Hi All!
I’m Becca Seitz, licensed acupuncturist and owner of Thrive Acupuncture in NE Portland. You can read about what got me into acupuncture and Chinese medicine at the link Maria gave above. But here, today, I think I’d like to talk about my philosophy for my practice (and my life!) When I graduated from acupuncture school, I started my business under the name To The Point Acupuncture. Get it? Acupuncture points, getting right to the point of a health concern, not dancing around it. Catchy, huh? I love puns and really love businesses that have enough of a sense of humor about themselves to include them in their name. I certainly like to be the first to laugh at (with?) myself. This name was PERFECT for me!
But you may notice that I have a different business name now – what drove me to change it? While “To The Point” was catchy and fun, it didn’t get across what I wanted out of my practice. I found myself attracting patients who wanted me to “fix them.” And while this may be how biomedicine works with its surgeries, medications and other miscellaneous therapies, this isn’t how Chinese medicine works. I like to see Chinese medicine as a way to remind your body how to function healthfully. I am merely the tutor or mentor for your body.
So I would go along day after day helping people fix their health problems, but as soon as their symptoms disappeared, so would they. They would only return once their symptoms returned. And this is completely understandable. Our model of healthcare in our society is based on an emergency system – if something’s broken, you fix it and go on with your life.
In Chinese medicine, the model is to prevent things from breaking in the first place. And, if something does happen to break, you fix it and make sure it never breaks again.
I wanted to inspire in people the desire to be more than just symptom-free (pretty catchy slogan there, huh?)! I no longer felt like my business name was getting the point I wanted to get across to my patients. So, I changed it. It was a little scary since my old name was just starting to get out there and known, but I felt strongly enough about my purpose, that it was a must.
I became Thrive Acupuncture, and I must say, I love it! I love helping people become the healthiest they can be, and you know what? I’ve got many patients now who have made the choice to continue treatment with me, even though their symptoms are gone, to make sure that they feel their best! There are still those who just want the band-aid, and I treat them, and I love working with them, and I love seeing them feel good, but my true passion is in helping people to THRIVE!
I can’t wait to blog with you all about Chinese medicine and how it works! If you have any specific questions about chronic disease, auto-immune disorders (or anything else!) and Chinese medicine on here, please ask away and we’ll get those answered!
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This Friday, we will be posting a follow –up Chinese Medicine post regarding the Five Elements and some discussion on a recent article about applying those elements.
