A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
Craig Cormack, BA, LMT
Craig Cormack is a qi gong and reiki master, licensed Chinese massotherapist, and senior tai chi instructor based in Montreal, Canada. He is presently working with seniors to help them stay healthy and keep their balance. He is a principal at Rising Tao Integrative Health.