Quick Update…

Finals are right around the corner and I’ve got a paper to write, and to be perfectly honest I’m pretty grounded and unstressed. I feel like I have strong footing with the material, and mostly it’s just a matter of reviewing and refreshing. That said, I am a little behind on that paper.

I just wanted to say hello! I’m determined to maintain this blog and keep it updated. I can let everyone know that I have a bunch of ideas up my sleeves that I’m looking forward to sharing in the near future. I have a feeling this winter break I’ll get a bunch of writing done.

In the meantime, stay warm, and well nourished (body and spirit!).

Presence and Patience

I’ve been noticing lately that the story I’ve been telling myself and others is one of eagerness to move forward. I want to start learning points and needling, I want to get more hands on experience, to be able to help people heal with Chinese Medicine. Eagerness is great, however the impatient aspect of eagerness can be less good, it can lead to frustration and disinterest in the present.

So I’m practicing a few exercises to continuously bring myself back to the present. I’m using my breath, my senses, and my posture. Throughout the day, I’ll have moment where I catch myself slouching, or holding my shoulders up, and I’ll sit up strait and relax my shoulders. Other times, I realize that I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts (I have a tendency to be up in my head), so I bring my attention down lower in my body, my pelvis and legs, and I breath down into my belly and let myself focus on my breath for a bit. One of my favorite practices is sending my attention to my senses. Once again, I notice all of attention and awareness focused on my thoughts or internal feelings, so I bring my attention outward to my skin, ears, eyes, and nose. It always amazes me how much is going on around me, how beautiful the people and sounds and colors can be, if I only remember to take the moments and appreciate them.

These exercises are particularly appropriate for the Fall. The Fall is associate with the Metal phase (or element) (I plan to discuss the 5 phases/elements and how they fit into Chinese Medicine in the near future), which is related to the Lungs and to our superficial and sensual experience of the world. The Lungs, which are our barrier with the outside world (we breath the outside in) are also responsible for and reflected in the skin and it’s health (many skin ailments are connected to the Lungs which is why often diseases like asthma and eczema go together).

Bringing awareness to the surface of our body, our sensation the outside world, and/or focusing on our breath is a good way to balance where our energy is directed (in our modern world we tend to spend a lot of time in our heads, and not as much time in our bodies).

My hope is that these exercise will help bring me back to appreciating the present. If’ I’m using my energy to appreciate the present I won’t have any time or energy to be impatient. I may still be eager to continue to learn and grow my knowledge and skill-base, but I’ll also be enjoying where I am.

Thoughts? Comments? Try it, let me know if it helps…

 

Life, School, Stress, and Feeling Good

Fall Colors of the Alleghany Mountains of Virginia

As the Fall begins to sink its fingers into the Northeast with cooler weather, shorter days, and some crazy wind we’re moving into more complicated material and through an intense midterm period. I managed to get out the city a couple of weekends ago, which was incredibly important for my health (though by now some of the therapeutic effects unfortunately seem to be waning). My girlfriend and I drove down to the Allegheny Mountains of Virginia. We were lucky to have perfect timing and were there for peak colors (the trees turn earlier in the mountains, despite the latitude) and even saw a Bald Eagle!

Now, I find myself working harder than I’ve had to in a while, as my two part-time jobs are demanding much more from me. I have two part-time jobs because I want to make it through school with minimal debt and because I want to continue to cultivate myself beyond the boundaries of Chinese Medicine. I’m working as an environmental educator for an organization called The Wild Lab. It’s an awesome organization and our program is super-cool. Essentially, we’re using an iPhone application to teach students about birds and about citizen science. My other part-time job, which is currently only a couple of weekends a month, involves care for adults with mental disabilities. I’m currently skipping my daytime classes to attend a course that will certify me to administer medications (I’ve still managed to make it to my evening classes, both of which involved quizes this week), the course is a New York State specific thing.

All that said, I did want to hop online, write a little update, remind myself and the world about the realities of being a student, and share briefly an experience that has me thinking more about health and what it does and/or doesn’t mean, and how we regulate our health.

Last night, I was feeling very stressed out, a bit overwhelmed by the number of things on my plate (tasty as those things may be). I was tired, and having trouble finding the energy,desire, or focus, to do anything, but zone out (something I clearly needed to do). To create more context I had gotten very little sleep the previous night, and eaten crappy food that day. Today, I’ve been feeling much better, and in fact came home excited to work on flashcards and memorizing all of these medications and what they’re prescribed for, because learning is awesome (of course I had to write first). Last night I got to bed at a decent time, and today, I think I ate stuff that my system was more happy with.

Nothing external really changed all that much. I still have 3 midterms on Monday, and my first day teaching in the classroom on Tuesday, and I’m still working part of this weekend. But I’m feeling better, and therefore more able to cope with the challenges I face. Now, we all have ups and downs, that’s natural. We have to balance the energized Yang periods of our days and weeks with restorative restful Yin periods of time. But I’m wondering about how we feel within those moments, and who or what’s in control of when and where they occur. I don’t have answers, and I think the answers are different for everyone, but the only way to find the answers is to be aware and observe ourselves and pay attention to what’s affecting us and how.

