and don't lose focus on your goal - to create the right program, the right system that is unique to that particular patient and remains true to the acupuncture (traditional and classical style). As Dr. Meister said - treatment begins with putting needles in and seeing what works - many times he won't have a real sound idea what he is going for - but he hopes for "magic to happen" as he says - to borrow a phrase from Kiiko Matsumoto.
I have an urge and a good feeling about my synopsis fo what I've learned so far - as far as the function of qi from a scientific perspective and as well as an Eastern view - philosophical questions to pose might be valuable and a question to pose to the professors - like - how do you learn thousands/ hundreds of terms a week that you were unaware of previously?
I have a thorough knowledge of the muscles/ well not so much muscles, but bones, and have yet to learn many nerves, arteries, blood vessels and their different functions. I feel as though I could write down but not give a presentation on some of the points and I can show nearly all of the Ren Points. It is going to be a decompressing week and one that I can finally get out.
I feel like the approach of my teachers at Eastern is all wrong and that even the Nei Ching proves that it is all wrong - social status and standing - I doubt that we will learn anything about the demographic until we're in the area where we are practicing. Other ways of failure may be reinforced. It appears there is a lot of jumping around of different points in all but the last PAA course. One meridian w/ points and learning them in detail, then, or before that, learn the functions, keeping in mind we're treating the whole person not the disease.
Learned for the first time about EOS and the Dawn - Pink - color of Emphysema related edema, god I've gotta look those up so I gotta look up the blue bloater and pink puffer - and get my hands on that doosie of a test - and really prepare for the boards.
Also, Health Concerns product, Resinall K ingredients
xue jia, san qi, er cha, yan hu suo, hong hua, mo yao, ru xiang, bing pian
These herbs are commonly used for blood stagnation pain and traumatic injury,sprain/strain, contusion, bruising
For external + internal use.
Internal: 15 drops sublingually (0.5ml) between meals.not for pregnant women
External: apply to cotton ball and rub into affected area
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