Sarah Pritchard on self-care as the key to healing: insights from a Tui Na expert

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Sarah Pritchard is one of the most well-known Tui Na instructors in the United Kingdom. Tui Na is a traditional Chinese form of massage that helps bring the body and mind into balance. Sarah began her career as an actress but found her true passion in Chinese medicine. She now teaches worldwide and has written two widely-used books on Tui Na. In honor of Acupuncture Week, we spoke with her about the power of touch and the connection between body and mind.

What makes Qigong, meditation, and Tui Na so powerful in the recovery from burnout?
Sarah explains that it is mainly about therapists who themselves experience burnout, often due to overworking, seeing too many clients, or giving too much. 'This is becoming increasingly common nowadays,' she says. 'I hear it from colleagues and even from young graduates who are already exhausted after one or two years of practice. They no longer allow themselves the most basic things, such as taking a break after six weeks of work or taking a few days to recharge. They just keep going.'
Due to this constant pushing forward, their own practice disappears. They no longer take the time to meditate or connect with their own energy, something that is crucial for practitioners of Chinese medicine. 'Start with the meridians, as that is what we constantly work with. An acupuncturist works with the channels, both in theory and in practice. If we learn to use those same channels to nourish ourselves, balance is maintained.'

Sarah gives a concrete example: 'You can work with the Sea of Yin to support recovery, or with the microcosmic orbit to circulate energy. Inhaling light for ten minutes a day and letting the energy flow through the Sea of Yang and the Sea of Yin, simple but repeated daily, already does a lot. We cannot endlessly deplete our Qi or Jing without some form of inner practice or stillness, that is simply not realistic.'

She sees that young therapists quickly burn out as a result. 'They lose the joy in their work and start to see their practice and their life as separate, while they should actually be connected. I hope that training programs worldwide will increasingly emphasize this: that we need to cultivate our own meridians, get to know them, meditate on them, and use them for our own healing. Because if we don't do that, how can we pass it on to others?'

Fortunately, according to Sarah, there is growing interest in this topic, and she expects it to continue to grow in the coming years. Otherwise, there will be a generation of burnt-out therapists who are not in balance themselves, while trying to help clients who are also struggling, in a world that now needs more support than ever. The pressure on practitioners is high, with more chronic illness and more mental and emotional dysregulation. People are not relaxed or centered, and our role as healers becomes all the more important. 'But in order to help others, we must first preserve our own energy. Qigong, meditation on the channels, and working with the hands are powerful tools for that. And let's not forget, the hands existed before the needles; all needle techniques stem from Anmo, the manual Tui Na techniques.'

What would you recommend to someone who has never done Qigong or meditation and feels completely overwhelmed by stress?
Sarah first emphasizes the importance of basic rest. 'Really take a break, and don't feel guilty about it. Sleep more, eat well, do the simple, basic things.' From the perspective of Qigong, she recommends gentle exercises. 'The Five Elements protection exercise is mainly a visualization. You can do it sitting or standing, it requires hardly any physical effort, but it puts you in a protective state that makes you less likely to absorb someone else's tension, especially if you are already tired.'

In addition, she recommends the Eight Qi storage or sensitivity development exercises. 'These teach you to feel and gather Qi, so that when practicing, you are not depleting your own reserves, but attracting energy from outside. That would be my starting point.'

More stories during the Acupuncture Week
This interview is part of the Acupuncture Week, which this year focuses on burnout. During this week, we share various conversations with acupuncturists and clients about how they view recovery from both physical and mental exhaustion from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Also read the other interviews and be inspired by stories from acupuncturists and their clients about recovery and balance.