Sometimes the tools that help us see clearly aren’t visible at all—like magnetism, sound, and light. We feel their effects more than we can explain them, but when you start to work with these in clinic, something subtle shifts. In this conversation with Greg Bartosiewicz, we get into a layered discussion of acupuncture, magnetism, light, and biofields. Greg’s background in proteomics and medical lab science blends with his acupuncture training to create a practice that’s both grounded and wildly...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 415
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 ...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 414
What does it take to truly learn something? To not just know it in theory, but to have it live in your hands? Discipline, repetition, and a touch of obsession might be part of it—but so is heart, motivation, and the magnetic force of curiosity that keeps pulling you forward. In this conversation with Dr. Henry McCann, we talk about what it means to engage deeply with the practice of medicine. Henry reflects on the phase of his life as a musician, how that shaped his sense of discipline, and how ...
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 413
Sometimes it’s not what we hear, but what emerges in the space just before—where meaning hasn’t formed yet—but something is already calling your attention. It’s that quiet edge of awareness where both healing and mystery tend to show up. In this conversation with Christoph Wiesendanger, a jazz pianist with an abiding interest in Chinese medicine, we explore how rhythm, resonance, and reflective awareness shape both music and healing. Christoph’s journey from childhood exposure to Daoist classics...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 412
Part One What if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape? In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chinese medicine to help us consider how maps of the body aren’t just drawn—they’re felt, narrated, and r...
Jun 03, 2025•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 411
Part Two What if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape? In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chinese medicine to help us consider how maps of the body aren’t just drawn—they’re felt, narrated, and r...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 411
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 r...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 410
What do we do when the world feels like it’s unraveling? How to respond when our systems—political, economic, medical—feel brittle, even broken? It’s easy to fall into despair, or look away. But maybe what we’re being asked to do is look closer. To stay present. In this conversation with Ed Neal and Mel Hopper Koppelman, we explore the edges where medicine, ecology, and culture meet. Both are thinkers who don’t shy away from complexity. Ed draws from classical Chinese texts and ecological system...
May 20, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 409
Sometimes the best opportunities don’t look like opportunity—they look like risk. Like driving hours into the mountains. Like renting a stranger’s massage room and hoping someone shows up. But there’s a strange kind of capacity that comes from following a hunch—especially the kind that seems to go against the grain. In this conversation with Irina Cividino, we explore her unconventional path as a peripatetic acupuncturist serving remote towns in the Canadian Rockies. What started as a weekend ex...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 408
Technology is evolving fast—and it’s starting to mirror us in ways that are both fascinating and a little unsettling. As AI becomes part of our daily lives, it raises an important question: how do we stay human while working with machines that mimic us? In this conversation with Vanessa Menendez-Covelo, we explore the intersection of Chinese medicine and artificial intelligence. With a background in both fields, Vanessa shares thoughtful insights on how AI tools can support, challenge, and even ...
May 06, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 407
It’s a curious thing, sometimes you want to get away from something. Maybe it’s the town you grew up in, or a family business. You think you know it, and are not interested. But circumstances change and find your way back to it with new eyes. In this conversation with Thomas Leung, we trace the arc of a family deeply rooted in Chinese herbal medicine. From his great-grandfather’s shop in Guangdong, to navigating the upheaval of the Chinese revolution, to adapting a Manhattan herb store to changi...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 406
Sometimes what holds us back isn’t a lack of skill or knowledge, but an old story unknowingly agreed to. One that says it’s unseemly to want success, that business is at odds with healing. But what if your clinic wasn’t just a way to help people—but also a practice of alignment, agency, and even joy? In this conversation with Julie Bear Don’t Walk, we explore how business and medicine aren’t separate pursuits but reflections of each other. A long-time practitioner and now coach, Julie brings bot...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 405
There’s a moment in every practitioner’s life when they start thinking less about where they’re going and more about what they’re leaving behind. What does it mean to practice for decades, to see students turn into colleagues, and to watch the medicine evolve through your hands? The arc of a career in acupuncture isn’t just about technique—it’s connection and contribution as well. In this conversation with Whitfield Reeves, we explore his 40+ years in practice, from his early days training in Ca...
Apr 15, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 404
Childhood is a surprising, messy, and unpredictable unfolding that follows an orderly pattern of stages through reliable spirals of development. In this conversation with Moshe Heller, we explore the complexities of childhood development through the lens of Chinese medicine. Moshe shares his insights from years of working with children, drawing connections between physiological, emotional, and social growth, and how these elements shape both health and resilience. Listen into this discussion as ...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 403
There's magic in learning how to translate the mysterious into the practical—especially when it comes to bridging the world of acupuncture with the language of Western medicine. Sometimes, all it takes is a burrito and a bit of bravery to create connections that open doors. In this conversation with Elie Cole, we explore her journey from a massage therapist to a successful acupuncturist with a thriving practice built on referrals from biomedical professionals. Elie tells the story of a chance en...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 402
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 ...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 401
Thirty plus years ago, as an acupuncture patient, I found myself puzzling over the question of “Just how does acupuncture work?” That question has been a reliable traveling companion ever since. Our work requires a lot of “techne’” and it should, there's a lot to know and we as professionals should know it. But clinical work is more than technical knowledge. It’s this other aspect of our work that I particularly seek to investigate on Qiological. In part because it’s not about knowledge, but ins...
