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History isn’t always something you study from a distance. Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of it—shaped by the events, people, and unexpected turns that unfold around you. Those moments influence destiny, and over time, they become the foundation for how you see and practice your work.

In this conversation with Craig Mitchell, we trace those threads through his unexpected entry into Chinese medicine during the HIV/AIDS crisis, the formative years at ACTCM, and the serendipitous encounters that led him to Taiwan and the translation of the Shang Han Lun. His path weaves together scholarship, clinical practice, and the kinds of opportunities that appear when you’re willing to say yes.

Listen into this discussion as we explore the realities of practicing during a public health crisis, surprising opportunities that arose when pursuing medicine in Taiwan, the challenges and losses inherent in the process of translation, and why flexibility in clinical thinking is essential for treating real people in the real world.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• How the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1980s sparked Craig’s first encounters with Chinese herbal medicine.
• Studying at ACTCM in the early 1990s and navigating the cultural differences of San Francisco’s counterculture scene.
• Treating seriously ill patients during a Ryan White Grant program and making house calls to those in end-of-life care.
• The clinical realities of reusing and autoclaving acupuncture needles before disposable needles became standard.
• Moving to Taiwan to study Chinese language and immersion in a clinical and cultural environment.
• Meeting Nigel Wiseman and collaborating with him and Feng Ye on a comprehensive English-language translation of the Shang Han Lun.
• The challenges and inevitable losses involved in translating classical Chinese medical texts into English.
• How language study deepens understanding of Chinese medicine and shifts clinical perspective.
• Reflections on shifts in acupuncture education over the past three decades and concerns about clinical readiness of graduates.
• The importance of adaptability and using multiple methods to meet the needs of different patients.
• Avoiding ideological rigidity in clinical practice and drawing from diverse traditions within East Asian medicine.
• The role of chance, timing, and willingness in shaping both scholarship and clinical careers.

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Take your patients seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.

Craig Mitchell, Ph.D, L.Ac

My journey into East Asian medicine began at the American College of TCM, which I graduated from in 1993. From 2003-2006, I studied under Dr. Nie Hui-Min in Beijing, earning my PhD at China Academy of TCM. 

A significant part of my work involves bridging the gap between ancient texts and modern practice. My translation of the Shang Han Lun, published in 1999 with Feng Ye and Nigel Wiseman, aims to make this foundational text accessible to contemporary practitioners. Alongside this, I’ve translated numerous modern Chinese medical texts, including A Walk Along the River by Yu Guo-Jun, contributing to a broader understanding of Traditional East-Asian Medicine.

As President of the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine, I’m dedicated to educating the next generation of practitioners. My teaching encompasses a wide range of subjects, including medical Chinese, Shang Han Lun, Chinese herbal medicine, tui na, and qi gong. My goal is to empower students to become skilled and compassionate practitioners, ensuring the continued vitality of Traditional East Asian medicine.

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Links and Resources

You can visit Craig at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine. 

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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In the early 80’s as acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture in the West, it developed differently in response to the established medical and educational systems already in place.

In the USA there was no national health service, while in the UK, that was a pillar of the socio-political landscape. 

Sybil Coldham was not a practitioner of acupuncture, instead she was involved with the education of acupuncturists and found herself in the center of cultural and political forces that had and have, an influence on the profession. She’s the focus of a documentary that was discussed in episode 363 Acupuncture’s  Journey to the West. 

Listen into this discussion about building standards from scratch, pushing back against guru culture, the politics of legitimacy, and how Chinese medicine has both struggled with and resisted being absorbed by mainstream systems.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The founding of the London School of Acupuncture
• The “second wave” of acupuncture in the UK
• Challenges of legitimacy in a Western medical culture
• Early debates about standards, accreditation, and professional registers
• The role of clinical training and learning in China
• How idealism fueled early acupuncture education in the UK
• Political and cultural resistance to integration with the NHS
• The rise of evidence-based medicine and its limitations
• The closure of university-based acupuncture programs
• The hidden influence of public prejudice and media narratives
• The need for community and support as schools disappear
• Hopes for the future of Chinese medicine amid changing cultural tides

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Always start with the person in front of you. The theory is fascinating, but as a guide not a sacred text.

Sibyl Coldham
I started working in Chinese Medicine education with the London School of Acupuncture and TCM in 1983. The founders were my friends. They were committed to a better way of teaching than they felt they had had themselves, and in particular, wanted to put clinical practice at the heart of the course. I was a trained teacher, committed to experiential learning. Together we developed ways of articulating what basic and high quality work at each stage of the course looked like (assessment criteria). Alongside this, I encouraged teachers to shift from primarily delivering theory to using symptom pictures and modified case scenarios so that students could tease out how the theory worked in practice.

As the course grew we realised that one of our responsibilities as educators was to develop students’ awareness of their own need to evaluate their own progress and development needs. We introduced reflection initially as a learning tool, but as the course and the profession developed this became a cornerstone of the School’s clinical practice ethos. The London School of Acupuncture joined the University of Westminster in 1997 as the first full-time degree course in acupuncture in the UK.

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Links and Resources

Acupuncture’s Journey to the West is a documentary that chronicles the early days of acupuncture emerging in the UK.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The roots of tradition sometimes take hold in unexpected soil. What happens when traditions from France, Korea, and China converge in one practitioner’s hands? There’s a kind of alchemy in the way knowledge travels—through stories, teachers, and clinical results that raise the question of what is going on here.

In this conversation with Jacques MoraMarco, we explore the shape of a career that’s spanned over five decades. From his early exposure to French-Vietnamese and Korean teachings, to his role in building acupuncture education in the U.S.—Jacques has carried multiple lineages while helping to shape what Chinese medicine looks like in the modern clinic.

Listen into this discussion as we talk about the perspective of different streams of practice, the shift from apprenticeship to formal schooling, and how European and Korean influences still echo in his work.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Training with a Korean monk before acupuncture was legal in California
• The role of French-Vietnamese networks in spreading classical texts
• Using pulse diagnostics to determine constitutional types
• The early California acupuncture licensing process
• Auricular acupuncture and Dr. Paul Nogier’s contributions
• Treating HIV/AIDS patients with the four-needle technique
• How a lineage influences not just what you do, but how you think
• Using moxa and Korean hand acupuncture for self-care
• The influence of French homeopaths and their connection to acupuncture
• The shift from apprentice-style learning to institutional education, and what gets lost in that shift
• The importance of focusing on clinical results instead of theory, and how that guided his teaching
• Building acupuncture programs in the U.S. and the evolution of educational standards

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Clinic tip here

Jacques MoraMarco is the Academic Dean at Emperor’s College in Culver City, California, the oldest school of Traditional East Asian Medicine in California. Since 2023, he has been supervising doctoral students who are providing acupuncture in the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) clinic at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health System, which serves over 80,000 veterans in the county of Los Angeles. He previously served as a clinical supervisor at Being Alive, a nonprofit that provides medical and social services to those with HIV/AIDS.
A licensed acupuncturist since 1977, he took the first acupuncture licensing examination ever administered in the state of California.

He apprenticed with See Han Kim, a renowned teacher of traditional Korean medicine, who was trained monastically. He completed his postgraduate work at Ecole Européene d’Acupuncture in Paris. From 1992 to 2002, he studied Sun Tai Qi with Sun Shurong in Beijing, China, and he is a fourth-generation lineage holder of Sun Tai Qi. He is a co-founder of the International Sun Tai Qi Association.

He is the author of The Way of Walking: Eastern Strategies for Vitality, Longevity, and Peace of Mind; The Complete Ginseng Handbook; and Walking Your Way to Vitality in Seven Weeks: Integrating Seven Styles of Walking, Breathwork & Mindfulness Into Your Daily Exercise, forthcoming in May, 2026.

“]

Xi Men (PC4) has been described in the Jiayijing and Zhenjiu Dacheng as directly affecting the heart and blood. Weekly treatments with only this point over several months resulted in total cessation of body tremors in a veteran who suffered with nerve damage from toxic exposure during the Gulf War.

Jacques MoraMarco is the Academic Dean at Emperor’s College in Culver City, California, the oldest school of Traditional East Asian Medicine in California. Since 2023, he has been supervising doctoral students who are providing acupuncture in the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) clinic at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health System, which serves over 80,000 veterans in the county of Los Angeles. He previously served as a clinical supervisor at Being Alive, a nonprofit that provides medical and social services to those with HIV/AIDS.
A licensed acupuncturist since 1977, he took the first acupuncture licensing examination ever administered in the state of California.

He apprenticed with See Han Kim, a renowned teacher of traditional Korean medicine, who was trained monastically. He completed his postgraduate work at Ecole Européene d’Acupuncture in Paris. From 1992 to 2002, he studied Sun Tai Qi with Sun Shurong in Beijing, China, and he is a fourth-generation lineage holder of Sun Tai Qi. He is a co-founder of the International Sun Tai Qi Association.

He is the author of The Way of Walking: Eastern Strategies for Vitality, Longevity, and Peace of Mind; The Complete Ginseng Handbook; and Walking Your Way to Vitality in Seven Weeks: Integrating Seven Styles of Walking, Breathwork & Mindfulness Into Your Daily Exercise, forthcoming in May, 2026.

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Links and Resources

You can find Jacques’ books Way of Walking and The Complete Ginseng Handbook on Amazon.

Here are a few Instagram reels you’ll enjoy on Rolling Moxa Cones, Using Ear Acupuncture and Korean Hand Acupuncture. 

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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Some paths in life aren’t so much chosen as they are revealed—often through unexpected encounters, serendipitous moments, or a relentless tug of curiosity. The call to become a healer, to step into the role of a doctor, is often as much about who you are as what you do.

In this conversation with Dr. Steven Rosenblatt, we step back into the early days of acupuncture in the West. From his serendipitous meeting with a renowned acupuncturist in Griffith Park to becoming the first Westerner licensed to practice acupuncture in the United States, Steven’s story is a rich tapestry of curiosity, perseverance, and pioneering spirit.

