Qiological Podcast

What we tell ourselves might be more powerful than our actual experiences. Not only that, our thoughts shape our bodies. Practitioners of East Asian medicine have hard-won, clinically derived tools for conceptualizing how biography affects physiology.  Importantly, this is not limited to counseling our patients.  Instead, through palpation and other components of East Asian medical physical exam, patients can physically experience how emotional patterns affect structure and function.Effective treatments can then help shift that monologue running between the ears to change the state of our sympathetic tone, organ function and blood chemistry in order to ultimately shape the way our sensorium interacts with the world. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

When I was a kid it was easy to smell a snow storm coming, or to be able to feel how the wind shifted and the light in the sky meant that you’d better take cover as a thunderstorm was maybe, if you were lucky, 20 minutes away. Us humans have the ability to sense deeply. And if you don’t’ think that’s true, reflect on the last time you knew there was trouble in your relationship, but when you probed your partner said, “nothing.”Us humans have extraordinary abilities to sense deeply. Actually, these abilities are not extraordinary, they are just not in this day and time ordinarily used. As conventional medicine relies on the “evidence based” objective tests, and we in the Chinese medicine community have our own questions, theories and processes that prescribe how we use our sensing to determine what is going on for our patients.In this conversation we go deeply into sensing. Into trusting our first impressions, and how listening attentively with our touch and presence can lead us to places where our patients need attention, even if they are not themselves aware of it. And even if it at first makes no sense to us either.Listen into this conversation that explores the crossroads of Chinese medicine and old-school osteopathy.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

When you come right down to it… the practice of Chinese medicine is a kind of applied natural science.What makes for an effective natural scientist? Mostly an abiding sense of curiosity. A willingness to have yourself proven wrong. The capacity for a kind of encouraging delight that emerges from following a thread of inquiry. And the fortitude to spend years or decades on following something that may or may not pan out, but journey is worth the effort.In this conversation we explore and reflect on the path of practice, and the unexpected places to which it will take us.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Fake it till you make it is not a helpful strategy for acquiring confidence. Any halfway competent human being can sniff out inauthenticity. We can only work at, and improve from, our genuine growing edge of ability and skill.Cultivating confidence requires time and experience, generous amounts of both failure and success, and a kind of dogged persistence. It requires confronting what we don’t yet understand with an inquiring mind and willingness to be teachable. It demands a kind of steadfast trust that we can learn and adapt. And it takes both patience and a sense of urgency that we don’t waste any opportunity that shows up as challenge on a good day, and trouble on a bad one.Gaining a sense of confidence is not something we can learn in a class, or purchase as a service. It can only arise from being lived. Listen into this conversation as we inquiry into the practices and experiences that help us to gain a sense of confidence and comfort with our clinical work.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Some learning is more transmitted than taught. Observation, touch, the kind of connection that does not rely upon words. We love to make sense, especially to ourselves. But the theories in our heads, the maps of thought that can point the way, but are not the way; these can lull us into a feeling we understand when in fact our understanding is limited and limiting.Developing a way to sense directly. Learning from pre-modern books that show us another way of perceiving. And being able to be present to our own unfolding experience in an attentive way. These are more than skills; these are ways expanding our sensorium so that we can both get out of our way and at the same time be present with our patients in ways that can help us not to miss the clues and cues that our theory focused mind would certainly overlook.Listen into this conversation on the benefit of old books and how sensing opens vistas that theory can only point towardsHead on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Chinese medicine is fractal nature. We can take the broad principles outlined in the Yi Jing, Five Phases or Six Jing and watch as they help us to tune in the particular level of life in which we are embedded or observing. Be it the resonance from tendon, to Liver, to Spring to the arising energy of the East. Or the way Taiyang cold balances Shaoyin heat. Or how the trigrams of water and fire are mirror images. The ancient Chinese sciences and philosophy can help us to unfold a phase within the ever-shifting tides of change.Today’s conversation takes one of these fractal perspectives, the heavenly stems and branches, and investigates how it shows up in the practice of acupuncture.Listen in to this conversation on how the stems and branches are reflected not just in heavenly cycles, but in the arrangement of acupuncture points and how this fractal energy can help enliven the work we do with our hands and needles. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Our lives unfold in space-time. It’s the water in which we swim and so like fish, it is difficult to know the influence of the matrix within which we live our days and experiences our lives.The Chinese ba zi, the eight characters, is a system based on the heavenly stems and branches that can help us to orient to the influences that shape us and can guide us in making sense of certain seasons of our lives.While often used as a kind of 算命, suan ming, fortune telling system. The Ba Zi can help us or our patients to better understand the arising and falling away of particular influences that can affect our health and wellbeing.Listen in to this conversation on how these eight characters of influence can help us to orient to the cycles of heaven and earth.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Books on herbal medicine go way back, back into the misty time of myth and story. We have Shen Nong with his peculiar ability to taste and feel the influences of plants. We have the foundational writings of astute practitioners like Zhang Zhong Jing, Li Shi Zhen and Ye Tian Shi. And then there are the thousands of years of regular doctors like you and I, who have recorded their clinical experience so future generations of practitioners might glean something of their experience and perspective. As with all East Asian medicine there is more than one perspective we can use to understand the nature of humans and world, and how we might be able to assist with our patient's health. The Tang Ye Jing, the classic of decoctions, is an ancient text that looks at herbal medicine from the perspective of the five phases and invites us to consider the use of flavor in a way you might not have considered. There is some debate on the authenticity of this text. Regardless of origin, the Tang Ye Jing provides us with another perspective that can help us to think in another way about the actions of herbs and the workings of human physiology.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

