Acupuncture is not just the needles.
Acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is a whole system that includes needles, herbs, diet, massage techniques and exercise. In order for the acupuncture treatments to proceed quickly, the patient needs to go through a process of changing the daily life that causes morbidity. Through dialogue,monitoring and observation, the patient can direct the therapist and the treatment to the point of prioritising what is urgent each time.
Each therapist has in their “toolbox” the techniques that suit best, and according to the needs of each patient, decides the suitable combinations.
When the healing process begins, both are responsible. Initially, the therapist must listen carefully to the problem, and then the patient must implement what is suggested so that there is a therapeutic direction.
The reason we have all these tools is to make any treatment more and more personalized and have choices. Not to fill the walls with degrees and certifications.
Acupuncture is such a successful treatment because it can support by all means the energetic movements that need to be made to change the situation of the treated person from something morbid.
When one decides to follow this route, it requires commitment, discipline and trust. Many times what is suggested is against what a person has learned to do every day, starting from the base which is food and sleep.
Self responsibility
The application of holistic techniques aims to activate a person’s self-healing powers. In order to do this, appropriate internal and external changes need to be made that will address the root of the problem.
For this to happen, the patient needs to take responsibility for themselves and apply the given advice. Even though it might seem difficult, or “turn the schedule upside down”.
These small sacrifices that are made bring the person closer to their nature and their body.
The patient is confronted precisely with their priorities. In their internal scales they puts whether they want to stay with the problem or if they are willing to find a way to get rid of this problem.
The therapist is not a crutch, nor does he build relationships of dependence. We need the complete opposite. The therapist provides the tools for the client to take their power back.
The changes start in the largest percentage from the diet.
Modern humans have learned an ease of providing goods, so when the moment comes to make a change in their habits, with a substantial inner connection, they feel that they are being uncomfortable. This brings a resistance to change, due to fear of the unknown.
For example processed foods.
Someone may complain that they don’t have time to go to the farmer’s market, buy, clean and boil the greens and prefer to eat some packaged snack.
I am specifically referring to the farmer’s market, so that someone can see and feel what the land and place provide per season, the energy of the grower and even care about which area the food comes from. After all, if we talk about an aspect of fair trade is to get the products of the land from the growers directly and not through intermediaries.
Α person thinks is saving time by choosing something packaged and processed instead of choosing whole food from farmers’ market. This time is wasted elsewhere. This kind of management has the effect of contributing to the repetition of the fast-paced life pattern that increases stress levels.
What does it take for treatments to progress?
The conscious choice that with treatments someone takes personal responsibility to follow the therapist’s advice or not. The therapist does not have the role of a judge, he is a fellow traveler. The acupuncture technique can work on its own, but it is not enough. It is not enough because there will appear a superficial and temporary relief of some symptoms, but not the elimination of the problem. When we seek healing, it takes combination and cooperation.
There are times when the therapist’s suggestion is followed. For example, avoiding certain foods. Possibly the patient will at first follow the suggestion, but as soon as sees relief, will try this food again. This is natural, legitimate, human. So as soon as they make the realization by themselves, then they enter into a process of even more conscious change.
How can I make it work?
Do it your way, make it work into your reality, so that you can give yourself your flexibility.
For example, the changes suggested in the diet.
If someone does not apply them, cannot understand whether what is suggested is beneficial for them or not. The practical part is what most people struggle with. Yes, meals need to be prepared, time taken, certain ingredients put in in a certain order. You will take your lunchboxes with you around all day to all your jobs if necessary. That’s where internal commitment comes in from personal motivation.
Another example is the various decoctions and herbs we suggest. You may need to prepare your bottle with your doses in grams or ml that will be suggested to you.
The solutions are actually very simple. Resistance to change breeds excuses. We, therapists, hear excuses. We understand, we love, we sympathize. But with excuses, no change was ever made. This is the responsibility of the person.
The discipline of these applications is the same as one would have if taking an antibiotic. The changes that take place in the body are drastic, immediate and need vigilance and observation. There may be action A by the 3rd day and action B by the 4th day. Only by communicating with the therapist can there be proper guidance.
For the therapist to give additional instructions to the patient for each extra step, such as herbs and diet, time and further study of each case is required. No proposal that is made, is made by chance. If someone who decides to receive acupuncture treatments is not willing to follow through on the advice, then the body will show the limit of improvement as far as it allows. Thus, the treatment will reach a point, but it will not be completed and moreover, the problem may recur.
Therapists, too, before recommending anything, have first applied it to themselves. They have received treatments from other healers, advice, diet, herbs, and whatever else anyone gives. We know the difficulty, we know what we give, but at the same time we know that everything is possible.