Listen into this discussion as we explore the underground days of acupuncture in Chinatown, the quest for legal recognition of the medicine, the challenges of integrating acupuncture into mainstream healthcare, and how becoming a doctor is as much an internal shift as it is an external practice.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Steven’s experience learning acupuncture from Dr. Kim and the importance of mentorship
• The challenges of studying acupuncture when there were no formal schools or training programs in the United States
• Steven’s work in establishing the first accredited acupuncture school in California
• Involvement in the legislative process to legalize and license acupuncture in California
• The integration of acupuncture with Western medical practices at the UCLA Pain Clinic
• Using scientific methods to measure the electrophysiological changes induced by acupuncture
• The challenges and successes in educating Western physicians about acupuncture
• Insights into how acupuncture can bridge the gap between Eastern and Western medicine
• The early days of acupuncture practice in California and the evolving understanding of qi
• Steven’s role in pioneering clinical trials and research on acupuncture’s effectiveness
• Reflections on the importance of balancing tradition with modern clinical practice
• Advocacy for acupuncture as a legitimate medical practice, not just complementary therapy
• Thoughts on how acupuncture education has evolved over the decades
• Ongoing passion for teaching and promoting acupuncture to a broader audience

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Steven L. Rosenblatt, M.D., PhD, L.Ac, is licensed as a medical doctor in California and Hawaii. He is residency trained in Family Practice at Kaiser Hospital, Riverside, California and is currently board certified in Urgent Care Medicine. He graduated with a PhD in research from UCLA and then attended the prestigious Hong Kong Acupuncture College. He was the first Westerner licensed to practice Acupuncture in the U.S. Dr. Rosenblatt was the Founder and past President of the California Acupuncture College. He was the co-founder and Clinical Director of the UCLA Acupuncture Clinic, and he is National Board Certified in Acupuncture (NCCAOM) and in Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).

He is the author of several research articles and the best-selling book “The Starch Blocker Diet” published by HarperCollins. His most recent book “The Birth of Acupuncture in America: The White Crane’s Gift” was published by Balboa Books.

Dr. Rosenblatt is a nationally recognized leader in the field of Integrative Medicine and his major interest is the utilization of dynamic clinical models to enhance the healthcare delivery system. He was a commissioner on the NCCAOM. He now serves as a board member on the State of Hawaii Acupuncture Board. He maintains a busy clinical practice combining Family Practice medicine and complementary modalities at his office in West Los Angeles and his clinical practice at OceanMed Clinic on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island in Hawaii. He is currently on staff at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica

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Links and Resources

Read Steven’s book on The Birth of Acupuncture of Acupuncture in America.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The history of medicine isn’t just about treatments and techniques—it’s about migration, adaptation, and how healing traditions take root in new landscapes. The movement of Chinese medicine to the American West is a story woven with resilience, ingenuity, and cultural exchange.

In this conversation with historian Tamara Venit-Shelton, we explore the migration of Chinese medicine through the lens of immigration, frontier life, and evolving medical landscapes. Her research uncovers the untold stories of Chinese herbalists, the communities they served, and the challenges they faced in an unfamiliar land.

Listen into this discussion as we trace the paths of early Chinese practitioners, the role of herbal medicine in frontier healthcare, the legal and social battles they encountered, and the ways in which Chinese medicine shaped—and was shaped by—the American medical landscape.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• How Chinese medicine took root in the American West
• The role of early Chinese herbalists in frontier communities
• Challenges of sourcing herbs and how substitutions were made
• Interactions between Chinese doctors and Western medical practitioners
• The impact of anti-Chinese laws on medical practice
• Legal battles and arrests of Chinese herbalists
• The role of Chinese medicine in treating epidemics in mining towns
• Cultural perceptions of Chinese medicine in the 19th and early 20th centuries
• The involvement of Chinese herbalists in women’s health and gynecology
• Herbal medicine as an alternative to surgery in early America
• The influence of Confucian philosophy on Chinese medical traditions
• How Chinese herbalists adapted their treatments to local conditions
• The shifting role of acupuncture in Chinese medicine’s migration
• The influence of Nixon’s visit to China on the re-emergence of acupuncture in the U.S.
• The continued evolution of Chinese medicine in modern integrative healthcare

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Tamara Venit-Shelton, Ph.D.

I am a professor of history at Claremont McKenna College where I teach courses on the American West, Asian American history, environmental history, and the history of medicine. I am the author of two books: A Squatter’s Republic: Land and the Politics of Monopoly in California, 1850-1900 (University of California Press, 2013) and Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace (Yale University Press, 2019), which won the 2020 Phi Alpha Theta Award for Best Book.
Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace chronicles roughly two hundred years of Chinese medicine as a dynamic system of knowledge, therapies, and materia medica brought to the United States and transformed by immigrants, doctors, and patients as well as missionaries, scientists, and merchants.

Chinese medicine has a long history in the United States, dating back to its colonial period and extending up to the present. Well before mass emigration from China to the United States began, Chinese materia medica crossed the oceans, in both directions: Chinese medicinal teas and herbs came west while Appalachian ginseng went east. Beginning in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants came to the United States and transplanted their health practices, sometimes quite literally by propagating medicinal plants in their adopted home.

Chinese doctors established businesses that catered to both Chinese and non-Chinese patients. They struggled during the Great Depression and World War II, but conditions that seemed to precipitate the decline of Chinese medicine in the United States in fact laid the foundations for its rediscovery in the 1970s. Over time, Chinese medicine – along with other medical knowledge systems deemed “irregular,” “alternative,” or “unorthodox” – both facilitated and undermined the consolidation of medical authority among formally trained western-style medical scientists.

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Links and Resources

Tamara has two books:

Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace and A Squatter’s Republic: Land and the Politics of Monopoly in California, 1850-1900 

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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For centuries books have been part of the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another. They have always been powerful tools for learning.  Especially in the early days of Chinese medicine in the West, because of their rarity. 

In this conversation with Bob Felt, one of the early publishers of Chinese medicine books in English, we take a journey back to a time when books on acupuncture were scarce, but curiosity and commitment were steadily increasing. Bob shares his story that began in the counterculture movement of the 1960s and that revolutionary spirit fueled a career that helped to bring important texts from the treasury of Chinese medicine into English.

Listen into this discussion as we explore the early days of macrobiotics, the challenges of publishing groundbreaking books, the evolution of acupuncture education in the West, and the ongoing need for practitioners to connect with their communities.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The rarity and significance of Chinese medicine books in the early days of its introduction to the West
• Bob’s journey from the 1960s counterculture movement into the field of publishing
• The challenges and rewards of translating and publishing Chinese medicine texts into English
• The role of macrobiotics in shaping Bob’s interest in Chinese medicine
• The evolution of acupuncture education in the West and its growing accessibility
• How curiosity and commitment fueled the early spread of Chinese medicine knowledge
• The influence of revolutionary and rebellious spirit on Bob’s career and contributions
• The importance of connecting practitioners with foundational texts and their historical context
• Insights into the collaborative process of publishing, including working with translators and authors
• How books became a bridge between Eastern and Western medical traditions
• The ongoing need for community and mentorship within the Chinese medicine field
• Reflections on the enduring impact of early publishing efforts on today’s Chinese medicine practices

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The best support for clinical practice is to know what the Chinese authors meant when they used a concept.​​

I’m an old hippie. After a year in jail for marijuana, I was tossed out of college with a BA in Humanities. Because of my history of  draft resistance, psychedelic adventuring  and Vietnam protests, the one job I could get was with a start-up computer firm. I became very well paid and studied technical writing, computer programming and management at graduate school. 

As soon as I finished government supervision, my group of friends and I moved to Boston to study Macrobiotics with Michio Kushi. After three years,  with two partners and my mother’s “egg money,”  I bought the books and furnishings of bankrupt macrobiotic bookseller Tao Books at a public auction. This became the Redwing Book Company.  Although for the first couple of years I needed to travel teaching massage, manage a start-up and restore a bankrupt food company, Redwing became capable of (barely)  supporting my partner, Martha Fielding, and myself full time.

By the late 70s, I had written software to manage mailing lists and produce catalogs without the expense of mailing houses and expensive production firms. This permitted a sweat-capital entry to publishing and distributing beginning with Tin Yao So’s “Black Book.” We then sold our retail stores to Shambhala Books and since then have concentrated on the publication of works in the fields of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. 

I am continuing these projects at a much slower rate at my present age.

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Links and Resources

Visit the treasure trove of books on East Asian medicine at www.redwingbooks.com.  

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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How did you learn the medicine you practice? Likely it through the influence of a school, a book or perhaps in this modern moment, an on-demand course of online study. There is another way that medicine gets transmitted, through the connections of friendship.

I’d not thought about that until Volker Scheid mentioned it in this History Series conversation. Once I heard it, it rang true. and I could easily look back through the years and see so many moments of having my eyes opened to something about our healing trade that came to me through the connection of friendship.

Truth is, there is a web of connection that supports us in everything we do. We are awash streams and currents of influence most of which out of our awareness that arise in our clinical practices as ideas that arise as unique treatments in a moment of time. We are connected to history, but our work unfolds in the present moment.

Listen into this conversation on the role of the German enlightenment on holistic medicine, the paths a good question will take you down, and how a head cold can lead to an unexpected connection with Meng He doctors and their surprising influence on the medicine you learned in school.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• A curious case from clinic that invites us to consider just how we gain our perspectives with practicing medicine
• History can be seen as riding the waves, or being carried away by the waves
• Volker’s circuitous path to Chinese medicine from rural backwoods Germany
• How Confucian values like ren (benevolence) influence healing
• The influence of the German Enlightenment on holistic alternative medicine
• Cultural differences in acupuncture’s acceptance and evolution
• Seeking tools for critical thinking
• Volker’s anthropological and historical studies to find “true” Chinese medicine
• Historical roots of holistic thinking and its undercurrents
• Chinese medicine is one body with 10,000 things
• Journey from Western herbalism to Chinese herbal medicine
• Disillusionment with early acupuncture “cults” and gurus
• Influence of the 1960s counterculture on alternative medicine
• The importance of flexibility and open-mindedness in clinical practice
• Observing shifts in Chinese medicine education over time
• The profound influence of friendship in the transmission of medicine

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When someone presents with symptoms that look like they have blood stasis, but you cannot corroborate these symptoms via the pulse and tongue, always think of phlegm.​

Volker Scheid, Ph.D

I grew up in rural Germany in a family engaged in the cultivation of medicinal herbs. Following an apprenticeship as a gardener I moved to England to study phytotherapy (Western herbal medicine) and Chinese medicine. Further studies led me to China, where I completed three years of postgraduate training at Beijing and Shanghai Universities of Chinese Medicine and also apprenticed with several nationally renowned physicians.

