Sir William Osler, known as the father of modern medicine during the early 1900s would often whisper to his medical students: ‘listen to your patient, he is telling you his diagnosis’. Today this is perhaps an art that is more readily adopted by complementary practitioners. Therapists listen to their patients in many ways, we palpate, listening to the body’s innate pluses and tides for indications of strengths and weaknesses, stagnation and flow. We feel into the fascia, the bones and the blood for restrictions, inflammation, heat and cold, stuck emotions and deeply held trauma. We listen to our patients’ tone of voice, and read between the lines, listening to what they don’t say as much as what they do say.
Listening for the skilled practitioner involves using all our senses and interpreting what the patient expresses in their various ways, honouring that deep down their systems know what they need best to return to health.
