Hi,
I am trained in Hopi Ear candling and this is what is says on my certificate. I have read a few articles recently that have said the Hopi Indians have never practiced the art of ear candling and Biosun have been using their name incorrectly. They have been trying to stop the use of their name and are reported to be very distressed over the whole situation.
Does anybody know if this is true as if it is I am extremely shocked and appauled that this can happen and am upset that I am offering a treatment that has this stigma attached to it. I love doing this treatment and have had a lot of excellent results from it but hate to think that I am using the Hopi Indians name wrongly. Would I be ok to just market it as ear candling even though it says Hopi on my certificate?
Thank you in advance
Kare
x
I don't do that many candlings these days so not too bothered about the origin. Good for you though for being honest and not jumping on the hyped up bandwagon - whether or not ear candling was Hopi inspired.
If I ever discuss ear candling to someone I just call it ear candling, eventhough my cert say Hopi. I personally don't think what you are proposing to be unethical. In fact you are being very ethical if it's true that the Hopi people doesn't want to be associated with it.
Candles is a silly term as it can put people off. Thermal Auricular Therapy is a more precise descriptor. Must state that "Thermo Auricular Therapy" is a copyrighted term, but Thermal Auricular Therapy is OK.
I think JoJo has the right idea, call it "Thermal Auricular Therapy (Ear Candling)" so people recognise it and it takes the association away from the Hopi Indians.
I love doing this treatment and have had a lot of excellent results from it but hate to think that I am using the Hopi Indians name wrongly. Would I be ok to just market it as ear candling even though it says Hopi on my certificate?
The source of the quote is a Now Magazine (Canada) article from 2005. Vanessa Charles, who is public relations officer for the "Hopi Tribal Council", has explicity refuted the claim that "Hopi Ear Candling" is anything to do with them.
I would hope anyone who offers this therapy is aware of the latest clinical research which demonstrates that there is no evidence of any benefits, but some evidence of serious (even fatal) injuries associated with the practice.
The source of the quote is a Now Magazine (Canada) article from 2005. Vanessa Charles, who is public relations officer for the "Hopi Tribal Council", has explicity refuted the claim that "Hopi Ear Candling" is anything to do with them.
What is Now Magazine ?? Womans mag or a medical one ?
I would hope anyone who offers this therapy is aware of the latest clinicalresearchwhich demonstrates that there is no evidence of any benefits, but some evidence of serious (even fatal) injuries associated with the practice.
Yes, there are injuries from using ear candles. This however is due to a) poor quality candles that drip wax and b) people using them who don't know what they're doing, or who are trying to self administer the treatment. There are easily more injuries take place in the home than in the use of ear candles, and I'm sure more accidents and injury caused by the slip of a surgeons hand.
You have to keep things in proportion. Yes, in the wrong hands or without adequate training they can cause injury, but so can anything. You have to remember things like the "latest clinical research" that showed things like Seroxat being a completely safe antidepressant, only for it to be taken off the shelves after it was shown to be causing worse depression and even increased suicide rates in some people. We can't just go by what medical science says with it's peer reviews and large budegets from pharmaceutical companies. Everything can be dangerous and everyone can make mistakes.
I personally prefer to find things out from experience (and yes I was a skeptic about a lot of things myself in the past). I've tried Ear Candles for myself and on others (with adequate training I might add ) and everyone has found benefit from them, including myself. Ok, it's not double blind tested, it's not documented, but it worked for us, no injury or damage done, and that's what matters.
And yes, I've gone off and already read the information regarding the Hopi council requesing Biosun to stop using the Hopi name. I've no problem with that myself.
The abstract you have quoted as evidence is just a reflection of Prof. Ernst's usual CAM -ve personal bias. But I do agree with the research of his that ear candling doesn't suck wax out of the ears and that no human ear wax has been found in in the candles. As for dangers and contraindications in the use of ear candling, there is many properly conducted training courses in the UK for therapists, and that insurance companies will insurance therapists for this therapy if the therapist uses EU certified ear candles with filters and the side of the hand is protected. Just because there may be substandard candles available and silly people trying to do it themselves doesn't in itself signify that properly performed ear candling is dangerous. As if that the case, insurance companies wouldn't insurance it. Most insurance companies that I know of don't even charge an excess over other therapies such as reflexology, massage etc. Since insurance companies go by risk, the risk must therefore be pretty low!
As for effectiveness, like any therapy orthodox or complementary, it will work for some pathologies and individuals better than others.
As for for my own personal experience of receiving ear candle treatments, I have found the warming currents did improve sinus congestion, and also found that it was deeply relaxing. I can only describe this as if my autonomic nervous system was deeply relaxing. But as a skeptic you probably wouldn't except my anecdotal evidence. But if you willing to pay for me to go to a lab and hook me up to monitoring equipment while receiving an ear candling treatment to see how my nervous system responds, I'm up for it!
The abstract you have quoted as evidence is just a reflection of Prof. Ernst's usual CAM -ve personal bias.
That's a rather startling claim. What evidence can you provide to support it?
Quote:
But if you willing to pay for me to go to a lab and hook me up to monitoring equipment while receiving an ear candling treatment to see how my nervous system responds, I'm up for it!
A clinical study with only one participant and no control group? Sorry, I'm not interested in funding that.
I've been following Prof. Ernst's work for years and he is very CAM negative. He has an obvious agenda to stick the knife into the back of CAM.
As for my tongue-in-cheek suggest of monitoring, to be serious for a moment, RCT research was developed for drug trials. It has been mention in many a book, article, and in personal commuication with scentists that I have spoken to is that RCT is often an inadequate research methodology for testing CAM. Must mention that they weren't opposed to RCT, but considered it as one method amongst others.
Consider this: "clients" of us therapists like what we do, otherwise they wouldn't come back. It doesn't matter how much we do is "ritual", "placebo" or even "psycho-drama", the empirical fact that many people are helped by CAM even when NHS couldn't (and vice versa which I'm happy to acknowledge also).
You can be as mechanistic and reductionist as you like, but if people's quality of life is improved by both CAM or orthodox medicine, does it really matter which? Don't we as individuals have the right to choose the methods that we feel is appropriate to our needs? And that includes Thermal Auricular Therapy (Ear Candling)!
I've been following Prof. Ernst's work for years and he is very CAM negative. He has an obvious agenda to stick the knife into the back of CAM.
Quote:
It has been mention in many a book, article, and in personal commuication with scentists that I have spoken to is that RCT is often an inadequate research methodology for testing CAM.
Quote:
Consider this: "clients" of us therapists like what we do, otherwise they wouldn't come back.
Forgive me, RP. All I can see here is a collection of anecdotes. What is the actual evidence?
The source of the quote is a Now Magazine (Canada) article from 2005. Vanessa Charles, who is public relations officer for the "Hopi Tribal Council", has explicity refuted the claim that "Hopi Ear Candling" is anything to do with them.
I would hope anyone who offers this therapy is aware of the latest clinical research which demonstrates that there is no evidence of any benefits, but some evidence of serious (even fatal) injuries associated with the practice.
I would be very interested to know exactly which private organisation or company was involved in funding this clinical research by E Ernst, as universities only fund a small portion of it and rely on generous companies. I'm from a background in Life sciences and research and know that almost all research projects can be made to look in your favour if the "funder" so requests that. Results can be interpreted in a way that favours what someone wants. Cynical, yes - but it is the truth too.
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