The classics are more than just a way to focus our thinking in clinic, they are part of a perspective that sees the world as an integrated and ever evolving whole.It can be a challenge for us with our modern linear, rational, material perspective to grasp the the fractal perspective of a world that made up of resonance, and where observer and observed are both parts of a greater whole.Listen into this conversation on the classic medicine perspective as it can unfold both in clinic and our lives. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

The pulse is emblematic of Chinese medicine. It is a highly subjective measure that helps us to orient in helpful ways toward a patient’s problem and their strengths.While most any practitioner would tell you the pulse is vitally important in accessing a patient’s condition, the ways in which we can approach and interact with the pulse are wide and varied.In this conversation we explore the pulse and how we as practitioners can use it as an exploration not just of the patient, but of our own process as well.

In this episode of Qiological we are taking a look at dry needling not from the legal or scope of practice point of view, but rather from the viewpoint of how acupuncturists can learn something from this form of acupuncture that has quickly grown in popularity among our conventional medicine colleagues.We all know that acupuncture can be powerful medicine. Little wonder that other professionals would like to be able to access its healing power. And in some ways, conventional practitioners have a leg up, as they already speak the language of the dominate culture, and have a certain status due to being associated with “scientific” medicine.In this panel discussion with three experienced and dedicated acupuncturists we explore what East Asian medicine practitioners can learn from the dry needling community.Listen in to this conversation that is less about legalities and more about opening up an uncomfortable avenue for learning.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

We often think of moxibustion as a potent way to add heat and yang into the body. But if you only think of moxa as heat, then you’re missing the power of the perspective that moxa is about creating a specific kind of stimulation in the body.Listen in to today’s conversation as we explore how Japanese moxa techniques can be helpful in treating antibiotic resistant tuberculosis. And how our guest has taken resources from Japan, along with research and his own experience in Africa of using moxa to help make a difference in the lives of those suffering from the modern drug resistant forms of TB.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Perceiving and sensing are not the same. It might seem that the stream of information coming in through our senses arrives passively. But further investigation proves this incorrect. And in fact our perceiving not only is an active process, but can become richer, deeper, more nuanced and integrated when we actively bring our attention to help us sense more deeply into our work and interaction with others.In this conversation we explore how sensing and esthetics help us to better connect with our patients and ourselves. How perception moves through the six levels. And how non-dual states of awareness change what is an “effective action” with our patients.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

