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Acupuncture in America

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Happy WInter!

I am excited to see the sun out again! I’ve have been using the cold climate to stay in and enjoy reading and cooking with my family. I have been reading a book called The Birth of Acupuncture in America and it’s been a good reminder of how history creates today’s reality.
A group of graduate students at UCLA’s Psychology Department were studying brain chemistry and pain in the late 1960’s when they met Dr. Ju and together they started the National Acupuncture Association. They enabled the first acupuncture licensing legislation in the West coast and founded the first acupuncture clinic in the US in the third wing of the UCLA Psycology Building. Most of our education on Chinese medicine has been taken from The Yellow Emperor’s Classic on Chinese Medicine, which has been selling steadily since at least two centuries before Christ was born.
This book interests me as a clinician, as a reminder of how extremely valuable this medical art is and how important it is to remain a healthcare option in our modern world. Many times I hear the question of “why an I sick or not feeling well” and I often consider the four causes of disease in my practice.
The first can be described as a inborn weakness, which can be a genetic predisposition passed on from past generations(Jing Qi). The second are the climatic conditions, such as heat, cold, wind, dryness and wetness. Climatic conditions also includes envirmotional toxins and situational traumas. The third cause of disease is emotion. Strong negative emotions cause imbalances and blockage of energy at physical locations. The fourth cuase of disease is diet. In America we eat lots of crap and often times just too much of it. We also have animal products that are full of antibiotics and growth hormonens. Our grain and fruit is sprayed with many pesticides and are fish are poisoned by waste dumping.
I remind my patients of the importance of trying to do the best we can every day and based on the unique TCM diagnosis, we can come up with a step by step plan to heal. I remind myself and others to trust the process and to allow the ancient healing practice of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine to heal our mind body and spirit!

Best regards,

Sarah Atkinson L.Ac. MSOM