Mar 18, 2025•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 400
Change unfolds within the predictable cycles Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. But, what actually emerges into being, that is usually novel and surprising. In this conversation with Christine Cannon, we explore the Wu Yun Liu Qi—the Five Movements and Six Qi—and how this intricate system maps out the energetic cycles that shape everything from world events to the experience of our inner psycho-emotive landscape. Christine shares her experience of working with these influences in her clinical ...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 399
Fascia—it's the connective web that holds us together, yet its role in acupuncture is often overlooked. What if understanding this intricate network could refine the way we think about acupuncture, movement, and healing? In this conversation with James Spears, we explore the interaction of Tung acupuncture and the fascia. James shares his path from traditional acupuncture education to integrating fascial principles, bridging Eastern and Western perspectives in a way that brings a unique integrat...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 398
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 stor...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 397
The body holds experience in layers—some are structural, some energetic, and others deeply emotional. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pelvis, a place of both power and vulnerability, stability and flow. It’s the root of movement, the center of balance, and a space where emotions and history are stored, often in ways we don’t fully recognize. In this conversation with Krystal Couture, we explore the relationship between the pelvis and whole-body health. With a background in physical ther...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 396
Following a blueprint is fine for building structures, but when it comes to life choices, someone else’s recipe for success probably will be only marginally helpful. Plans are helpful, and perspective even more so. In this conversation with Sydney Malawer, we explore what it means to build a practice that actually works for you. From rejecting conventional business advice to embracing a model based on sufficiency instead of relentless growth, Sydney shares the mindset shifts and strategic choice...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 395
Transformation arises from the unknown. In a world that often craves certainty, the practice of staying with discomfort, observing its rhythm, and allowing clarity to emerge can lead to remarkable insights—not just in healing, but in how we live. In this conversation with Stephen Cowan, we explore how the art of not-knowing-yet invites discovery. Stephen shares his journey from Western medicine to the integrative, emergent practices of Chinese medicine, where curiosity and connection form the fo...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 394
It’s the subtler forces—those quietly felt but not perceived—that create the background that frames our days with a tone that is both transparent and influential. The shifting energies of a new year are a slack tide of opportunity to pause and reflect. To consider directions for where to invest our life energy in the coming year. In this conversation with Gregory Done, playfully explore the symbols and energies of the Wood Snake. We look into the qualities of this unique year and its connection ...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 393
Moxa is often seen as acupuncture's quieter sibling, and yet it has a rich history of igniting healing, longevity, and vitality. Its warmth goes beyond the physical—it has a profound effect on our physiology. In this conversation with Oran Kivity and Merlin Young, we delve into the often overlooked art and science of moxa. While its roots are in traditional East Asian medicine there is some interesting research that suggests it has a role in modern health interventions in terms of treating pain....
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 392
Sometimes the most profound truths are found in watching what happens when we move between guidance and control. Between letting things unfold and imposing our will. Evan Mahoney brings a rich tapestry of experience to our discussion, from his own journey of healing through meditation and acupuncture to his explorations of dream interpretation through the lens of Korean Saam acupuncture. His path has been illuminated through serendipity, necessity, and years of dedicated study with Dr. Tae Cheon...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 391
Change is usually a tangle of both challenges and opportunities. The landscape of acupuncture has been shifting, from the health of our schools to the growing acceptance of our medicine in larger healthcare systems. These transitions ask us to reflect, adapt, and discover new ways to thrive. In this conversation with Robert Hoffman, acupuncturist, educator, and administrator, we explore the crossroads our profession is facing. With experience as the president of a school, a commissioner at ACOM,...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 390
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 i...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 389
Ever notice how certain places and connections shape us in unexpected ways? Sometimes, it’s the unique character of a small town, the rhythm of a rural life, that offers opportunities you won’t find in an urban environment. It’s here where time flows a bit differently that relationships and healing move to a different cadence. In this conversation with Katie Munger, we wander through her journey of building a practice in a small town, where her work has become woven into the fabric of the commun...
Dec 24, 2024•58 min•Ep. 388
There is something in the essence of a practice. At the core is something precious, true and fundamental. We all have it. But you probably don’t know what it is, and you won’t until many years down the road of pursuing the work. Curious that what is of essence, what is at the core of our work, is hidden from us. It’s a journey of discovery to that which is the north star of how we work as an expression of who we are. In this conversation with Philippe Vandenabelle we explore the “book we read ag...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 387