East Asian medicine has one foot in the skills and practice of medicine, and another in the traditions and influence of culture. How it is thought about and used in a place like Taiwan bears some similarity to how we practice in the West, and there are also significant differences.Culture and habit are inseparable from the experiences people have in making sense of world and how they approach illness and health.Listen in to this conversation on a Western practitioner’s view of doing Chinese medicine inside of the traditional culture of Taiwan.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

As herbalists we know a thing or about the therapeutic application of botanicals. But the lifecycle of plants we work with, the way they interact with their environment, the differences between cultivated and wild medicinals, and the farmer’s eye that takes in the influence of weather, the rightness of soil, companion plants, insects, nutrients and stressors, all these are hidden from view when we are not connected to the growing and harvesting of the herbs we use.Cultivation is not just giving the plant what it wants. It also includes giving the plant what it needs so it can develop its medicinal properties. And there are risks when bringing a plant from one ecosystem to another. What lives in balance in place could become an unrestained problem in another.Listen into this conversation on the challenges, risks and opportunities of cultivating Chinese medicinal herbs in the west. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

We all can feel the difference between a sunny and cloudy day. The influence of long summer days brings a sense of expansion, while the short weak light of winter naturally makes us turn inward. Light, the quantity and quality of it powerfully effects us. You know this in your bonesIn today’s conversation we looking into a particular kind of light— lasers. These concentrated beams of focused coherent light can be used to upregulate certain biochemical processes that help to promote healing and even can be used to promote neuroplasticity in the brain.Much like acupuncture, laser light is a a technology that seems kind of magical. And so sorting out science from imaginal flights of fancy is important if we want to understand how to skillfully apply this tool in our clinical work.Listen into this conversation that will give you some helpful basics on using lasers in your acupuncture practiceHead on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Many of us think that business is something we “have” to do. But really, it is something we “get” to do. It is a kind of privilege to create a life and practice that deeply reflects who we are. And it is an opportunity to work through any issues we might have with money, power and authority.In this conversation we explore business as a creative process that allows us to bring our unique vision of health and healing into the world. And at the same time invite us to grow beyond self imposed limits and beliefs that keep us from growing into more skilled and able practitioners.Listen in to this conversation about discovery, creativity, profitability and the resources we find in ourselves when we willing inhabit the opportunity of creating a business that allows us to bring forth our latent talents.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

We know that acupuncture can be helpful in the treatment of chronic or ongoing illness, and can be effective in reducing the side effects of invasive or toxic treatments that go along with a cancer diagnosis.The Charlotte Maxwell Clinic has 27 years of experience helping low income women with a cancer diagnosis. Running an organization like this not only requires skilled volunteer practitioners, it requires a savvy business and operating model.Listen into this conversation about an organization with a power mission and a business model that allows it to operate in a powerful and effective way. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

We mistakenly thought our conversation with Dr Yu had ended, but what can I say… wrong again.There is a little more of the conversation genereated from Dr Yu’s thoughts on the qi transformation of the six confirmations and the role of theory in the clinic.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Learning formulas is far more than memorizing as series of functions and indications in a book. It requires a kind of attentiveness. A sort of rigorous and yet flexible way of parsing a patient’s signs and symptoms and checking it against both your book knowledge and clinical experience.In this discussion we explore that tender edge of knowing, not knowing and how to operate in the clinical reality of uncertainty.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Discussing medicine with a seasoned practitioner is like drinking well aged whiskey. Dr. Yu Guo Jun graciously agreed to sit down with Michael Fitzgerald and myself after his morning lecture at the Shen Nong Society’s conference.If you’re an herbalist, you’ll enjoy this discussion of the six confirmations. Listen carefully, there is something in here about how the levels connect that you might not have heard before.And do check out the PDF in the show notes area that our friends at The Lantern sent along. It will help you to better understand some of the turns in this particular conversation.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

