Qiological Podcast

We can approach the business and financial aspects of our practices a distasteful task that we’d prefer to delegate to someone else. Or we can take it as the opportunity it is to work through our shadow material around the issues of money, power, authority and integrity. In this conversation we explore how wealth allows us to interact more fully with our world. How finances are just one aspect of a balanced and integral life And how the relationships with community and ourselves are not separate from our relationship to money and purpose. Impoverishment in any aspect of life will limit our capability to live fully in any other aspect of life. Listen in to this conversation with a long time meditator, with a hearty ability to laugh,  who leans on the wisdom of the DAO and the DOW.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Last year for the first anniversary of Qiological I invited a listener of the podcast to join me for a conversation, this year I did the same. Part of the reason is that I love hearing from listeners of the show. And the other part is that we all have something to share with each other, and I especially love talking to practitioners that you might not know.I love talking to people that have been working away in their clinics, usually without fanfare or desire for public recognition. And have through their experience learned something of our medicine, and how it helps people.Medicine is learned anew in each generation. Yes, we have our old books, and plenty of newer ones as well. We have the conversations, discussions and clinic notes of doctors from past dynasties. But medicine only comes alive when we take what’s been shared with us and learn to see it with our own eyes. Learn to understand it through our own experience. And if we are lucky, work hard and are attentive to that curious interplay between what someone showed us and what our experience is asking us to learn, then we might understand something well enough to pass it along to another practitioner.We are ever students of the medicine. Perhaps it is that sense of curiosity that unites us more than anything else. Listen into this conversation where we touch in on persistence, creativity and why it’s often helpful to not listen to the teachers who tell you that you can’t do something.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

I started this episode thinking we would be talking about lions, tigers and bears. But we ended up with glial cells, learning and neuroplasticity. Just like in clinic there are often surprising things that show up, and so too it is podcast conversations.In this conversation we start with veterinarian acupuncture. But then take a hard right and go deep into neuroscience, the treatment of pain, nervous system regulation and how medicine is beautiful. I loved our discussion as it ranged from the clinical ‘how-to’s” of working with animals, to the deep science of neurobiology, and all woven together with a sense of inquiry and appreciation for the beauty of nature and the practice of medicine. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

When I lived in China I’d often hear people there say “use western medicine for quick results, but use Chinese medicine for chronic conditions.” It was a bit confusing for me, as even as a student and new practitioner I’d see Chinese medicine be really helpful for more acute conditions. It made me wonder if the Chinese really understood Chinese medicine.In this conversation we get some perspective on this issue. Listen into this discussion on how the clashing of cultures and China’s desire to “modernize” had an impact on the medicine we practice.

Medicine is an unending study. A process of learning, sifting what helps from what doesn’t, and recognizing that we often are students of the unknown.In this conversation we explore healing, sacrifice, the importance of learning a tradition and finding a mentor.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 is more to growing herbs than understanding plants. There are the considerations of soil, economic environment, weather patterns, cultural and market forces, and the kind of eye and vision that can see the interactions of these forces not just over seasons, but years or decades. In this conversation we explore the cultivation of Chinese herbs here in the West with one of the pioneers of the movement to bring domestic cultivation of Chinese herbs from a curiosity to viable economic reality. Listen in for a glimpse the ecosystem required that makes domestic production of Chinese medicinals a possibility. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.  

Trauma has both a physiological and emotional impact on us. It can set up a kind of dysregulation that while in the midst of trauma can be adaptive, and in fact help us to survive, but over time can be source of all kinds of physical and emotional problems.In this "part two" conversation we discuss the cycle of healing that can occur as patients move through the five phases of trauma and recovery. And how Chinese medicine, an understanding of modern neurobiology, and gentle hands on work can not only heal trauma, but help to build greater resiliency.

Mushrooms are a curiosity. Neither plant, nor animal, they are stuff of fairy tales and dreams. They hint at something dangerous. They could be delicious, or they could kill you. They sprout up unexpectedly and then quickly melt away. Their underground mycelial networks make them some of nature’s largest collective organisms. Yet their fruiting body is just one small momentary expression of their unique life.Mushrooms like Ling Zhi (Reishi) and Dong Chong Xia Cao (Cordyceps) have long been part of the Chinese medicine materia medica. But these substances, until recently, were preciously difficult to come by. Now with modern cultivation methods and scientific assay tools we have increased access to these unique healing substances.Listen into this conversation on the use of medicinal mushrooms that are you familiar with, as well as some mushrooms that have recently emerged onto the “superfood” scene.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 rely on the skills of experts. The car mechanic, plumber, web designer, business coach. We want to trust the people that are in the position where our lack of knowledge leaves us vulnerable. We’d like for them to have our best interests in mind, and we also know from experience that we question the car mechanic’s assessment when they find more problems with our vehicle than we’d suspected. Most of us would like some kind reassurance that the person diagnosing the problem is trustworthy, especially when they stand to gain financially. It can be difficult for the expert to have a clear-eyed view when their livelihood is based on finding and correctly problems. And because the expert is used to knowing their territory inside and out, they can be blind to new information that does not fit the metrics of how they usually operate.The downside of being an expert is that our knowledge and sense of understanding can blind us to valuable information and give us a false sense of security. As acupuncturists we too are experts. Which gives us a level of skill that truly can help others. But at the same time we run the risk that all experts face of thinking we understand, when in fact we are ignoring vital information.Listen into this conversation on the benefits and challenges of being an expert.  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 has a long, long history of puzzling through and treating women’s health issues. In this conversation we touch on clinical considerations that come to us from the Song dynasty.Listen in to this conversation that just might make you question some of your assumptions about some things we consider to be true when it comes to our modern understanding of Chinese medicine gynecology.