Reflections on TCM...

So it's almost been three months since I've been back into the unique and challenging lifestyle of full time slog...

So I thought it was time for some trademark "reflection"...since it recently came to my attention that I still have another 900(!) or so days to go!!!

That figure is pretty daunting....I'm just so glad that TCM is Such a Passion - I am also incredibly grateful for such wonderful teachers and mentors that are so readily accessible and who have so much dedication in sharing their knowledge - the quality of the teaching here has been absolutely AWESOME- it is so great when you actually get taught by people who are passionate about what they do- it just makes for such a refreshing and amazing learning experience!

Strangely, in contrast to many people who dream of not ever having to work, I've always had an utter craving for a) an autonomous career b) job/career satisfaction and c) that what I do has meaning in that it serves some purpose to the wider community.

I'm SO GLAD I'VE FOUND IT! As I go further and further into the real-life application of my craft, it just gets better and better and more and more satisfying...I love how everyday is unique, interesting and challenging...and how there is so much scope for me to engage in problem solving and creative thought, and the best feeling of all...when you get Results!!!

Recently, despite still being totally enamoured with herbs, I've come around on the acupuncture and am getting quite comfortable and confident in stabbing people and enjoying formulating my own point prescriptions...which is good because it's still more popular and widely accepted within the western community being a drug-free means of therapeutics...and at the end of the day when you're starting out, it's the acupuncture that's going to be paying the bills!


I'm still hating massage though - I don't feel this is likely to change-it's completely physically exhausting and brain numbingly repetitive: I'm still liking the "import big burly men from China" instead idea...

One drawback with the manual therapies though is when you're trying to treat yourself...it gets a little tricky with many points in unreachable areas and you kind of need to be a bit...ambidextrous. So for my own health I still tend to..."self-medicate" using herbs. As I was putting together my herbs this afternoon, it suddenly occurred to me...what a cool and powerful tool it is to have a) access to the herbs and b) this kind of knowledge...it sure beats an hour wait in a GP's waiting room where you inevitably catch some bug and get sicker, just for a simple prescription!

It also occurred to me...hmmm, perhaps in "self-medicating" I am no better than a druggie?!

Because we think of all of this stuff in terms of "tonics" it was never readily apparent that I'm still ingesting...drugs! And...everyone does it...we're such a vitamin and herbal supplement taking culture...now I have a whole new understanding for how our conventional medical system is so drugged up- you can't expect people to be able to actually be awake and functional doing back to back 16 hour shifts at strange hours without a little "help": THAT'S unnatural!!!