Where do Acupuncturists come from Mommy??
Acupuncturists are a rare breed. We want to help people…but in such a weird and interesting way that defies common approaches. My son asked the best question and I love him for that. “Why would someone go and get poked with a bunch of needles to feel better! That just doesn’t make sense!” What a great point he brings up (and if you follow me, he is such a ‘wood/metal’ archetype in Chinese medicine, things are black and white, logical or not and no in between). In this article, we will look at the deeper meaning of acupuncture and how one approaches such an out-of-the-box career when less than 50% of us are still in practice after 5 years..
I remember when I was in my 20’s. Vegan, idealist, organic to the extreme, and also very ready to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do to heal your body. It makes me physically cringe to think how wrong I was about the way the body and patients actually heal…ah, to be young again:) As years passed, my vegan-ness fell to the wayside as my children’s genetics screamed at my body for meat and pleaded for dairy through my pregnancies, and I obliged. My militant like adherence to all things health (yes, I would travel with a blender if you were wondering) finally loosened it’s grips on me and many of my clients reached their goals with or without me in their life. It turns out that I had less to do with their lives and their path than I initially was taught/thought. Although they equip us with passing multiple boards and as Master’s Degree, that doesn’t always mean we are the best fit for everyone.
Some of our relationships continue and some don’t, however, people always know where to find us when they need us. But the commitment that has stayed the same today as it was in my 20’s was learning to show up for someone else, regardless of where I was at. You could give me a lot of feedback on my 20 year old self (and many have, so thanks for that and I deserved all of it) but I knew how to show up physically and to varying degrees emotionally. Some days we show up better than others, but mostly getting there on time is half the battle and always being ‘dressed as nice as your best dressed client’ (my best dressed clients know to this day, this isn’t true) doesn’t always happen. Being a good patient and being a good provider is enough to make any one of the two go nuts. I think the thing that makes a patient a real pleasure to treat is just the willingness to come to our appointment together. That’s it. That’s 90% of the battle right there and that’s all they have to do to get categorized as a real pleasure.
It’s a big deal these days to find an hour to yourself and who you choose to spend that hour with is an even bigger deal. I could go on about how many great resources there are in Madison, but I’m not going to use this article to focus on that. Instead I want to focus on what we are and what we aren’t as acupuncturists at Isthmus Wellness.
What are Acupuncturists NOT…
Let’s start with what we aren’t. We aren’t you and we don’t know what’s best for you. We aren’t going to question your decisions as you seek what you need to feel and be at your best. We aren’t a group of providers that will ever lay judgement on your for taking any amount of medication or using Western medicine. We aren’t against Western medicine. We don’t try to sell you anything and we never recommend things we aren’t willing to do ourselves or at least try. We don’t judge your previous acupuncture or health providers if they did something different or outside of the box. We don’t question each others different approaches in-house and we trust each other to do the best we can with the information we have and with what we are seeing in the moment. We aren’t going to preach or share information you don’t want to hear. If we are going in that direction, please stop us if we have misread the situation. We aren’t territorial and we communicate when you bounce between the different providers in-house. We don’t have an acupuncture point to fix what is happening to you but we may have some idea about how to help with your response and lighten the load that event may have on your body. We can’t change or give you a new body, but we can optimize and soften the one you have.
What Are Acupuncturists All About at Isthmus Wellness?
We are pro you-deciding-what-is-best-for-you. We do want you to take an active role in what you need from us. We do stand for quality over quantity. As individuals, we work at half the pace as the standard acupuncturists work. We do that because we want to have time with you and we don’t want to be rushed. We ask questions and we work together to come up with the best treatment plans and ideas we can. We will run your case by another acupuncturist in house if you or we feel we need to be doing more for you. We love Western medicine and think we all can co-exist. We do make recommendations when we see a possibility for improvement or we refer out to other health care providers when something that is out of our scope of practice. We will see you no matter what that looks like. If you need to ebb and flow and adapt your own spin on the recommended treatment plans we lay forth, that’s cool too. We do love acupuncture, essential oils and plants. We hope you find some or all things that we offer to be helpful. We do believe we are primarily in the field of service and connection to others. We also believe we are in health care and our speciality is prevention and enhancing the quality and functioning of your body and life. What’s important to us is that your surround yourself with providers that have your back no matter what and show you respect, tact and grace in your decision making.
The acupuncturists that are part of Isthmus Wellness have taken to vow to making this their lives work. It’s not just a job we that go to, it’s a career and each of us feel this is also our lives purpose. Opportunities come and go, but we remain strong as a team for each other and for you. Sometimes that means spending extra time when we have none or coming in early and staying late. That’s what we do, not because it’s expected but because that is what we signed up for. We realize bodies and schedules aren’t on a 9-5 schedule and we go out of our way to make things work because it’s the right thing to do. If it was a burden, we won’t offer to accommodate. We know our limits. We give not from our own cup but the spilling over…the saucer. We aren’t perfect and we sometimes fail to meet your expectations as your acupuncturists. More often than not, we exceed them. Regardless of if you choose us or find a different home for your acupuncture needs, please do know we are on your side as the acupuncturist collective and we hope that acupuncture can become a bright spot in your life and self care.