My clinical studies led to a deepening academic involvement with East Asian medicines, which I pursued at the University of Cambridge, the School of African and Oriental Studies (London), and the University of Westminster, where I was Professor of East Asian Medicines and Director of EASTmedicine (East Asian Sciences and Traditions in Medicine). I have published over thirty papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as two influential monographs: Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China (Duke UP 2002) and Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine, 1624-2000 (Eastland Press 2007). I am the lead author of Formulas & Strategies, 2nd ed. (Eastland Press 2009)

Throughout my academic career I continued to practice, and by now have almost forty years of clinical experience. As a teacher, my aim is to guide students to become rounded practitioners by learning to work effectively with different tools and perspectives. I refer to this as meta-practice.

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Links and Resources

Visit Volker’s blog for some thoughtful reading.

You can study with Volker through his online course on Advanced Chinese Medicine: Developing Clinical Mastery Through Meta-Practice.
Or in person at his summer school in Tuscany, Italy (email for more information)

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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Being in business is not just about tracking the financial health of your enterprise. It is about having a mission worth engaging, a kind of fire in the belly that fuels you through the difficult parts, and a sense for working at the edge of your capacity.

Having a business and all that goes with it, it gives you the opportunity to grow into potentials you can only dream about in the middle of a difficult night.

Our guest in this History Series conversation, Bill Egloff has been helping patients and practitioners for a long time with the products and services he’s provided over the years. He’s got a keen eye for business, regulatory details, and working with seemingly competing interests. It’s a long road from running a natural foods store to collaborating with Sloan Kettering on cancer patients.

As with the other history series pioneers, there have been some interesting forks in the road worth taking.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The role of natural foods and co-ops in the 1970s as a gateway to natural medicine.
• How the macrobiotic movement influenced interest in acupuncture and Chinese medicine
• The significance of Dr. So and the early acupuncture schools in the U.S., particularly the New England School of Acupuncture.
• Experiences with Chinese herbs in the 1980s and the challenges of acquiring and understanding herbs as a Westerner.
• The role of serendipity and personal connections in discovering acupuncture and herbal medicine.
• How ephedra (ma huang) and its misuse contributed to the FDA’s ban and shaped regulations on Chinese herbs.
• The challenges and developments in the herbal supplement industry, including quality control and regulatory issues.
• The emergence of the health freedom movement and its influence on herbal medicine.
• The creation and impact of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 on the herbal industry.
• The evolution of Crane Herb Company and the significance of custom prescriptions in Chinese medicine.
• The Cleveland Clinic’s integration of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture into its wellness and preventive care models.
• The safety and efficacy of Chinese herbs in a Western medical context, as demonstrated by the Cleveland Clinic’s herb safety study.

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It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. E.E. Cummings

Bill Egloff, Entrepreneur 

The 70s for me were about food coops, natural food, self-care, macrobiotics, Jerrine and 4 young girls in Plymouth, MA. The 80s started with NESA and Chinese herbs saving Jerrine’s life. So, Crane Herb Co. was needed to offer Chinese herbal medicine for TCM practitioners. Business was about constant change and new opportunities…..and computers and technology. Of course, an online herbal medicine pharmacy was needed. So, I just did it and custom herb prescriptions could be compounded within all the FDA and USP cGMP requirements and mailed to patients. Pretty cool!

Tanya Edwards, MD at Cleveland Clinic said “let’s create a Chinese Herb Clinic together” and prove how safe Chinese Herb prescriptions can be for our patients. Done!

Dr.Jun Mao, MD at Memorial Sloan Kettering liked what we did at Cleveland Clinic and said “let’s offer Chinese Herbs for cancer patients suffering from the side-effects of chemo and radiation”. Done.

201,000 patients have bought Chinese herb prescriptions from Crane.
How can we support Chinese medicine to be offered in whole health integrative medicine hospitals and the VA, etc.? Let’s do it!

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Links and Resources

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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In this History Series episode we time-travel with the vivacious Cara Frank. Her story begins in the gritty, creative pulse of 1970s New York City, where as a teenager, she was navigating the counter cultural scene. Her first encounter with acupuncture was anything but ordinary—an illegal treatment that changed her life and set her on the path she travels today.

Cara’s journey is a tapestry woven with threads of rebellion, discovery, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. From the scarring moxa treatments of Dr. So, to her worldview changing with the discovery of herbs in a Beijing hospital. Cara’s story is one of exploration and deep connection to the roots of Chinese medicine practice. 

Listen in as we explore the alchemy of Cara’s life in Chinese medicine—as she reflects on  the influential figures who guided her, her insights into the community’s growth and the importance of mentorship.  All with her hardscrabble wisdom, humor, and a dash of New York grit.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The landscape of the times when Cara first heard about acupuncture
• A propensity to leap at new opportunities
• The early days a NESA, lack of textbooks and popularity of bootlegged materials
• The phone call that lead to closing her clinic and getting out of town
• How disposable needles changed things
• Falling in love with herbs in China
• Working at Lincoln hospital
• How the Black Panthers looked out for the health of their community
• The legal challenges of practicing acupuncture in New York in the early 1980s before it was licensed
• The development of acupuncture education and regulation in the United States
• The progression of herbal medicine education and understanding, from basic knowledge to a deeper historical and structural framework
• The process of writing and translating Chinese medicine tex
• Considerations at the end of a career
• Concerns about the future of the acupuncture profession and the importance of practitioner involvement
• Reflections on a long career in Chinese medicine and what might be next

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Pay attention! Stay curious and be a lifelong learner.​​

I am an acupuncturist, herbalist, businesswoman, and author. I was raised in a health food store in Brooklyn, NY. When I was 8, I cartwheeled 5 miles from Greenwich Village through Soho and Chinatown and across the Brooklyn Bridge.

For over 40 years, I’ve brought my cartwheeling passion to Chinese medicine. At 17, I had my first acupuncture treatment. At 20, I enrolled in acupuncture school. In 1998, I studied herbal medicine in Beijing, where I fell deeply in love with East Asian Herbs. Since then, I have devoted my life to studying and teaching the topic.

I was an original item writer for the first herb exam offered by the NCCAOM. I founded two Chinese Herb Departments, with curriculum and clinic and brought them both to regional and national accreditation.

I founded Six Fishes Acupuncture in Philadelphia, where I manage a busy acupuncture practice and act as the head fish of a warm and lively office. I am the president of China Herb Company and, in 2021, launched China Herb Seminars. I have published articles in international journals and am the author of TCM Case Studies: Eye Ear Nose and Throat Disorders.

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Links and Resources

You can visit Cara on her clinic website, see what is on offer over at China Herb Co, learn something useful at China Herb Seminars, and do be sure to check out her unique approach to Fertility. 

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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I attended what was then known as SIOM before it was an accredited school. I thought the program and approach was a good fit for how I learned, and being in my late 30’s at the time, I did not have the patience for a program that would not let me get my hands on people for a year or more.

At SIOM, they had us in the clinic from the first week. Our patients were part of our curriculum. That fit the way I learn. The innovative program they were experimenting with back then was in part due to the efforts of Paul Karsten, who was one of the founders. Learning and instructional design was something he’d been interested in and gravitated towards.

Listen into this conversation on the early development of schools and curriculum, the challenge of teaching Chinese medicine concepts to Western students, the importance of hands-on experience,  and the role of qi transformation in learning and practice.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The emergence of Chinese medicine into mainstream Western culture
• Paul Karsten’s personal journey into studying acupuncture
• Early development of acupuncture schools and curriculum in the US
• Formation of key organizations in the acupuncture profession.
• Debates and conflicts within the profession (Five Element vs. TCM approaches)
• Challenges in teaching Chinese medicine concepts to Western students
• Development of standards and accreditation for acupuncture schools
• Tensions between larger and smaller acupuncture schools
• The birth of the community acupuncture movement
• Debates about the role of qi in acupuncture practice and education
• Challenges in clinical diagnosis and avoiding snap judgments
• The importance of hands-on experience in acupuncture education
• Personal stories and pivotal moments in acupuncture education
• The role of interpersonal relationships and conflicts in shaping the profession
• Reflections on the nature of history and how it’s recorded
• The potential for Chinese medicine principles to be applied more broadly
• The concept of “qi transformation” and its importance in practice
• Reflections on truth and direct experience in Chinese medicine

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Embody Ghandi’s recommendation to “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Whatever your intention for the one you are caring for; descending qi, calming shen, harmonizing yin and yang, tonifying source, etc., embody that change within yourself, even as you participate in the treatment to influence another.  Working together in this way the person-to-person engagement generates a transformative session.​​

​Paul Karsten, Ph.D, L.Ac

Soko Paul Karsten, Ph.D. as an educator spent thirty years designing and implementing graduate level programs in acupuncture and herbal medicine.  Working both nationally and locally he participated in the generation of policy and training in the formative years of acupuncture as a profession in America. 

 Paul’s lifetime interest is in research and study in cosmology focusing on eastern and western explanatory models of reality, our understanding of the cosmos, and our purpose as part of it.  His specific focus is the experiential understanding of Qi and how that experience and practice transforms our understanding of existence and our role in life on a daily basis.

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Links and Resources

Listen to Paul’s exploration of Embodied Activation of Acupuncture Points. 

You can visit Paul at his Retreat Center in the Philippines.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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I recently had the good fortune to sit down for a conversation with Charlie Buck, one of the  early pioneers in acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the UK. He shared his journey of discovering acupuncture in the late 1970s, a time when it was still quite unknown in the West. Our discussion explored how the landscape of acupuncture education and practice in Britain has shifted dramatically over the years.

