Spiritual Acupuncture?

[Guest guest]

Hi sharon

my comment about treatment beginning as soon as we greet the patient etc,

wasn't intending to imply that we should metaphorically hold their hand or give

them 'lots of emotional attention' for the duration. It might mean that, but

certainly in my treatment room, it rarely does.

what i meant was that we have 45 minutes or so to enable someones system

(however we conceive that) to come into balance, and that sticking pins in

someone is only part of the process.

once i have rapport with that person, once i have their whole undivided

energetic attention, i know i can then manoever them into a position where a

certain resonance takes place ( with/between what and/or whom is another

discussion). it is my belief that when a person rests within that resonance,

healing at a deeper level invariably takes place - or at least has the

opportunity to.

what constitutes 'manoevering' as i have called it might be filling someone with

joy or wonder, or really making them angry or afraid. it might mean doing a

series of tui na releases on them before inserting needles. it might mean

walking up the corridor after going to greet them in the waiting room at a pace

that makes it difficult for them to keep up. or it might mean hanging back

behind them and respectfully opening the door for them. i might spend a long

time explaining the subtleties of chinese medicine to them or be to the point

and brusque. At the root of all of these histionics is something far more covert

- the setting up of an intention - the intention of balance, of resonance.

i think we probably all do these things in our own way on a greater or lesser

conscious level. my point was that how we are makes a difference. technical

brilliance makes for excellent practitioners. mastery, i believe, requires more

than that. i don't think that being all nicey-nicey is what is required. what

helps is doing whatever it takes (obviously within the bounds of ethical

practice) to enable someone, on a deep energetic level, to have direct

experience of balance and harmony. if i have to act out a bit to help them get

in the right space to have that experience, then i will act out. i'll even stick

a few pins in them.

best wishes

jason

 

 

 

 

 

========================================

Message Received: Jun 13 2007, 11:56 AM

" sharon weizenbaum "

Chinese Medicine

Cc:

Re: Spiritual Acupuncture?

 

(sharon) I do agree with all who have said that healing begins the

minute a patient comes into the clinic and that being a good

practitioner requires a certain quality of attention - but....I also

feel that there is a tendency in the west to fortify a certain self

centered preciousness in our patients that may not be the best for

them. I am reminded of when I studied with my first Gynecology

teacher, Dr. Shu-rong Zhu. She is an excellent herbalist and I sat

with her as she saw patient after patient with all manner of issues.

Often a patient who was exhausted from bleeding or downhearted

regarding her fertility would begin to cry. Dr. Zhu would pat the

patient's hand and say " don't cry " and get on the with intake and

diagnosis. What I noticed was how the patient's seemed to feel

relieved that she could focus on the root of what was going on

without getting distracted by their emotions. She was very effective

with her prescriptions and patients adored her. This helped me to

see that compassion does not equal spending a lot of time listening

to an emotional story or even making the patient's issues the most

important thing in the universe. I see this in community acupuncture

clinics where the patients actually thrive on the possibility of

receiving acupuncture without being intensely focused on for an

hour. The conversational background helps take them out of

themselves. Self-centeredness and self-involvement is a profound

cause of illness and suffering and it can do patients a mountain of

good to be less important sometimes. It is also important to not

compensate for our inadequacies by giving lots of emotional

attention. An important form of compassion is simply to be really

good at what we do. When I was very sick I my doctor was very no

frills and brusk but I recall being very moved by the years she had

put into being so so good at what she did and bringing that to me

when I needed it.

 

Sharon

 

(yehuda)I'll never forget, that when I was in school, there was a

supervisor who was a tuina master, and was highly in demand at our

clinic. Technically he was really good. However, the whole time he

would be treating patients, he would be engaged in a running

conversation with Chinese interns, laughing and cracking jokes

(again, no pejorative intended, only I state his nationality to

indicate that I felt an insensitivity on his part, to have neither

his patients nor his non-Chinese interns understanding him). Besides

the obvious insensitivity in speaking a foreign language, I felt that

speaking at all in excess was inappropriate, and I felt like he was

looking upon the patients as nothing more than pieces of meat. Yehuda

 

Sharon Weizenbaum

86 Henry Street

Amherst, MA 01002

413-549-4021

sweiz

www.whitepinehealingarts.com

 

