With Labor Day behind us, we are officially in Back to School season. For me, this time of year always feels more like the new year to me than New Year’s does. My body clock is still pegged to the academic year as a time of transition, engagement, and vision of future possibilities. This is also the time of year when we begin preparation for the coming seasons, and in many traditions, from Judaism to Taoism, Hinduism to Christianity, this is when we celebrate the harvest – often in the context of personal connection with our greater community. It is in this seasonal pivot that I would like to share with you some of the work we do here at Yinova that you may not know about. While we are avid learners, many of us are also teachers. In addition to the continuing education that we all take part in, we also work to help train future generations and have created programs we are very excited about.
Did you know that many of our Yinova practitioners have also taught East Asian medicine, often at the graduate level? This comes partly from their deep understanding of this medicine and their ability to convey it, but it goes deeper than that. In addition to a strong foundation of knowledge, there is a deep commitment to embodying this medicine: walking the walk, you might say.
This doesn’t mean, however, that we are all living perfectly clean, beatific versions of ourselves. Not at all. In fact, as Alex Tiberi, a mentor to many of us here at Yinova, used to say, “80% is perfection.” We all return to this wisdom in one way or another: doing our best, while recognizing that real life rarely allows for perfection. That ability to balance the ideal with the real is part of what makes a Yinova acupuncturist a good communicator and partner in our patients’ healthcare.
Sharing our passion for this medicine and helping educate the next generation about our knowledge and philosophy is something we love doing. Here are a few of the programs that we have run at Yinova that have allowed us to help individuals of many ages make sense of where they have been and where they may want to go.
City As School
We have tremendous faith in young people’s ability to find their path if given tools and information in ways that can reach them. When we had an opportunity to work with kids from City As School (CAS) high school, we leapt on it. CAS was founded in 1972 as a part of the NYC public school system for high schoolers who were “dropout” risks. The belief was that even if they did not thrive in a conventional learning environment, they could have a valuable and inspiring educational experience through mentorship. This would open their minds to new ways of learning and help prepare them for their futures as inquisitive adults and engaged citizens. CAS students have gained health education credits through their experience seeing what we do and working with us here at Yinova.
Pacific College of Health Sciences
Since 2022, we have been an externship site for the Pacific College of Health Sciences, helping train graduate-level students. Through two separate programs we developed, we bookend students’ experience at the beginning of clinical education and just before licensure.
For students just starting out in-clinic, we offer an opportunity to observe Yinova acupuncturists in practice. This lets them see one version of how a “real-world” practice operates and start reflecting on their professional goals early on. Exposure to clinical practice in this way can help fortify their professional vision and inspire the work they go on to do.
As they near graduation, we welcome exceptional students to treat patients themselves at our East Side location under the guidance of Yinova’s Dr. Jeremy V. Pulsifer. We have developed a program that gives aspiring acupuncturists a deeper understanding of what it means to be “in practice,” while introducing them to the clinical and operational tools they’ll need to build a successful career.
Looking Forward
At Yinova, we take great joy in supporting our patients with Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). We also feel a responsibility, as stewards of this medicine, to honor its powerful philosophical underpinnings. As TCM is increasingly appreciated as an option for health, both on its own and as part of an integrated approach, we continue to cultivate our vision of what care can look like. Supporting the people who are coming into this field is one way we strive to move that vision forward.
If you have a business that could support young people through mentorship or hands-on learning, we encourage you to visit the City as School site and get in touch. It may not be practical for everyone, but we have found it to be a deeply fulfilling experience.
