Confused by all the diet advice out there? Me too! Seems like there's always a new fad telling us what to eat– or not. I'm a fan of the 80/20 principle and I’ve been wondering if that might apply to diet, especially if you’re using diet as a way to improve health. I chew this over with acupuncturist and nutritionist Brenda Le and see if we can untangle some of the noise and drama around food. We’ll discuss the intertwinement of food and emotion, dealing with shame, listening to your body's signa...
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 326
We have plans, but our destiny usually is not found in the maps we make of the world. It shows up in unexpected, random and often unguarded moments. There’s a lot we “do.” It does not come from knowing, but we can spin up a story in retrospect. In this conversation with John Nieters we notice how our work in time tends to simplify. That our plans and often enough lead to an unexpected potently changeable moment. We explore the East and West of blood stasis, and curiosities of the circulatory sys...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 325
Ghost points. Read those words and let the sound echo into your head, your heart and body. Ghost points. Just the words carry an energy. An energy of spirit, of embodiment, or not. The words suggest something of the spirit that can go astray. Like a decision to never let a particular bad experience ever happen again, or on the other side, the addictive desire to recreate again and again something of the sublime. In this conversation with Ivan Zalava we consider the realm of spirit, ghosts, embod...
Oct 03, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 324
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....
Sep 26, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 323
Li Shi Zhen and Sun Si Miao, they shared an interest in alchemy. Often enough in our clinical work, patients will describe what happened with them as being magical, but as practitioners we know its not magic, its medicine. But it’s a medicine that works outside the parameters of Western thought, and the consensus of settled science. In this conversation with Peter Firebrace we explore being a Zhen Ren, a True Human, and internal alchemical practice. The journey to Emptiness through the three Dan...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 322
Chinese medicine looks to the perspectives of the past to understand the unfolding present. And for sure, there are threads of connection and perspective that come down to us through the curious tides of history. At the same time, there is this unique moment. What we hold, what we discover, these are yin yang aspects of how to make sense of a medicine patinated with history and lore. In this conversation with Volker Scheid we discuss continuity and change in Chinese medicine. And the starting po...
Sep 12, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 321
I still remember the moment when I realized that the character for Listen in traditional written Chinese was composed of the characters for Ears, Eyes, and Heart. Twenty two little strokes that unambiguously describe what is required to genuinely listen. Deborah Woolf has spent the past year teaching a course on basic Chinese for East Asian medicine practitioners. And while the content of her course is of interest to me, in this conversation what I’m more focused on is what it is that she’s lear...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 320
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 ...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 319
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 fou...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 318
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 livin...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 317
What you grow up with, that’s what becomes normal. You could be smack dab in the middle of something extraordinary, but it’s simply everyday life for you. In this conversation with Yvonne Lau we reflect on her experience of growing up as the daughter of immigrants from Southern China who ran an herb store in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It was a time when a few dedicated young people from the mainstream culture began to show a respectful and insatiable interest in Chinese medicine. The interest of...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 316
What do you do if you’re interested in learning and practicing acupuncture, but there are no schools, standards or licensure? You built it yourself; with help of other spirited colleagues. In this conversation with John Myerson we go back to the days when acupuncture was just coming into the mainstream of American life. It wasn’t there yet— but it was close enough to intuit. John was there in the early days of the New England School of Acupuncture. And he helped to create the academic structures...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 315
The transport points are rich in story, function, connection and seem to have a capacity for engaging qi in profound ways as it flows from the tips of the fingers and toes, up to the elbows and knees. Lou points are particularly interesting as they both connect yin and yang channels. In this conversation with Sean Tuten we investigate the capacity of the luo channels to act as a first defense against overwhelming experiences that come from the outside. How they both protect against and can stora...
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 314
The heart of our work, often enough, leans on the connections and capacity of the heart. In this conversation with Ross Rosen we explore the importance of the patient-practitioner relationship, the concept of negotiating a diagnosis and some Daoist practices in medicine. Listen into this discussion on practical clinical strategies and how traditional medicine intertwines and overlaps with our everyday lives.
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 313
East Asian medicine is a nature based medicine. And nature… nature is weird, and mysterious. And as much as we like to come up with “Laws of Nature” they are more like approximations. Useful for sure. But you’re asking for trouble if you confuse the map with the territory. And with nature, the territory is always changing. How do you keep your senses open and unencumbered with habit and belief? How do you stay present to what your patient might need in this particular moment? How do you wisely u...
Jul 11, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 312
The story of the blind men exploring the elephant is alluded to often enough that it’s easily dismissed as cliche. And yet, the profound truth of how our senses and meaning making influence of our mind are worth pausing to consider. In this conversation with Jason Robertson and Stephen Brown we consider the 理 Li, the patterning or connective coherence that runs through creation. As acupuncture and East Asian medicine are pattern languages, this concept touches on the core of our work. We touch o...