This conversation touches on deeper topics like the nature of mastery in Chinese medicine, the importance of cultivating perception and intuition, and how practitioners can be like “magicians” for their patients.

Listen into this discussion that weaves together history, philosophy, and practical wisdom about the practice of Chinese medicine. Charlie’s passion for the subject and decades of experience truly shines through.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• An unexpected comment put Charlie on the path of acupuncture
• English language books on acupuncture in Mumbai?
• Being a pretend Buddhist
• Sun Si Miao’s treatment for palsy
• Warring States and cloud-watching
• The concept of mastery in Chinese medicine
• Importance of understanding basic principles in Chinese medicine
• Role of intuition and perception in practice
• Discerning which level of medicine to use
• We should aspire to be magicians
• Trance states, disruption of yin/yang and the change of our current times
• How TCM gave a form and method to treatment
• Challenges of the growing a profession in a country with “supposedly free” healthcare
• Learn something from every patient
• The four most troublesome words “What do you want?”
• Watch for signs of trust

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Don’t just tonify – regul

Charlie Buck

I am a prominent UK TCM clinician, educator and author with over four decades experience. Conducting brain research in the late 1970’s I stumbled across research on the neurophysiology of acupuncture and was inspired to complete a degree in Classical acupuncture. Graduating in 1984 I pioneered the practice and study of Chinese herbs in the UK and was founding course director for the UK’s first formal CHM training. A longstanding faculty member at the UK’s Northern College of Acupuncture I was awarded a university Masters in TCM (2000), worked as lecturer, research student supervisor and externally as examiner for university TCM higher degrees.

Since the 1980s I have written regularly for TCM journals and in 2014 published a textbook Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine – Roots of Modern Practice.

I am proud to have advanced TCM education, scholarship and advocacy, serving as Chair of the British Acupuncture Council, as UK representative to the European TCM Association and on the Council of the UK’s Register of CHM. I have been awarded fellowship by all three lead UK TCM registers.

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Links and Resources

Visit Charlie on hist website, and for his CEU courses you’ll find them at Healthy Seminars and TCM Academy. 

For his book Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine: Roots of Modern Practice, it’s on the Big River.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The late 60s and early 70s were a time of openness and experimentation. It was the beginning of the civil rights movement, more equality for women, and the recognition that sexuality included more than love between men and women.

Cultural norms were questioned and that included dietary practices, the healing arts and the relationship between humans and the planet. It was in this rich milieu of change that acupuncture started to take root in the imagination and then practice of those who were willing to follow a path with heart.

We are going to hear more about those early days with Randall Barolet. Some of you might recognize his name on the first Formula and Strategies book from Eastland Press. Randall did not set out to be a translator, that was something that organically showed up as he followed his interest with Chinese medicine.

In the words of Grateful Dead lyricist, Robert Hunter, what a long strange trip it’s been.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Field trips with maternal grandmother
• An interest in science, math, music and poetry, it was the poetry that lead towards Chinese medicine
• An encounter with qi in a shiatsu workshop
• The cross continent trip to see if this “Acupuncture School” was a real thing
• The practicality of Dr. So and what could be done with a few needles and some knowledge
• Being able to read into the Chinese library is priceless
• More than acupuncture, wanted to know the diagnostic system
• A stop in Taiwan to study Chinese on the way to the Mainland
• An adventurous entry into Mainland China
• Losing the bag that had everything and the opportunity it opened
• Innocently enjoying a cappuccino on a sunny San Francisco day when Dan Bensky comes walking by
• Translating from Chinese to English– not so simple
• The wild ride to work out a bond so NESA would not be closed down by the Dept of Vocational Education
• The transformative energy course that was like waking to up qi and spirit on another level
• The Art of Finding What’s Needed

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Listen carefully. Follow the life story with kind, nonjudgmental attention.

Randal Barolet. L.Ac

I’m a graduate of Cornell University in Environmental Engineering, 1972. The New England School of Acupuncture,1978, And Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Advanced International Acupuncture Certificate Course in Nanjing, China, 1983. I also studied Chinese language for some years, at the University of Oregon and in Taiwan and China, where I worked as an acupuncturist in a hospital in Nanjing. I’ve been a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist since 1978.

 My experience includes studying methods of combining homeopathy, flower essences, and dowsing — ways of healing and medical practice with vibrational remedies, to find optimum understanding and the most beneficial non-harming therapies, by ‘resonance’ methods, using pendulum dowsing. 

More recently, I continue my research and healing practice, including professional vedic astrological counseling (jyotishi), which I offer as a form of life navigation. I’m also happy to be the co-author and translator, with three other co-authors, of the Eastland Press contemporary classic textbook, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies 1st and 2nd editions..

Throughout these developments I continued in private practice of medicine, healing and vedic astrology. As of 2012 I continue to travel and consult internationally as a vedic astrologer, with no fixed abode. ☮

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Links and Resources

You can find the books that Randall worked on at Eastland Press.  

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While many are keen on looking to “science up” acupuncture and squeeze it into the thinking and theories of conventional medicine, others are quite content with the weirdness of it. And enjoy playing around in the territory that’s off the radar of Western science. 

Julian Scott is one of those pioneering acupuncturists whose background in theoretical physics primed him for the strangeness of the world of acupuncture.

In this conversation we explore how healing and science don’t always go together. His surprising introduction to treating children, and the weirdness that is inherent to both physics and healing.

Listen into this discussion on root causes, developmental stages, the influence of vaccines, along with the role of mind-to-mind connection and emanation in healing.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Acupuncture is whacky, but it’s tame in comparison to theoretical physics
• Van Buren taught the ability to heal
• Teacher in China, her kindness was an inspiration
• Vaccinations, lurking influences and modern foods
• The problems engendered by academic privilege
• What Jullian learned from John Shen
• What happens in childhood has an influence that remains for the rest of your life
• Attention to timing and transitions, and what the important transitions are
• The link between frozen shoulder and menopause
• The significance of transitions that come at 60 and 80
• The patterns children express are quite different from those of adults
• What Jullian learned from studying in China
• Vaccinations and lingering pathogens
• How practicing Chinese medicine has changed Jullian
• Acupuncture is weird
• The importance of discovering what kind of practitioner you are
• Advice for new practitioners

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Set aside time for yourself, to nourish your soul​​

Julian Scott, L.Ac, Ph.D

I went to Cambridge university and obtained a PhD, and it was a natural progression that my first career was as a research physicist. I was then fortunate enough to come across Chinese medicine, and learnt the rudiments from Dr. van Buren at ICOM, graduating in 1976. After visits to China in 1982, 1983 and 1984, I set up a low-cost children’s clinic in Brighton, which gradually grew into the Dolphin House clinic, which is still a centre for children’s health.

Various events, and a warm welcome from Dan Bensky, led to me Seattle, where I opened a children’s clinic with my wife Teresa Barlow, and taught at NIAOM and SIOM, as well as giving courses in paediatrics in many other colleges.

Returning to UK, I practiced in Bath, where furthered my interest in treating eye conditions. I am now in semi-retirection, splitting my time between the UK and Greece.

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Links and Resources

Julian’s publications include Acupuncture in the Treatment of Children, written in conjunction with Teresa Barlow, and Acupuncture for the Eyes, which he is now editing for a second edition.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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In the late 60’s and early 70’s of the last century East Asian medicine began to emerge into mainstream culture. The Reston NY Times article is often cited as a catalytic moment that put the idea of Chinese acupuncture into the minds of Americans. But other streams of medicine from Japan and Korea were also finding their way into the imagination of those who would be a conduit that would help these methods to flourish in the mainstream of Western culture.

Peter Eckman has been a unique bridging influence. His acupuncture came from the currents of Korea, as well as Japan and Taiwan via the Worsley tradition of England.

Listen into this conversation on inquisitiveness, constitution, and how saying “yes” in pivotal moments opens up a world of possibility.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• The cultural landscape of acupuncture in the early 70’s
• The Reston story powerfully captured the American imagination
• Peter’s first job as an acupuncturist
• Wu Wei Ping, the Taiwanese politician/practitioner who taught JR Worsley
• Ed Wong was the five element teacher of Jacques Lavier
• Acupuncture came to the West before it came to the USA
• The role of Lawson Wood
• How it was that only doctors in France are able to practice acupuncture
• Troubleshooting the Barrier Points
• Meeting Stuart Kutchins and together studying Korean acupuncture
• The opportunity to study Korean constitution acupuncture with Dowon Kuon
• Studying with Worsely and the requirements for doing so
• Grappling with giving things up in service of getting what you want in life
• Peter’s perspective on discovering something about acupuncture
• The difference and interrelatedness between constitutional and conditional aspects of a person when treating with acupuncture
• Discovering how the Pulse is the key for understanding medicine across traditions
• Peter’s thoughts on Saam

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Try to learn as much from your failures as from your successes. That’s why every Master I’ve met is still just a student.​

Peter Eckman, M.D.

I’m an MD with a specialty practice of acupuncture for 50 years. I’ve had many teachers along the way to developing my own style called Constitutional Conditional Acupuncture. It prioritizes pulse diagnosis as transmitted from China, Japan, Korea and India. I’ve taught this approach internationally, including 3 multi-day workshops in China pre-pandemic.

I currently have 4 books published plus numerous journal articles. My belief is that acupuncture and pulse diagnosis are aspects of an Eastern scientific tradition that complements the Western one. It is based on resonance theory or gan ying as its axiom. The Yijing, Neijing, Nanjing and Maijing together with Huainanzi and Daodejing still have hidden gems to teach us.

Like the Dao, you can never exhaust their supply of wisdom. I have even discovered a way to treat cancer with acupuncture that works on the illness itself, not merely the symptoms or side effects of Western therapies. And every day in clinic is still an adventure, even in my eighth decade.

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Links and Resources

You can find Peter on his Website and over on the Scholars of Chinese Medicine Facebook Group.

Here’s a list of Peter’s books.

