Acupuncture & TCM Articles
Acupuncture Articles
by John A. Amaro L.Ac., Dipl.Ac.(NCCAOM), DC
 Dr. Amaro is an internationally known author, lecturer and practitioner beginning his practice of Acupuncture and Chiropractic in 1971. He has led 13 diplomatic Acupuncture study tours of The People's Republic of China escorting more than 500 doctors and practitioners. He has personally studied Acupuncture in nine separate Asian nations.
He has received Certification in Acupuncture through the Columbia Institute of Chiropractic in 1973. This was one of the first Acupuncture postgraduate education programs for physicians in North America commencing in 1972.
He has been certified by the Waseda Acupuncture College in Tokyo, Japan in 1974 and graduated from the Chinese Medical Institute, Kowloon, China in 1976. He had previously taken postgraduate studies at the Tai Chung Medical School Taipei, China 1973.
“Michael’s Girlfriend”
John A. Amaro L.Ac., Dipl.Ac.(NCCAOM), DC
In the October 2004 issue of Acupuncture Today, Managing Editor Michael Devitt announced in his column, the news his girlfriend Stella had made the decision to enroll in Acupuncture College after just receiving her bachelor´s degree from UCLA. Michael pointed out with that landmark decision made now comes the myriad of life altering decisions that as most of us know, are quite significant.
Some of the major ones Michael pointed out in his column, are what college to attend (there are many good ones), arranging financial aid (school is very expensive), where are the top quality instructors, what is the reality of being able to hold a part time job to help defray expenses while in school, what about the clinic requirements and as we all know the list goes on and on. All of these decisions will shape the future of one´s career for the rest of their life.
Michael also mentioned the concern of the political landscape and what does the future hold for Stella. The acupuncture and Oriental Medicine profession has already seen serious restrictions imposed by the FDA concerning specific herbs used for centuries in Asian Medicine. What about the potential practice limitations State legislators may be planning to impose, are they looming on the horizon? On top of all of that, the matter was brought up about medical professionals utilizing acupuncture as part of their scope of practice. The competitive climate posed by more practitioners could potentially have a negative impact on acupuncture practitioners and their success in practice.
The important question has been asked by both Michael and Stella as they plan for a very exciting but uncertain future, “is going to acupuncture school the best thing for her’?
As I read through Michael´s column trying to put myself in this seemingly precarious position of creating a major career and life change, I found myself becoming a little jittery myself with the prospect of all of those frightening unknowns. I realized what a huge decision this has to be for a person to embark on such an adventure to become a student with the prospect of graduation so far into the distance especially with all of the legitimate questions which require an answer.
As fate would have it as it always does, the day after reading the story of Stella, I had a new patient in the office that was going through the identical process Michael had just reported. He was very interested in acupuncture as a career and was literally asking me the exact same myriad of questions Michael had posed in his column. I found this so ironic. On discussing the issues with him I discovered he had investigated physiotherapy, chiropractic, naturopathy, allopathy (medicine) and now acupuncture. After one full year of searching the healing arts he had decided to enter the acupuncture profession, When I posed the question to him of with all of the healing professions at your fingertips and apparently the qualifications to enter any of them, “why in the world would you choose acupuncture over all of the rest’? His answer was very simple and I must admit to experiencing a major case of goose bumps because his answer was identical to Stella´s I had just read the night before and that was “I JUST WANT TO HELP PEOPLE’.
In my three decades of practicing acupuncture, I have seen numerous practitioners come and go. The success rate for acupuncture practitioners as was shown on the following page of Michael´s article in Acupuncture Today as was told by a practitioner responding to a poll was “only 25% of the TCM graduates are still in practice after five years’. I find this statistic quite disturbing. This person blamed the lack of success of the profession on not enough class work in business management, insurance billing, collections and legal issues.
When Stella gave her reason for wanting to go to acupuncture college and my patient uttered the same exact words I knew immediately these two people are destined to succeed as long as they are always driven by the desire to serve and to help people regain their health. Yes, business skills are necessary to succeed in business however how you fill out an insurance form or collect the fee from a patient has little to do with the motivation required to have patients return for necessary care and to refer others. It is the constant stream of new patients which will allow any practitioner to become a success. This is only obtained by being the best and achieving outstanding clinical results. This also takes both passion and compassion.
The national leaders of the Oriental Medicine and acupuncture community and so many TCM practitioners are so focused and concerned about other professions utilizing acupuncture and creating competition they lose the vision of who they are and what they have to offer. If each individual practitioner would just attempt being the best, the general population will always seek out and find the practitioners who are able to meet their specific need and that is to help them with their health problem. It´s not a matter of competition, it´s a matter of who is the best!!!!
When I am asked for an acupuncture referral across America you can rest assured, the person I refer to is not an MD or DC or even an L.Ac. it is the one who I feel is the best, the most motivated and the one who I know “JUST WANT TO HELP PEOPLE’.
So for Stella and all other future students and all practitioners, If we are motivated by that which is good, that which is pure and that which is for the best for the patient who seek our help our success is assured. All of the accredited schools are good according to the accreditation institutes, they will all teach the principles of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine however what they do not teach can only be found in the spirit of the practitioner. That is the part which makes one a success. Sounds to me like Stella has it. As long as she is always motivated primarily by truly wanting to help people regain their health, putting money as a far distant motivation and personal success beyond that, your clinical, financial and personal success is assured.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, best wishes on your journey Stella.
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