A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond - podcast cover

A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond

Tune in every other week for inspiring, joyful, and informative conversations on transforming ourselves, our communities, and the world, in the spirit of ancient Chinese medicine, spirituality, and philosophy. Separating fact from fiction, we aim to bring you medicine from China's distant past, translated here to meet YOUR needs today, in clinic and beyond. I am your host, Dr. Sabine Wilms, medical historian, recovering university professor, and author and translator of more than a dozen books on the Chinese healing arts, from gynecology and pediatrics to medical ethics and materia medica, published by Happy Goat Productions. In addition to writing, I teach and mentor at https://www.imperialtutor.com/, about the roots of Chinese medicine and its larger cultural background. In addition, I will bring in insights from my checkered past as a biodynamic goat farmer and musician, all under the banner of my favorite phrase, “cosmic resonance,” a.k.a. the Chinese ideal of harmony between the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. I really love to inspire people and spread around some good vibrations, which is what I aim to do in this podcast, with the assistance of some of my favorite clinical and academic colleagues, friends, and guides, like Leo Lok (our self-proclaimed "Purveyor of Multiple Perspective") and Dr. Brenda Hood, master physician and specialist in all things Daoism. New episodes will generally drop twice a month, with a free one on the new moon and a bonus one for Imperial Tutor members on the full moon. Check out https://www.imperialtutor.com/membership for more information on my mentorship. Episodes will be roughly an hour long and will follow the format of what you may already be familiar with as the Imperial Tutor’s Tea Time Talks: loosely structured conversations that provide education, inspiration, and connection. If you want to be notified of new episodes, why don’t you subscribe to my newsletter at https://www.happygoatproductions.com/connect? Here are our three main goals: 1. Bridge-building: We gather to explore the liminal sweet spot, in between Heaven and Earth, the distant past and the present moment, East and West, the clinic and the academy, the healer and the scholar, the discernible and the unfathomable, oral lineage and written text, and, ultimately, between Yin and Yang. 2. Collaboration: The treasure house of traditional Chinese medicine is bigger than any single person's expertise, no matter how vast. We actively pursue and embrace a diversity of opinions so that we can collectively deepen our understanding. 3. Authentic Transmission: Translation, from the past to the present, from Chinese to English, from texts to clinical application, etc., invariably involves an alteration and adaptation of the original message. How do we stay as true as possible to the insights expressed in the ancient Chinese texts while still making sense to our listeners? We invite you to consider the creative challenges of this task with us. Potential future topics include: Meditation Sickness and Qigong Psychosis; The Difference Between Responsibility and Fault; Daoist and Confucian Perspectives on Humanity's Role Between Heaven and Earth; The Creation, Development, and Transmission of Medical Knowledge and the Dangers and Benefits of Lineage; Buddhist Perspectives on Reality and Expedient Means; The Wuwei Way; The Weasel and the Yak, and The Frog in the Well; Simple Questions: How to Read the Classics; The Cosmos in Six Lines: The Yijing as a Tool of Healing; Translation, Transmission, Transcendence, Transcreation; Pointing to the Moon: How to Name the Unnameable; Should Return and A Hundred Meetings: What's in a Name; The Fish’s Delight: The Limits of Sense Perception; Clear Talk: Creating Light in Dark Times; Reverberations of the Valley Spirit; Lotus in the Mud: Buddhism and Medicine...
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Episodes

May Guanyin Ease Our Sorrow

This episode is a spontaneous response to the intense sorrow that I see so many of my friends in multiple places of the world experiencing right now, whether directly or indirectly. So I have invited my dear friend Leo Lok for a conversation about suffering, sorrow, Guanyin, compassion, and processing and transforming emotions. We invoke the healing power of religious maternal figures in both of our life histories, from the Virgen de Guadalupe in the American Southwest to the Bodhisattva Guanyin...

Oct 14, 20231 hr 15 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Truth East and West and in Between

How do we cultivate the ability to hold two opposite experiences of reality at the same time and thereby somehow get closer to the truth in between? How do we overcome the limitations of language in describing the ineffable while still appreciating its analytic function? If we can use language in communication with others like multiple fingers pointing at the moon, to literally “round out” all of our understanding, how do we handle alternate voices that may not even be pointing at the moon but a...

Sep 15, 202352 minSeason 1Ep. 6

The Yellow Emperor's Broken Heart

What does it mean when the Yellow Emperor mourns and why might that matter to you? Does he “lord it over” his subjects and discuss medicine and needles because the exploitation of a healthy population yields more taxes? Or does he love and care for the people like a parent for their children and is heartbroken about their suffering? How do we read and translate a text like the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic that was compiled two thousand years ago but references figures from what was even then a...

Aug 16, 20231 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Food as Medicine

A quote from Sun Simiao (translation by Dr. Wilms): “When a person’s body is balanced and harmonious, you must merely nurture it well. Do not recklessly take medicinals, because the strength of medicinals assists only partially and causes the persons’ organ Qi to be imbalanced, so that they easily contract external trouble. All things that contain Qi provide food and thereby preserve life. Nevertheless, eating them unawares has the opposite effect. The common people use them daily without awaren...

Jul 17, 202356 minSeason 1Ep. 4

Responsibility Versus Fault

As just one example of the dynamic polarities, and the sweet spot in between, that we so love in Chinese medicine, this episode explores the difference between responsibility and fault. How does our perspective shift when we consider placing or accepting responsibility as opposed to faulting ourselves or others in our attempts to explain outcomes that we do not like? Can we perhaps see responsibility as an opening to healing, to stepping forward into a better future, to repairing past damage, wh...

Jun 18, 20231 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 3

The True Medicine of Yangsheng

In this episode of "A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond," I am joined by my two dear friends Leo Lok and Z'ev Rosenberg. Both are experienced practitioners of Chinese medicine in the US with a strong classical foundation and shared commitment to not only practicing but also LIVING Chinese medicine. It is fascinating to me to hear how they arrive at their shared ideals from very different backgrounds, as a New York Jew (Z'ev) and a Malaysian Chinese Buddhist (Leo). As usual, today's conversation takes us...

May 19, 202354 minSeason 1Ep. 2

The Circle and the Kite

In this inaugural session of the podcast, my co-conspirator Leo Lok and I introduce our new podcast by comparing it to two activities: flying a kite and completing a circle. Find out how we use these two metaphors to explore different directions for future conversations, such as: the fertile relationship between oral lineage transmission and textual transmission, between Heaven and Earth, and between planting ourselves in solid ground and catching the wind of inspiration to fly high; the paralle...

Apr 20, 20231 hr 7 minSeason 1Ep. 1

Pebble in the Cosmic Pond Trailer

This is just a short trailer to introduce you to our podcast. Here are some RESEARCH LINKS: Additional Information Subscribe to my newsletter! Translating Chinese Medicine: Dr. Wilms' website for learning classical Chinese Imperial Tutor Mentorship by Dr. Wilms Happy Goat Productions (Dr. Wilms' website) Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors...

Apr 20, 20233 min
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