In this Shoptalk presentation, Jeffrey Dann brings us back to an essential—yet often underdeveloped—skill in our medicine: palpation. He highlights how our hands can offer a clearer, more immediate understanding of the body than any theoretical framework alone.

Using the Yuan-Source point Kidney 3 as his example, Jeffrey demonstrates how to palpate for blood, qi, nerves, and fluids, revealing the depth of information available when we truly listen through touch. He then offers practical ways to work with what we find, using acupuncture, moxibustion, and gentle bodywork to meet the tissues with precision and sensitivity.

Drawing from decades of clinical experience and study across multiple palpatory traditions, Jeffrey shows how palpation becomes both assessment and communication—a way to sense the patient’s terrain and to feel, moment by moment, how the body responds to our interventions.

If you’re looking to deepen your clinical presence and sharpen your hands, this Shoptalk is well worth your time.

Jeffrey’s long experience as a practitioner and his study of various palpatory modalities gives him a unique perspective on directly sensing into the body using our hands. Not only does this aid with diagnosis, but it also gives us a way to see how our interventions are being received by the body.