Peter talked about Dr. Dowon Kuon in the conversation, here’s a link to his Eight Constitution Medicine website if you would like to know about this method.

Peter has a Workshop scheduled for June 7-9, 2024 in Alberta, Canada.
Write courseclassic1@gmail.com to register.

If you want to organize a hands-on workshop, contact him at healingmountain.eckman@gmail.com

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The 1960’s and 70’s saw an explosion of alternative health and lifestyle practices appear at the edges of culture. It was a time ripe with possibility and fraught with peril, after all there was a war going on. The kind where men were drafted.

As with any troubled time, there is also opportunity. Because as things fall apart, they also fall together. The guest of this episode, Stuart Watts, he had a bent for spiritual practice, a curiosity about health beyond the mainstream, and an adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit. The kind of spirit that did not just see opportunities, but created them.

Listen into this conversation as we dig into the early days of how you’d go about learning acupuncture, the history of the first schools, and how troublesome ‘wu fa’ teachers can teach you a lot about what you need to know, even if the experience is unpleasant.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Interest in spiritual development and holistic health
• The role of Lawson Woods in the spread of acupuncture to the West
• Vietnam, dodging the draft and how Australian Northwest Area license plates allow for an under the radar return to the USA
• The influence of French acupuncture on the early acupuncture teachers in the United Kingdom
• Lawson-Woods, Episcapol minister and advocate of acupuncture
• The defining moment when Stuart decided to go all in on wholistic medicine
• A sense of curiosity combined with an entrepreneurial spirit
• What’s important is treatment that is helpful to the person
• Prevention is the most important thing
• Influences while studying at New England School of Acupuncture  
• How Stuart got kicked out of the Van Buren school
• Teaching in Santa Fe
• An entrepreneurial bent for teaching and starting schools
• Using the influence of troublesome teachers to improve the areas you are weak 無法 guru
• No end to the study, you’ll never reach the end
• Importance of finding the middle way
• With Chinese medicine, it’s not an easy path, but you’ll always be entertained

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Major acupuncture points are commonly used by long time practitioners for a reason

Stuart Watts. L.Ac, DOM

Stuart has been in clinical practice since 1972, using acupuncture, herbs, Asian massage, manipulation and a wide variety of combined Naturopathic techniques in many places in the United States and several other parts of the world.

He has founded 5 nationally accredited acupuncture programs and colleges in the southwest region of the United States, the Academy of Oriental Medicine – Austin, Southwest Acupuncture College, the Santa Fe College of Naturopathic Medicine, the North American Academy of Advanced Asian Medicine and the Institute of Traditional Medicine (later becoming the International Institute of Chinese Medicine).

Stuart co founded several of the national acupuncture associations and organizations over many years. Stuart has been instrumental in the formation of acupuncture laws and legislation in several states in the Southwest. He has volunteered for various organizations since 1982 usually serving as treasurer due to his background in accounting and business. He currently lives in Albuquerque, NM with his wife Lee.

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It was challenging enough for me in the 1990’s to set myself on the path of learning acupuncture. and by then, we had established schools and clear pathways to licensure and a livelihood. But back in the early days it took a rare kind of individual with a big spirit to seek out the knowledge required to learn acupuncture.

The guest of this episode, Ted Kaptchuk, is one of those explorative pioneers that headed East because he was sure he’d find something, even though he’d no idea of how he was going to find it.

Listen into this conversation on the revolutionary spirit that took Ted from New York to San Francisco to Taiwan and then Macao. The twists and turns involved learning the medicine, and how the Web That Has No Weaver  came into being.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• It started with his best friend dying in an explosion
• The moment Ted thought “I need to learn Chinese medicine”
• Introduction to the medicine through a great and drunk doctor
• Even the Black Panthers could not get Ted into Mainland China, so off to Taiwan with a $25 ticket
• Studying with doctors who practiced strange medicine
• Learning Mandarin and medicine in Macao, and the curious gestalt that followed
• How reading Sun Si Miao opened Ted to a world beyond TCM
• Further reflections on Dr Han and the long process of learning to refine your attention
• Chinese medicine changes us, as well as helps patients
• Standardization of Chinese medicine in China allowed it to survive into the modern moment, but also closed the door to idiosyncratic ways of practice
• Things that don’t make sense, that don’t add up in the moment in your clinical work, these are opportunities to deepen your understanding and capacity as a doctor
• Classic texts can be confusing
• Learning to see the patterns will allow you to clearly understand processes that previously were invisible to you
• It’s not possible to relieve all suffering, but you can relieve unnecessary suffering

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When it comes to learning medicine, you have to have patience and not be afraid of the contradictions​

Ted Kaptchuk
Professor Kaptchuk received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Columbia University in 1968 and graduated with a degree in Chinese medicine from the Macao Institute of Chinese Medicine (Macao, China) in 1975.  He was recruited as researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 1990 and became full Professor of Medicine in 2013. In 2015 he received an additional appointment as Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine. He has over 300 publications with an h-index of 100 and an i10-index of 274.

Professor Kaptchuk entered the field of placebo research after spearheading the study of East Asian medicine in the United States and Europe and establishing himself as a scholar of multiple healing traditions.  He is the author of The Web that Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine, a classic textbook that has been translated into 13 languages. The World Health Organization (WHO) engaged him as a senior editor and translator (from Chinese to English) for its International Classification of Disease 11th Revision (ICD-11) chapter on Traditional Medicine, published in 2019.

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Links and Resources

Visit Ted on his website. 

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In the mid 70’s there were four English language books on acupuncture. Which wasn’t much to go on. But for the people that started learning acupuncture in those days. It was enough to get started.

Suzuki Roshi is famous for saying “in the beginners mind there are many possibilities, in the experts mind there are few.” Which is another way to say being young and foolish is not a bad way to get started with things, because you don’t know what you can’t not do. and exploring new territory brings its own satisfaction.

In this conversation with Peter Deadman we revisit the early days of when acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture of Great Britain.

Listen into this discussion of cultural change, personal exploration, the structure of TCM and how a copy of bootlegged clinical notes helped Peter to learn the medicine, and then in turn share it with the rest of us.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Macrobiotics to shiatsu to acupuncture
• Didn’t know what he wanted, but knew what he didn’t want
• Three guys from the UK went to Hong Kong for a short time to learn acupuncture, and then opened three different schools
• Disillusionment with what was being taught and how Giovanni Maciocia made a difference, along with the bootleg notes of Ted Kaptchuck
• The 1981 visit to China that showed what acupuncture was capable of
• In the mid-70’s, there were only four English language books on acupuncture
• Unique healing character of the patient/practitioner relationship, and importance of who and how we are
• Self cultivation is essential 
• The intention behind writing Live Well, Live Long
• Challenges and Opportunities in the Profession
• Chinese medicine is the world’s best at prevention and understanding the effects of lifestyle
• The power of slow movement

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Take up a self-cultivation practice and do it every day

I have spent over fifty years working in the field of health promotion. I began by co-founding a natural foods business (infinity foods.co.uk), then studied acupuncture, Chinese medicine and qigong. 

I have taught internationally for decades and am co-author of A Manual of Acupuncture, author of Live Well Live Long: Teachings from the Chinese Nourishment of Life Tradition and am author of the forthcoming Qigong: Cultivation of Body, Breath, Mind. 

I am co-creator of jingselfcare.com – a practitioner/patient app designed to promote self-care for patients.

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Links and Resources

Visit Peter on www.peterdeadman.co.uk, on www.qigong.works for contents and sample pages of his new book Qigong: Cultivation of Body, Breath, Mind.

There are also video presentations and courses in qigong. 

He’s also the inspiration behind the JING patient self-care app.

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In this conversation, our guest Efrem Korngold said, “the definition of a good paradigm is that you can apply it effectively to new problems.” 

You know how sometimes you hear something and it stops you dead in your tracks, it rings true in a way that you can feel in your bones, muscles and blood. I heard this and felt the truth of it. It’s true— Chinese medicine; it’s good paradigm.

Listen into this conversation on the early days of Chinese medicine emerging into the mainstream in California, the way fearlessness helps to develop you as an acupuncturist and why imagination is so vitally important to the craftsperson.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• A curious introduction to acupuncture
• Seeking a medicine for a self reliant community
• An unexpected set of notes on acupuncture from Seattle
• Meeting JR Whorsley
• The influence of Mirum Lee and her unquenchable curiosity
• Founding schools and teaching
• An unlikely trip to Kunming
• The multiple and surprising influences that aided in State  licensure
• The rivalries that set out to “own” acupuncture
• Acupuncturists as “Trades People”
• Healthcare vs Medicine
• Acupuncture has become mainstream
• The famous herbalist from Idaho that no one has heard of
• Learning fearlessness from Mirum Lee
• The ever-evolving nature of Chinese medicine

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​How, is more important than what; when, is more important than why. Pay attention and question your firmly held beliefs.

Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O.M.D. has been a pioneer in the practice of Chinese medicine in America for 50 years.

He developed one of the early acupuncture curricula for the first acupuncture school in San Francisco in 1979, is the co-author of Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine and is engaged in the practice of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in San Francisco at Chinese Medicine Works.  

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Links and Resources

You can visit Efrem at Chinese Medicine Works.

Read his classic book Between Heaven and Earth.  

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It’s surprising the unexpected paths we trod that lead us to our destiny. Especially when you’re headed into a profession or line of work that does not yet exist. 

In this conversation with Jake Fratkin, we meander through tales of back pain, bitter herbs, beginner’s luck and crooked judges. We reflect on the joys and uncertainties of following your fascination to wherever it leads, and making a go of life on the edge of the establishment. 

Listen into this discussion on photography, monkey behavior, apprenticeships with Chicago masters and being involved with a call to standards in an emerging profession. Jake took an eccentric path to Chinese medicine in an era when it was still a fringe pursuit. It would seem you write your own destiny when following your interests and curiosity, and keep on going.

