The Year of The Yin Wood Snake
The Year of the Wood Snake emphasizes alignment with intelligence, resilience, and adaptability. The Snake symbolizes wisdom and intuition in Chinese culture, often associated with transformation and deep thinking. When paired with the Wood element, this energy becomes more flexible, creative, and growth-oriented, emphasizing the pursuit of new ideas and personal development. (1)
I feel immense gratitude for achieving 22 years of clinical practice. It has been an incredible journey thus far, from my continued training to my clients, who are my real teachers. Thank you for your trust and openness to my work.
When I chose to study Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, I never thought I would have such a love for human anatomy. Throughout the degree, we learned specifics, such as counting ribs and vertebrae for locating acupuncture points, functional areas of the cerebral cortex representing different functions in the body used in scalp acupuncture, every nook and cranny of the outer ear, also called the auricle, for the hundreds of points in auricular acupuncture, and how to evaluate location and depth of important structures, like organs, nerves, and arteries for needling safety.
Many years after graduating, I was finally able to take cadaver dissection classes. One unfixed and two fixed. These experiences solidified that everything in our bodies is related and continuous — no anatomical structure functions independently.
Many have asked, and I’ve always wondered, how the Acupuncture system evolved. After more than two thousand years, the history is obscure. Recently, I read an article about Chinese physicians taking measurements of organs and completing successful surgeries on the brain and abdomen as much as 5,000 years ago. The article dispels the misconception that the Acupuncture system was founded on some fantastical hologram. It is based on factual anatomy combined with the non-linear cultural philosophy of Taoism. The book The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Copra illustrates the different philosophies of linear and cyclical cultures.
I continue to be humbled and in awe of the human body. Your trust is a privilege and I’m honored to be part of your healthcare journey.
Esther Garcia-Cuellar, MS, EAMP