 

[Guest guest]

GAG

 

jason davies <jason wrote: Hi sharon

my comment about treatment beginning as soon as we greet the patient etc, wasn't

intending to imply that we should metaphorically hold their hand or give them

'lots of emotional attention' for the duration. It might mean that, but

certainly in my treatment room, it rarely does.

what i meant was that we have 45 minutes or so to enable someones system

(however we conceive that) to come into balance, and that sticking pins in

someone is only part of the process.

once i have rapport with that person, once i have their whole undivided

energetic attention, i know i can then manoever them into a position where a

certain resonance takes place ( with/between what and/or whom is another

discussion). it is my belief that when a person rests within that resonance,

healing at a deeper level invariably takes place - or at least has the

opportunity to.

what constitutes 'manoevering' as i have called it might be filling someone with

joy or wonder, or really making them angry or afraid. it might mean doing a

series of tui na releases on them before inserting needles. it might mean

walking up the corridor after going to greet them in the waiting room at a pace

that makes it difficult for them to keep up. or it might mean hanging back

behind them and respectfully opening the door for them. i might spend a long

time explaining the subtleties of chinese medicine to them or be to the point

and brusque. At the root of all of these histionics is something far more covert

- the setting up of an intention - the intention of balance, of resonance.

i think we probably all do these things in our own way on a greater or lesser

conscious level. my point was that how we are makes a difference. technical

brilliance makes for excellent practitioners. mastery, i believe, requires more

than that. i don't think that being all nicey-nicey is what is required. what

helps is doing whatever it takes (obviously within the bounds of ethical

practice) to enable someone, on a deep energetic level, to have direct

experience of balance and harmony. if i have to act out a bit to help them get

in the right space to have that experience, then i will act out. i'll even stick

a few pins in them.

best wishes

jason

 

========================================

Message Received: Jun 13 2007, 11:56 AM

" sharon weizenbaum "

Chinese Medicine

Cc:

Re: Spiritual Acupuncture?

 

(sharon) I do agree with all who have said that healing begins the

minute a patient comes into the clinic and that being a good

practitioner requires a certain quality of attention - but....I also

feel that there is a tendency in the west to fortify a certain self

centered preciousness in our patients that may not be the best for

them. I am reminded of when I studied with my first Gynecology

teacher, Dr. Shu-rong Zhu. She is an excellent herbalist and I sat

with her as she saw patient after patient with all manner of issues.

Often a patient who was exhausted from bleeding or downhearted

regarding her fertility would begin to cry. Dr. Zhu would pat the

patient's hand and say " don't cry " and get on the with intake and

diagnosis. What I noticed was how the patient's seemed to feel

relieved that she could focus on the root of what was going on

without getting distracted by their emotions. She was very effective

with her prescriptions and patients adored her. This helped me to

see that compassion does not equal spending a lot of time listening

to an emotional story or even making the patient's issues the most

important thing in the universe. I see this in community acupuncture

clinics where the patients actually thrive on the possibility of

receiving acupuncture without being intensely focused on for an

hour. The conversational background helps take them out of

themselves. Self-centeredness and self-involvement is a profound

cause of illness and suffering and it can do patients a mountain of

good to be less important sometimes. It is also important to not

compensate for our inadequacies by giving lots of emotional

attention. An important form of compassion is simply to be really

good at what we do. When I was very sick I my doctor was very no

frills and brusk but I recall being very moved by the years she had

put into being so so good at what she did and bringing that to me

when I needed it.

 

Sharon

 

(yehuda)I'll never forget, that when I was in school, there was a

supervisor who was a tuina master, and was highly in demand at our

clinic. Technically he was really good. However, the whole time he

would be treating patients, he would be engaged in a running

conversation with Chinese interns, laughing and cracking jokes

(again, no pejorative intended, only I state his nationality to

indicate that I felt an insensitivity on his part, to have neither

his patients nor his non-Chinese interns understanding him). Besides

the obvious insensitivity in speaking a foreign language, I felt that

speaking at all in excess was inappropriate, and I felt like he was

looking upon the patients as nothing more than pieces of meat. Yehuda

 

Sharon Weizenbaum

86 Henry Street

Amherst, MA 01002

413-549-4021

sweiz

www.whitepinehealingarts.com