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.
Peter Holmes, LAc, MH
Peter Holmes researches, writes and lectures extensively on the clinical uses of essential oils and herbal medicines. He is author of The Energetic of Western Herbs: Treatment Strategies Integrating Western & Oriental Herbal Medicine, Jade Remedie: A Chinese Herbal Reference for the West and The TCM Materia Medica Clinical Reference & Study Guide. He is also author of Clinical Aromatherapy: Essential Oil Profiles, and coauthor of the forthcoming Principles and Practice of Aromatherapy.