As a self-employed acupuncturist, I spend my clinic days treating patients on a one-to-one basis. There might be other practitioners in the other clinic rooms, but then again, there might not be. So it's really important to have first aid skills in those rare instances of a patient fainting or suffering from something more serious. The British Acupuncture Council, my professional body, recommends taking a first aid course every three years, which is why I was really pleased to spend last Thursday morning refreshing my first aid skills with the amazing Alex Brazkiewicz (standing behind Tess in the photo - the plastic bloke is my CPR model). 

Alex himself is an acupuncturist and was a paramedic before that, so he knows what he's talking about. Sometimes what they say in books can be different in reality. For instance, it is incredibly hard work to give effective chest compressions to someone with a large build because you have to push down by about a third of the body depth. First aid rules have also been revised with the Covid pandemic in mind. We don't need to do rescue breaths if we don't have a mouth cover or a pocket mask to put on the patient. Chest compressions alone are still effective, especially for the first 3-4 minutes after someone stops breathing.

The course also encourages us to teach our family basic first aid skills. After all, it might be me doing the fainting and needing a first aider at home! 

Last September my son moved out to be nearer his college. And that is how we found ourselves with not one but two spare rooms (we were always lucky enough to have a guest room/office space). It made sense to convert one room into a treatment room. Slowly, over the course of the winter months, we were able to empty out one room, rearranged furniture and books around the flat, and got a family friend to paint the room and strip away the old carpet.

We then found a lovely small company called Fine Finish Flooring to come and replace the old wooden floor. Lewis Hajjitofis and his team came and sorted us out. (Thank you for doing such a brilliant job!)

Then there was the not-small matter of regulatory requirements. Informing my professional body, the British Acupuncture Council, of this new practice location. Informing Barnet council that I now have a new treatment room. Arranging for insurance cover.

And finally, my new treatment space is ready. It is Covid-secure. It is my new happy place. I hope you find it a calm and peaceful space for healing and relaxing.

I am always on the lookout for good music to play in the treatment room. When I first started learning tai chi in Hong Kong many years ago, my teacher Alex used to play opera and reggae to accompany our rounds of t'ai chi. So before long I started associating these genres with relaxation and Chinese medicine (tai chi being one modality of Chinese medicine, along with acupuncture, herbs, food and tuina massage). So when I started my acupuncture practice some years ago, I automatically played classical music or reggae in the treatment room.

These days I tend to favour playing "non-music" in the treatment room so  patients have something to listen to while I leave the needles to do their work. Tibetan singing bowls or the sound of water are my favourites. Not everyone likes opera, but most people  appreciate the soothing sound of chimes being gently caressed by the breeze.

Imagine my delight when a patient gave us a CD recording of her playing the piano while being accompanied by a blackbird in her garden. This patient is a piano teacher and said she first noticed the blackbird singing in her garden two years ago, especially while she played the piano. So one day she recorded the blackbird while she was playing. Later on when she was playing back the recording, she realised that the blackbird seemed to be accompanying her piano-playing. And this magical CD is often what I play when I'm treating these days because the sound of nature is deeply relaxing. 

This isn't the first time I've heard of birds accompanying musicians playing. A famous recording from 1924 captured cellist Beatrice Harrison dueting with nightingales at her home near the  woods in Surrey, England. She received 50,000 fan letters from this time!