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An elderly man came to me with a strong desire to quit smoking. Having smoked his entire life, he knew it would easier said than done. Since every addiction arises from an underlying need, I asked him when he felt the strongest urge to smoke.
“That’s when I feel very irritable,” he said. “I smoke to suppress that feeling.”
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I notice that people often panic when they accidentally put the wrong fuel in their car—like diesel instead of petrol—because they know it can damage the engine.
Yet, our supermarkets are full of foods that act like the wrong fuel for our bodies. Although our digestive engine also sputters, unlike a car, the body adapts and the consequences become visible later. How does that work?
The Body as a Garbage Dump
All the indigestible fuel that we consume, looks for a place to go in the body. But where is the rubbish dump?
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I notice the first signs that my period is about to start and decide to make a quick trip to the pharmacy. The shopping street is crowded. A gust of wind blows my hair into my face, and it feels like everyone is walking right in front of me. You almost feel like kicking them out of your way.
Does that sound familiar? Have you noticed how your mood can suddenly feel completely different just before your period?
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is related to Liver energy.
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A woman comes to me with menopausal symptoms. Her schedule is completely packed, and she constantly feels as though she has to do everything. After a number of treatments, she starts to feel more comfortable in her own skin and reconnects with her own needs.
One day she says: “I looked at my packed schedule and thought: this is ridiculous”.
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The image above illustrates five possible causes of headaches.
Headaches can, for example, be caused by:
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A mother brings her son to my practice because he has been incredibly tired lately. He is a very sensitive and extremely bright boy., so I decide to use Shonishin. This is a needle-free acupuncture treatment for children that is a very gentle technique using rounded instruments.
Because I expect this technique will help him relax more, I ask his mother to stand on his other side in order to teach her what to do so that she can use it at home.
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“I’d like you to come for treatment six times a week”
This is the first and, to date, the only time in my acupuncture practice that I have ever made such a proposal.
Normally, I treat clients with pain complaints once or twice a week in the beginning. In this way, the treatment can build on the effects of the previous treatment and you will ultimately need fewer treatments.
But this case is exceptional:
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“I trained in an acupuncture style that was developed by blind acupuncturists.”
My client looks at me in surprise and says, “So… is it like pin the tail on the donkey?”
I laugh. Fortunately, it’s nothing like that.
It’s called Toyohari,
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Someone comes in for an ‘MOT’ because she has a very short fuse and is extremely restless. She comes to the practice regularly because she really struggles with this. One day she comes in and she is boiling over.
She has just retired and I ask her what she is doing differently than usual because the inner turmoil is now at the max.
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I am always curious about the cause of your symptoms.
For pain complaints, for example, I look at your posture and the physical strain you experience in daily life. I also ask about stress and tension in your life. For digestive problems, I naturally ask about your eating habits. There are many more examples I could mention.
Because symptoms usually do not arise out of nowhere.
Sometimes the solution lies in something very small and ordinary. That is also clear from the following story about sleep problems.
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Acupuncture can help treat many more complaints than most people realise.
It can be helpful for complaints caused by an imbalance in the body, where restoring that balance may support recovery.
When an imbalance is left untreated, it can become increasingly entrenched over time.
Once a process has become too firmly established in the body
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One day, I was giving a talk for Vrouwen van Nu, a Dutch women’s organisation. During the Q&A, someone asked whether you have to believe in acupuncture for it to work.
My answer was simple: no, you don’t.
After the talk, we continued our conversation.
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In the winter of 1997, I was at the starting line of the Elfstedentocht, the famous 200-kilometre Dutch ice-skating tour. I witnessed a remarkable scene.
A sporty-looking man in his forties could hardly wait for the race to begin. As soon as the starting signal was given, he stepped onto the ice. With powerful, rapid strokes, he gave it everything he had. In his mind, he was already well on his way to the finish.
Only… he wasn’t moving an inch.
People standing nearby shouted to him in the local Frisian dialect, “Hé jeu, dou hest dien skaatsbeskermers nog oan!” (“Hey, you’ve still got your skate guards on!”)
It took him about a minute before he realised what had happened. With legs already burning from the effort, he removed the plastic guards from his skates and continued his journey.
I often think of this incident when I treat people returning to work after burnout.
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During a treatment, a client says to me, “You look so content, as if you’re working on a piece of art.”
I smile and reply, “You are a work of art.”
She nods in agreement.
That’s genuinely how I see it.
To me, the human body is nothing short of extraordinary.