Reply To: Acupuncture Bootcamp
Angela,
I am really happy you are thinking about how all these inter-connect, from when a question mentions, “Five Element Theory” versus “Chinese Three-Needle Technique” or “Korean Sa-Ahm / Four-Needle Technique.”
Full disclosure: I teach the 3-needle and 4-needle techniques for three reasons:
1. They used to be part of the exam curriculum; I can’t be certain it will or won’t be today
2. It requires a student to become quite competent at Five Element theory and relating the Elements to the Shu points
3. It helps practitioners connect with their colleagues and understand why people might pick different points
Therefore, when it came to a question that kind of seems a bit random in the way it asks, and the way the answers are presented, you do well!
There’s no such resource for questions like these. What I am saying is that I believe you were able to recognize the fact that if you tonify the Source point on the Earth channel, and then tonify the Heart in the same way (where the Fire element is the mother of the Earth element), you’ll doubly tonify Earth.
I think the answer could be worded better to explain this. I have just done that.
So if a question comes up on the exam that looks like this, look for different ways to tonify or reduce using Five-Element points as well as how it would look if you drew the Five-Element diagram and said you were going to tonify or reduce “in general.”