Acupuncture for the West
I was interviewed today by a student at SUNY Albany who was doing a paper on natural healing. At the end of a series of very well thought out questions, she asked me if there was anything else that I would like people to know about acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. I had to pause for a moment to consider the question before beginning to answer.
The common perception of acupuncture is steeped and clouded in mysticism and associations with the culture of China and the East. I’ve often thought about the general opinion that seems to portray acupuncture as a mysterious and magical art performed by wizened Chinese practitioners in the back of old herbal shops in China town. It has become obvious to me over the years that one of the most consistent barriers to accepting acupuncture in the West is this concept of acupuncture as a metaphysical art tied to mysticism of the East, and impenetrable to the understanding of the modern mind.
Acupuncture most likely began in China, and we owe a debt of gratitude to it’s rich history. The first manned flight was achieved in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. And while we applaud the efforts of the Wright brothers, it is obviously a silly notion to think that the pilots and engineers of the rest of the world who aren’t embedded in American culture are unable to understand the dynamics of flight. The laws that govern flight are the same for everyone. In the same way, the laws that govern acupuncture are universal to the human being. Acupuncture is a science that requires training in a very special way of interacting with the human body to facilitate health and healing. It is a human science. And while we look to China to study the history of acupuncture, it is to the West that we must fix our gaze to see it’s further evolution.
The best research in the world on Acupuncture is now being down in countries like the U.S. and Germany. This research is helping to peel away the shroud of mystery that has separated acupuncture from the modern medical community, and kept it from being accepted as a true science by the average citizen. Acupuncture isn’t a system of magic, belief or a supernatural feat. It is a science that works with the natural systems of the human body in a way that other forms of medicine have not yet been able to. It’s value is in it’s use for the treatment all mankind, and its future will be found in its integration with the broader medical community. In this spirit, I hope that we can increase the acceptance and growth of acupuncture in the West not as an elitist or secretive mystical art, but a science of interacting with the human body in the service of all people, regardless of culture or background.
