Teacher, Guide, Cheerleader

When I was in kindergarten, I wanted to be a school teacher.

Perhaps it was just because I wanted to use whiteboard markers (I’ve never stopped wanting this - what is it about writing on a whiteboard that is so fun?), but later on, it seemed there was more to it than that.

At school I loved maths, and once I had finished with VCE, I tutored others to help them love maths too (or at least get as close to some form of appreciation and clear understanding as possible to help them get through their assessments as pleasantly as possible).

There’s something special in the challenge of teaching others something that we are thoroughly interested in.

I loved finding different ways to explain the same things so they would be understood by different students.

It takes creativity and a deep understanding of the material.

The real magic in all of this though?

The ah-ha moments.

The moments when things clicked and a new level was unlocked.

I got to experience this again later on a rowing coach. Instead of quadratic equations and answering as many questions as possible in an exam, we switched to as close to perfect technique as possible and as quick as lungs and legs could take them from the start line to the finish.

This still took teaching and encouragement, but this time, rather than being about trusting the brain to be able to solve a problem, it was now about trusting the body to deliver its fastest and most efficient race possible after putting in all the work on the water and in the gym beforehand.

Now in clinic I’m teaching and encouraging patients on their health journey through the lens of Chinese Medicine. Fortunately, Chinese Medicine is way more intuitive than maths, and the experience of an acunap is much more relaxing than getting ready to row as hard as you can for 2km.

It’s one of my favourite things to give my patients explanations of my diagnosis, how they got there and the path forward, because grounding their time in clinic with me in this information tends to make things more tangible and it’s easier to invest time and energy into things we understand well, as well as making changes far more easier to stick to.

For me, my role is to be not only a practitioner of acupuncture and herbs, but also a teacher, a guide and a cheerleader.