New Year’s greetings to all who read this blog

I always like to take stock as the year ends and we turn towards the future. And I am doing this here for that part of my life which revolves around acupuncture.

There has, unhappily, been much to be saddened by in the acupuncture world in this country in the past few months, the saddest of all for me being the impending closure of my own college in Warwickshire, and the sudden disappearance, as though overnight, of two other colleges. Happily, though, there is much else to carry forward into the New Year;   amongst these things, to my increasing surprise, there is my blog.

Being new to the world of blogging, Youtube, Twitter and such-like before I started, I suppose I am more surprised than others might be at how far into the distant reaches of the world my blog has penetrated. At the latest count it has spread to more than 50 countries, and I still find it exciting when I see that somebody from Ghana, Guadeloupe or Kazakhstan has tapped into their computer and found me. What, I ask myself, has made them interested enough in five element acupuncture to home in on what I write? Not only does this stimulate me in sending out my thoughts, but the interest shown gives me daily confirmation that in writing about the elements I am speaking in a universal language understood by all.

And through this blog I am also seeing that more and more individual seekers after five element knowledge, a rare and growing breed, are prepared to search out teachers who answer their needs, and are finding their way to me and other five element teachers. This is the kind of teaching I love, to people who are prepared to study hard, often on their own and in their own time, to explore the elements and learn how to use this knowledge to help others. I am aware that there are many people out there who have no chance at all of finding a five element acupuncturist, let alone a training college, in their country (or even on their continent!). These are the pioneers of the future, just as JR Worsley and his many teachers before him were the pioneers of old. I hope they have the courage to explore and innovate, as he did, and I hope, too, that the people who need to will find their way to me and to other five element teachers and will ask us for whatever we can offer. I and others have plans for setting up another five element centre in addition to that in London, this time on the South Coast. I can see these becoming an increasingly important resource which all those interested in developing their five element skills can draw upon in the future.

Finally there is the excitement of seeing five element acupuncture on its journey back to China through the efforts of Mei Long and the translation of my Handbook. I will end with a lovely message Liu Lihong sent me from China. He hopes the translation of my book will get published soon, which he thinks is the most important thing of all for promoting five element acupuncture in China, and he finishes by saying, “Imagine 10,000 people out there will read this book. Even if only one of them finds the truth there it is still good news. With 20,000 readers we will at least get 2 people who want to practise it. This will be a good start already.” So I greet in my thoughts all those 20,000 people out there waiting to read my book, and I look forward to welcoming the two who Liu Lihong predicts will practise what is in it.

A Happy New Year to all my readers in all the 50 countries around the globe. Amongst the many of those in China reading this there may (who knows?) already be Liu Lihong’s two!