A five element circle drawn around the world

There is always something very magical about my Chinese visits, this the seventeenth over 12 years.  My days in China always seem to feel as though time pauses when I am there, as we run our week’s seminar, and then time restarts as I get on the plane back to London.  Much of the credit is due to my hosts who welcome me each time in their hundreds as though they are greeting a beloved friend, and cocoon me within what they express as their love for me from first to last day. From the moment we arrive in Beijing we are greeted by a large group who present us with lovely bouquets, with much hugging and kissing.  And this continues until the day we leave, accompanied again by another large group, which includes both times my host of hosts, Professor Liu Lihong, the inspiration behind five element acupuncture’s so eagerly awaited return to its homeland.

 

Liu Lihong and I go back now a long way.  Many years ago I remember our looking critically at one another as Mei Long introduced us at a Rothenburg conference.  From the moment we laid eyes on one another, though, I think we both relaxed, because here were two fellow souls each in our own way determined to nurture the damaged roots of traditional Chinese medicine and restore them to the healthy condition they deserved, he through his practice of herbal medicine and I through mine of five element acupuncture.  And between us there hovered the much-loved presence of my own great master, JR Worsley, who some years ago with his usual omniscience had foreseen the return of five element acupuncture to the place of its birth, telling me, “They will want us back in China soon, Nora”, as they now do in their hundreds.

 

I come back to England, as I always seem to do, inspired by the enthusiasm and warm response to what we teach them.  At a deep level they understand what five element acupuncture is all about, since the elements are in their blood.  I hardly needed to say anything before I could feel the agreement of all the 500 people who attended this seminar.

 

I spent a very warm last evening at a simple supper with Liu Lihong and a friend, accompanied as I always am by my good friend and translator, Lynn, to help Lihong and me understand one another. (Oh! how I wish that I, as a former linguist, had had the good sense to learn Mandarin many years ago before my old ears found it too difficult).  It felt to me then, and it feels increasingly to me on my return, that together Lihong and I have drawn a five element circle around the world, with JR Worsley, smiling, there, holding out his hands to both of us.  A slightly over-impressionist image, perhaps, but one that corresponds to how I feel as I reflect on my latest trip to China.

  

Off to China on Monday 4 September 2023 for our first post-Covid seminar!

I have been told that 500 (or to be more accurate, 482!) Chinese acupuncturists are waiting to greet us on the first day of our five element seminar in Beijing on Wednesday 6 September.  I gather that they have had to move the seminar to a larger hotel because of the number of participants.  As usual, I will be accompanied from London by my good friend and colleague, Guy Caplan, and we will be joined by Mei Long, who is the third member of our teacher group, once we are there.

For this seminar, we will be helping diagnose the elements of as many undiagnosed attendees as possible.  I have been told that probably some 350 of them may be either new to our courses or have not formed part of any of our diagnostic procedures at earlier seminars.  As I have blogged before, we have worked out what I consider to be as effective a way as possible of diagnosing as many people in the time available.  And we always emphasize that the diagnoses are provisional, and require confirmation from the effects of treatment.  That is something everybody accepts and feels quite happy with.

 

I will also be carrying out a full TD (traditional diagnosis) in front of the seminar group on one volunteer patient.  Previously we have interacted with patients at a necessarily much more superficial level, because we thought it was more important to help them with their diagnosis of the elements rather than with the techniques needed to carry out a good TD. So I am giving myself as much time as I need to get to know this patient, bearing in mind that all my questions and all the patient's answers will have to be translated into Mandarin, which will inevitably slow the TD down.  Guy and Mei will be focusing on helping participants with their sensory and practical skills, as well as joining me in seeing and treating further class patients  

 

It has been more than 3 years since we have all seen each other, so this will be a lovely reunion with the many good friends we have made over there.  I look forward to reporting back on what I have learnt from my time in Beijing at the end of what I calculate will be my 17th visit to China.