First Week Down

The first week of school is behind me, and already I feel like I have made a wonderful choice in my school selection.  OCOM (Oregon College of Oriental Medicine) was just rated The Best Acupuncture College in The U.S. by thebestschools.org, which is pretty fantastic.  However despite all of the notoriety the overall feeling I have when I am in class, and at the school, is one of belonging and awe.  Learning about the human body is fascinating, and learning to heal the human body is magical. 

Sadly, my first day was not the best for me.  While I was very excited about the classes I was going to have that day, Point Location and Qi Gong, I was sick with a head cold and it was extremely difficult to be present.  My first day of class was Wednesday, and I had woken up on Tuesday with a fever.  My fever broke Tuesday night, but by Wednesday morning I really had no business being out of bed, so I made it to my first four hour class, then skipped my second class and went home back to bed. 

I wish I had had an opportunity this week to do a little more reading, and have more interesting information to give out, but most of the week I was just trying to keep my head above water.  I am now feeling much better due to multiple acupuncture sessions, and some Chinese herbs I am taking. Next week will prove much more lively for me. 

One idea I can close with, is a little perspective given to my class by my wonderful anatomy and physiology teacher Regina Dehen ND, LAc.  When speaking to the relationship between western medicine and eastern medicine she took us back to the foundations, when western medicine was in its infancy. She explained to us, that back then, ideas were less black and white than they are today.  We have all heard the term Melancholy, which for a long time was the term for what today would be called sadness or depression. Melancholy literally means black bile, and it was thought that people with this condition had a liver disorder that produced a black bile into their system.  However, no black bile was ever found so the idea was, after some time, dismissed.  The example was kind of a light bulb to me, how similar ideas once were, and I feel that modern thinking is coming back to these concepts.  More and more people are looking to alternative medicine for help, The Economist just published and article about the human microbiome entitled Me, Myself and Us, and the U.S. Military is beginning to hire Acupuncturists to help with PTSD.  It is an exciting time to be in my field indeed!

                                             Here is a Picture of my entire incoming class!