August, 2009

Now perhaps we can all take a breath for a moment and consider a couple of other ideas about what all this adds up to. One of the things I admire most about this movement is that it isn't just about the medicine. As a matter of fact, it's less about the medicine than it is about the ideas underlying it.

I was thinking more about the issue of not getting behind in the

Hi,

This summer I was a receptionist at WCA part time. One day  we got an email from an acupuncturist who we had sent a postcard to. I decided that it would be interesting to email back and try to reason with him so I took some time to write a response.

...wanted to share an interesting story unfolding at clinic...

Community : We Really Mean It

Depending on what point of view you have, entitlement can be invisible or blatant. Basically when you have internalized it, you don’t see it. When you haven’t, it stands out like a sore thumb. I think of entitlement as the behavioral aspect of privilege.

In the few years since the CAN forum has been live, I've noticed that discussions that invoke the reality of classism are often the most heated. While it is not my intention to fan those flames here, I invite my friends and colleagues who use that lens of analysis with more rigor than I, to enlighten me on any blind spots or distortions in my subjective reflections shared here.

Last month I wrote about how things had slowed down quite a bit in June, and how, at the time, it led me to re-consider what I might be able to improve on.  I think that the slowdown and the time to consider my work was a bit of a blessing in disguise, because it really did get me thinking about what I could do better - and fortunately I had many wonderful suggestions from many of you to fue

http://acmac.net/

I drove 1,773 miles in June to attend a Dr. Tan Conference. I stopped at Starbucks no less than 15 times on the 30-hour drive. I could have stopped for more. Had I wanted to, I could have grabbed a java every 15-30 minutes--from Maryland to Chicago--because there were that many cafes. In some cities, Starbucks had even planted itself right across the street from…itself.

I have a clinic that is so small, we whisper in the waiting/reception area.  Some time ago I found this and saved it, and now cannot remember where I got it!  But I'd like to share it with other Whispering Clinics.

The National Institute Of Health has just published the results of its 2007 survey on the usage of CAM ( Complementary and alternative medicine).

Reading the CAN blog is like walking on a beach and picking up treasures...pretty stones, shells, admiring the uniqueness in each individual's way of expression. I like to leave Nature the way I found it, put down the pretty stones and shells so other creatures can use them, but that doesn't stop me from taking the essential beauty in my heart.

I was talking with one of my regular patients recently about the ‘right’ amount of time for an acu treatment and came up with a tiny gem (this fits in with the analogy used in the new book ‘acu is like noodles’, where acu tx’s are equated to nourishment from food).

But the whole picture isn't rosy - the current trends indicate that acupuncturists are leaving the practice in high numbers.