When we are putting herbs in a bag, or mixing together granules we are probably not thinking about the various laws and regulations from the FDA, or the historical arc that actually allows us to work with herbs in the way that we do.In this conversation we go into the history and impact of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. There is a lot in the background that we don’t think about on a daily basis, and yet it provides a foundation for being able to practice with herbs.Listen in to this deep dive into the regulations that affect our practices, but which we rarely consider on a day to day basis.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Some of the most important crossroads in our lives were not marked with a big Flashing Warning Sign, but rather instead were barely notable moments of “Oh, maybe this would be interesting.”Our guest in today’s conversation had just completed a medical degree and was looking to take a little vacation. That vacation turned into a lifelong inquiry into acupuncture and East Asian medicine.Listen into this conversation on how a sense of curiosity lead our guest from California to England to Korea and back. And has taken him deep into the investigation of pulses and constitutional medicine.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Electro-acupuncture is a fairly new innovation. And thinking about its use in clinic does not quite match up with the traditional ways we’ve been taught to think about acupuncture and how it works.We know the body has a profound reliance on electricity for everything from how our brain’s function to how we sense and move our body. But how does electro-acupuncture influence our systems? And how can we combine our traditional thinking with modern bio-science?Listen in for a discussion about needles and electro-medicine.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

It’s not uncommon for children of doctors to also become doctors. Sometimes there will be a string of docs that run for a number of generations. Which can be a good thing as you can learn at lot at your grandparents knee. In today’s conversation we talk about a lineage of practice that goes not just a few generations, but a handful of centuries.Zhejiang province is well known for its fu ke, gynecological doctors. There are actually several streams of doctors that have attended to women’s health over the centuries. Listen in to this conversation on women’s health and pick up a few easy to employ in your clinic tips for making your herbal prescriptions both more effective and tasty as well.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

We’ve all been on the “bad” of marketing. Have been subjected to intrusive and unskilled attempts at trying to convince us of something. It raises your hackles; it should.Lots of us mistake advertising for marketing. But these two, which related, are different. Marketing is about how you communicate, how you represent your authentic self to the world, and how to better understand others so you can see if you might be able to help.If your patients knew what your marketing plan was, would they still be willing to see you? If you can answer yes, then you’re probably on firm footing.And the good news is there has never been a better time to connect with the people that are already looking for someone like you.Listen in to this conversation dialing in your digital marketing mojo and learning to enjoy the process. 

How we make sense in clinic is not as simple as ticking items off a list. It’s more than mentally sorting through the models, theories, admonitions from our teachers and some chatter from a recent glimpse at Facebook.While the theories and mental models we crafted through our experience have a place in clinic, there is also the experience of sensing without a story being attached. If we are attentive and quiet enough there is something that arise in our mind, before the label of “it’s that!” gets attached to our experience. Sometimes we can have an experience in clinic that does not yet have words attached to it.In this discussion we explore perceiving, thinking, evidence and sensing. Listen into this conversation on how we make sense at the edge our unfolding clinical experience.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

It is easy to think of Chinese medicine as a clear step by step process of diagnosis and treatment, but it does not always go that way in clinic. It can take time for a diagnosis to clarify, and then there is the level of skill we bring to treatment. It’s a process that reveals itself as we go. And while it is easy to look back and see the solid stepping stones that lead to a successful treatment; that clarity can be quite elusive while in the middle of the process.In this episode we discuss the experience of learning from our patients and clinical encounters. How diagnosis is not a series of boxes to check, but rather a process that emerges and clarifies as we engage with our patients and how they respond to our treatments.Listen in to this conversation with long time practitioner Sharon Weizenbaum as we explore the art of diagnosis and how the way we bring ourselves to the clinical encounter is an essential element of the treatment process.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

The textbooks tell us that sinew channels are important in the treatment of pain and musculoskeletal issues and they are accessed through the jing-well points. But beyond that not much else is said.In this conversation we investigate the channel sinews from both the Chinese medicine and western functional anatomy and physiological perspectives. This gives us a more nuanced look into how structure influences function and it further helps to illuminate channel theory and its profound impact on both organ function and channel based issues.Listen in to this conversation on how the tensegrity of the sinews and fascia influence health, movement and wellbeing.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

