Qiological Podcast

These days we worry about getting through school, passing the boards and then getting a practice started. But there was a time when there were no schools, or national accreditation and practicing acupuncture was a felony. That world was not so long ago, and as is often the case, it is difficult to understand the present moment without a sense of the history that it contains.Our guest in this conversation began practicing acupuncture before there was licensing and accreditation. He has a view of our medicine and it’s practice that can only come from decades of engagement, learning and integration.Listen in to another discussion on a view of medicine that comes from the experience of practice over the course of decades.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Even when speaking in our mother tongue we often misunderstand each other. Due to our biases, perspectives, and background it is easy to overlay our story on just about any situation. Add in that we are dealing with translation between language and culture; it gets even trickier.In today’s conversation we explore the use of “upper, middle and lower” class herbs. This does not mean that upper is better; it means each medicinal has an affinity for more formed or less formed aspects of a person. “Upper” does not mean better, nor “lower” mean worse, these are simply demarcations on where a particular herb will be effective. It’s our job as practitioners to choose the right tool for the right job.Listen in to this conversation that cautions about conflating “upper” with “better.” And goes into how Chinese medicine can be used for acute and emergent conditions that some doctors used to treat quite well before the advent of emergency rooms. Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.

Needle technique is more than knowing how to insert a needle and count the turns in a particular direction. It requires more than the memorization of some protocols, or the rote following of a recipe of steps.In this conversation we explore needle technique as a part of understanding how to feel into the tissues of the body. We discuss the creation of a treatment that relies not on someone else’s outline, but from your own understanding of first principles. Listen in for a discussion of using ourselves as much as using the pins when doing 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. 

In acupuncture school we learn about the 10 questions. But really, the questions are endless. And we are given the image of the scholar/doctor who doesn't say much, just looks at the tongue, takes the pulse and then has everything she needs to treat the patient. But that image does not fit the clinical reality in which most of us find ourselves.Learning to ask the right kinds of questions. Learning to listen into the places that are silent, or hidden, these are skills that require the honing of time and attention,In this episode we discuss modern brain science, the verbal and non-verbal aspects of our brains, and how the body has its own multi-textured way of communicating that is often baffling to the voice in our heads that trying to make sense of things.Listen in for a discussion on the use of words to get beyond words.  Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a complex of metabolic and hormonal imbalances. It not only causes menstrual irregularities, but also effects fertility, secondary sex characteristics, and  can be related to elevated cholesterol and blood sugar levels as a woman ages. While conventional biomedicine can control some of the symptoms of this disorder, there isn't much it offers in terms of getting to the root of the issue. Chinese medicine on the other hand offers a wealth of possibilities that can help to get to the root of the causes and fundamentally shift a woman's physiology and bring balance to the body.Our guest in this episode knows a lot about PCOS, as she suffered from this disorder and after being dismissed as a troublesome patient decided to see if she could find another way to heal. She did, and today she helps women find their own natural balance without the use of drugs or hormones. 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 know that the language and perspective of Chinese and east Asian medicine gives us a whole different glimpse into physiology, health, illness and healing. And if you’ve learned a foreign tongue, then you’ve had experience how language shapes thought, perspective and possibility. The systems or currents of medicine we practice, that too gives a framework, a perspective, that helps us to orient and make sense of a patient’s experience and then how we might be able to help them.For many cultures, dreams are a powerful kind of sensing that speak with a language of their own and can carry important information from our subconscious up into that sliver of awareness that we usually give credit to for running the show. But dreams have their own way of holding and conveying information, and our rational mind is not particularly well suited to that particular non-verbal language. So how do we learn to tune our ears and sensing to the fluidic symbolic language of dreams?It is doable and there are some surprising possibilities that arise with the right kind of inquiry. Listen in as we sit down for a discussion on dreaming and East Asian 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. 

This "part two" conversation with Toby Daly came about because I've been trying to learn the Saam system of acupuncture as he detailed it a recent Journal of Chinese Medicine article. In that process I've had some surprising good results, as well as a few cases that I really took in the wrong direction. Toby points out, when you get it wrong, it's really wrong and you'll know pretty quickly. Unless you're still fairly new at it and not yet tuned into the warning signs of trouble. This discussion comes from my own clinic experience with trying to learn the diagnostics and how to tune my clinical thinking. Toby really makes the Saam perspective come alive with relevant clinical examples as he helps me to "correct my errors in the forest of medicine."If you have an interest in employing this powerful method of acupuncture, pull out a notebook and pen, because you are going to want to take notes!

Learning the basics of promoting or controlling the flow of qi  through the Five Phases is an elemental part of every acupuncturist's training . We learn how the antique points can be used to nudge a response or invite a different kind of resonance into a patient's life. The Korean Saam acupuncture tradition has been passed down through a lineage of monk/practitioners. It not only uses  "wu xing" elemental qi transfer, but additionally blends it together with the the six confirmations, yin/yang organ resonance, the yi jing, and constitutional body types.If you think that acupuncture done well is transformative, but if less skillfully applied will simply do nothing, then you'll want to listen in to this conversation and hear how our guest really took someone off the rails with four thin needles. Powerful things can happen with this style of acupuncture and correct diagnosis is essential. Listen in and get the basics on how to begin learning this powerful method that will not only help you to help your patients, but help you better connect up what seemed like different theoretical perspectives.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview. 

Beyond the conflicts around scope of practice, the theories and practice of dry needling and intra-muscular therapies give us a deeper look into how acupuncture works on ahshi or trigger points from a bio-medicine physiological perspective. Practitioners of this rebranded form of acupuncture have a modern biomedicine perspective on how trigger points, as well as how localized qi and blood stagnation, come about and can be resolved. It's a language that can useful.Our guest in the episode is a hand's on meat and potatoes acupuncturist who loves functional body therapies. He's gone deep into tuina and orthopedic acupuncture, and has studied the dry needling methods with his Chinese medicine eye. Listen in for a well-schooled practitioner's perspective on physiology, trigger points, acupuncture and the fantastic career of Janet Travell. 

Chinese is not that easy, and the 文言文wen yan wen the classical Chinese, that stuff is a whole other order of magnitude in challenge to the modern Western mind. And yet if we are going to practice this medicine with deep roots into a long gone time and culture, we need access to the stepping stones that have been handed down to us over centuries through books and writing. Translating language is one thing. But translating culture, bringing something of the mind and perception from another time, that is a whole other task. It helps if you can understand the poetry, the stories, the world view and beliefs of the time. And it helps if you can track the changes in the meaning of words and ideas across the centuries of commentary. In this episode we are sitting down for tea with a self described "lover of dead languages," for a discussion of Resonance from chapter five of the Simple Questions.Head on over to the show notes page for more information about this episode and for links to the resources discussed in the interview.