I "Heart" You

In acupuncture, I think it's a truism that people kind of by default use a certain set of points more than any other over and over, while forgetting about others. Certainly, this was true of me. But, with practice we start to break out of our mental shells, and start exploring.
One of my patients said that what he likes about me is my willingness to experiment, and try new stuff. Recently, I took his advice and used Heart 1 on a patient for the first time.
This particular patient has the beginnings of Parkinson's. The other day he came to me and said that his fingers were really cold, and uncomfortable, and with stiffness and pain in the shoulder. I stepped out of my comfort zone and needled Heart 1, and gave him heat over Ren 6. At the end of the treatment, his fingers were as warm as any other part of him, and not cramping nor uncomfortable.
A second patient, a dental hygienist with neck issues, was finding it difficult to handle the instruments of her trade, because her fingers were becoming numb and painful. Building on my experience with the above patient, I needled Heart 1 on her, but only under the arm with the more severe shoulder pain. When next I saw her, she reported that the hand on that side was pain free, but the other was still slightly problematic, with discomfort in the wrist. I needled that arm's Heart 1 on that visit.
Interestingly, in taijiquan, we try to keep our armpits relaxedly open, as if there were steamed buns under our arms, in an effort to keep Heart 1 open to allow the Yang qi to flow to the finger tips. It really is a wonderful example of how one principle can span a couple of disciplines. Keeping open allows for flow, closing off the armpit checks the flow. As in life, in the body.