Keep it simple, It doesn’t have to be so damn difficult!

Integrity, higher spiritual plane, bowing to mastery…all the recent discussions have really got me thinking and reflecting about the practice of acupuncture and my evolution as a practitioner. I feel it is meaningful to share my story as a timeline, as many of you may have a similar story and some of you may still be creating your story. 

First:

Going to acupuncture school…trying to gain as much knowledge as humanly possible. I was going to be knowledgeable about it all. Lets just say Redwing Catalog got some serious cash from me in school. I was sure that if I had an expansive enough library, I could cover all the ailments people had.

Second:

Graduating from school…on to a private boutique practice (joining a dear friend who was busy and gave me her new patients), realizing that patients did not fit book patterns and no one could afford the recommended course of treatment. Using many techniques, on every patient, so as not to forget anything, and not getting very far. Being frustrated that it wasn’t working out the way I thought it would. Don’t get me wrong, I had a successful practice, but I wasn’t seeing the results I expected. Trying to explain Spleen Deficiency and Dampness, when my patient asked me about their diagnosis, and wondering what expression appeared on my face when they looked at me like “what the hell are you talking about?” As Dr Tan said so accurately in the seminar I attended “you do everything you know on the patient, and they get up and tell you they don’t feel any different, and you say ‘what the shit?'” It was true…indeed, what the shit? Why weren’t these patients seeing more results? In my mind, something had to change…

Third:

Searching for something different…finding Lisa’s article in AT and connecting with that immediately. She gets it! And she is real, smart, attainable, down to Earth and passionate..hey I like this girl already! I contacted her and she told me about CAN.  

Fourth:

Finding CAN and finding home (breathing a sigh of relief)…realizing there were a lot more punks like me and they all wanted to share information and help me…what? Actual support from my profession instead of one-upmanship and secret treatment techniques? It can’t be…what took me so long! Then on to attending a Dr Tan conference and learning more effective ways of treating and using less needles.

Fifth:

Creating a Community Acupuncture clinic.  Finally practicing this medicine successfully and making a difference in people’s daily lives, that’s my integrity.  Realizing that I don’t need all those books, and I don’t use them (I am actually getting ready to sell them all to students!).  I don’t need all those extra techniques, just a box of needles and a comfy chair, to make people feel better. I love going to work every day, I can’t imagine doing anything else.  And I would never go back to practicing the other way.  This just feels right.  

Some will make it seem so complicated.  It doesn’t have to be.   Many will never get it, and that’s okay. Because until you do it, I mean really immerse yourself in it..the grit of it, you can’t possibly know anything about it. Until you feel that palpable energy of a room full of snoring patients…you can’t know.  

Finding Lisa, Skip and the CAN family has literally changed my life, how I practice this medicine, and how I think about patients and people in general. I am so proud to know these people and proud of what they have accomplished so far, and it’s only just begun.

Acupuncture doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. So, strip away all of that unnecessary stuff you are doing and just do acupuncture, keep it plain and simple and let the beauty of the medicine flow through you.

Melonie  

Author: Melonie Burgess, AP & Gene Burgess, AP Burgess

We all graduated from East West College of Natural Medicine, in Sarasota, Florida. We now have Sarasota Community Acupuncture in Sarasota, FLorida.