Yinspiration

A time for Yinspiration, for introspection, for looking to the past and imagining the future, and allowing that seed of yang – the increasing light in the evenings already – to provide the nudge needed for another cycle.

The cold clear nights have allowed even dark starved Londoners a chance to marvel at the brightness of the moon and the brilliance of Jupiter and Mars – and to just wonder at the happenchance that has allowed our awesome planet earth on the edge of a galaxy floating somewhere in the Universe but just in the right spot in our solar system, to exist.

Being a member of the BAcC from before its inception and now a practitioner director of the Governing Board has given me a new perspective on our amazing professional body. The seeds sown when the practitioners from the five professional bodies 30 years ago came together and imagined that strength would be gained by being united, have flourished.

I see in the BAcC members and staff those original ideals and ambitions still – a sense of dedication, a willingness to consult and listen to other experts, an ability to change and be flexible, to argue and disagree, and all with care and humour. You can see it in the articles in this season’s Acu. which embody the dynamics of Chinese medicine.

A number of contributors to this winter Acu. talk about the joy of being outside and joining with nature in its stillness. Embracing the cold with swimming in the Hampstead ponds gives me the link to the season that keeps me yinspired. Fiona Bullock’s article describes how ‘a frosty morning, when ice crystals have rimed every blade of grass’ conjure up the essence of winter.

For Erin Moran ‘warm, nourishing foods like soups and stews, qigong, gentle yoga and walking’ are essential. She suggests that a focus on flexibility and stretching is more attuned to the energetics of winter. Kathleen Powderly finds with her life drawing that a shortened daylight requiring additional studio light creates a more intimate atmosphere. And Peter Mole reminds us to look to ourselves, to look inwards, when we feel drained and tired in our clinics.

I find Yinspiration in Vladislav Korostyshevskiy’s article on the importance of palpation – that string to our bow that can fossick out the source of a problem. Chinese medicine deals equally as well with the physical body as it does the emotional – just have a listen to Professor Volker Scheid’s discussion of the ‘body’ in one of The Cultivating Tradition podcasts, featured in this season’s AcuBytes.

It is with fondness I read the eulogy to David Arditti – one of our long-standing practitioners who was there when the BAcC was formed. His friends talked about the way he could give support and advice and also had the humility to seek the opinions of newly qualified practitioners.

This communion of newer and older members is what is so exhilarating about our annual conference – with Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée to raise our spirits and give us inspiration in this 30th anniversary year. And joining with the RCHM again reminds me of the conferences the acupuncture bodies put on together before we united. It was in the passion for Chinese medicine that we found our unity.

So where in the universe do we go from here? As Susan Woodhead says in Just Ten Questions, ‘The best is yet to come…’ and Acu. will keep you in touch.