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• Introduction to Jake and discussing his interest in biology and science
• Jake’s exposure to acupuncture through James Reston’s appendectomy
• The influences that lead him to study Chinese language and tai chi
• Beginning the  study acupuncture with Dr. Moon in Chicago
• Starting acupuncture practice in 1978 and attracting the attention of the “Authorities”
• Learning herbal medicine through apprenticeships in Chicago
• Jake’s involvement in establishing national standards and exams
• The influence of Ted Kaptchuk’s The Web That Has No Weaver book
• Using computer diagnosis and acupuncture techniques
• The need for acupuncturists to study Western biomedicine
• The lack of acceptance from Western medicine and ways forward
• Reflecting on starting acupuncture practice for $10 a treatment

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I practice Meridian Balancing, a Japanese approach. The best foundation for this its doing meridian qi gong, following the sequence of the acupuncture channels. In herbal medicine, when confronted with excess and deficiency, prioritize the excess first, and the deficiency later.​

JAKE PAUL FRATKIN, OMD, L.Ac. trained in Korean and Japanese acupuncture since1975, and Chinese herbal medicine since 1982, and has studied and taught qi gong and Yang family Taijiquan since 1974. He is the recipient of Acupuncturist of the Year 1999,by the AAAOM, and Teacher of the Year, 2006, American Association of Teachers ofAcupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AATAOM).

Jake lives and practices in Boulder,Colorado.

He is the author of Essential Chinese Formulas, 225 Classical and Modern Prescriptions (2014), and the co-author of Case Studies in Autoimmune Disorders with Zeng Shengping (2014), and Practical Therapeutics of Traditional Chinese Medicine with Wu Yan, (1997)

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Links and Resources

Visit Jake on his website, and also check out his photographic work.

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If you don’t know where you want to go, it’s fine not to know where you’re going.

Not all journeys have a destination– at least, not in the beginning. In the beginning you’re opening to options, surveying the landscape, getting a feel for who you are in the territory. It’s the Open part of “Open, Close, Pivot.”

Rick Gold, one of the founders of the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine did not start out to found an acupuncture school. He started out aiming at being a hermit in backwoods Kentucky. But as with most things in life, where we start and we end up– it can be surprising.

Listen into this discussion of inquisitiveness, and how following something you find interesting will take you to places you didn’t know existed. And you just might help a lot of other people along the way.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• What was going on when Rick first heard about acupuncture
• What it was like to live the Back to the Land dream
• The little ad that lead him to Boston
• The studies that took him to San Diego in the late 70’s
• The circumstances that lead to starting  a school before PCOM
• The energy of the early days and the power of the finding the Fifth Element
• How the Pacific Symposium started
• Expanding the school to meet the emerging need and interest in learning acupuncture
• Reflections on the path followed and the path opening

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Know your ‘stuff’ very well academically and intellectually

Practice with Metta (Loving Kindness)

Rick Gold, Founder

I graduated from Oberlin College in 1972 with a religious studies major and pre- med minor.

After a five year experience living alone in rural Kentucky, I awoke one winter morning in 1975 from a dream and all I wanted to do was study Acupuncture. Fortunately, by 1977, I learned about the New England School of Acupuncture and enrolled. After graduating from NESA, I moved to San Diego to study for a Ph.D. in Psychology.

In 1981, I was contacted by Joe Lazzaro who was starting a branch of CAC (California Acupuncture College). I joined the faculty of CAC and also completed my studies to sit for CALE. By 1986, CAC was floundering and along with Joe, Alex Tiberi and Ana de Vedia, we took the plunge and started PCOM (now PCHS). The rest is history….

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Links and Resources

See what Rick is up to with his latest endeavor at www.mettamindfulnessmusic.com

He’s authored bodywork books on:
Thai Massage
Seitai Shiatsu, cupping and guasha
And has an entry in Acupuncture in Practice.

You can find him on Facebook and X.

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Shop Talk with John Scott
Using the Yangming to Help Generate Kidney Essence

Kidney essence is precious and not easily replenished. This Shop Talk segment discusses how the Kidney needs material form to create essence. And that it is the Yangming channels with their yang action that help the digestive system to extract the clear qi from food and fluids, and this in turn becomes the material that can transform into essence. 

This is a simple and effective set of points for burn out or exhaustion and they lean on the dynamic of transform, rather than simply tonifying the Kidney itself. 

Golden Flower Chinese Herbs also offers herbal formulations for these conditions and many more. Visit them at www.gfcherbs.com.

John Scott is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine currently in practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has been in private practice since 1982. He is the founder and president ofGolden Flower Chinese Herbs Inc.. John has been active in promoting oriental medicine on a local, state, national and international level. 

He has taught classes in the field and has been active in research. His particular passion for Chinese herbal medicine has guided his writing and teaching. He has continued to combine acupuncture with Chinese herbal medicine in his private practice.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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If you’ve studied Traditional East Asian Medicine in English, you no doubt have benefited from the work of today’s guest.

Dan Bensky has translated, written, published and taught for more years than most students entering an acupuncture school now have been alive.

He set off for Taiwan in the early 70’s to follow his interest in learning Chinese. Taiwan was still under martial law and the mainland… the mainland was going through the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese medicine, not even on the radar for him, but something happened in Taiwan.

Listen into this conversation on language, cultural, and learning medicine street smart style.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Dan’s surprising first experience with Chinese herbal medicine
• Finding a good school as a foreigner, it’s not so easy especially when you’re also dealing with navigating a profoundly foreign culture
• The Macao school was a real mix of Chinese cultures, languages and racism
• The challenge of parsing different accents, especially when it came to learning the fundamentals
• What do you do when you realize that the teacher understands you can grasp Chinese medicine, but they don’t really want you to learn?
• The little project that turned into Eastland Press
• Holding onto secrets is part of Chinese medicine, but it impedes the development of the medicine
• A story of how patients can get better, but not realize they are better
• Acupuncture is weird, and that’s partly why it is so enjoyable to practice
• The world is not as simple we have been taught
• Acupuncture makes sense to most people experientially, but not so much in theory
• Precision and Accuracy are mutually exclusive
• Jazz is a creative expression, acupuncture is a creative response

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It is important to check the tongue during an acupuncture treatment. This is true not only of the qi aspects, such as the state of any teeth marks, but also of blood aspects, such as the presence of sublingual veins. Not only should both of these improve during the course of a treatment, but an increase in the severity of teeth-marks (especially if at first they have lessened during the treatment) is a very clear sign of over treatment. When you see the teeth marks increase during the course of an acupuncture treatment you should at the very least stop doing any more needling and probably it is best to remove the last needle or two.​

I’ve been interested in things East Asian since I was a boy and stumbled into Traditional East Asian Medicine [TEAM] by chance in the early 1970’s. At the time it was not only very hard to find a place to study, it was even hard to know what or how to study.

 This sense of wonder has stayed with me for the past 45 years. 

My experiences, in Taiwan, Japan, China and the US have shown me that the greatest thing about this medicine is that it has so many tools that aid in being open to paying attention to and helping our patients on a multitude of levels.

Similarly, engagement with the medicine demands that we dive into the traditions without being stuck in them so that we can connect to and be a part of them. I have been helped along this path when, again by chance, I became interested in osteopathic medicine in the late 1970’s and had the good fortune to go to Michigan State University where I was able to work with some amazing teachers. It became quickly obvious to me that TEAM and osteopathy were complementary on many, many levels and I’ve been working on integrating them and attempting to understand how each illuminates the other ever since.

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Links and Resources

Find out more about Engaging Vitality at www.engagingvitality.com

And visit Eastland Press for quality books on acupuncture and East Asian medicine.

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Shop Talk with Jason Robertson
Palpating Head Points

In this Shop Talk Jason Robertson discusses the importance of putting your hands on your patients heads to understand where physically the points actually are located.

He draws from his experience with Dr Wang Ju-Yi in discussing how points are “jie” which you can think of as junctions or spaces, they’re notable by the way they feel. And this isn’t just for points on the head, but through the body. It’s helpful to put your hands on people and let the body tell you where the point is located.

Dr. Wang had a special affinity for DU19 and DU21 and how they can be used for treating back pain and for issues that result from a failure of the clear yang to ascend.

Clear diagnosis is the key to effective treatment and putting your hands on people both as a diagnostic and to find the most potent points is a practice that will serve you well in the clinic.

You can find out more about Jason’s work at www.channelpalpation.org

Sign up for his hands on course in Chicago September 16, 2023. 

And listen for more Jason’s perspective and how it can help your practice on his podcast Dialogues on Channel Palpation. You’ll find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Jason Robertson, L.Ac

I began studying Chinese when I was 17 after having a great high-school teacher. In college I majored in East Asian studies, eventually spending most of my 20s living and working in Taiwan.  

After studying at ACTCM, I went to Chengdu for a year to study herbs then spent two years in my native Kentucky practicing acupuncture.  After a few years seeing patients, I realized that I had much more to learn. I had seen Dr. Wang Juyi speak at a weekend seminar in California and, on a whim, I was determined to look him up.  With what now looks like a bizarre leap of faith, my wife and I moved to Beijing. I called Dr. Wang on the phone (only after arriving) and he happened to be home.

What thus began in what I thought would be a brief sojourn to collect a few clinical tricks ended up shaping the rest of my life.  The approach to Chinese medicine that Dr. Wang embodied was one shaped by the earthy, practical reality of twentieth century China.  He strove to come up with ideas that worked while drawing from the maps provided in the classics; to get out of his head and into his hands.  He was like me in the sense that he loved to think and found that a hands-on palpation based approach to acupuncture helpfully limited the temptation to devise beautiful and elegant diagnoses and treatments that didn’t actually work. Palpation prevents theoretical quicksand.  Twenty years later, I’m still finding new things through palpation, learning from other palpation traditions and chipping away at the edges of what I think I can do with Chinese medicine.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The book we used for studying acupuncture points at the Seattle Institute of Oriental  Medicine was  Foundations of Chinese Acupuncture. That along with Grasping the Wind were my entry into the study of channels and points. Both of those books had the handiwork of today’s guest, Andy Ellis.

Beyond those early translations, Andy has his fingerprints on a wide swath of books on herbal medicine and acupuncture.

Andy wandered his way into most of his learning. And he’s been generous with what he’s found.

