Branches
Dear Patient,
Recently I was chatting with a colleague about the challenges of doing our work during the pandemic. I’m not talking about masks and screening and all the additional tasks needed to keep our patients and ourselves safe—we’ve adapted to all that. It was exhausting at first, and still is sometimes, but it’s become just another part of the routine.
No, my colleague and I were talking about a different phase we find ourselves in. Now the challenge comes more in the form of bumping up against the limits of our medicine. Traditional East Asian Medicine practitioners are trained in roots and branches. The root is the source of disease, and the branch is how it manifests. Migraines are a branch. The root might be excess fire in the Liver channel. We treat both. Branch treatment relieves symptoms; root treatment eliminates the cause and prevents recurrence.
But what to do when our needles and herbs and dietary suggestions and lifestyle advice can’t reach the root? What do in times of massive uncertainty, deep divisions, and existential dread? What to do when the root of disease is this moment in history?
We do the best we can. We treat the branches and provide relief. Sometimes that’s as far as we can reach, and that is okay. And we can also choose to plant something new, something that will one day grow its own roots. Because roots can be the source of disease but they can also be the source of stability, and unity, and hope. We can nourish the roots we plant and grow our own canopy of branches.
Love and gratitude,
Your Acupuncturist