Chinese Medicine by Day

Today marks the fourth week since I began my first semester at the New England School of Acupuncture and, if I were to summarize my feelings over the last month, they’d coalesce around a single theme: anxiety.

And maybe overwhelm. Yes. Definitely add overwhelm to the list.

You see, studying Acupuncture is about as complicated as it gets–at least for me. From complex theory examining the interplay of Yin and Yang and the mechanisms by which Qi is made (and circulates) in the body, to Western biomed classes that include anatomy & physiology (God help me) and Integrated Anatomy, the totality of the experience is enough to make one’s head spin.

Especially if that someone has been out of school for nearly thirty years!

In fact, the last month has dredged up feelings that I thought I’d buried decades ago: namely test anxiety and nagging doubts about my study habits (Do I study enough? Am I studying the way everyone else studies? Am I studying the right way?). My worry over how I’m approaching Acupuncture school has at times been near-crippling.

Adding to my near-constant worry about my studies is a work-school balancing act that I imagined would be easy to juggle (Oh, Rob…) but, as of this writing, more closely resembles a number of balls in the air that are rapidly losing altitude and crashing back to Earth.

I’m grateful to have a coworker who’s picking up a lot of slack, enabling me to collect my (now meager, part-time) salary so I can cash-flow tuition and avoid student loan debt.

I hope to hang in at the “day job” long enough to cover the rest of my education. But school has been so overwhelming that only time will tell whether this plan can work. More on this as the semesters unfold.

In short: it’s been a massive challenge. But it’s also been… utterly incredible!

Living side-by-side with my anxiety is an unfolding fascination about a medicine that captured my imagination long ago. Studying the body’s intricacies from both Eastern and Western perspectives is a mind-blowing experience. Learning to palpate bony landmarks such as ribs and collarbones and scapulas–as well as more subtle tissues like muscles, tendons and ligaments–and feeling confident that I can find them–is hugely empowering.

And last week, for the very first time, I opened a package of Acupuncture needles and, under the supportive and watchful gaze of an instructor and several TAs, inserted one impossibly thin, sliver-like needle into a lime.

The simple act of needling a piece of fruit immediately brought me back to my why and reminded me that, a mere three years from now, should all go according to plan, I’ll graduate and pass my boards and set forth healing the world, one Acupuncture needle at a time.

Remembering this, even in fleeting moments throughout an otherwise head-spinning day, keeps me grounded, motivated and engaged. When I say I can’t wait to begin my career as a healer, I mean it: I cannot wait.

But first things first. I need to do well on tomorrow’s Point Location exam. We’ve learned three channels so far–Lung, Pericardium and Heart–with a total of 29 points.

I’ll need to describe their precise location on the body and, as part of the exam’s practical component, find four that will be randomly selected for me by my instructor. I’ve been studying these channels and points for weeks and am committed to nailing this test. I feel confident in my studying (who knew?) but will ask for your luck regardless, dear reader.

Now it’s off for a spot of morning Yoga before beginning today’s classes: TCM Theory, History of TCM and A&P.

More soon. And thanks for being here.