Acupuncture Imaging: Perceiving the Energy Pathways of the Body

The author spent the entire book laboring the same point over and over that there is a mind body connection.The book is thin in both content and length. As practicing therapist this added no new tools to my toolbox. Author also spent considerable time and page content referencing his other books..which is ok..if anything had been gained by reading this one.

Mark Seem is one of the most innovative acupuncturists of today and is not afraid to speak his truth. Each of his books are refinement of his previous books in which he develops his very unique and specific protocol for practicing acupuncturists wishing to learn this style. I'm not certain his techniques are learnable from a book; I spent many clinical hours learning his protocol at Tri-State where I was lucky enough to go to school but if you want to learn "classical," meridian-style acupuncture from a modern perspective, Mark Seem is the Man.

Given the two prior negative reviews, I feel its important to provide a balancing input, particularly since I did fully enjoy this small book. There are hints given toward the end of this book about why he uses the term "imaging". With intentional experience and time devoted to Seem's style of evaluating the person, their meridians as a whole instead of just a few selected points, before touching in order to intuitively perceive ... he suggests that some people may learn to "see" energy coursing and the places where there might be obstructions. I agree the title may lead to a little disappointment. The book is more about trying to understand the deeper dynamics of energy management in the body and prodding of it by manual exam and acupuncture rather than "imaging" in the typical use of the word. However, if one approaches the book with an open mind, there is a lot of helpful information here. It is not a comprehensive textbook on how to learn acupuncture, and does NOT pretend to be. It is assumed that one already has acquired the basics from some perspective such as TCM, 5-Elements or one of the physicians' medical acupuncture disciplines. Bob Flaws, in his introduction to the book, describes Mark Seem as an acupuncturist's acupuncturist, referencing the fact that Seem has devoted his career and teaching to refining a particular form of acupuncture focusing on the body's innate energetic pathways that are independent of other "assists" such as herbal preparations. As such, this short book of about 100 pages, attempts to summarize a starting point for exploring acupuncture from an energetic framework. He intentionally speaks more as a philosopher and educator rather than a "technician", sharing the accumulated impressions he has gained over his career using a psychosomatic and phenomenologic approach. His emphasize on recruiting patients to be responsible, active participants in the pursuit of their own healing, rather becoming the passive recipients of treatments or pills is refreshing. That's always a challenge no matter how much desired for most practitioners of the healing arts. He attempts to explain how he engages his patients in this process specifically for the medium of acupuncture. These efforts are quite valuable -- yet their significance may be lost when one is at the start of acupuncture training and still attempting to absorb the massive amount of required material. Its more the type of information to which one returns after reaching a plateau that prompts a need to re-think how one organizes their own approach to the discipline. I anticipate I will want to re-read it intermittently. Seem's pre-acupuncture background was in philosophy and psychosomatics. He then trained in a Canadian school of French-Chinese energetic acupuncture. This approach became known in France dating back to the early 1900's due to the work of George Soulle' de Morant, a Frenchman who spent at least 2 decades in China, was fluent in Chin