One of the benefits of our profession is the ability to create and explore various avenues of learning and professional growth. Such an opportunity happened to me some five years ago, when I was asked to lead a delegation on alternative medicine to Cuba, along with a group of practitioners from the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
The trip was insightful and had a lasting effect on all of us. To see alternative medicine integrated into the country's mainstream medical system was a true pleasure. In Cuba, the government supplies each doctor with acupuncture needles, an electrostim machine, and moxa. Most of their training comes from Chinese and Russian doctors who have lived or worked on the island. While we were there, we visited pain clinics in which the patients were required to attend tai chi and qigong classes as part of their treatment protocols. In addition to acupuncture and local herbal remedies, we saw doctors utilize color therapy, Bach flower remedies and mud treatments.
Since my trip to Cuba five years ago, I have continued to work as a manager and coordinator for groups and delegations of various kinds to Cuba. One upcoming trip being organized, "A Journey to Healing" featuring none other than Dr. Deepak Chopra, will be held in Havana for three days starting February 28, 2003. Each day begins with a yoga session, followed by a seminar. The meeting will focus on Dr. Chopra's work regarding quantum healing and the mind-body connection, and will include meetings with Cuban health care professionals and presentations from Cuban doctors. Attendees will also learn about the success of Cuba's integrated health care system.
At the end of the meeting, a post-conference visit from March 4-7 will be offered. This will allow visitors to stay and learn more about Cuba, including its arts, music, medicine and architecture.
The conference promises to be a new experience for everyone who attends. You will see that life in Cuba is lived on a human scale, with universal education and health care, and a sense of community and interdependence. The Cuban people will inspire you with their strength, joy and imagination.
For more information on "A Journey to Healing," or to register for the conference, please call 800-353-2276.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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