171 Inner Development of the Practitioner • Peter Mole

Good cookware requires seasoning. A hearty stew takes heat and time. Good wine needs a few years; whiskey, that requires a decade or more. And to develop as a practitioner of Chinese medicine, that ripening can take a lifetime.

In this conversation with Peter Mole we explore the dynamics of doubt and certainty, along with the role of intuition and artistry in the development of an acupuncturist.

Listen into this conversation on the inner journey of becoming a Chinese medicine doctor.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Peter’s path into Chinese medicine
• Curiosity and an interest in people is a requirement for being a successful practitioner
• We need to understand and work with a patient’s relationship with their illness
• Getting through emotional times
• If you are to heal the sick, first you must forgive them
• The dynamics of doubt and certainty
• Checking to be sure our treatments are being helpful to our patients
• The role of a patient’s vitality
• Working with Western medicine
• Thoughts on practicing in the later stages of life
• Having meaning in life

As Albert Schweitzer put it “It is our duty to remember at all times and anew that medicine is not only a science, but also the art of letting our own individuality interact with the individuality of the patient.”

Peter Mole

After I finished studying Modern History at Oxford University I started training to be an acupuncture practitioner in 1976.  I studied and worked with JR Worsley until 1992, receiving his Master of Acupuncture qualification from him in 1984.

I studied TCM in the 1980s. I have been teaching acupuncture since 1983, first in Leamington Spa at the College of Traditional Acupuncture and later at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, where I am the Dean.

I am the author of a book for the general public, Acupuncture for Body, Mind and Spirit, and I am the co-author of the text book Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture. I have lectured on Five Element acupuncture in Europe, the U.S. and Israel. I was a founding council member of the British Acupuncture Council.

My style of acupuncture is an integration of the Five Element Constitutional style with TCM. I am particularly interested in psychological complaints and physical complaints that have arisen largely due to the internal causes of disease.