The most important relationship I seek to nurture in the treatment room is the one a patient has with their own body. We live in a culture that teaches us to override pain, defer to outside authority, and push through discomfort. Patients often arrive hoping I can “fix” them, but the truth is, we can’t do the work for them. We can offer guidance, insight and support, but healing requires their full participation.
Stephen Lee, LAc
Stephen Lee has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese medicine for more than 30 years in the U.K., and is the author of the Electroacupuncture Handbook (www.jcm.co.uk/book-shop). He studied at the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, U.K., in the early '80s and then studied TCM in London. He worked in the Nanjing College of Chinese Medicine, China, in 1987, before completing a two-year course in Chinese herbal medicine at the School of Chinese Medicine in London. He has been teaching workshops on electroacupuncture for musculoskeletal problems in the U.K. and abroad since 2009, and is a member of the British Acupuncture Council and the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine.