In my class, there are people of all races from at least half a dozen different countries. Some of them had parents who went to Oriental medicine schools themselves, while others never even heard of until they reached adulthood. Yet all of them have one thing in common: a passion for traditional Chinese medicine.

In my case, school is something that I did not even consider until I was about 30. At that point, I had a successful business career going, and was doing pretty well for myself. Suddenly, I started to develop some health problems. At first it didn't seem like much, but it got worse and worse. Initially I had a few bellyaches, but soon my digestion was acting up all the time. I would get stomach cramps, allergic reactions to food, and anxiety attacks. My doctor tried to tell me that it was nothing. He thought it was just psychosomatic, but I knew that he was wrong. I was enjoying my life, and nothing was going wrong emotionally. Then, on a whim, I went to an acupuncturist.

The particular practitioner I went to had only not gone to school. He was a trained masseuse as well, and no matter what the problem, he would begin the session by massaging the patient. He explained that any kind of healing works better when the body is relaxed. I told him about my problem, and he immediately began treatment. I felt better almost immediately. I went back a couple more times to finish the treatments, but by then I was convinced. Traditional Oriental medicine works, and I wanted to study it.

Of course, giving up a successful business career to study in school isn't an easy thing to do. A lot of my friends gave me a hard time and tried to talk me out of it at first, but I could not be persuaded. I knew what I wanted to do. I was amazed at the healing possibilities of acupuncture, and I wanted to learn more about it. There are many different schools to choose from, which made it a little bit difficult. Some of them are much better than others, and as an outsider it can be hard to find out which have the very best programs.