Welcome to Devi Health: the Blog!!

At Acupuncture.com, Lawrence Howard, LAc, MSAc, submitted an article this month called The Mind of an Acupuncturist.

He writes, "The mind of an acupuncturist is complex. They listen to the Western complaint, convert it to TCM terminology, treat the patient, and then translate their findings back into Western terms in order to interact with Western-minded people. In summary, there’s a whole lot more going on in an acupuncturist’s mind than 'sticking a pin where it hurts.'"

Well said. The mind of an acupuncturist is complex...and then some. We also ask questions about a patient's overall health, her eating and sleeping habits, her emotional landscape, her exercise habits, her sexual habits, and then some - we observe a patient's posture, her facial expressions, her hand gestures, the sound of her voice, and then some - it all fits together to create a pattern, and that pattern is what we treat.

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I am grateful for the acupuncturists who made this profession legal, at least in Illinois where I practice, and who are continuing to make it more "mainstream" and widely accepted as a legitimate, complimentary mode of health care.

At the same time, acupuncture is not securely legal in every state, and in Chicago, where there is an abundance of acupuncture available, I often hear comments and questions from friends, family, and patients that indicate that even if we are present and abundant, we are still unknown (and in some cases, untrusted) by a sizable portion of the population.

Thus, we have the opportunity to take our presence to the next level, the level of not-just-legal-but-accepted-and-relied-on. In my opinion, we will accomplish this not "just" as practitioners of a health modality but as health educators.

We have to keep talking about what we do and why we do it, and not just in text-bookish, technical terms. We have to continue attempting to convey the meaning of and behind the work we do, what drives us, what makes us continually more and more relevant as health care providers. And then some.

So consider this blog an attempt to bring "and then some" to fruition.

Thanks for visiting, and let me know what you think!

Be well!