The strongest of all warriors are these two – time and patience. ~ Leo Tolstoy
Remember the last time you stubbed your toe or bumped your head? The damage
occurred first, and then you felt the pain, right? It doesn’t happen the other way around.
In these simple examples the reaction is almost instantaneous, and in most cases the
recovery is shortlived as well. But what about something a little more complex and deep
rooted?
When dealing with a more complicated issue like an imbalance you must first distinguish
between the signs and symptoms that it eventually produces. Most imbalances develop
slowly over time, and could be months or years in the making by the time pain or other
symptoms finally surface. In the meantime energy flow has been choked off, cells,
organs and nerves have been affected, and tissues become damaged or irritated. Play
this scenario out long enough and eventually your body will begin to express some type of
symptom.
The important thing to note here is that extensive damage can occur under the surface
long before symptoms ever develop. If you’ve been raised to equate pain with sickness
and lack of pain with health, you can see how dangerous this can be.
When it comes to relieving painful symptoms and ultimately correcting the underlying
imbalance, you must give the body time to do its work, and for the treatments to take
effect.
Symptom relief will come before the actual meridian rebalance. But when you consider
that the symptom was often brewing under the surface for quite a while, even just getting
you painfree can take some time, so be patient.
The majority of the time spent on a schedule of comprehensive acupuncture care is
devoted to correcting the underlying imbalance(s). When the meridian system becomes
blocked and out of balance, it takes time to retrain the body to function optimally. But
even if the imbalance could be corrected with a single treatment, the body would still need
quite a bit of time to heal and rebuild normally. Imagine that your grass dies because
your sprinkler system goes down. The grass doesn’t suddenly reappear as soon as you
correct its water supply. Just like the grass, your body needs the necessary time and
care to regenerate. Trust acupuncture and give it time to do its work.