It’s not hard to study acupuncture these days. A quick internet search will bring up plenty of choices. But back in the 1980’s, it was a different story.Our guest, like many of us, did not set out to become an acupuncturist. It was a process of fortuitous circumstances that opened those doors.Listen into this conversation that covers some of the early days of acupuncture in New York City at the beginning of AIDS epidemic. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

The Yi Jing speaks in the language of image, resonance and metaphor. Its not a good place to go for direct answers, but can be helpful in finding some guidence.Our converation today touches not just on the ways it is used for divination, but more importantly how it is a mirror and once you have a knack for it, you don’t need it for divination. We discuss how the commentaries are as important as the original text itself. And touch on how it is a kind of operating system that can help you to understand Chinese medicine, as well the curious unfolding of your own wondrously mysterious life.Listen in to this conversation on the power and importance of image and transformation.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

It is always hard at the beginning. It's difficult to learn to see and move in the world in ways that feel foreign and uncomfortable. We like to feel like we know what we're doing. We want to be of service to our patients and help in the best ways possible. And when learning something new it brings back all the discomfort of anytime we have had to grow into a larger version of ourselves.This is another conversation with Kristin Wisgirda and Tim McGee along with Toby Daly on learning to use the Saam method in their daily clinical work.Really, the only way to learn the work is to do the work. And it really helps to have the perspective of someone who has a little bit more experience.Listen in to this conversation as practitioners puzzle through adding this method to their clinical repertoire.

We know that Chinese medicine and the martial and cultivation arts of East Asia share a common root.In our healing practices we are paying attention to the medicinal side of this continuum. We don’t think about the points can be used for martial purposes, or how structures in the body can be used to generate power and force.Our conversation today looks at some of the internal dynamics and structures from the martial point of view, as well as a tour of some of the points that can be used in particular ways if you find yourself difficult situation.And as this conversation is the other side of the continuum we use in clinic, you’ll find some helpful clinic observations as well. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Ahhh, the new year.A moment in time to reflect on the path recently traveled and what’s up around that bend in the road.This is a solo show reflecting on some of the podcast highlights of the past year, a glimpse into some things already on the calendar. Along with my clinical observations about using the Sa’am acupuncture method in clinical practice, how it has helped me to better understand the connections between the 六經, the six levels and the 五行, the five phases, and some thoughts on the forgotten fu organ in TCM— the small intestine. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Sometimes takes an instant to know you might fall in love with something. And then it takes years, even decades to unfold all contained in that initial spark.When it comes to the study and practice of Chinese herbs, you’re signing on for a lifetime of learning. Some would see that as a barrier, other’s as an opportunity.The guest of today’s podcast conversation took it as an opportunity. One that not only has helped her to expand her own clinical understanding, but also assist others with their study and clinical application of Chinese herbal medicine.Listen into this conversation on how one person’s passion has helped to create a conference and resource network for those interested in Chinese herbal medicine. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the conversation. 

Have you noticed that sometimes, simply when allowing a patient the space to unspool their story something happens. Not only do you hear something vital and important, but the patient might pause as they seemingly for the first time listen to themselves.The 10 questions in Chinese medicine is not just about gathering information so we can find out what is wrong. It is an opportunity to listen our patients into their own wisdom and experience.Listen in as two practitioners of the art discussion the how language and story, like water, can go anywhere. 

