If you don’t know where you want to go, it’s fine not to know where you’re going.
Not all journeys have a destination– at least, not in the beginning. In the beginning you’re opening to options, surveying the landscape, getting a feel for who you are in the territory. It's the Open part of “Open, Close, Pivot.”
Rick Gold, one of the founders of the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine did not start out to found an acupuncture school. He started out aiming at being a hermit in backwoods Kentucky. But as with most things in life, where we start and we end up– it can be surprising.
Listen into this discussion of inquisitiveness, and how following something you find interesting will take you to places you didn’t know existed. And you just might help a lot of other people along the way.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- What was going on when Rick first heard about acupuncture
- What it was like to live the Back to the Land dream
- The little ad that lead him to Boston
- The studies that took him to San Diego in the late 70’s
- The circumstances that lead to starting a school before PCOM
- The energy of the early days and the power of the finding the Fifth Element
- How the Pacific Symposium started
- Expanding the school to meet the emerging need and interest in learning acupuncture
- Reflections on the path followed and the path opening
Know your ‘stuff’ very well academically and intellectually
Practice with Metta (Loving Kindness)
Rick Gold, Founder
I graduated from Oberlin College in 1972 with a religious studies major and pre- med minor.
After a five year experience living alone in rural Kentucky, I awoke one winter morning in 1975 from a dream and all I wanted to do was study Acupuncture. Fortunately, by 1977, I learned about the New England School of Acupuncture and enrolled. After graduating from NESA, I moved to San Diego to study for a Ph.D. in Psychology.
In 1981, I was contacted by Joe Lazzaro who was starting a branch of CAC (California Acupuncture College). I joined the faculty of CAC and also completed my studies to sit for CALE. By 1986, CAC was floundering and along with Joe, Alex Tiberi and Ana de Vedia, we took the plunge and started PCOM (now PCHS). The rest is history….
Links and Resources
See what Rick is up to with his latest endeavor at www.mettamindfulnessmusic.com
He's authored bodywork books on:
Thai Massage
Seitai Shiatsu, cupping and guasha
And has an entry in Acupuncture in Practice.
You can find him on Facebook and X.
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Shop Talk with John Scott
Using the Yangming to Help Generate Kidney Essence
Kidney essence is precious and not easily replenished. This Shop Talk segment discusses how the Kidney needs material form to create essence. And that it is the Yangming channels with their yang action that help the digestive system to extract the clear qi from food and fluids, and this in turn becomes the material that can transform into essence.
This is a simple and effective set of points for burn out or exhaustion and they lean on the dynamic of transform, rather than simply tonifying the Kidney itself.
Golden Flower Chinese Herbs also offers herbal formulations for these conditions and many more. Visit them at www.gfcherbs.com.
John Scott is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine currently in practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has been in private practice since 1982. He is the founder and president ofGolden Flower Chinese Herbs Inc.. John has been active in promoting oriental medicine on a local, state, national and international level.
He has taught classes in the field and has been active in research. His particular passion for Chinese herbal medicine has guided his writing and teaching. He has continued to combine acupuncture with Chinese herbal medicine in his private practice.
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