A Fresh Start

As I prepare for my lecture that will be at the end of the month, I am rereading loads of material, some of which I haven’t seen since I started at my current job - 2 years ago.  When I started writing out the slide show, I started feeling like I needed to brush up again on the basics in order to have a solid foundation from which to work and talk.  I put my trust in some amazing books that I have, written by pioneers in women’s fertility in the field of acupuncture.  (look through my recommended list for authors Lewis and Lyttleton)

What I am finding today is that there is information missing.  There are things that  feel need to be conveyed to my fellow acupuncturists that I will be sharing my knowledge with that I just can’t seem to find in the book.  I am sent back now to my 2nd year of acupuncture school.  During my second year (and 3rd and 4th!) I had the honor of being the student of Bob Damone, L.Ac.  Bob is an extremely important figure in the world of TCM because of the work he has done with Pathomechanisms.  Pathomechanisms in TCM are the processes by which dis-ease is created in the body.  We, as acupuncturists, often explain different organ functions to our patients by telling them what is wrong when this particular organ is not in balance, i.e., when the Spleen is weak patients will have an overall feeling of lethargy, they may have sluggish stools and metabolism, be prone to nosebleeds, have a cold nose, be prone to bruising and various other things.  This is a great way to have an exchange with patients, however, it leaves us in a place where we are constantly viewing the organs as weak and dysfunctional.  How often do we think about the Spleen and think about it’s proper functioning?  How often do we view the system as whole and complete?  If we forget what is supposed to be happening and what “balance” looks like, how will we be able to tell when our patient arrives there?

In addition to this, due to language barriers and thought process barriers (taking into consideration the drastic worldview difference between western and chinese cultures) a lot of the information that we learn during school is presented as simple facts that we accept.  Because someone said so.  This is where Bob comes in.  Bob never accepted (at least when he was my teacher) that a dysfunction of the spleen lead to increase in bruising - just because.  With Bob, we had to explain the hows and whys.  We had to view the Spleen in it’s full functioning form and point out the aspects that went wrong in order to get to the point of increased bruising. It’s a step by step process - not just a simple cause and effect. 

So, now, as I write out my presentation, I find myself sitting around and drawing out (that’s the easiest way) flow charts of pathomechanisms.   I don’t want to feed people information “just because”.  I want it to make sense, to have background, to be able to be explained.  This all came up because I decided that I want to explain why menstruation is important in fertility.  We all know why FSH is important.  We know why ovulation is important.  We know what roles LH and Progesterone play.  The menses just seems brushed over… the new starting point.  Maybe that is why it is important, because it’s a fresh start. 

The menses serve the function of clearing out “old blood”.  Clearning out “old blood” serves the function of giving Progesterone and Estrogen a fresh start on which to build a new, nutritient filled, thick, warm, prepared endometrium.  The menses allows our body the chance to build a fresh layer, to give the best we’ve got to our children.  As women, every month, we dutifully prepare ourselves with the best of what we’ve got available to create a home that will nuture a new life for 9 months. 

That’s what the menses gives us.  Renewal.  Retries.  A Fresh Start.

September 05 2009 03:33 pm | Articles

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