Page through the Material Medica and it is easy to think that Chinese herbal medicine is one unified body of knowledge and practice. But, it’s not. If you look closely you’ll see that different formulations come from different dynasties. Some were written in times of famine and war, others first penned during heights of peace, cultural exchange and affluence. While it looks like one coherent collection of prescriptions it is actually a history of doctors striving to cope with wildly different conditions. In today’s conversation we explore the dosing and cooking methods of some of our oldest and most used prescriptions. Listen in and discover the differences in dosing between ancient and modern times and why harmonizing formulas require a particular kind of attention to how they are prepared. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Chinese medicine and Korean medicine share a lot of similarities. But there are a few differences. And when it comes to constitutional types, there are some significantly dissimilar perspectives. This is one of the delights of East Asian medicine. Coming across a perspective that is close to something we understand, but different enough to edge us toward either a feeling of “wrong, this can’t be right,” or “oh, I’ve not seen it that way, I wonder how this works.” It’s at the edges of our understanding that new information can arise and help us to deepen our perspective and understanding. Listen into this discussion on constitution, the Confucian influence on Korean medicine and how dietary habits and constitution can play a vital role in health and wellbeing. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

We tend to think of movement in mechanical terms. How this muscle contracts, how blood perfuses a certain kind of tissue or how tendons and bones allow for particular kinds of movement.But beyond this we we can see that movement is a kind of vocabulary of the body. It has nuance or not. It has a range of expression or not. And just like micro-nutrients are vital to our metabolism, so to micro movements are vital to our physical wellbeing and nervous system.Today’s conversation is not about taichi or qi gong, but about another kind of “kung fu” another kind of attentive focus on movement and movement practices that can help us to heal ourselves and our patients.Listen in to this conversation on how a modern perspective on movement goes hand in glove with our traditional medicine.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Inflammation is a popular topic in the worlds of both alternative and conventional medicine. It’s a pathologic process that is the result of certain disease processes and the generator of others. It is also something that can be treated very well with East Asian medicine.In this episode we explore how the fundamentals of the Liver/Spleen relationship, the Heart/Kidney axis and digestion in general all can contribute to treating lingering heat in the body.We also take a look at lingering pathogens, and discuss how herbs with opposite effects are useful in treating these kinds of conditions as they help to reestablish dynamic equilibrium to the body.Listen in for a conversation on the power of harmonization in the treatment inflammatory conditions. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Jing, Qi and Shen— the three treasures.These are essentials that pervade our thinking as East Asian medicine practitioners. And yet, as fundamental as they are, these three are not so easy to nail down.They are concepts from another time and culture, and they are present and unfolding in your experience as you read this.If you are looking for something materially tangible to the Western mind, there is a lot you’ll miss. If you are seeking something of an ancient mystery, you’ll also go wide of the mark.Listen in to this conversation on Jing, Qi and Shen and their relation to other key aspects of Chinese medicine.

The best teachers are perpetual students. They are ones who when things don’t work as expected don’t say the medicine doesn’t work. These people dig into finding out why they don’t yet know how to make it work. While aspects of medicine can be taught, there is much more than can only be discovered. Discovered anew within the experience of each generation. And it is those teachers who can help us along in that this kind of learning to learn who set us off on a life-long voyage of discovery. In this conversation we listen into one practitioner’s apprentice experience with Dr Wang Ju Yu and the path of practice that it opened up.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

It’s easy to think there is one way to take the pulse, and natural to fall back on the habits that formed early on in our learning to attend to this vital aspect of diagnosis and prognosis.Pulse is something our teachers help us to orient toward, but it is our experience and patients who help to understand and learn to trust what we feel.In this episode we have a research scientist’s eye view of the pulse. And how outward beauty is an expression of inward strength and balance.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Sa’am has a good backstory. The meditative attainment of a Buddhist monk sparks a stream of acupuncture that can be taught to simple monks to help alleviate the suffering of the world.It is a good story.But, more importantly this is a perspective on acupuncture that gives some penetrating insight into the connections between the six levels (六經) and the five phases (五行). This method can help us to work with our patient’s constitutional, physiological and psycho-dynamic process all at the same time.It is easy to use in a wide variety of settings as it primarily relies on the transport points of the arms and legs. It does not require a lot needles, and the effects of correct, or incorrect treatment are readily apparent.In today’s group discussion a couple of practitioners who have recently begun to engage the Sa’am method bring their questions to Toby Daly.If you have started to use this method, or mulling over in your mind how it works and how to use it, then you’ll enjoy today’s nuts-n-bolts discussion based on actually clinical cases.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

