Green

 2023 | Editorial
Share
Gillian Nicol
Student Member: Tyne & Wear
This spring we are discussing relationships with our environment and experiences of transformation. New growth, blooming and blossoming, the tended garden and the natural wilderness. Unstoppable, reaching, spreading tendrils, roots and branches… and where they might take us in our journey and practice.

As a student member of BAcC I’m new here. Almost half way through a four-year acupuncture BSc, I’m mid-transformation, deep in a period of intense personal growth and learning.

In transitioning from one life to another, I’ve plunged myself into a whole world of newness – a mid-life start-over, a beginner again, learning new language, concepts and skills. I’m working hard to gain understanding, making inevitable mistakes, accepting the not-knowing, and the many ‘it depends’ scenarios found in Chinese medicine. Four years of challenge and discovery towards a life more nourishing, heart-centred and holistic. As Paul Douglas recommends in Hooked on CPD, ‘True learning only ever happens at the edge of your comfort zone’.

From my past life I bring editorial experience of creating content with and for a different membership, visual artists. Similarly, and useful for contributing to Acu. at this time of change, that member organisation also made the shift from print magazine to online.

And so Acu. has made a deep dive and entered a period of reinvention, a brave step into newness. From the winter issue on ‘darkness’ – the last in print – to ‘the springing up and unfolding’ of this green-themed spring release, as we unfurl towards the bright light of summer, with the help of your contributions.

This first Acu. online-only aims to give a vibrant taster of digital delivery. New webpage design with lots of visual options allows the creation of beautiful articles to rival the sensual qualities of print.

The inclusion of sound and video offers a rich, new multilayered experience. We’ve poetry, art, qigong and other movement meditation, regular features like Chinese Lesson and Just My Point – marrow nourishing GB 39 for this issue, accompanied by a wonderful audio version read by Peter Firebrace himself – and new format Just Ten Questions premiering with Róisín Golding.

Nor has the Acu. past been jettisoned – instead the creation of a searchable pdf archive makes this valuable resource accessible going back (for now) to 2011. And we’ve kept some space for adverts to make sure there’s visibility for upcoming events, courses and other offers from our regular advertisers.

Just like before, Acu. spring 2023 has been crafted with care and attention, creativity and imagination. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this transition to digital – read, watch, listen, breathe, move, participate… it’s your space.