Jul 04, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 311
Mind and body are inextricably entangled together. The effect of emotions on the physiology leave a palpable trace. It’s something that we as practitioners can acquire the capacity to discern and use as part of assessment and treatment. In this conversation with Maya Suzuki we touch on how touch is a potent aspect of treatment. How it gives us direct access to a patient’s inner terrain, and how it gives us reliable information that stands apart from theory and protocol. We also explore unique pr...
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 310
Is it the end of the world, or the beginning of a new one? That is the question of the day when cultures go through seatide changes. Ever since the turn into of this yin water rabbit year in February, we’ve been hearing about power, potential and perhaps peril of ChatGPT and the other Artificial Intelligences that have burst into the digital landscape. What is in store for us as acupuncturists? That is the question I put to Heidi Lovie who has been getting her hands dirty with various kinds of s...
Jun 20, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 309
The acupuncture channels are a curiosity that practitioners have puzzled, and argued, over for centuries. Even as these structures and processes so fundamental to life have been used for treatment and well being since Chinese medicine first began to emerge far beyond recorded history. In a sense, the channels are maps that help us to orient and navigate life, health and meaning. In this conversation with Jason Brazil we discuss his voyage of discovery as he took his hand's on experience as a mas...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 308
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 acupunc...
Jun 06, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 307
There’s a saying that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Maybe. I suspect that it has something to do with the capacity of your 意 Yi to make meaning, and the vitality of the 志 Zhi to take that meaning and marry it to the sense of what you’re here to do in this post-heaven formed world of the created. In this conversation with Chris Shelton we hear how his troublesome childhood laid the groundwork for a qi gong practice that would not only help him to heal himself, but to be of service to...
May 30, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 306
You probably have an image in your mind, and a feeling that goes with having had a bad marketing experience. But do you know what good marketing feels like? It feels like someone cares and is trying to be helpful. Effective and ethical marketing is about connective communication and helping your patients to solve problems. In this conversation with Danielle Weil we focus on the importance of understanding our patient’s needs, and developing the skill to be able to accurately describe their probl...
May 23, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 305
East Asian medicine uses a completely different map of physiology and function from that of modern biomedicine to understand health and illness. It’s a set of tools and perspectives that gives us a unique look at the entanglements of function and form. And when using acupuncture to help our patients it’s all about the qi, right? Maybe not. In this conversation with Leah Fehres we consider the relationship between acupuncture points, nerve structures, and the body's intricate nervous and fascial ...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 304
What’s more powerful, a whisper or a shout? What has more impact, a punch to the gut or an intended and targeted slight? Strength and power, these are two different things. In this conversation with Bob Quinn we explore the gentle practice of using the Teishin, and the landscape that emerges as we attend both to the quiet sensitive aspect of the nervous system as it manifests in the skin, and our rooted sense of perception and attentiveness to the space we inhabit with our patients Listen into t...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 303
Business and medicine are interwoven together. Both deeply connect people together through relationships that have an impact.. Yet it’s easy to see the business of medicine as something separate from the practice of medicine. Consider challenging the limiting paradigms and stories you might have on running a business in medicine. A successful business is founded on the principles of providing honest value. And technological advances through social media give us the possibility of connecting with...
May 02, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 302
In the realm of East Asian medicine, uncertainty is a constant companion, a persistent reminder of the mystery of life. Like a meandering river, the health status of our patients is in a state of constant flux. It can be a daunting task to navigate these changing waters, but it is a challenge that we must embrace if we are to become better practitioners. In the face of the unknown, we find the greatest opportunities for learning and healing. We are reminded to trust in the innate wisdom of the b...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 301
Medicine is always a discussion, Be it between practitioner and patient, between colleagues talking shop, or through the stream of history and commentary that accompany the classics of Chinese medicine. In this conversation with Dr. Shou-Chun Ma and Dan Bensky we discuss their recently published translation of the Shang Han Lun. And beyond that the importance of building a dimensional understanding between the text, your experience and clinical practice. How the essentials of the classics do not...
Apr 18, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 300
Western and Eastern medicine have often stood at odds, separated by skepticism and worldview. But perhaps the best path is neither, but both. Perhaps the best path to healing lies in bridging the gaps between approaches to medicine—cooking together science and tradition, innovation and adaptive ancient wisdom. The medical systems may contrast, and in those differences perhaps reveal a greater whole. It could unlock a wider perspective and more capacity to help patients. In this conversation with...
Apr 11, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 299
Tools in East Asian medicine are not just inanimate objects. They are a tangible extension of the healer's touch, a conduit for their energy and intention to flow through. Our tools are essential for turning stagnation into flow, pain into ease, and the discordant notes of illness into wellness. And while the true power of our medicine lies in the practitioner’s ability to evoke the body’s innate capacity for balance and harmony, the tools are essential to the work. And fine tools are a joy to u...
Apr 04, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 298
In a world where change is the only constant, East Asian medicine offers a way to track change even in the midst of change. Our medicine has a way of adjusting to changing times and has the capacity to bring the essence of ideas and perspectives from the past into the unique moment of the present. History rhymes with itself, and it’s our job to figure out how. In this conversation with Nigel Dawes, we take a dive into the mutability of Covid and other wind viruses, the long-term sequela of Covid...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 297
