Qiological Podcast

Can you remember in those first couple of years of puberty when your senses began to quicken and a new world began to open up and you started to question your place in the unfolding this world?Adolescence is a glorious and often troublesome ripening and as with so many aspects of our lives these days... it’s medicalized as pathology instead of being seen as a series of dress rehearsals for the challenges the world will ask of us in the future. Acupuncture can be tremendously helpful teens navigating this phase of life and for their parents and families and as well, as medicine does not see kids separate from the family in which they live. Listen in on this conversation with Rebecca Avern on using acupuncture to treat adolescences. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

It is surprising where life can take us. We follow a hunch or a nudge and somehow gain some momentum that in time generates wind for our sails.Not many westerners in the 1970’s started along the road of Chinese medicine. In this long ranging conversation with Jake Fratkin we discuss his perspectives over time and his current thoughts on medicine.Listen in for a conversation about herbs, TCM, Japanese acupuncture and the curious road of practice that unfolds when you follow your interests.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Chinese medicine is not one medicine; it’s a kaleidoscopic plurality. There is no one true acupuncture; we have a rich ecosystem of perspectives and methods. The  trouble with learning something new is that we have let loose of our current understanding usually acquired through effort and hard work. It’s hard to release what we’ve struggled to learn. Our limited understanding of the terrain becomes our turf. It takes a certain amount of confidence in ourselves, and recognition we know we don’t know, to be able to learn something new that may contradict or call into question that which we comfortably feel like we can rely upon.Two years ago I started learning Saam acupuncture on a hunch after reading Toby Daly’s article from the Journal of Chinese Medicine. It was at first unpleasantly mind-bending, it took me far afield of what comfortably felt like competence. It invited me into another perspective that eventually came full circle, in that it connected up some of the streams of herbal medicine that I’d been following over the years.In this conversation, two years after my first podcast discussion with Toby, I’m able to bring a different set of questions and perspectives now that I’ve got a taste for how the Five Phases and Six Conformations connect in ways I could not previous see. Listen into to this conversation to get a sense of lenses and perspectives of the Buddhist monastic stream of Saam acupuncture. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

We often think of emotion as one thing. That we are sad, or angry, or frustrated, or joyous. But often it’s more complicated than that. Many times there will be an entanglement of emotion. Love and anger, grief and guilt, or excitment and anxiety. It’s when emotions get entangled people can really get stuck as it is hard to sort work through one emotion when it’s intimately connected with another toward which you’re not attending .In this conversation with Lillian Bridges we explore our emotional makeup, how it shows on the face, and how we can use the dynamics of the five phases to better understand and sort out these deep internal influences that can so dramatically effect our physiology and relationships.Listen into this conversation that goes into our “internal weather,” the right use of Will and how our feelings can strongly influence our perceptions and perspectives.

The Chinese say 活到老學到老 hou dao lao, xue dao lao, which can be translated as “continue learning for as long as you live.” It’s good advice, and when it comes to the practice of medicine, it’s essential. Our work gives us an endless opportunity to learn and deepen our understanding.In this conversation with Kathy Taromina, Craig Mitchell and Dan Bensky we discuss what they have been learning about using Chinese herbal medicine in responding to the symptoms of Covid-19, as they carry out a study that is being done at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine.Doctors of the past have left us a treasure trove of ideas and clinical strategies for treating epidemic illness and all of these methods are coming into play in our modern world, as we learn more about how the Coronavirus affects different people.Listen into this conversation on how experienced herbalists are learning from the wide range of presentations that are showing up in the clinic. And how you can access the information that is being collected from this study for your own learning and use in the treatment of infectious illness.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

The Chinese and people of East Asia deal with epidemic disease on a regular basis. And every time a new bug comes to town, they learn a little more.While we in the west have access to some of the classic materials on treating epidemics, we don’t have the same level experience. It’s not really our fault, epidemics don’t roll through here in the west as often, and even during the cold and flu season most people don’t seek us out first. So our skills are not as polished as we’ve not had the experience to hone our clinical skills.In this speical edition conversation with Thomas Avery Garran and Shelley Ochs we discuss their new eBook on Chinese medicine and Covid-19.Listen in to this conversation on how the Chinese are using traditional medicine at a scale we simply don’t see here in the west.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

There are many ways to do acupuncture. Each method gives you a glimpse into the workings of the body, each one gives you a different map of the terrain. And each method allows us to understand and problem solve with a different set of both mental and physical tools.Susan Johnson studied with Miriam Lee, who was instrumental not just in bringing Tung Style acupuncture into our western world, but helping to get acupuncture going here in the first place. In this conversation we discuss not just the points and what they do, but more importantly a way of thinking about acupuncture so that you are utilizing the healing resources of your patient without squandering or dispersing them.Listen into this conversation that starts with Tung acupuncture, but goes into how we think about the work we do, and the kind of spirit that we bring to it.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

The prolific science fiction write Issac Asimov wrote “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …”The wonderful thing about research is that it invites delicious questions and opens avenues of inquiry that lead us beyond the borders of our maps of the world.In this conversation with Richard Hammerschlag we hear about how his curiosity with how acupuncture was helpful lead him to a shift in career that has had him in the forefront of acupuncture research for a couple of decades now.Listen in to this discussion on the process of inquiry, and how it’s hard to go wrong when you follow what’s interesting for you.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

The airways are full of bad news, fear and conjecture it’s a hit parade of one scary thing after another. This alone would be hard our spirits if you ingest even a portion of the 24 hour media feed. Add on isolation and an unrelenting sense of an inescapable threat— it’s tough on one’s mental and emotional wellbeing.There is a pervasive sense of grief at the loss of a world that just a few short months ago operated in vastly different ways. The physical and social distancing bring their own difficulties, and for anyone who’s carrying some buried away trauma it’s closer to the surface as the veneer of normality is stripped away.In this conversation with Alaine Duncan we look at how these times more easily surface lingering trauma and perhaps can give us an opportunity to resolve some issues from the past as we work through the challenges of the present.Listen in as we discuss the importance of attending to the the Heart/Kidney connection, and how the difficulties of this time can also be a catalyst for healing and change.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

These days pretty much anyone can have their own media outlet. The gatekeepers who used to control access to the airwaves and printing presses are pretty much gone. If you have something to share, especially something that focuses on or services a niche market, then this is the best time to be alive. And here in the midst of Covid-19 this just might be the perfect momnet to work on that book you’ve been noodling on as a “some day” project.Digital technology has been disrupting the various communications industries for a few decades now. The downside is anyone with a computer and some gumption can get their message out to the world, and that can make for some pretty lousy content. The upside is that anyone with a computer and some gumption can get their message out to the world, which means you can contribute the crowd you want to serve. But you’re going to have to learn to use the tools of digital publishing properly, and be responsible for the workflow and design. It’s not so much of a DIY, Do It Yourself project as much as it is a MIY, Manage It Yourself enterprise.In this conversation with Oran Kivity, author of Moxa in Motion with the Ontake Method and Sean Sumner, a consultant on self-publishing, we explore the basics of the brave new world of digital on-demand publishing.Listen in and find out why there has never been a better time to publish your own book. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.