Taste
When autumn arrives the population drops again – and you can put the fire on and get cosy and enjoy the wood that you chopped and seasoned earlier in the year. Outside temperatures stay warm, while the houses become ice boxes due to lack of south facing windows and insulation. Very often, you have to put your jacket on when you come inside.
Several weeks before I wrote this editorial, a wildfire came so close to my house that my bag was packed for evacuation. I watched as planes dumped water over the flames licking the side of the mountain. The intense heat and dryness of summer can lead into a dangerous autumn, which is what happened with the great fires of 2017. A dry hurricane arrived mid October and lightning – amongst other causes – sparked fires, which quickly spread.
When I first landed here, four years ago, my body was confused at the arrival of Christmas as it still felt like September outside. By the time this Taste themed issue of Acu. hits your inbox, autumn in the UK will be in full swing and acupuncturists up and down the land will be advocating scarves and ginger tea.
In this great, green dragon year of change, Acu. continues to evolve in its paperless format. It offers the chance to watch videos, listen to podcasts and still be able to read articles like a traditional magazine. In addition, many hours have been put into tagging articles past and present, so that a huge body of work from across the years can be searched in seconds. Acu. magazine has become an invaluable practice resource that is instantly available to all BAcC members.
It is Ann Gordon, the team administrator, who finds and shapes all the images and crafts Acu. online into something beautiful to use – while our colleague Joan Maynard edits all copy and makes words flow. The rest of the editorial team help to gather content and speak to practitioners about their contributions, as well as writing articles.
Our latest Acu. release features Shawn Bibby – an overseas practitioner and YouTuber – who provides the long read about ghost points in an article that taps into the spirit of the season. Shawn guides you through what these points are and how they were gathered.
You can also read Tam Nortley’s case story of how he used ghost points to great effect on one of his patients. And in this season where grief is the resonant emotion, Alison Dalziel describes how drawing mandalas in lockdown allowed her to process the loss of her father.
Joe Jennings asks Can You Manifest A Practice? as he delves into all that goes into building a profitable business. Joe argues that, while intention is super important, you also need to be pragmatic and research your local area thoroughly before setting up. While BAcC member Darren Haines and photographer Autumn Starkey combine forces to offer professional tips on using photography to enhance your marketing.
In our BAcC@30 feature, founder member Marek Urbanowicz describes how a combination of treatment styles he has learnt over the years helped one patient overcome trauma.
And as ever, we bring you another helping of two of our glorious staples. Peter Firebrace analyses GB 34 yang ling quan 陽 陵 泉 Yang Mound Spring in his engaging column Just My Point, while Sandra Hill, calling on her extraordinary knowledge, gives a Chinese Lesson on wuwei and jingwei – the five tastes and the subtle essences.
You can find all this and more in the latest Acu. release… to be digested at your leisure. As always, we love getting your contributions and we are already looking forward to hearing your ideas for our winter theme of Yinspiration.
Bejinhos, Sally
