Many of my classes are just continuations of first-year classes. These include Homeopathy, Botanical Medicine, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Health Psychology, and Philosophy.
The only new classes this semester are Microbiology and Clinical Medicine. With that said, all of the "continuation" classes are all introducing new concepts and expanding my knowledge of the subjects; they are going to be incredibly interesting yet will definitely be challenging. Second-year classes really delve into the core modalities (i.e. types) of naturopathic medicine and really start to teach the students how to be a doctor.
As for a review of the two new classes...
Clinical Medicine is going to be the most difficult class because it requires a lot of class-time (11 hours a week in the lecture hall) in addition to a lot of at home studying and practicing. It is in this class that I will learn how to preform a complete physical exam and it is in this class that I will learn how to start diagnosing (as mentioned before).
As for Microbiology, I'm lucky to have studied this topic at great lengths during my undergraduate degree. The subject will require a lot of memorization because Microbiology isn't really a common-sense or theory-based class, but is a whole-lot-of-teeny-tiny-details type of class. Thankfully I don't mind this kind of class (memorization can be fun!). With that said, the class is INCREDIBLY dry. Looks like I will be doing a lot of self-teaching because I don't think I am going to get much out of the weekly lecture.
As for the "old" classes...
I start needling again next week in Acupuncture. We are still covering the basic acupuncture points in class, but will be learning more difficult points, like ones on the head, back, and chest. Should be interesting... hopefully my Qi won't mind all of the prodding and poking! (Note: Qi is a type of energy in TCM, it is what is stimulated by acupuncture and is what helps to evoke change in the patient after a needling session).
Botanical Medicine is going to be way better than last year as we will be taught how to make and prescribe herbal tinctures. Actually next week we have our first herbal tincture making tutorial. Should be informative!
See you tomorrow :)
Question - after practice needling do you feel as you would after treatment?
ReplyDeleteCurious Momma
No, we aren't suppose to get any therapeutic benefit from our practice needling because we are needling a specific set of needles for our particular health concern. Normally there is a set of needle points selected to treat the individual depending on their needs; only when the set is needled and left in for 15 minutes or so, will the therapeutic benefit be achieved. In class, we are just needling random points and only leaving the needles in for 5 minutes or less.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, it is said that after graduating from CCNM, that your Qi (the TCM term for energy) is all messed up because of all of the random needling we do over the course of four years :S