25th Year Thank You
January 29, 2025
Greetings patient reader,
This post is a somewhat personal story, inspired by the completion of my 25th year of practice.
In the deep winter of early 1999, I opened my acupuncture practice. Starting a new (second) career had lots of unknowns--it scared me.
How fitting, then, that I was in the groove of the vibe of winter. In Chinese medicine winter is the season of the unknown, and the not-known. It is viewed as requiring courage and fortitude because what we don't know can make us pretty fearful. I'm not sure I wielded much of either of the two virtues, but evidently just enough.
The years have confirmed to me one of Chinese medicine's profound understandings: Everything lives and moves within the tempo and cycle of the seasons: from the push of spring, the maturation of summer, the wistfulness of fall, and the endurance of winter. Twenty five years feels like a full organic cycle. It feels momentous.
Here are some inspiring stories from my healing archives:
I remember the busy woman whose nose was perpetually congested. Her eyes were puffy and felt scratchy to her. Treatment helped her with the intense allergies creating these problems. But her real issue was that she was in a career that fulfilled family expectations, but left her spirit in distress. With a newly found clarity in her head (and some energy from her treatments), she found a career congruent with her passions, and--a bonus--a spiritual path.
A bit more dramatic was the foreign dignitary facing liver failure. He came for intensive treatment for a few months. Tests later showed his liver had normalized.
More recently, a lively woman had a severe, phlegmy chronic cough that no one could resolve. It made her ribs hurt, left her exhausted, and worsened her headaches. I applied an approach from a lesser-known acupuncture tradition. The cough stopped.
Facilitating such changes has made this an amazing career.
Naturally, the above highlights are just that: highlights. Most of the time treatment provides improvement in increments over weeks or even months.
Our bodies and minds are strong and durable. How well you steward your natural resources is key. As many of you know, I encourage you to attend to the small stuff promptly so you can avoid having big, scary stuff to address.
You may have been coming to me for acupuncture for ten or even 20-plus years. Or you are relatively new to my practice. Your wellbeing has mattered to me, quite personally. You don't see what goes on outside of the clinic: the courses taken, the treatments tested, the planning. I have taken great pleasure in all of this.
So, once more, I send a heart-felt thank you for the trust you have shown me in helping you improve your health!
As I already said, it's been amazing.
Wishing you ongoing good health and good spirits.
