TCM is a monthly column where Jon Hanlon, a Chinese medical practitioner, explores an aspect of Chinese healing practices.
It’s been a tough summer in Guangzhou so far. I did not win the K2Fit Challenge; Dictoria Beckham hosted the final round of Drag Bingo at Social&Co (where I did not win the prize for best drag); and the time has come to write my final column in That’s PRD. Once you have wiped away your bitter tears of disappointment, I invite you to take a walk down memory lane with me before I reveal the single most important secret of Chinese medicine to you.
I hope that I was able to entertain you over the past two years. A personal highlight for me was detailing the difference between ‘swampy-brick belly’ and ‘urgent-bathroom belly.’ Perhaps my most challenging task was to tactfully write about erectile dysfunction without using the words ‘penis’ and ‘erection’ in every sentence. I tried to tackle the tough questions like: ‘What should you do if you’re not normal?’ and ‘Is wind actually blowing through the inside of your body?’ With pearls of wisdom like “You can’t party like a rock star and expect your liver to keep up with you,” I am confident that I helped you along the path to better health.
At times, I may have walked a fine line between professional and inappropriate. However, I feel that using terms like ‘freak show’ and ‘ick factor’ were appropriate word choices, and describing my maniacal laugh when applying electric stimulation with acupuncture was well within the boundaries of medical ethics.
Before I reveal my final pearl of wisdom, I would like to express my gratitude to those devoted readers who stuck with me through the doldrums of the summer of 2015 when I bored you with some theoretical and academic topics that can only loosely be defined as entertaining or informative. I do, however, still stand by my article on the history of acupuncture – it was hysterical and made a solid case supporting my conclusion that “Chinese medicine is nearly as old as dirt.”
Now we come to the promised secret at the end of our journey of Chinese medical discovery. The single most important factor in successful acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine treatment is... wait for it… consistency. It may not be the Earth-shattering secret you were expecting. Goodness knows I couldn’t write an interesting article about being consistent with your treatment plan. But dammit, if I tell you that you need acupuncture once a week for eight weeks or to take herbs every day for three months, then that is exactly what you should do! Not because I am all-knowing, but because if you want the full, long-term and sometimes life-changing health improvements that Chinese medicine can deliver, then you are going to have to commit.
Thank you so much, I hope you had a blast!
Jon Hanlon is a Chinese medical practitioner, raised in the US, trained in Australia, now healing the sick in Guangzhou. You can contact him for a booking on 185 0202 5594 or jon@guangzhouacupuncture.com
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