or Herbs and Acupuncture?

Acupuncture and Herbs are two different Chinese healing modalities. They are based in the same fundamental theory and grow out of the same foundational ideas, but they were not necessarily always practiced by the same people, and require a different set of skills and knowledge. They can both heal a number of conditions, but in different ways.

I personally was attracted to Chinese medicine because of acupuncture and my personal experiences with it. I am a very hands-on person and love massage and touch. Initially, I was planning on going to a school that teaches only acupuncture because of a philosophical belief that one should master one medicine before learning a second. But, for better or worse (I think better) that is no longer the case. I still have the option of learning them sequentially, but I’ve been hearing from the school’s faculty and from some senior students to go ahead and learn it all at once. While I’ve heard plenty of practitioners who use only acupuncture say they don’t need herbs, I’ve also heard practitioners say they can’t imagine treatment without herbs (I’ve even had one student tell me that her perception is that those that learn acupuncture without herbs are not as good at acupuncture).

Now, I also tend to be the kind of person who wants to do it all at once, and while I was attracted to Chinese medicine because of acupuncture and the physical touch elements involved, I was coming from a background of ecology. My love of nature and of the plant and animal world is deep, and any opportunity to learn more and connect in new ways to the natural world is one I’m eager to pursue. This semester I’m taking my first herbs course (required for all students regardless of whether or not they’ll be studying herbs further down the road), and I’ve fallen in love. I am super excited about learning more, and about getting to know as many of the herbs as possible on a personal level by growing them (if anyone knows of seed suppliers please inform me, I have a few leads on some sources in North Carolina and upstate New York and will happily share more information as soon as it’s confirmed). I’ve also experienced first-hand the healing power of some of the herbal formulas (specifically a formula called Shao Yao San) and want to be able to share that with patients.

Which leads me to the next point of contemplation: will I end up using herbs therapeutically? While they are powerful healers, patient compliance is not always the highest (they’re often inconvenient to take, or taste bad), and they add an expense to any treatment (which isn’t an option for all patients), and depending on where I end up living and practicing, they might not be easily accessible.

Doing herbs with the Acupuncture program means 2 more semester, a fair amount more debt (which I plan on discussing in a future post), and most importantly a potential that I’ll be missing a little from both (the human brain can only absorb so much information at a time, right?). One thing I’ve noticed so far is that I’m spending a lot more time studying herbs than I am studying my acupuncture points. Part of that has to do with how my memory works, and I just happen to be able to get points right away, but I wonder what things will look like down the road.

There’s another little conundrum hiding it’s face amongst all these contemplations regarding my ability to take classes in the Classical Chinese Medicine while doing the full Traditional Chinese Medicine program, but I won’t go into that right now.

So there’s one of the many many things that’s been on my mind regarding my studies, As always, I’m open to hearing people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas.

Shine on, and drink some dandelion tea to help heal the world (more on this soon enough).