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.
David Berkshire, MSOM, LAc
David Berkshire assistant professor in the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at NUNM, has been teaching for more than 10 years. He is the founder and co-owner of two large integrative medical clinics in Portland, Oregon: Kwan-Yin Healing Arts Center and Kwan-Yin Healing Arts Center East, with many naturopathic and Chinese medical residencies. Berkshire is also the current president of the non-profit organization Worsley Institute. Berkshire received his master's from Oregon College of Oriental Medicine; completed an informal apprenticeship in 5 Element acupuncture with David Ford, LAc, and an in-depth training in Drainage Homeopathy with Dr. Gerard Geuniot, and ongoing study with Judy Worsley.