How We Heal

One of the truly most inspiring and amazing aspects of my work is the opportunity to witness my patients as they share their stories.  Initially, these tales frequently start within the parameters of  strains- pain- trauma muscular-skeletal style.  They are reported as “facts” : “too much sitting”, “went to India and never felt the same since”, “it started after an accident”, “two weeks ago and I’d never had back pain before”.   Chinese medicine trains us to chronicle these onset histories, but since this is a medicine of spirit as much as it is of body and mind, we are apt to follow these mundane lines of questioning beyond the check boxes of where/when/how etc.  It is my experience that the greatest healing for many of my patients comes when we go a little beyond their data to see if there might be a hidden area that added to or sometimes even caused the event in the first place.

With one patient we discuss her difficulty loosing weight, along with other issues of body pain, fatigue, frequent headaches, insomnia, anxiety and digestive problems. As we continue the intake, I gently note a cast of “meek” anger and carefully and respectfully ask my questions and make sure she knows that she doesn’t have to say anything or answer at any time: the ball is in her court.  At a point in the interview she casually throws out that “I know my job is killing me”.  I glance at her and allow her to digest what she has just admitted to.  I repeat her words back to her so she gets it.  She DOES get it too.  Her eyes swell with tears as she accepts several tissues and dabs her panda eyes.  She can’t believe she just said that…

She explains through the tears that she can’t leave her job: that’s impossible: her husband (…….), the paycheck  (…….) There is no other job she is qualified for (……).  She believes her story.  However, she has just let the cat out of the bag: she knows that what she has said is equally true: that she is allowing this job to have a powerful negative effect on her health and well being.

We do acupuncture.  She takes an herbal formula to support her underlying imbalances that show up in her pulses.  We check in each time she comes in for a session and each time she learns to deepen her sense of relaxation and calm.   In time, as she gets progressively more balanced, layers start shifting: pain is cleared, many of the other symptoms also seem to ease.

Seven months later after she has stopped regular treatments, I get an email from her.  She is now living in the east coast with a new job, and pretty much a new life.  I re-read her description of how her life has changed, and it blows me away.

This is not witchcraft.  It’s the real magic of chinese medicine, and it works…..

Advertisement