For the record, personally, I’m examining specifically which foods do what to my body and state of mind, and have been learning a lot about nutrition from a Chinese medical point of view, and hope, at some point, to have a series of food and nutrition related posts (hehe, though I’m sure we’re all sick of different people telling us what and how to eat – which is a whole other topic I plan on exploring).

So, let’s all try to pay attention to what makes us feel good, and what makes us feel not so good… and let’s try to do more things that make us feel Good

And now… off to the books.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts?

This American Life: More is Less

As I move deeper into the semester I seem to only get busier. I recently heard on the radio a great discussion about the Healthcare System in America (This American Life: More is Less). The show really delves into some of the underlying problems within the American Healthcare system, specifically with an eye towards the question of why it’s so costly. One story looks at the doctors, one at the patients and one at the insurance industry.

Really worth listening too, and there will be a follow-up show next week, so keep your ears peeled.

This American Life: More is Less

Quick Update and Great Resources!

School is going really well, still mostly just learning the basics, but a firm foundation is essential.

I am in the midst of working on a post about different practice options (private practice, hospitals, community acupuncture) and thanks to Yael Ernst of Chinese Medicine Notes I came across a great  blog with tons of business advice for alternative healthcare practitioners called Alternative Health Practice. I wanted to go ahead and get the word out there.

It’s encouraging to learn about all the easily accessible resources there are for anyone who puts forth some effort to look. I also realized, that I’ve become aware of a few tricks to become more efficient in my searches and even more importantly, to have the information come to me! I’ll be sharing some of those insights soon enough as well.

In the meantime, it’s back to the books.

Why I chose PCOM (or How PCOM chose me)?

Once I decided I wanted to start my journey to become a Chinese Medicine practitioner, I had to figure out which school to go to. Fortunately, I had experience picking out schools from my undergrad years, and I’d say the first step this time around was to talk to people.

What became apparent was that there are a few different styles of acupuncture and some school focused on a specific style,  so it was important to know which style resonated with me.  Location would also be a key factor, as would the scheduling (many schools offer classes on the weekends and/or evenings to allow people to work part/full-time) and of course the overall vibe of the school.

I immediately narrowed my search down to the Northeast, specifically Boston and New York City (I did look at some other schools around the Northeast) mainly because I didn’t feel like it made any sense for me to uproot myself and go somewhere I had no established connections, I’ve done enough of that in my life, at some point I might be ready for it again, but not yet.

Boston has one really great school, NYC had three. I slowly realized that I wasn’t really going to leave Brooklyn so soon (I’m part of a very supportive and nourishing community here) so I had three options: Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM), Tri-state, and the Swedish Institute.

PCOM  is the largest of the three, which potentially means that they have the most resources. It’s also the most expensive. It offers the most schedule flexibility. PCOM was also a strictly TCM school, with a strong emphasis on herbs. My initial vibes from the open house weren’t all that positive. I felt like it was a good school, that would teach me acupuncture, but that maybe it lacked some umph, some spirit. It felt very matter-of-fact.

Tri-State totally wowed me at their open house, though I was already somewhat more inclined towards Tri-state. They offer a unique 3-tier curriculum where you learn TCM, Japanese style acupuncture, and a European French Meridian System/American style. The idea being that more styles equals more tools and different patients will respond better to different types of treatments. Alumni I spoke with were very happy with their education there. Tri-state also offers a very hands on curriculum with palpating from day one and needling within the first trimester. Their schedule is set, and is pretty solid. Classes are mostly on the weekends, with a couple core classes on Monday and Wednesday(?) evenings. I left the open house feeling unsure whether I was wowed by quality or by charisma, and unsure about having so much class time on the weekends

Then there was the Swedish Institute. It seemed somewhat hard to get a hold of anyone and hard to get answers. Their focus was clearly on massage. Their acupuncture was unique because it had a Classical focus. The Dean, Jeffrey Yuen, is a well known leader in the field of Classical Chinese medicine and as an ordained Daoist priest in the 88th generation of the Jade Purity School he brings a lot to the table. I had heard a lot about him, and felt very drawn to the Classical approach. It sounded like I would be go deeper into the medicine. He spoke at the open house, and while he was speaking I just felt in my gut that I needed to go there. It was a surprising experience because I generally think of someone who makes decisions very intellectually, based upon methodical thinking and analysis, but here I was feeling a very strong gut feeling of “this is where I need to be.”

To make an already long story short, Jeffrey Yuen has moved to PCOM. So, I moved to PCOM, which now offers 3 programs: a 4-year Masters in Oriental Medicine (MSTOM), a 3-year Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) program, and a different 3-year acupuncture program I don’t quite understand much about. I’m planning to go down the CCM path, which doesn’t include the herbs (the Classical approach is that you should first develop your skills as an acupuncturist and later learn herbs which originally evolved as separate medicines). I do plan on learning herbs shortly after I’m done with the program because I understand that they’re very powerful. Fortunately, we don’t have to make any final decisions until after our second semester, after we all take Herbs 1, but I’m pretty comfortable and confident with my decision. Interestingly enough, I feel like PCOM strongly stresses MSTOM program, largely because it’s the only program that certifies you to practice in California which has its own higher level of requirements for licensure. It’s like they expect us all to want to move to California at some point for some reason.