There are basics, principles, fundamentals, some building blocks of how the matter and energy of creation interact and transform. Over the centuries, through wildly different ideas of illness, health and workings of the human body, doctors have applied these principles to the challenges of their day to relieve suffering.As practitioners, we too are part of this stream. We use the ideas and perceptions of those who came before, and do our best to see how these fundamentals play out in our clinical work.In this conversation we explore how the basics have been both useful and effective in treating degenerative eye conditions such as macular degeneration and retinal tears. Our guest takes the fundamentals we all share, and applies them as seems appropriate in his clinical work. The result is a deeper understanding of how “incurable” illnesses can respond to the principles of medicine we all share.Listen in for a conversation on how to learn from your patients.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Liver qi constraint might be one of the most common diagnosis in the modern Chinese medicine clinic. But the role of the Liver has changed over time, and at one point it was even considered to be part of the neurological system.In this episode we take a nuanced look at that wide and slippery constellation of symptoms that falls under the general rubric of “stress.”Listen in for a conversation about Chinese medicine from a historical, anthropological and clinical perspective. And be prepared to be surprised!Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

We trace our medicine back to the Nei Jing, but most of our actual practices come from a more modern perspective.Going back to those roots is not easy. Even for native speakers of Chinese, reading the 文言文 wen yan wen, the classic Chinese is difficult. For those of us in the modern West, these ancient texts are challenging. They require not just language, but a minset that views the world from through a completely different set of lenses and prisms than Cartesian and materialistic science offers to us.Immersion in this ancient material changes us if we allow it. Gives us hints at seeing how matter and energy interact in ways toward which modern medical science is blind.In this conversation we listen into how the Nei Jing gives another way of approaching acupuncture, the 脈 mai, channels, and helps us to understand our bodies as fluid based ecosystems. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Like hitting black ice, suddenly all sense of traction and stability evaporate into a gut wrenching vertigo. Adverse reactions of our patients to acupuncture can trigger this kind of disorientation. And this is when we have an opportunity to learn something that we didn’t previous know. Adverse reactions could be due to a botched treatment, we were thinking one thing, but did another. Or our diagnosis was off. Or maybe it was on, spot on but the patient’s processing of the treatment gives rise to a frightening amount of discomfort and sends them scurrying for a quick pharmaceutical fix to calm their fear and anxiety. It requires a certain amount of maturity the part of the practitioner to hold steady in a moment of deep uncertainty. And degree of personal development on the part of both patient and practitioner to not let unforeseen reactions stop what might be an important turn in a patients healing process.In today’s conversation we consider adverse reactions to acupuncture, how to tell the difference between an uncomfortable healing process and an unskilled treatment, and how uncertainty is part of the game when practicing medicine.

It’s easy for us to think that because we have a darned good English version of the material medica that the centuries of herbal knowledge is at our finger tips. But there is a lot of back story to the medicinals that we use everyday in our practicesWhere herbs come from, how they are cultivated, how different plants have been used over the centuries; there is a lot we take for granted. Or simply trust our suppliers to have worked out the details of identification and quality. The medicinals we use regardless of whether they are granulated, tableted or raw have a natural history.  This includes not just the process of growth and harvest, but also various kinds of processing as well. In today’s conversation we look at the identification, cultivation and processing of the plants we use everyday in our clinical work.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

In this conversation we have a couple of practitioners who have listened to Toby’s podcasts on Sa’am acupuncture and read his article from the Journal of Chinese Medicine ask questions based on their experience of using this perspective in their clinical work.This not a discussion of theory, but rather clinical applications from practitioners who are engaging the method.If you are starting to work with the Sa’am method, or thinking about it, you’ll appreciate this nuts and bolts discussion with Sasha Kremer and Nkosi Pierre-Kafele.