288 Peach Spring Beyond This World, A Glimpse of the Water Rabbit Year • Gregory Done
In this conversation with Gregory Done, we delve into the mysterious realm of the water rabbit and explore how its gentle yet powerful energy can guide us through the ebbs and flows of life, helping us to make the most of opportunities and weather any storms that may come our way. We talk about the transformative power of the water rabbit as the bringer of diplomacy, close-knit relationships, and sneaky guile. Gregory also unravels what lies ahead for the 12 animals of the Chinese cosmological Zodiac.
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287 Tradition and Innovation • Mark Petruzzi and Jeffrey Dann
As practitioners of East Asian medicine, we are informed deeply by the ancient medicine, experience and wisdom passed down through generations. The holism woven into the East Asian medicine traditions is especially important in a modern world that...
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286 Qi, Yi and Tensegrity • Stefan Grace
Our language tells the tale of our evolution and the movement of the mind. It captures the experiences, attitudes, and wisdom of our ancestors and allows us to reflect upon our own. As herbalists and acupuncturists, the language of our medicine...
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285 The Work and Perspectives of Dr Bear • David Toone
Treating what you see sounds easy. And it is essential if you want to craft a targeted and effective treatment. It’s those well aimed treatments that hit the mark that conflated with magic.
But seeing clearly the underlying dynamic that gives rise to the troubles and symptoms for which patients seek us out. That is more complicated.
In this conversation with David Toone we discussion the perspectives and work of the blind Japanese acupuncturist Dr Bear, who passed away a few months ago.
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284 Case Studies and Storytelling a Lens into Medicine and Meaning • Sarah Rivkin
No matter how automated, evidence-based, standardized, or computerized medical systems become, the clinical encounter boils down to a story between a patient and the practitioner. Medicine is not just about reciting a chronology of data points. A practitioner’s role is to recognize and pull meaning from a patient’s story of illness in such a way that can guide us in being helpful.
In this conversation with Sarah Rivkin, we talk about the place of East Asian medicine in a world that leans more towards a standardized approach to medicine. We noodle on the similarities between case studies and novels, and what Sarah’s research could tell us about navigating a Western world without losing sight of what makes Chinese medicine a treasure.
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283 The Spiral Process of Learning • Kristen Lambertin
In this conversation with Kristen Lambertin, we pore over the cyclical process of learning, the difficulties students face when transferring what they’ve learned in the classroom to the clinical workplace, how to improve the learning process in our profession, and some practical skills and mindsets that can help you adapt to the future. We also share opinions on how we can approach our patients and work by building on our strengths and leaning into our shortcomings.
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282 Five Gentleman of Flavor, Taste & Nature • L Stiteler, B Bernadsky, S Feeney, F Griffo, A Ellis
Today’s conversation is one borne out of synchronicity. What was scheduled to be a 3-person panel discussion with Simon Feeney, Loren Stiteler, and Boris Bernadsky turned out to be a ‘party’ as Andy Ellis and Frank Griffo joined us. The outcome was a lively exchange that covered diverse topics around herbs. We mulled over the flavor-based nature of herbalism, the shortcomings of our education system, the variability of herbs, and the processing/preparation of Chinese herbs
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281 Fun With Marketing • Michelle Grasek
Practitioners today navigate a dynamic and ever-evolving world of marketing and communications. There are so many ideas about practice building and how to use technology when it comes to attracting the attention of potential patients, and inviting...
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280 Navigating the Passage, Healing as Voyage of Exploration • Heather Becker-Brungard
Getting off track is not something uncommon for us. In fact, it’s an everyday part of our human experience. The question is, how do you notice when this happens and then how do you reorient? More importantly, how do you navigate when in unfamiliar territory? And likewise with your clinical work, how do you deal with the new and the unknown when it comes to treating patients?
In this conversation with Heather Becker-Brungard, we discuss some ways of approaching our work, as well as how we interact with the body. Much like the ancient navigators who mastered navigating by listening and sensing the water, weather, tides, currents, and wind. In clinical work practice and repetition make you better at what you do. And as we learn to work and interact with nature, our senses become refined and open up opportunities for new discoveries.
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279 Not What I Thought, An Investigation of Adverse Reactions • Karina Smith
The principles behind our medicine are relatively simple. The idea is to restore balance to a body that is in disharmony. To detect the patterns and ripples in the system. To facilitate the unimpeded flow of qi as a river does.
Yet applying these theories in the practice of actual patient care is more complex. Learning in school or from mentors is one thing; cultivating the wisdom to apply this knowledge in the wild, it’s not always straightforward. Sometimes things don’t go how we expect. And all too often, we find ourselves in unchartered territory feeling our way through the unexpected.
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278 Digging the Earthly Branches • Deborah Woolf
Heaven and Earth, the creative and the created, micro and macrocosm. All ways of saying there is a reality we inhabit, and beyond that a lot of mystery. And mystery is something us humans have, at best, an ambivalent relationship with.
In this conversation Deborah Woolf graciously entertains some questions that I had arise after her Qiological Live presentation on the Earthly branches.
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277 The Heart in the Clinic • Josephine Spilka
Classical Chinese medicine recognizes the Heart (心 Xin) as a central organ to our being. It’s seen as holding the sovereign position as the emperor of the kingdom (i.e., the body).
In this conversation with Josephine Spilka, we discuss the importance of being in coherence, acting from a place of presence amid impermanent stories, staying true to our capacities, and setting boundaries in the clinic. Josephine also touches on the influence of the eight extraordinary channels and their connection to the Zheng Qi.
