Learning in lockdown

20 Inspiration Acu. | Issue #30 | Spring 2021

Andrea Dewhurst

Student Member: Hertfordshire

Of course, no-one could have anticipated 2020, or as I now call it, ‘the year that shall not be named’.

In March 2020 we were just starting the second half of our second year. At the time I felt fortunate. We were not in the student clinic. All of our theoretical lessons could continue online. And our college adopted the whole process so quickly that our lessons almost continued uninterrupted. We turned up online each Thursday and Friday. Still learning. Still completing exams, assignments and classes, whilst also juggling homeschooling children and/or remote working. Whilst also managing stress and finances and sadness and anger.

We kept going

Of course, I’m writing this in 2021 with our student clinic back on hold. Keeping going has felt tougher this time, personally.

But I wanted to share with any other acupuncture students. That we can and will do this again. The suggestions I am offering are not exhaustive. And if you feel like all you can achieve, at the moment, is to survive then do what is right for you.

Continue to learn

Even if you keep going over the basics. I don’t think you can ever know yin and yang or the functions of the spleen well enough.

Revisit pieces that seem basic, and I promise you will find something new. It is the beauty of this medicine. There is always something new.

Read books, just because. I found reading a wide variety of books helped deepen my knowledge. I didn’t always (read hardly ever) understand. But sometimes those nuggets crop up in the oddest time.

Learn about the history of Chinese medicine. Or about illnesses that interest you. I have just finished a book about Alzheimer’s. It had nothing to do with acupuncture. But health and wellbeing, in general, is our future.

Surprisingly, the main thing I discovered about Alzheimer’s is that the food, exercise, mental activities, emotions we have in our lives are what manifest 20 years later with signs of dementia.

Learn to rest

One of the greatest things I learnt from studying is that rest is as important as work. Be kind to yourselves. You are living through a worldwide pandemic. Live according to yin and yang. The yang time of day is the morning. Big tasks, big meals, mental and physical work should be done during this phase. The yin time of day is the afternoon and evening. Rest, small and simple meals.

Perhaps look for qi gong videos. They make you feel revitalised and move your body, without running the couch to 5K.

Build a network

OK, maybe ‘this’ is the greatest thing about Chinese medicine. It is the people. I have never met a better community of wonderful, interesting and kind people.

Social media and the regional contacts (you can look in the back of the latest Acu. magazine) have been such wonderful sources of friendship, knowledge and community. As good as I could have hoped to find.

I reached out to my local regional contact and she has been so welcoming and encouraging. I joined their pre-Christmas ‘virtual’ meet-up and it was amazing to meet my future local colleagues. And social media may have many pitfalls, but without it I would not have met some of the most wonderful student acupuncturists from CICM, NCA, ICOM and TAA in England. As well as many students from Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and many more. And that is just the acupuncture students. I have also virtually met, through social media, acupuncturists covering almost every country in the world.

So, let these people show you and encourage you to keep learning. Because one day you will be part of them.

Tools to leverage

Social media can also be very useful for enabling your learning. Without pinpointing any names in particular, you need only search any social media platform for #acupuncture #acupuncturestudent #chinesemedicinestudent #acupuncturerocks #acupunctureworks and even my own #channelproject, and you will come across content that is encouraging your learning. Much of it even for free. I have been collating and building a list but thankfully, this is not an exhaustive list 〉 thechannelproject. co.uk/post/sharing-is-caring

Become the teacher

Are you particularly drawn to a subject in acupuncture? It might be point names? Or western medicine pathologies?

Or anatomy?

I am drawn to the theory of Chinese medicine. I spend lots of time on it. I spent virtually no time (don’t tell my lecturers) on western medicine.

So, my friend and I, in Year 2, made an agreement. I would teach her my Chinese medicine knowledge, and in return, she would teach me her western medical knowledge. By becoming the teacher we each became more adept at framing our language. The subject matter became more ingrained. And one extra surprising thing came from it. We encouraged the passion in each other. So now, I am more interested in western medicine and she is, in turn, better able to understand why I call the liver Jeff Bezos.

Take case studies

Take cases of friends, family members. People you meet on Zoom. Work colleagues. Heck, I even interviewed people in my local area when I put a call out.

I promise you, this is one you will not regret. Take the case. Work through it. Think about your questioning. Think about the organ patterns. Or five elements. Or what the tongue is showing you. Keep practising. Keep revising. Because that is your future self. That is you in three years, or two years or one year. You will be questioning a future client, and at that moment this hardship will seem ages away. And you will be so grateful you continued.