Abstract

The role of intuition is seldom identified in acupuncture training as one of the keys to effective practice. John Hamwee here explores its paramount importance in diagnosis and treatment, showing how development of the intuitive sense, and its appropriate use in the treatment room, is vital to building the most effective individual practice.

Through discussion of theory, clinical example, and the experiences of leading acupuncturists, the author shows how intuition, or the grasping of subliminal clues, can be developed, based on the practitioner's growing `storeroom' of clinical experience and why it is so useful for this to become a conscious and rigorously examined process. He discusses the process of testing intuition against objective observation of the patient, and how an intuitive leap can provide a shortcut across an innumerable series of diagnostic steps, and lead to diagnostic and treatment decisions that make complete sense of the observable phenomena. He suggests that learning to trust the intuitive faculty, while still fully interrogating conclusions, is the basis of better patient outcomes and significantly advanced practice.

This thoughtful and engaging book will be one that acupuncturists will want to read and reread, and will speak to all therapists, counsellors, and health practitioners.

One of the most valiant endeavors of this book, and one of the best reasons to read it, is its attempt to confer some validity on this most unscientific of concepts: to make intuition overt, instead of something we covertly, slightly shamefacedly, indulge in our treatment rooms.
Karen Charlesworth, BAcC member
Acu.
John Hamwee has been a practicing acupuncturist for over 20 years and is a teacher of acupuncture and Zero Balancing. He previously worked as a Senior Lecturer in Systems at The Open University, UK, for whom he wrote numerous textbooks. John is the author of Acupuncture for New Practitioners and Zero Balancing, both published by Singing Dragon. He practices in London and the Lake District, UK.
This is a courageous and important book. It looks at what cannot be measured or analysed in medicine, Western or Eastern, and in life in general. And it looks at it because it is essential to all healing. John Hamwee shows us that Intuition, or 'sudden knowing' profoundly informs a therapeutic intervention. It can open a window, and initiate in the patient "the will to live" in the broadest sense. The book shows us how to grow our own intuitive sensibilities, step by step, and how this will enliven our practices, and our lives. His work is richly illustrated by stories from his own years in practice, and from wide ranging research in Chinese classics, western medicine, science and philosophy. Above all it is very accessible, not only to acupuncturists but to all those interested in healing.
Isobel Cosgrove, acupuncture practitioner and teacher
We need more books like this. The author uses his considerable expertise and intelligence to explore aspects of the therapeutic relationship that are seldom discussed. Chapters entitled 'Intuition', 'Attention', 'Relationship' and 'Cultivation' give a sense of the kinds of issues that are crucial to the work of all physicians but are so hard to teach or even to discuss. This is an important book for any acupuncturist who wants to think more deeply about the work that they do.
Peter Mole, Dean of the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine and author of 'Acupuncture for Body, Mind and Spirit'