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276 Interoceptive Awareness • Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Nick Lowe & Elizabeth Osgood-Campbell
Tuning in is a cultivated skill that’s in many East Asian Medicine practitioner's toolbox. We learn early on to bring our intention, attention, and awareness to the clinic encounter. To pick up subtle movement and cues on the diagnostic table. But our “tuning in” often tends to focus on “outside facing” senses; the appearance, smell, sound, taste, or feel of something.
Interoception turns the gaze to internal sensing—from the clenching of the stomach, to the beating of the heart, or tension in the muscles. It's tuning in to what is going on inside the body. Nurturing interoceptive awareness and honing a heightened bodily awareness helps us and our patients in our clinical work. It improves our capacity to understand, interpret, and process the world around us.
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275 If You're Falling, Dive— Trauma, Heartbreak and Possiblities • Randal Lyons
No one gets through life without difficulties. We all carry wounds and the consequences of the meanings we’ve made in the moments of heartbreak, fear and confusion.
In this second conversation with Randle Lyons we discuss the dark forest of transformation. How our wounds can be a source of healing, if properly digested and how it’s harder to surrender when you have something to lose.
read more274 Panel on Wei Qi, Ann Cecil-Sterman, Laurie Ayres & Zhongxian Wu
I recently got to thinking about Wei qi, especially as we are moving into the dark of the year in the northern hemisphere, and I realized that I hear discussions about wei qi, and how we should attend to it, or nourish it. Often enough, perhaps too often, we equate wei qi with the immune system. And think about strength, rather than balance. What’s more, the commonly used formulas that are famous for ‘stabilizing or strengthening the exterior” are frequently prescribed without any kind of actual differential diagnosis. Concerns about effectiveness and maybe even safety naturally arise.
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273 Intention, Awareness and The Power of Restraint • Zoe Brenner
Our job as Chinese Medicine practitioners is not so much to impress our ideas on patients but to cultivate a capacity and restraint to allow them to come back to themselves. Our assessment is meant to determine the patient’s understanding of their disharmony, and uncover blockages or excesses.
As trusted intermediaries, our role is to increase our awareness, bring our focus to the unfolding moment, listen from a place of genuine curiosity, and see the patients’ experiences from their perspective while letting go of attachments to a particular outcome. You may be an expert in your modalities, but the patient is the expert in their personal experiences. Our job is to help them discover their own inner wisdom, to help them chart and navigate their own path to wellness.
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272 Ishizaka Acupuncture, Attending to the Stillness in the Center of Motion • Kubota Sensei
In this conversation with Kubota Sensei, we discuss Ishizaka-ryu, a traditional Japanese acupuncture method. Sensei focuses on stimulating qi blockages along the primary meridians surrounding the entire spinal column, so as to increase blood flow, open the central channel and utilize the body’s own healing power. His method of acupuncture includes using a spiral motion of his supporting hand, to add a vortex of qi to the needle.
Listen into this discussion and learn about the Torus, a core around which the acupuncture meridians are all connected. How acupuncture affects the electrical flows in the body. And the key importance of having an open and empty space in the great Chong vessel.
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271 Cycles, Nodes and the Spaces in the Seasons • Sheri Lee
Life is built on rhythms, the natural world is constantly in a state of transformation. A cyclical flow of growth and decline—manifested in the turning of the seasons, waxing and waning of the moon, and the oscillation of day and night. The intertwined correspondences to the universal tidal flows are the warp and weft upon which our lives, our health, and our medicine is woven. This knowledge is preserved in the Chinese Lunisolar calendar.
In this conversation with Sheri Lee, we explore the seasonal cycles of qi according to the Chinese Calendar and how to align ourselves with the changing tides and flow of time. We discuss the seasonal markers to keep an eye on, the earth phases, the 24 nodes, and the Japanese concept of doyo. In addition to aligning ourselves with the seasons, we talk about aligning ourselves to what our patients are showing up with.
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270 Authentic Movement and the Wisdom of the Body • Margot Rossi
Movement is part of how our body communicates with itself and senses itself in the outside world. Proper and ease filled movement, be it with our emotions, the circulation of our blood, the way our joints through their range movement, and how we can move and be in the relationships, work and interaction with the 10000 things. All of this is tied in with our well-being and capacity to thrive.
In this conversation with Margot Rossi we explore the terrain of movement and sensing and how this fundamental capacity is the foundation of our life, and gives us the ability to live the seasons of our lives.
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269 A World of No Excuses • Jenny Nieters
While our medicine has gained significant traction poking its way into the mainstream healthcare landscape, the journey has been non-linear and, at times, haphazard. But from our conversation with this episode's guest, perhaps trust and mutual respect are the catalysts to bridge the still-existent gap and facilitate the confluence of ancient medicine with modern culture.
In this conversation with Jenny Nieters, we discuss her clinical work as the team acupuncturist for the San Francisco 49ers, the place of East Asian Medicine in sports medicine, and her personal experience enhancing physical performance for both elite professionals and active patients looking to maintain their strength and mobility.
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268 Men's Health • Lisa Lapwing
Chinese medicine is a godsend for women's health. There are plenty of resources for us to tap into, and our medicine is great at addressing the challenges women face through their reproductive years and beyond. But what about the other half of the population? Well, not so much.
Men's health is often shrouded in invisible inequality. Some of it is cultural, men seek medical attention less frequently than women. Generally speaking, men aren’t as proactive in seeking to resolve health concerns, we pride ourselves on toughing through problems.
I would have thought that there would be more in our East Asian medicine toolkit for treating men’s reproductive or sexual issues, But if you look, you will not that much. It’s a bare storehouse compared to the treasure house of medicine and methods we have for women’s health.
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