Listen into this conversation on learning, finding teachers, and how putting yourself in front of what you’re curious about will open 緣分 Yuan Fen like opportunities, you can’t get any other way.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Andy’s draw to studying Chinese medicine
• Learning from Dr. Soo at the New England School
• Moving to Taiwan to further his study of medicine and the opportunities that arose
• The role, complexity, and controversy around translation in Chinese Medicine
• A chance meeting that led to studying  with Dr. Shi in Xia Men
• The complexity of herbal medicine along with the discrepancy and miscategorization of herbs 
• Insights on potentials and limitations in the integration of Chinese Medicine into the Western healthcare system.
• Thoughts the fundamental differences between Western and Chinese medicine
• The desire to pass along what has been learned

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The superior physician strives for a pure spirit and looks inwards. While appearing dignified, he remains at ease. [His mind is] neither clear nor clouded. When examining a patient, it is with unsullied intentions and a sincere heart, carefully examining the patient and his disease leaving nothing out; with no confusion, judiciously discerning the [prescription of] acupuncture and herbs. Although the illness is serious, [the physician] must not become flustered; examine closely and contemplate deeply. In life, we should not rashly show off our cleverness nor seek fame; this lacks virtue.
 —Sun Si-Miao

While I like the entire quote, the sentence that has had the largest impact on me is, “[His mind is] neither clear nor clouded.” I interpret this to mean that, as we approach our patients it is important to not hastily draw any conclusions, nor should we succumb to the confusion induced by the patient’s complex and seemingly contradictory signs and symptoms.

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I began my study of Chinese medicine at the New England School of Acupuncture in 1981 with Dr. James So. In 1983 I went to Taiwan to study Chinese and apprenticed in herbology and acupuncture there with Xu Fu-Su in Zhang Hua. I also studied with Chen Jun-Ming in Taipei. In 1986 I went to mainland China and studied acupuncture with Dr. Shi Neng-Yun for six months and in 1988 returned to Xiamen to study dermatology, gynecology and internal medicine at the Xiamen Chinese medical hospital. I lived at the hospital for about a year. In 1990 I had the opportunity to study ear, nose and throat with Dr. Gan Zu-Wang in a one-month intensive program in Xiamen.

I returned to the US later in 1990, practiced in Florida and two years later moved to California to teach herbology at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1992 we founded Spring Wind Herbs, Inc.

Since that time I have practiced and taught Chinese medicine and translated, co-translated, edited or written several books on Chinese medicine.

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Links and Resources

In addition to founding Spring Wind Herbs. Here are some of the books that Andy has translated or co-translated:

Notes from South Mountain – Thin Moon Publishing
The Clinical Experience of Dr. Shi Neng-Yun – Thin Moon Publishing
A Walk Along the River – Eastland Press
Formulas and Strategies (Second Edition) – Eastland Press
Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine – Paradigm Publications
Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture – Paradigm Publications
Grasping the Wind – Paradigm Publications
Handbook of Formulas in Chinese Medicine – Eastland Press
Ten Lectures on the Use of Medicinals – Paradigm Publications

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Shop Talk with Leta Herman
Considering and Using Ghost Points

Leta Herman, co-founder of the Alchemy Learning Center, shares her insights into the world of the Thirteen Ghost Points, a mystical aspect of acupuncture that she has been practicing for almost two decades. These points, often overlooked or misunderstood, hold transformative potential but require a level of practitioner self-cultivation before their full power can be harnessed. 

Leta emphasizes that the Ghost Points act as liberators, clearing out accumulated emotional baggage and releasing stuck patterns, making them particularly valuable in our modern world. She advocates for a patient-centered approach, recommending starting with a few Ghost Points in a one-hour session to avoid overwhelming reactions, using a unique vibrating technique that can be needle-based or non-needle-based. 

Leta’s approach involves bearing witness to the patient’s experience and facilitating their transformative journey, making the Ghost Points a powerful tool for both personal growth and clinical practice.

Leta Herman

I’m not your typical Chinese Medicine Practitioner. I always like to get that statement right out first! I consider myself a Chinese Medicine Healer, Alchemist, and lifetime learner. My unique approach involves non-needle techniques, using my fingers as energetic needles, and incorporating direct moxibustion, cupping, and gua sha. My journey into healing began with a healing crisis that changed my life, leading me to study with remarkable teachers like Master Jeffery Yuen, Eliot Cowan, and Niki Bilton over the past two decades.

Over the years I’ve focused on the more esoteric aspects of Chinese Medicine and Alchemical Healing, including Sun SiMiao’s Thirteen Ghosts Points and the Nine Stages of Daoist Alchemy. As co-founder of the AlchemyLearningCenter.com, where we offer numerous CEU classes in Alchemical and Classical Chinese Medicine, I’m excited to start a new Alchemy apprenticeship cohort in our popular Master Alchemy Apprenticeship Program (MAAP) this Fall.

I also co-host the Inspired Action Podcast at InspiredActionPodcast.com, which focuses on Alchemy, the Five Elements, and the Nine Palaces for both practitioners and laypeople alike. You can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts!

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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Often enough at the beginning of a sea change, you don’t know what’s coming next. You’re already part of a current, a flow, and while you can steer within current, you’re caught up in a flow that is beyond your capacity to fully understand.

In this conversation with Malvin Finkelstein we take a trip in the Wayback Machine to 197xx and his first encounter with acupressure, acupuncture and the potency of nutrition. We visit the early years of acupuncture education, the challenges of making a living when most states did not offer licenses to practice acupuncture, and crafting of standards and valid testing that would become the foundation for licensure.

Listen into this discussion of serendipity, passion, persistence and contribution.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• A notice posted on an old style bulletin board
• Discovering and experiencing acupressure and acupuncture
• Diet and a clear and reliable message from the body
• The early days of acupuncture and its establishment as a profession
• Influential individuals and organizations contributing to the growth of acupuncture
• A profession that self organized itself
• The challenges faced in establishing licensure laws
• The role of NCCAOM in standardizing acupuncture exams
• The evolution of acupuncture beyond just acupuncture to include Chinese herbology and Oriental Medicine
• Embracing change and letting go of past successes
• The challenges and wisdom that come with aging and shaping the profession

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Listening To Our Body and Asking What Our Body Needs is one of the most important healing practices. We assume that our body will always work and do whatever we ask of it. As we all get more years on our body, we find that our body doesn’t work the same as it did when we were younger.

If we don’t listen to our body’s needs, our body stops working properly and we have pain and disease.​​

I have spent the past 20 years developing, refining and teaching a treatment modality called Acu-Current Therapy. It increases joint range of motion, regulates sinew and muscle elasticity, increases blood profusion to affected areas and accelerates healing time.

Acu-Current Therapy combines treatment of points in the fascia around muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints with microcurrent electricity. Each joint has points that increase range of motion.

Myofascial acupressure stretches separate adhesed fascia from muscles, tendons and ligaments to reposition muscles and joints into their correct position. Teaching patients to not over-do daily activities and exercises, coupled with therapeutic qigong stretches and ergonomics enhances and solidifies the treatment effect.

Earlier in my acupuncture career, I was chairperson of the NCCAOM, the Oregon Medical Board-Acupuncture Committee and the National Qigong Association .

For the past 40+ years, I have had a thriving acupuncture practice in Eugene, Oregon. I am devoted to my family. In my spare time, I play jazz alto saxophone.

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Links and Resources

Visit Malvin on his website and check out the courses that he offers on qi gong and  micro-current therapy

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Shop Talk with Leta Herman
Treating Chaotic Energy

Join Leta Herman as she shares her perspective on why Chaotic Energy treatments (also known as Aggressive Energy) are so helpful in today’s fast paced, modern world.

In the past 20 years, Leta has witnessed a significant rise in CE due to increased world-wide stress, smartphones, wearables and a constant media exposure. Chaotic Energy spreads through the Ke cycle, affecting multiple organ systems and even contributing to severe illness.

Symptoms of CE include mild to severe emotional agitations, anxieties, and physical discomforts–all related to Wei Qi circulation.

In this ShopTalk, Leta describes how to treat CE with needles and with her own unique non-needling techniques. Treating CE has led to amazing results, from alleviating panic attacks to helping transform more severe illness as well as easing some of the more day-to-day stresses for many clients.

I’m not your typical Chinese Medicine Practitioner. I always like to get that statement right out first! I consider myself a Chinese Medicine Healer, Alchemist, and lifetime learner. My unique approach involves non-needle techniques, using my fingers as energetic needles, and incorporating direct moxibustion, cupping, and gua sha. My journey into healing began with a healing crisis that changed my life, leading me to study with remarkable teachers like Master Jeffery Yuen, Eliot Cowan, and Niki Bilton over the past two decades.

Over the years I’ve focused on the more esoteric aspects of Chinese Medicine and Alchemical Healing, including Sun SiMiao’s Thirteen Ghosts Points and the Nine Stages of Daoist Alchemy. As co-founder of the AlchemyLearningCenter.com, where we offer numerous CEU classes in Alchemical and Classical Chinese Medicine, I’m excited to start a new Alchemy apprenticeship cohort in our popular Master Alchemy Apprenticeship Program (MAAP) this Fall.

I also co-host the Inspired Action Podcast at InspiredActionPodcast.com, which focuses on Alchemy, the Five Elements, and the Nine Palaces for both practitioners and laypeople alike. You can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts!

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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It can be hard, impossible perhaps, at the beginning to know that you’re at the start of a tidal shift. It’s only in looking back and connecting the pivotal moments that you can see a challenging moment didn’t happen to you, it happened for you. It’s only later that you can see how attempting to solve a troublesome problem would take you down a path your imagination couldn’t dream up in that moment.

In this conversation with John Scott we take a trip in the Wayback Machine to a time when acupuncture was more of a curiosity than a career. We look at the troubles and challenges of the late 60’s and early 70’s and how the influences of those times created opportunities that would in turn lay the groundwork for the profession we enjoy today.

