The word mastery is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "possession or display of great skill or technique."
We all know practitioners who stand out from their peers by creating extraordinary patient results with a high degree of consistency. I have done everything I can to learn from these people and understand what makes them so effective.
After decades of investigation I now believe that there are four primary elements of mastery for acupuncturists and holistic practitioners.
Those that develop these elements in a balanced manner are more likely to bring about the highest level of effectiveness while maintaining personal and financial well-being.
I recommend using this as an exercise in consciousness by reflecting on where you are in relation to each of these elements.
Technique
The first element of mastery is the one most universally understood and valued in our culture, and that is mastering treatment techniques. This is what fulfills the dictionary definition given above and is what we get tested on to pass our licensing exams.
For acupuncturists this includes demonstrating high competency in energetic diagnosis, point selection, needling, cupping and other techniques. Each profession has its own set of competencies that must be learned.
True mastery of our art, however requires more than just these competencies. The following elements may be just as important.
Channeling
The second element of mastery is one that many of us do instinctively, yet is not often spoken about openly. That is developing our ability to channel, or direct healing energy to our patients. Qi Gong masters have developed the ability to direct Qi for beneficial purposes, and many holistic practitioners practice various forms of energy cultivation exercises.
Mastery of this element is not limited to working with Qi, however. According to the excellent definition by Ted Kaptchuk, Qi is "energy on the verge of becoming matter, and matter on the verge of becoming energy." This indicates that the energy vibration of Qi is similar in density to that of the physical body.
Transmuting the complex psycho-emotional complexes our modern patients bring to us usually requires higher vibrational energies than Qi alone. The process of true healing involves elevating dense energies of fear, pain and blockage into higher vibratory levels of health, love and vitality.
Therefore the second element of mastery is cultivating the ability to be a clear channel for higher frequency healing energies. This is a skill than can be taught and learned. A practitioner's likeliness to expand this ability is inter-related with the next element of mastery.
Self Love
The third element of mastery is one of the most neglected ones. It is the process of cultivating self-love and self-healing. Most acupuncturists tend to take pretty good care of themselves through diet, exercise and meditation or Qi Gong. But it is not common to find people, including health care professionals who are also deeply loving themselves and enjoying peace of mind.
One of the biggest impediments to self-love is trauma. As I have explained in one of my previous articles "New Relationships, Old Trauma: AOM & Other Healing Strategies" people who have been through pervasive trauma often have a hard time allowing themselves to experience intimacy with self or others.
This happens because trauma tends to limit or even shut down many of the brain centers dealing with these experiences. The diagram on this page shows brains in two different states.
The top picture shows the major brain centers that govern intimacy, empathy and self-connection being active, as is the case with people with decent psychological health. The lower picture shows a "brain on trauma" in which all of these centers except one have become shut down. This picture is reproduced with permission from the book "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
I have observed so many health professionals who radiate kindness, calm and caring to their clients but find it hard to enjoy those qualities within themselves. This detracts from their quality of life, limits their healing abilities and often results in lower income.
While many people inhibited by trauma can trace it back to adverse childhood experiences the rabbit hole of trauma may go deeper than that. Based on decades of in-depth work with clients and myself I believe that a majority of medical professionals who identify themselves as "healers" are carrying deep imprints of persecution.
Where does this come from? While some may have had this experience earlier in their lives most of these imprints come from ancestral memories and trauma experienced in previous lifetimes.
For those who do not believe in the existence of past lives this carry-over of trauma could be explained in other ways. One could be through the existence of shared "pain bodies" written about by Eckhart Tolle in his book "The New Earth."
Whatever you believe the origin is, this subconscious, cellular memory of ancient trauma creates pervasive feelings of low self-worth and lack of safety in fully being seen as the powerful healer one truly is.
It takes a sustained commitment to self-healing and self-love to release our brains and nervous systems from the ravages of past trauma. It is easier for many people to just "play small" in their lives rather than do the often challenging inner work required.
The most effective healers are those who are willingly in touch with their vulnerability. They learn to tap into their past hurts to help them develop compassion and healing power.
The Root of All Evil?
The final element of mastery is mastering our relationship with money. The natural outcome of developing high technical skills, being a clear channel for higher healing energies and being committed to self-love is enjoying an abundant flow of money.
Those who wish to expand their financial abundance would do well to investigate their beliefs and attitudes about money, and devote themselves to developing balanced mastery.
Because of the demands of preparing students to pass licensing exams acupuncture and other medical schools focus almost exclusively on the first element of mastery, demonstrating technical skills.
In order to attain mastery of our healing art we need to find ways to develop the other three elements described above. As we commit to developing balanced mastery the quality of our lives elevate and we instinctively find our unique way to be a powerful part of the solution to the challenges facing the human race and our Earth.
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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