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.
Josephine Spilka, MS, LAc
Josephine Spilka is a licensed acupuncturist and owner of www.essencepresence.com. She teaches independently and at Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts in Asheville, N.C. Josephine has had the good fortune to study extensively with Jeffrey Yuen since 1999 and has come to share his passion for the classical teachings of Chinese medicine and wishing to share the benefits of these teachings with the world.