Qiological Podcast

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.  

Spending time in the clinic seasons us. It exposes us to success, failure and unending questions about healing, wellbeing and connection that over time can help us to sit with our patients in the midst of deep difficulty.In this conversation with Rebecca Avern we discuss the fortitude that must be developed to sit with the difficult to answer questions that arise in clinic. And how clinical work, while it deepens and enriches the lives of our patients and ourselves, does extract kind of price.It would not be untrue to say doing our work is a privledge, and it also brings a certain kind of shadow.Listen into this conversation on presence, inquiry, and listening with your qi. As well as a look at the shadow side of practice. 

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. 

We have many different ways to view the body with Chinese medicine and each of these lenses gives us a different perspective on both physiology and functionality. It’s not unlike those old acetate transparencies you'd find in old encyclopedias that would allow you to overlay different systems of the body one on top of another. Each one has its own domain, and each interlocks with the other systems.Michael Corradino for many years now has been focused on the connection between acupuncture and neurology. And he’s developed a system of treatment that focuses on neurophysiology and how acupuncture stimulates the nervous system.Listen in to this discussion of needles, de qi, nerve stimulation and how acupuncture does not interface with qi, but with our neural network.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 scientific method is useful. It helps us to better understand the world by screening out our biases, beliefs and wishful thinking. The process of crafting a good hypothesis begins not with a great question, but first the more yin process of observation. Seeing what is present, and from there we can begin to distill out questions worth asking.Much of traditional research is not that helpful in understanding Chinese medicine, as our medicine does not lend itself to the binary world of double blind studies. Our medicine requires research methodologies that can handle emergent dynamic systems. And lucky for us, those models exist and one of the researchers who is keen on these models also happens to be a Chinese medicine practitioner.In this special podcast episode researchers Lisa Taylor-Swanson and Lisa Conboy share with us the design of a study that is currently being carried at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine on the treatment of symptoms that may be related to Covid19 disease using Chinese Herbal Medicine. This study is geared toward collecting data that will help to guide further research. It’s a study that considers Chinese medicine on its own terms. And this study’s design principles are not unlike the principles of our medicine.Listen in for a look at how this study is being structured, and then check back in a few weeks as we’ll have a conversation with the practitioners at SIEAM who are treating patients and collecting the data.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

You’ve noticed in the treatment room, that moment when something “lands” for the patient, and there's a palpable internal shift. You’ve noticed this in yourself, that a question can be inviting as a whisper, or make you bristle like a growling dog.In this conversation with Margot Rossi and Nick Pole we explore Embodied Language, a way of connecting that is friendly to both the body and spirit.What we say, and how we say it can have a profound impact on the experience of both patient and practitioner. Listen in for how you can use language as skillfully as you use your needles.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.