So that’s how and why I’m at PCOM. I’m happy there so far, and I think that bringing the CCM program to PCOM will be beneficial to everyone and so far am happy with my experiences there.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or want to share about your decision to be at whichever you’re school at!

Stories…

After an interesting weekend Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) celebration I was excited to get back to school today.

In my clinical counseling class, we’ll be discussing a lot about how to hold space for patients, how to listen and engage patients in a therapeutic way, and we’ll learn when and where and how to suggest other therapy options.

Today in class we shared our stories with each other, first in pairs, then in small groups and then with the whole class. I LOVE stories, I think part of why I’m going in to this field is to hear people’s stories (something I don’t think I realized until now). I think our personal narrative is tremendously powerful in shaping our lives, and knowing that we have control over that narrative is probably one of first steps to affect change in our lives. This is why stories are so important, listening to stories, hearing stories, and telling stories (our own or those of others) to me are sources of a tremendous amount of potential power.

One of my classmates mentioned that she came to study Chinese medicine after coming to an understanding of how our emotions affect our bodies through her experience acting. She was saying she wants to help people better understand the story their body is telling, and help them change their story to a more positive one through healing. Once we understand how our story affects our health, we can try to understand our story, and look for what changes we want to make.

Consider this an introduction to a theme I hope to further explore. Please feel free to share a story and maybe over the next few days try to be aware of how you tell stories when you do. Which events do you highlight? Which interactions do you leave out? How do you tell the same story differently to different people? (While you’re at it, pay closer attention to the stories of those close to you, and how and what they tell).

Feel free to share experiences!

Chinese Medicine old and new

I wanted to write a brief post about what acupuncture is today and how it became what it is. This is going to be part of a larger conversation that I’ll inevitably be having regarding the many styles of acupuncture. This all mostly comes in light of me having all these ideas for posts, but feeling like some background was necessary (for instance, why and how I chose Pacific College was based a lot on what they teach and how they teach it, which needs context).

Before I start I just wanted to say that anyone interested in understanding how Chinese medicine works, or learning more about the history should definitely consider reading The Web that has no Weaver. Ted Kaptchuck does a much better job than I will.

Chinese medicine is well over 2,00o years old. How old exactly or where or how it started no one knows; there are bunch of theories and some are rather far fetched, ultimately what matters is that we have a tremendous amount of wisdom and an incredibly powerful method for healing.

What we do know is what Chinese medicine looks like today, and we have a reasonably good idea as to how it came to look this way. In 1911 the Chinese government banned its own traditional medicine as part of its effort to modernize. They really wanted get rid of the old mythical or folklorish superstitious nonsense. But, in the 1950’s the nation faced a healthcare crisis (hmmm…that sounds familiar) and needed a cost-effective way to treat the masses. The government realized that their own traditional medicine could potentially be the solution (hmmm…) and also felt like it could serve as a way of instilling national pride. So the government collected many of the best physicians and compiled what is now known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

There are other styles out there and I think it’s probably helpful to know as a patient or a student the different types of acupuncture out there and what you’ll be getting; not that one necessarily works better than the other, but they are different styles and therefore will feel different and may be more or less effective for you as an individual and may mesh better (or worse) with your personality. At some point I’d like to go a little more in depth into the similarities and differences, but for now an example: Japanese acupuncture uses less needles, the needles are thinner than TCM needles generally are, and tends to use less points which mostly fall on the arms and legs. If you’re afraid of needles, or are really averse to feeling anything, this might be something to look for.

I still don’t  know everything about any of the methods (that’s why I’m in school…), but I felt like I got a deep enough understanding of most of the styles out there that so that I was able to feel which style would match with me as a practitioner (I’m obviously still exploring and learning and fortunately don’t have to make any final decisions about styles until my 3rd semester). As of now, I plan on studying Classical Chinese medicine, a term I’ll explain soon enough…

(P.S. To anyone out there who has a good link to any online decent summaries of Chinese medical History, let me know so that I can post it here. I’m obviously not going to rewrite any of the books, but want to provide at least some resources to people visiting this blog on the blog itself and would love to provide links to other resources)

The first step

I’m starting this blog to chronicle my journey to become a Chinese medicine practitioner. I am doing this both as a tool for myself and to hopefully create a resource for others who are interested in acupuncture and herbs for their own healing or as a potential career path for themselves.

I plan on discussing the medicine itself and how it works, healthcare from an Eastern perspective, and acupuncture as a profession. I’ll probably also pepper into the mix some posts on student-hood in all its glory and surely how my location, New York City, and the rest of my life influence it all will come up.

Feedback, questions, comments, and the like are welcome (from criticism of layout and color scheme to corrections in grammer, to a friendly hello).