341 History Series, A Journey into Health, Wellbeing and Longevity • Peter Deadman

In the mid 70’s there were four English language books on acupuncture. Which wasn’t much to go on. But for the people that started learning acupuncture in those days. It was enough to get started.

Suzuki Roshi is famous for saying “in the beginners mind there are many possibilities, in the experts mind there are few.” Which is another way to say being young and foolish is not a bad way to get started with things, because you don’t know what you can’t not do. and exploring new territory brings its own satisfaction.

In this conversation with Peter Deadman we revisit the early days of when acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture of Great Britain.

Listen into this discussion of cultural change, personal exploration, the structure of TCM and how a copy of bootlegged clinical notes helped Peter to learn the medicine, and then in turn share it with the rest of us.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Macrobiotics to shiatsu to acupuncture
• Didn’t know what he wanted, but knew what he didn’t want
• Three guys from the UK went to Hong Kong for a short time to learn acupuncture, and then opened three different schools
• Disillusionment with what was being taught and how Giovanni Maciocia made a difference, along with the bootleg notes of Ted Kaptchuck
• The 1981 visit to China that showed what acupuncture was capable of
• In the mid-70’s, there were only four English language books on acupuncture
• Unique healing character of the patient/practitioner relationship, and importance of who and how we are
• Self cultivation is essential 
• The intention behind writing Live Well, Live Long
• Challenges and Opportunities in the Profession
• Chinese medicine is the world’s best at prevention and understanding the effects of lifestyle
• The power of slow movement

Take up a self-cultivation practice and do it every day

I have spent over fifty years working in the field of health promotion. I began by co-founding a natural foods business (infinity foods.co.uk), then studied acupuncture, Chinese medicine and qigong. 

I have taught internationally for decades and am co-author of A Manual of Acupuncture, author of Live Well Live Long: Teachings from the Chinese Nourishment of Life Tradition and am author of the forthcoming Qigong: Cultivation of Body, Breath, Mind. 

I am co-creator of jingselfcare.com – a practitioner/patient app designed to promote self-care for patients.

Links and Resources

Visit Peter on www.peterdeadman.co.uk, on www.qigong.works for contents and sample pages of his new book Qigong: Cultivation of Body, Breath, Mind.

There are also video presentations and courses in qigong. 

He's also the inspiration behind the JING patient self-care app.

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