Notes from the first year...

This week marks my first year of living in Portland, starting a CA practice as well as being a practitioner. A lot in a years time. It was sometime last week that I realized that I had taken a deep sigh. I didn’t know I was even holding my breath until one day as I was leaving BCA after my shift that I noticed how smoothly the cogs in our machine were running. I felt a calmness that I hadn’t felt before. So with one a year under my belt I thought I’d share a few thoughts.

What makes me feel grounded is connection to other people: community building both personally and professionally.

Whenever I would feel insecure about being a practitioner I would remember those lines form the little red book: frequent and regular, frequent and regular. Many treatments over the course of time will give the best results…

I was blinded by my desire to start an acupuncture practice. When Maria had approached me about being business partners my inclination was to just go with it without hesitation. I thought that this is what the universe had offered me so why question it? Of course later on when I realized the enormity of it I had to wonder what had I done.
I am glad that I didn’t listen to that voice. Stepping into new territory can be scary, but offers the most growth potential.

As a new practitioner being too invested in results is a bad game to play. There seems to be a balance between doing all that I can and allowing the patient to have their experience. I think I am still working on this one.

Systems and structures create stability, which allows for real growth. Initially it can be hard to let go some of the reigns with the separation of the front office with the back treatment room, but ultimately it allows more focused energy towards treating patients – and many more of them. Trying to control both the front desk and the treatment room is like driving with the brakes on.

How I am thinking and feeling will affect the clinic day. Changes in the clinic also seem to make a slow clinic day. There were many days of working on faith. More often now we have people calling the same day or just showing up for treatments. I love it when that happens.

It’s important to have a life outside of the clinic. Sounds obvious, but it took a little time for me to get this one. Being new to town didn’t help but has also forced me to get out to meet people. I need to refuel my time in the clinic with other categories of my life: such as relationships, devotion and recreation. One of my goals is to rekindle my creativity as an artist.

Having a business partner has its challenges, but maintaining the focus on our common goal keeps it on track and moving forward. Besides, I couldn’t have or wouldn't have wanted to do it alone.

Sometimes less is more. There have been patients that I have overwhelmed with too many needles. I want to do all I can for someone, which sometimes backfires. Simple and elegant treatments are key. I am working on this one as well.

Because I’ve only done CA since graduating I have felt more pulses as well as treated more patients then most of my classmates. CA offers a huge learning curve to new practitioners to experiment and take more risks. What better reason to start out with CA?

Portland is full of bumper stickers: Besides “Keep Portland weird” some signs I have literally seen along the way include: “God’s Wisdom”, “Help is on the way”, “what would love do:? ….”this is not a dress rehearsal”…. When I am looking for an answer to a question many times it comes though signs like these. Recently when the city sent us a tax bill for our $146,000 gross income in 2006 for the months of October, November and December we had a good laugh. This was an accounting error, but I’ll take it as a sign…