A very wise mentor once said: "In life, you're either a steamroller or the pavement - which one will you choose to be?" The balance is to be as smooth as the pavement, but as powerful as the steamroller.

Dr. Shoji Goto, chairman of the board at Acupuncture Integrated Medicine College in Berkeley, Calif., expressed himself as wanting to be a steamroller, because he likes to create roads for others to follow and does not want to be squashed. In a similar way, the acupuncture profession can be categorized as a steamroller because it is opening the road for patients to receive this type of treatment. Check out the following recent accomplishments the acupuncture profession has achieved and you can see just how the profession has been steamrolling forward - to the benefit of the profession and its current and future patients.

• The NCCAOM has contracted with a media group to create a public relations campaign to educate the public about the acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine profession. They are steamrolling.
• As of January 2007, the AOM Alliance and the AAOM have merged. [See AAOM and The Alliance Decide to Merge for details.] They are steamrolling forward. The new association name is the AAAOM.
• Acupuncture schools are creating and offering doctorate degrees for professionals. They are steamrolling ahead.
• The Consortium for Oriental Medicine Research and Education (COMRE) has been established and is steamrolling ahead.
• The student association formed with the help of the AAOM launched a membership campaign that began Feb. 1, 2007. This group came into being in 2006 and made great strides in student membership, information and education. This group has made good progress under the capable leadership of Rhonda Wilbur, from Midwest College, in Ill. and Koala Moore, from the Five Branches Institute in Santa Cruz, Calif. Steamrolling.
• The World Health Organization invited the AAOM to send a representative to the meetings for the standardization of acupuncture points; the location of 361 acupuncture points has now been standardized. Jeannie Kang, LAc, from Los Angeles, attended the meetings in Korea and Japan, representing the AAOM and the United States. This was a steamroller event of global proportion.
• A new book emphasizing quality assurance, appropriately called Acupuncture Quality in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, by David C. Kailin, helped to smooth the compliancy road. David generously donated copies to schools for their libraries. Another steamroller event.
• Michigan acupuncturists worked long and hard to get a new law passed whereby a patient could see an acupuncturist directly for treatment, without MD referral. Congratulations on your hard work in steamrolling the pavement to achieve the new law.
• Virginia Duran, from New York, traveled to Japan to teach Japanese acupuncturists about facial acupuncture. Goto College in Omuri, Japan and AIMC in Berkeley, Calif., helped this steamroller move ahead.
• The world of hospitals in the United States is beginning to integrate Eastern and Western medicine. Patients are requesting acupuncture services. The populations of baby boomers are looking for health, longevity, good looks and vitality. This is an example of patient steamrolling over the medical pavement.
• Kentucky became the newest state to legalize the practice of acupuncture - steamrolling the pavement to a new law.
• Alabama, Delaware, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming need some steamrolling; they still lack regulations or licensing requirements.

This is the year of the Fire Pig. The pig can attain the highest levels of achievement using his intense energy. He can follow through with any plans in a pigheaded and determined manner. The Fire Pig does not fear the unknown. He is optimistic and trusting. This animal seems to be the one chosen to help with balancing the steamroller and the pavement. Are you the pavement or the steamroller? This is the time - there is no stopping the profession now.

Click here for more information about Marilyn Allen, Editor-at-Large.