In the second half of the program, we took a Traditional Chinese Medicine class where we were able to perform cupping and acupuncture on one another. This was my favorite part of the program because TCM is something I had always heard of but never fully understood, and learning the history and theory behind was very eye-opening. There is so much more to TCM than just healing using herbs. There are a lot of thought out theories that are essential to an overall understanding of TCM.
When we first started the TCM class, a lot of the students were hesitant to “believe” some of the theories we were learning.This has a lot to do with the fact that western medicine is all most of really knew and western medicine is notorious for being against different types of medicinal practices that cannot necessarily be proved by science in the way that most of western medicine is. But, as the quarter went on, we went herb picking, and went to a clinic where we learned how to do acupuncture and cupping, it seemed like everyone was really getting into TCM practice.
We were also able to see the TCM professor examine a little boy who kept wetting the bed in his sleep. He analyzed his pulse and and the color of his tongue which are a few techniques we learned in class previously. It was good to see it in practice because I showed the practical use of something that is completely foreign to a lot of us in the program.
This is a picture of the professor demonstrating how to perform cupping on me while all of the students eagerly watched, while waiting next in line.