Listen into this discussion of flower power, entrepreneurship  and good old American ingenuity and self-reliance.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• History of Western medicine in the early 19th century
• Early days of acupuncture and herbal medicine in the US
• The importance of deep connection and ecstasy of connection in human relationships
• Making needles from guitar strings
• What brought people to John, who at the time was an outlaw practicing without a license
• The role of institutions and government in the 80’s and increasing legalization of acupuncture in the 90s
• Golden Flower’s inciting problem and journey
• Challenges facing the acupuncture profession today

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I find micro systems very helpful in acupuncture. I always start my acupuncture treatment with auricular acupuncture. This helps to set up immediate relief for the patient right away. I’ve found using ear acupuncture improves results and patient success.

John Scott is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine currently in practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has been in private practice since 1982. He is the founder and president of Golden Flower Chinese Herbs Inc.

John has been active in promoting oriental medicine on a local, state, national and international level. He has taught classes in the field and has been active in research. His particular passion for Chinese herbal medicine has guided his writing and teaching. He has continued to combine acupuncture with Chinese herbal medicine in his private practice.

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Links and Resources

Visit John’s herbal enterprise at Golden Flower Chinese Herbs. 

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Shop Talk with Anthony Von der Muhll
Needling Joints

I’m  Anthony Von der Muhll, and in this Shoptalk, I will be sharing with you one of my most useful go-to techniques for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain and disability: needling into joint and ligamentous tissues. 

This is an ancient technique with modern applications that is quite safe, well-tolerated, and works rapidly and effectively for long-lasting improvements in function, not just of joints but also the muscles, tendons and nerves that cross them. 

When I started using this technique about 15 years ago, my success rates went way up, and the time and number of treatments required for lasting outcomes went way down, even for chronic and complex cases that I had found previously very challenging. 

Although this technique was not taught in any of the Masters or Doctorate classes that I attended, with some very basic review of joint anatomy, I found it is quite simple and easy to learn, and even to teach oneself. Tune in to learn more!

Here are links to Anthony’s course on Joint Stabilization and Mobilization Needling, his full list of On Demand Courses with CEU’s. And his Live Classes and Webinars.

And a couple video samples of Anthony’s teaching.

Yangming ACL

Treating the Cervical Spine

Anthony Von der Muhll
I am an experienced clinician and instructor in acupuncture orthopedics and sports medicine. I enjoy providing long-term support for acupuncturists to achieve their professional goals.

I earned my MTCM from the Five Branches University in 2002, my Diplomate from the National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics in 2006, and my Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in 2020.

I have served as a clinical supervisor for 18 years and taught acupuncture orthopedics at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences, the American College of TCM, the Five Branches University, and the Virginia University of Integrative Medicine. I have been a featured instructor at the Sports Acupuncture Alliance, the PSOAS Symposium, and Associations of California, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina.

I also have extensive experience as an expert witness in malpractice cases, and emphasize the highest standards of safety and ethics.

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Support for Qiological Comes From

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The image of China’s Barefoot Doctors struck a resonant chord with those in the West who were looking for simple and effective means of helping people with medicine that was not tied to an established medical hierarchy.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s acupuncture had not made its way from the Chinese communities into the dominant culture. And the early adopters of Chinese medicine were just beginning to find their way to the East where they’d learn the language and medicine.

It was in this time that the Black Panthers and Young Lords in their work in building community resources came across acupuncture. And began to explore its use as a people’s medicine. And that connected with the groundbreaking addiction treatment work at Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx. This aspect of the history of acupuncture in the West has received little attention, but it caught the attention of Rachel Pagones, and she’s written a book about it.

Listen into this “community voices” conversation between Rachel and guest interviewer Beth Sommers on acupuncture as revolution and this grassroots effort of community organization, self-care and acupuncture.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• How does our history exclude people who were significant in the development of our medicine in the USA?
• The early days of acupuncture and Lincoln Hospital
• Revolutionary politics, activism and medicine
• The influence of Nixon opening up to China in 1972
• The early days of endorphin research and acupuncture
• POCA’s influence of social justice and accessible acupuncture
• The image of the Barefoot Doctor, fact or fiction?
• How people are responding to the book
• Can we learn from history, so as to build and fortify our profession?
• Ways in which small community programs can make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged
• The inspiration that comes from genuinely helping others

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Don’t try to treat everything at once with older adults. Focus your treatment, and focus on the qi.

Rachel Pagones is an acupuncturist, educator and author with a background in journalism. She was department chair of the transitional doctorate program of acupuncture and Chinese medicine at Pacific College of Health and Science in San Diego – where she taught clinical research design, evidence-informed practice, and preventive medicine and public health and supervised a free acupuncture clinic for older adults – before moving to the UK in late 2021. She currently lectures in TCM Academy’s Oncology Acupuncture International Certificate Program.

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Be who you were created to be and you will set the world on fire  — Catherine of Siena

Elizabeth Sommers PhD MPH Lic Ac is based in the Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities Program of Boston Medical Center. She is an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine in Family Medicine. She has published in the areas of acupuncture detoxification, health economics and HIV/AIDS.

She is currently co-editing a special issue on public health of the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine.

As a founder and former chair of the American Public Health Association’s Section on Integrative, Complementary and Traditional Health Practices, she currently serves on APHA’s Governing Council. She is committed to ensuring that healthcare including wellness is a right not a privilege.

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Links and Resources

You can purchase Rachel’s book Acupuncture as Revolution at Barnes & Noble, the Big River of Books or order it through your favorite local bookstore.

You can visit Rachel on Twitter
Beth is also on Twitter

More resources for you to dive deep into this history:
Dope is Death podcast and documentary – Director Mia Donovan.
Dr. Tenisha Dandridge, L.Ac. teaches a Racial Justice and East Asian Medicine series.
Eana Meng, a Harvard researcher, wrote a paper titled, “Patients in Pain: The Rise of Acupuncture in the Opioid Epidemic.”

Pain and Opioid Use: Evidence for Integrating Acupuncture Into Treatment Planning – Elizabeth Sommers, Sivarama Prasad Vinjamury, Jennifer Noborikawa, 2021 (sagepub.com)

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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.

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In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Medicine was in the family
• The influence of Michael Smith and his work at the Lincoln Hospital
• First experience with acupuncture
• There was this training program for doctors and nurses
• Early schools of acupuncture in the New York area
• The influence of AIDS on Susan’s acupuncture education
• A practice based on treating AIDS in the early years of the epidemic
• Using Chinese herbs in the treatment of AIDS

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If you find that as a practitioner, you have more of your qi involved in the patient’s motivation than the patient has, something is wrong with that picture.

AND, equally important…always remember that it is a great honor and privilege to be trusted with another’s most private thoughts, concerns and feelings.

Susan Paul, L.Ac

I was born raised and lived in NYC for 50 years. 

I learned, in the first 20 years, that I didn’t want to be a cog in an allopathic system where the doctor was the God/father figure, the nurse a powerless slave, and the patient, a dependent infant. I discovered Oriental Medicine by chance and quickly saw its’ potential to change my personal health and professional life. 

I “retired” five years ago after 35 years of intense involvement in Alternative Medicine, AIDS and HIV treatment as well as almost every other diagnosis under the sun of New York City, India and Asheville, NC. I consider myself lucky to have been in 1982, facing some of the first undiagnosed AIDS patients in NYC, as an RN…and following that slim thread into 35 years of profound medical experience, tragic as well as totally compelling.  

I have learned that a sound academic foundation provides freedom for creative thinking which often works, amuses, satisfies and keeps the mind moving forward.  Even when the consciously desired result is not realized, there is a special joy in a self-determined inner mission, over many years duration. 

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Links and Resources

Susan spends time in India providing Chinese medicine services at Snehalaya

Join the discussion!
Leave a comment on Qiological’s Facebook page.

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This Episode Brought to You With Support From

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[/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”intro to show” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font_size_tablet=”51″ text_line_height_tablet=”2″ header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Eastland Press has been bringing books on Oriental medicine from Chinese into English since the early days of Americans studying the traditional medicine of Asia. Actually, from even before there was a market for this kind of material.

In this episode we go into the early history of Eastland Press. How what seemed like a good idea at the time turned into a multi-year endeavor and how Dan and John’s dedication to “Westerner’s owning our part of this long medical tradition” has kept them at the forefront of providing quality books for the practitioner of East Asian medicine.

Listen in for an entertaining and informative piece of Chinese medicine history in the West, and for a glimpse of some future offerings from Eastland Press that you’ll want for your library.

 
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Show Highlights

• It began with a miscalculation.
•  It was not so easy to study Chinese medicine in the mid 70’s.
• How do you find a publisher for a book with no discernable market?
• The motivation behind the material medica and formulary books.
• What does it take to bring a book from Chinese to English in a way that is true to the material and yet readable in the target language?
•  Issues of copyright in the digital age for a specialty publisher.
• Where do you see the Chinese medicine profession going from your perspective as a publisher?
• Some books from Eastland Press to watch for in the near future.

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The guests of this show 

Dan and John, Macau 1974

Dan Bensky is a graduate of the Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine (Oriental Medicine Diploma, 1975), University of Michigan (B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, 1978), Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (Doctor of Osteopathy, 1982), University of Washington (M.A. in Classical Chinese, 1996), and Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences (Ph.D. in Discussion of Cold Damage, 2006). He contributed to the translation and editing of Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text, and to the compilation and translation of Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies. Dan is a co-founder of Eastland Press (1981), where he serves as medical editor, and of the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine (1994). In 2008, he was awarded the Wang Dingyi Cup International Prize for contributions to Chinese medicine.

John O’Connor studied Chinese language and history at the University of Oregon (B.A., 1971), University of Illinois (M.A., 1977), Taiwan Normal University, and the University of Hong Kong. His collaboration with Dan Bensky on the translation and publication of Chinese medical books began during the course of their studies in Macau between 1973-75, and has continued with the founding of Eastland Press and the publication of Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text in 1981. John serves as managing editor of Eastland Press, and is also an attorney (J.D., Loyola School of Law, 1980).

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Links and Resources

Visit Eastland Press at www.eastlandpress.com

Join the discussion!
Leave a comment on Qiological’s Facebook page.

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