I have an amazing friend who enjoys asking me deep soul questions, like “What makes you good at your job?” or “How does what you do stand apart from what other acupuncturists do?” And my answers somewhat surprised me, so I thought I’d share.

Honestly, my acupuncture isn’t revolutionary. In fact, it's quite ordinary – sometimes bordering on boring. I don’t use “magic points” that no one has ever heard of. I don’t have a “special technique” that sets apart my style from anyone else. What I do do is follow my intuition and let it guide me when I’m treating someone. What that translates to is that I consciously have to push aside my ego mind that thinks she has all the answers. Every now and then I use an acupuncture point that doesn’t make logical sense for me to be using. So, an example of that would be if, for instance, I’m treating a person who has shoulder pain, obviously I’m using point locations around the immediate problem area, but I’ll throw in a stomach point, whose meridian does not run anywhere near the shoulder, but my mind has remembered a small piece of our conversation in which the person said she has been feeling low on energy or has been tired. (Stay with me here. If you’re new to acupuncture, I know this confusing. The Stomach and Spleen meridian, in Chinese medicine, are responsible for transforming the food we eat into fuel. If the meridian is unbalanced, we end up feeling tired and drained.) So the unusual selection of a stomach point, for example, is not ordinary, but also not extraordinary – lines of logic usually correlate.

But that isn’t even the big thing I wanted to tell you about. I’m an idealist. I have this thing where, when I first meet people, I see them in their highest potential. I see them on the next level in the path they are traveling. I notice them without their obstacles. I envision them without their hangups; the pain they're experiencing, their lack of direction, the physical ailments they have. In fact, I see them as already NOT having the pain, the ungroundedness, the stiffness/tightness. So you see, I picture them as their ideal self. Not that their current state is not ideal. I mean, it is what it is. But their ideal self is striving for better, yearning for more. Their potential is vast and unfortunately confined in a limited, broken down space. I see the broken parts already fixed. And then my “work” begins using acupuncture, Chinese medicine, and my own intuitive understanding of how to move them to the next level. Acupuncture – the needles themselves, are just one tiny tool I use. Sometimes I will recommend a different diet. Sometimes it will be more sleep or more activity. Sometimes they require herbs. Some of them need therapy, or at least a chance to get their emotions out.

I can’t really say when or how I learned to envision the best of people, but I am grateful for it. In my own life, I too have had teachers or mentors or health guides who have helped me reach higher goals. They are people who have been patient with my limited understanding when I set out to learn a new thing or be a different way and I fail miserably. They have dangled the carrot, so to speak, in front of my unfocused vision so that I move towards wholeness. I remember each and every one of my yoga teachers who in some small way shaped and formed the knowledge of my higher potential as I also became a yoga teacher. I remember my acupuncture mentors who embodied for me loving kindness in how they interacted with their patients and hope I am also practicing.

In my own life too, seeing the best in people has also made me quite naive to the real dangers of people using me or taking advantage of my kind heart. In personal relationships, it has frustrated me that evolution is a slow process, true change doesn’t happen in an instant. It has forced me into a wider perspective of the “BE HERE NOW” mentality that honors all that is good in the present.

But from a healing perspective, I can say it has brought me true joy. Watching people transform and grow into bigger, brighter versions of themselves is nothing short of miraculous. Having a patient come and tell you their pain is completely gone or their particular ailment has cleared is nothing short of astounding. I am in awe of human potential. I am humbled and honored in its presence. Some days I have questions or hesitations, but mostly I know – deep into my soul, that I was meant to do this work. I thank spirit each and every day for giving me this gift and making me this way and ask for even more guidance to use it and honor all who come to me for help.

Source here .

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