Amidst the chaos of contagion and windstorm of viral woes, Chinese medicine offers ancient remedies, and beyond that, perspectives to guide us through the turmoil.
While our bodies may be ever-changing, our medicine offers both a rooted stability and capacity to follow change in the moment. There’s more than one helpful way to track the winds of disharmony, to follow the tides of illness and health, and invite balance into an unsettled system.
In this conversation with Daniel Altschuler, we delve into the Covid19 pandemic’s tumultuous past and the challenges of the present. We discuss its parallels to the 2003 SARS epidemic, the long-term issues with some viruses, questions surrounding the vaccine, and the multifaceted approaches of East Asian medicine in treating these wind viruses.
Listen into this discussion on the personal and clinical experience of restoring balance in the face of Covid.
No matter how abstruse or incomprehensible classical Chinese medicine may seem, there usually was an experiential and valid clinic basis behind it. If you don’t understand it, it’s because you haven’t yet seen it.
Daniel Altschuler
After becoming enthralled with Japanese culture in high school, through Clavell’s Shogun, Alan Watts, and D T Suzuki, I eventually pursued an academic career track in Asian and Buddhist studies at University of Pennsylvania and UCLA. My plans took a turn when I was in Taiwan studying Chinese language at the Stanford Center. Curious about acupuncture, I was introduced to Dr. Lee Chen-Yu, who immediately accepted me as a student, put a Chinese medical book in my hands, and told me to start reading.
Academic studies are fun, but in Chinese medicine, theories have to work or the patient suffers. I was fascinated to see the ancient theories of five phases, yin yang and so forth live practically in every treatment decision. I spent fifteen years as Dr Lee’s apprentice, observing, studying and reading, preparing herbs, assisting with acupuncture and following him to patients in the ICU and ER. This experience proved to me the efficacy of Chinese medicine for patients with all sorts of diseases and conditions, not just helping calm the worried-well.
In 2006 I moved to Seattle to teach at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine (SIEAM) and Bastyr University as well as maintain a private practice, specializing in cancer, neuropathies and autoimmune dysfunctions. I love engaging with the new generations of students while continuing to hone my skills and understandings of the classics through my patients. In 2015, I established a non-profit, Open Hands Medicine, to bring East Asian medical health care to Nepal.
Visit Daniel’s website, or learn more about his trips that offer practitioners the opportunity to treat patients in Katmandu.
