Anne Marie is a senior Touch Tuina Practitioner at the York clinic. Read on to find out more about how she became involved with her Tuina journey, her thoughts on why Tuina works so well in helping people with pain and why she enjoys her work so much.

How did you start your journey to becoming a Tuina Practitioner?

I had lots of back problems for many years, and I was in a lot of pain. I got recommended to come to Tuina and it really, really helped. I felt like I wanted to learn how to do Tuina and train up in it and now I’m really passionate about it.

How was the training process for you?

I really enjoyed the training, I loved the learning of it all, in both the theory side as well as the practical side. I really enjoyed working alongside other students who were also passionate about Tuina and I thought Errol was absolutely amazing at teaching as well, so it was really fun learning and I gained a lot of knowledge. There were parts where it was challenging but I don’t really see it as any more challenging than learning anything else. It was just getting used to the techniques, which came with practice and I think Errol was really good at simplifying all that, the more hours that you put in, just going over the same movements, that’s how you get better and better. It wasn’t long before I saw a difference in my techniques and each time I kind’ve integrated and felt that I was getting better with the movements it filled me with excitement.

What’s do you like about your work?  

I just absolutely love helping people, you know, when they come into the clinic. I like communicating and talking to the clients and really helping them, it’s such a beautiful feeling to know that you have made them feel better when they get off the bed. There was a guy the other week who couldn’t even reach down to tie his shoelaces and after 1 session he was able to tie them with a lot more ease. It’s stuff like that, because I know what it’s like to have physical pain and to live with that as well, but after coming to Tuina I can see there’s a way out, and even if it’s not fully getting rid of the problem, just getting rid of a percentage of it can really help.

From the first treatment do you usually see an improvement in most patients?

Yes absolutely, depending on what they’ve come in for or for how long they’ve had the problem. There’s always an improvement straight away, sometimes people need to come in for a certain amount of sessions because there could be a lot going on in the body and after that, they can spread it out a little bit more. That’s my experience from what I’ve seen and what I’ve treated with people.

Is there a type of condition that you often treat or anything that surprises you? 

I tend to treat a lot of people that have hip and lower back problems and also upper back, which is where my issues were. It doesn’t surprise me now when I see a massive improvement, but I think when I first started it used to really surprise me, especially with the positive comments and feedback I’d get from clients. They’d leave the clinic feeling much lighter and with a lot more mobility from wherever the issue was.

Do you need to be conscious of your posture when you’re treating patients?

My posture? Yes, I massively take care of it! What’s good is that we have mirrors, so I’m constantly checking myself to make sure that I’m moving in the correct way. I kind’ve feel like it’s a bit of a dance when I’m going around the body with the way that my arms and legs are positioned, because the way Errol has taught us is that I need to be comfortable so that I’m not passing on some awkward tension energy to the client. I also like keeping myself in tip top condition, so my posture is very important.

How do you feel when treating the patents, do you feel relaxed?

I feel very relaxed, I absolutely love doing Tuina! I see it as a meditation, when the client’s quiet and we’re not talking, my body becomes one with their body and it’s almost like my hands have got an intelligence of their own and they just take over. As I said, it’s like a dance, a lot of times I can feel the energy in my body and I can feel the energy in their body as well, it’s amazing. It’s the best job I’ve ever come into.

Have you learnt anything unexpected this year?

Sometimes certain acupuncture or acupressure points that we massage have surprised me, like the gaulbladder, 30 on the glute and how that helps with back problems and sciatica, and I just find it fascinating that in this ancient knowledge there is not only so much wisdom but it really does work as well.

What’s next for you in your journey?  

To always keep learning, there’s so much more to learn, it’s so fast in the TCM world, so ongoing learning and ongoing treatments of clients!

If you’d like to book an appointment with Anne Marie in our York Touch Tuina clinic, just get in touch!