If you’ve ever seen an old-time stonecutter at work, you know that persistence pays off. Equipped only with a sledgehammer, chisel, and determination, they rain blow after blow down upon the rock, confident that their work will produce the desired result. Although the stone shows no outward signs of wear and tear, the stone cutter continues on, knowing that each swing of the hammer will weaken the stone a little more until it finally splits in half.
Likewise, correcting a long-standing condition takes time and patience, and occasionally the relief does not come as quickly as you would like. This does not mean that the treatments are ineffective, but rather that they need the necessary time to work their cumulative effect. Each treatment builds on the ones before it and helps to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Just as it takes immense pressure over a long period of time for dense rock to form, most chronic imbalances result from years of abuse and neglect to the meridian system. Every trauma that you experience, the years of stress that you endure, repetitive strains, toxic assaults on your body, etc., all compound the process of breaking through the hardened layers and eventually splitting the stone.
Remember that your symptoms are not the problem, but rather a result of your underlying imbalance. In most cases, long before the pain ever began, the real cause was festering under the surface. In many instances this process can go on for years before any outward signs show themselves. When an imbalance is left undetected it can lead to persistent, chronic problems and disease. In effect, what began as a porous chunk of pumice is now a dense marble monolith.
How long it takes to correct your condition depends on how chronic the problem is, as well as the amount and severity of other complicating factors such as age, physical conditioning, activity level, nutritional habits and stress levels. Having the expectation that a chronic condition will be corrected in just a couple visits to your acupuncturist is simply unrealistic.
The key to finally overcoming the resistance of the stone is to be as consistent as possible with treatment and to give the body the time it needs to return to its natural balance.
Be patient, each treatment builds upon the one before it until the ultimate goal of balance is achieved.