`Nuts and Weird’ (direct quote from A. Wegman)
The strangest thing about the CA movement is that no matter who you are (and this applies to the founders of this movement, too), CA is not what you think it is, initially.
Even if you thrill to the principles of CA, as stated in The Remedy, or in certain paostings in the forum, there’s another aspect to it that you cannot see just yet, if you are beginning (the first three years?).Even if you embrace it and dedicate your working days and body to it, and you find success (in increased numbers and income), you don’t really know it until you’ve been doing it for a while.And then, even if you think you understand it, and you set up your practice to follow the basic template that you think you see, you may not succeed.If you do succeed, it may not be because you knew what you were doing.
CA seems so inclusive, to practitioners as well as patients.We may look at WCA’s success, remember Lisa R.’s reasoning at the beginning: Even if just one shows up in that hour, I’m still making $15 per hour?”it looks easy and simple.It isn’t.It’s deceptively complex.Thank God it’s forgiving, because of the scores of bad calls and choices we’ll make along the way, and still manage to end the day with a little something in the till and a practice that hasn’t imploded.
Oh, it isn’t easy, either.Sure, your happy patients will market for you, but that doesn’t mean that you can let them do it all for you, especially in the beginning.Your promotion and marketing, even if on a low-key level, is essential to keep the momentum going.Learning the rules of the law and the profession, physically launching the new practice and determining how you will fund all this will necessarily eat up so much of your time and energy, you’ll forget at times or most of the time that a CA practice only appears to be a medical practical.
We can talk a lot about service and techniques and dedication.But CA is not even something we DO.
It’s a journey of transformation, a long winding road littered with rocks that all say “Aha!:”
I am beginning to suspect that we’re all involved in something that is part of a Master Plan that was channeled through Lisa.(Is that Nora I hear up there Bwahahaing?)Maybe we all got sucked in because we all thought that if we went to school long enough, we’d find out how acupuncture really works, and that’s not possible.
I’ve reached the point now where I can’t turn back, but I’m still groping, because I now admit that all my conclusions last maybe 24-48 hours, and then everything shifts again.The forum lets me watch all of you posters and your transformation.It’s such a privilege, and I often see myself in you at one time or another.I’m eternally thankful for this experience, as it enriches me constantly.And dismay?Yes, that’s part of it all, too.
This feels like some kind of movie that’s going to be nominated for an award someday. Well, I’m strapping myself in for a long one.
Author: Lumiel Kim-Hammerich
I earned a B.A. in Hotel/Restaurant Admin, but soon realized that I wanted to do something more meaningful. Became interested in nutrition and education when pregnant with my first child. Interest in health led me to becoming a foot reflexologist, which led to a massage practice and suddenly discovering the love of my life: Chinese medicine! Practicing for 18 years, Hawaiian/Californian, acu-educated PCOM San Diego/OCOM Portland. Started my CAP in <a href="https://www.communityacu.com/" target="_blank">San Rafael</a>, Marin County, July 4, 2006, even while earning my doctorate at OCOM. This didn't seem to make sense, but it was my way of comparing the old way of practicing acupuncture to a simpler, truer expression of what I had learned in school. I love it. And I love being a part of this grand movement to change the world by being true to our conscience. Reopened all over again when I moved to a place where no one had ever heard of me. 3 months open so far, and just beginning to meet expenses. I have no doubt this will succeed and I will be hiring by next year.
Yeah, that was me…
…it’s hard to get off a maniacal cackling jag once you start. It’s like hiccups.
Nice post.
i don’t remember anything
i don’t remember anything about groping in the Remedy. did I miss out?
You have to read between the lines.
I’ll be happy to demonstrate for anyone who wants to observe at my clinic.
Amen
“If you do succeed, it may not be because you knew what you were doing.”
funny you mention that…
has anyone listened to the little red book or the remedy on tape played backwards?
i was just messing around one day but it’s pretty trippy. i can kind of make out “big dam kleenex good “. good thing we went for the jumbo boxes of tissues around the treatment room. we have our fair share of plant waterers come through.
i think i also may have heard “worse ship new? pine” – not getting that one.
anybody else hear anything on that or is that just me?
How did you get those books on tape?
And speaking of jumbo tissues, one of my new patients, a young male college student, stopped at the desk on the way out and asked, “Is there something in those needles that makes me want to cry everytime I get acupuncture?”
And that worse ship new pine is really worship Lupine. Dang, she’s sneaky!
what are we doing?
Things are not what they seem.
Nor have they ever been otherwise.
….overheard from Lama Surya Das
All true religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-bound.</
okay smarty pants
I guess your audio quality must be bad (that’s what you get for downloading it illegally off the acu-net)….it was actually saying “curse, flip supine”. And, obviously (I’m not even an L.Ac. and I know this) it is in reference to the infamous Master VanMeter technique….don’t ask…I’m not saying anything else.
rumors were flying…
makes more sense now, i heard that Skip treats people lying prone in the recliners now, and flips the needles so they go in to the acupoints handle first, talkin all david lynch style blindfolded. called it the twin peaks pancake special.
i thought it originally had something to do with not building new pine wood ships, and portland i was guessing has recycled wood shipyards and water and stuff like that.