Hello Fellow Yo Sanners!!
Thinking about running away to a tropical island after you graduate to escape the chaos of LA?! Or maybe I was the only one..
Well, if not, here is the guide to Tropical Island Acupuncture Practices..
1. Make sure you translate all of your paperwork into the language before you move.. otherwise, 4 months later, your tan is in great shape, but your intake form is still in English..
2. Make sure you have internet at your office.. for that moment when someone tells you their homoplats hurt... only you have no clue what or where a homoplat is..(it's your shoulderblade.)
3. Make sure you meet a fellow acupuncturist as soon as you arrive, for when you run out of needles and have no where to purchase them and shipment from the US takes 2 months.. you might need them to front you some..
4. Make sure when you choose a tropical island, you ensure that it is in fact TROPICAL.. not sub tropical... sub tropical has a winter rainy season that lasts for 5 months and reminds you of Rainy LA...
5. Be prepared to make some hefty language mistakes... like telling your patients to put on their chicken when it is cold outside so they don't get sick, reminding them it is normal to want to hide in their cucumber... or even encouraging them to embrace their inner dildo... yeah.. whoops!!
Ok, Ok, enough of the list, but in reality, it has been one helluva adventure!! I arrived last August, after 3 frustrating yet enlightening months in China/Hong Kong, and got a job as a tour guide.. Slowly but surely, I bought a massage table and sharps container, found an office space and made a business card..et voila; Invoke Wellness was born! (Like my page on FB!)
Now, legally, things are tricky here, but as long as I stay under the radar, no one should bother me. There is a loophole, and that is how non MD acupuncturists are allowed to practice. As long as they don't take away too much business from the MD's! I didn't run any ads, but being in a city of 150,000, you don't need to run ads, word of mouth works wonders! And so, bit by bit, patients are coming through the door.. at 9 months of official operation I am seeing 15 patients a week.. Hey, it could be worse! I do a decent amount of trade (right now about 20% trade, but in the beginning I was doing 60%!) My idea is, the more people that know about me, the faster the word gets round! And it has worked. I trade with a few different Osteopaths, a few massage therapists, yoga teachers, and I even trade for my haircuts, nails, and jewelry! No, I don't need my nails done every month, but I work next door to a beauty salon, and I get quite a few patients from them. I give the gals ear seeds, and their clients inquire and BAM, Presto, New Patient for me!!
As far as treatments go, I get a lot of pain issues, Lv/Kd yin xu, Lv Qi stag, a few odd cases including generalized feet neuropathy (that western medecine has found absolutely no explanation for), Meige's Dystonia, and of course, our favorite friend, damp and sp qi xu..
People here think a breakfast consists of bread with butter and jam. And don't forget the pound of sugar with that coffee. Water? You mean that clear stuff to which you add Flavored Sugar Syrup? Not to mention the fact that fresh veggies here include potatoes.. cabbage...carrots.. and more potatoes and giant yams, (not the good sweet potato kind,) Non-Nutritional Texas sized yams. Yams that could kill a man. If you want real veggies you go frozen or broke.. broke because everything is imported and a small box of fresh spinach, if you can find it, will cost you $10, and you want a tomato? That will cost you $7 a kilo. Persimmons you say?! Only $15 a kilo! and no, they don't have Kale here, and their beets have no greens... and their avocados have seeds throughout that taste like cardboard! And the other day, at the supermarket, they didn't have any ONIONS!! WHO RUNS OUT OF ONIONS!!! oh yeah.. we do.. But at least the fish is good here! And not too expensive... unless of course you eat fish from the lagoon that happens to have high levels of Ciguatera toxin, which means that you can't eat fish for at least 6 months.. or nuts, or chocolate, or too much meat, and no alcohol either. And did I mention that this toxin causes your hands and feet to feel like they are burning hot after touching anything cold?! And you itch... all over.. and the slightest gust of wind is like frozen ice cubes being chucked at your naked body. Fake tabacco tree leaves apparently help detox the body from the toxin..I found it tastes almost as bad as any chinese herb, and only helps diminish the symptoms. And yes, Huang Liang Jie Du Tang is the correct formula to treat this. Ok, Enough of the food rant!
The hardest parts of sub-tropical island life have been the lack of fresh vegetables, the language barriers, not having my colleagues around.. and the lack of TCM herbs. We have access to some western herbs, but no TCM, and so I feel like I am only doing half my job.. The last two reasons are why I will probably be headed back to the states next year. But until then, I will continue learning my lessons which include:
1. I can create a quick rapport with anyone, even in a different language.
2. Pain is a great way to get people in the door and get the word out on the street.
3. A budget is a must!
4. I know enough from school to make a difference in people's lives.
5. People love one on one attention! Spending too much time asking them questions during their first intake is maybe a “waste” of time for you, but it helps make them feel comfortable and separates you from the old Vietnamese acupuncturist down the street.
6. The Vietnemese acupuncturist down the street is your best friend because he makes you look AWESOME! He gives the needles to his patients when done, so they bring them back for the next tx. He doesn't explain a thing to anyone about what he is doing, or how they can make changes in their daily life. He treats 35 people at once (or so that's what they tell me) and he has told at least one person that 2-3 treatments and their problems are resolved otherwise they have no hope......
7. Acupuncture, even without herbs, can still work wonders.
8. I Love TCM.. and I Love Yo San.. and I miss all my teachers and colleagues.
9. and Frozen Spinach is better than no spinach.
All kidding aside, I do love it here.. and the bad is not soo bad. It's more for comic relief. Life is tranquil, we are coming into summer, the sun is shinning, the water is almost warm enough to swim in, people are easy going and no one honks their car horns. Organic here may be pricey and very difficult to find, but life is organic here
And if you have any questions or would like any more random details about my life here, feel free to drop an email, skype, FB, Viber, Snapchat, or hell, even a smoke signal! I miss speaking English too!!!