The heat is super crazy today. It is the fourth day of over 40 degrees Celsius and commuting by bike in this weather is not much fun. Still, the animals have coped so far. A possum collapsed under my neighbour’s tree two days ago and although I was not around at the time, my daughter knew what to do. A bucket of water and a squirt with the water sprayer did the trick and the possum was able to move on. Sharing our knowledge to benefit the wider community is good for everyone.
Last month, a whole year ago and before the busy holiday season, I was fortunate enough to have attended a five day seminar in Perth on the energetics of acupuncture. Dr Aré Thoresen is a Norwegian veterinarian that has developed and refined the ability to use acupuncture from an energetic perspective. I first met Dr Aré 10 years ago at another veterinary conference and his ideas have influenced the way I practise and my philosophies about the body and the environment that it exists in. 10 years on, I was privileged to listen to Dr Aré discuss the different energy levels that we can tap into while treating patients and how blockages within us and in the environment can impact on cancers. These ideas and more have certainly provided me with more tools in my box of tricks (for those of you that are familiar with my battered silver box that gets lugged around on my bike, it just got a bit heavier).
Dr Aré discussed the importance of finding the deficiencies in the body and treating that rather than focussing on the more obvious signs of excess, namely the symptoms of the disease. It ties in well with my previous studies of Biodynamic Osteopathy where we try and find health in the body and encourage the health to spread rather than looking for the more obvious symptoms of disease.
It also makes sense that acupuncture is more than just learning the location of acupuncture points. It should be about feeling where there are deficiencies, excesses and blockages. Again, combining my training in following fascial tension has allowed me to find acupuncture points rather than to know the acupuncture points. Dr Aré was able to show us how to find these points with our heart rather than our head.
I am certainly looking forward to continuing my journey in asking why, what, how, where and when. Hopefully there will be plenty more ‘who’ to share this journey with.