BAcC@30: John Hicks
Acu: What would you like to tell us about your life?
John: My early life culminated in a PhD in philosophy, disappointment in the academic world and an unfulfilled desire to be useful. I started three different businesses, had a beautiful daughter with severe learning problems. I also had a clear sense that making money, although useful, was not the purpose of life.
Acu: Why did you start studying acupuncture?
John: Early on, my daughter and I had acupuncture. My frozen shoulder was dramatically improved, and my daughter’s asthma was better. Then, early one morning, my push-hands partner handed me the phone number of an acupuncture course. Within two weeks, I had signed up, and explained to disbelieving friends and business partners that I was going to be an acupuncturist: the best decision of my life.
Acu: What do you enjoy most about doing acupuncture?
John: My main pleasure in practising acupuncture is when patients say something of the sort, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I just feel better in myself’ – however unspecific that may seem. A secondary pleasure – not unimportant – is when they say, ‘My (whatever their main complaint is) is better’. As many come to treatment only after seeing the doctor, that adds a degree of additional pleasure.
Acu: What for you is the most important area of acupuncture?
John: There are many skills to master to become an excellent practitioner. It’s not so much what is the most important, but more, maintaining a balance – like both being in and conducting an orchestra at the same time. My favourites skills are:
- appropriate sensory acuity, especially colour, sound, emotion and odour
- the ability to gain rapport
- knowledge of Chinese medicine patterns
Acu: Why did you write your recent book and who is is it for?
John: I wrote Senses and Sensitivity because of the importance of both rapport and accuracy with colour, sound, emotion and odour (CSEO). Rapport can be magic, something I already knew from my NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) training. However, to find I was so incompetent at CSEO after my initial short training was disturbing – in hindsight, that was both misguided and arrogant. But I was challenged and motivated. Developing sensory acuity became an obsession and having JR Worsley’s frequent feedback – for which I was extremely grateful – during years of practice in the Leamington college was important.
After my training, I practised acupuncture at a clinic just outside Oxford. The clinic had five acupuncturists, a ten-month waiting list and I was in bliss. Most of my friends thought I’d lost the plot.
My partner Angie and I later moved to Leamington Spa to teach and practise, and I became Dean of the College. We worked in Oxford then Leamington Spa for 11 years but felt the need to learn more.
Acu: When did you set up the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine (CICM)?
John: We realised that integrating five element acupuncture with traditional Chinese medicine broadened and deepened what we could do for patients – and the two styles together created a more holistic diagnosis and treatment for patients with many conditions.
We taught integration of these two styles as a graduate course for five element acupuncturists for many years before deciding it was time to start a college and teach students the integrated style from scratch. The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine has thrived. We opened in 1993 and it had its 30-year anniversary last year.
Being an acupuncturist for almost 50 years has been the most satisfying career I could ever imagine, especially seeing how acupuncture changes people’s lives.
Acu: And lastly, in brief… what advice would you give to someone thinking of writing a book?
John: Have great persistence!
Acu: What do you feel is the most important thing for new acupuncture graduates to remember?
John: The importance of rapport
Acu: What do you feel is the most important thing for retiring acupuncturists to remember?
John: Your successes!
If you want to learn more about John, follow the link below to hear him talk about the ‘doing of Five Element constitutional acupuncture’ with Danny Blyth.
