A couple of months ago I strained my left shoulder (carrying a very heavy box early in the morning on a cold winter day). I expected it to heal itself over the course of a few days, but after a week it was still bothering me. In my investigations to better understand injuries and how to best heal them from a Chinese medicinal perspective I came across the book A Tooth from the Tiger’s Mouth by Tom Bisio (a book I highly recommend). From the book I gained a better understanding of the causes of injuries, how to treat them, and perhaps most importantly, learned some ways to prevent them. I’d say a lot of the content was a variation on things I already knew on some level, but sometimes reading about something you already know in a new way can be incredibly valuable (and there’s a lot of really practical information and exercises).

One of the ways of treating injuries is using liniments and the book includes a number of recipes to make your own. It’s fairly simple if you have access to Chinese herbs. You just get the herbs in the recipe and soak them in alcohol for 6-weeks to 3 years (the longer the better of course), stirring frequently. I thought it would be a super-fun and educational experience, and that it would be super exciting to treat friends, family, and future clients with a liniment that I made. So, while I was walking to class one day with my good friend and was telling him about this, he mentioned that I could probably sell it too. Pretty much every biker in the city should have some…

This got my creative juices flowing and since then I’ve been experimenting with making medicinal teas (which I could customize based upon a person’s constitution and the season) and thinking up lots of fun and interesting ways to get more hands on experience with business. Unfortunately, treatments are something that will have to wait until I’m licensed (though I am doing a certification program over spring break that will allow me to needle a specific set of ear points for detoxification and stress relief), but having a feel for getting the word out about products and services is important, and it’s something that most acupuncture school don’t provide enough of.

If anyone has any ideas, advice, questions, or book recommendations about running a business please let me know.
If you want to pre-order some trauma liniment, I expect my first batch to be officially done by September (so try not to get injured this summer!).