350 Sa Sang, Bazi, and Food as Medicine • Jaguang Sunim

350 Sa Sang, Bazi, and Food as Medicine • Jaguang Sunim

East Asian medicine recognizes the central role that food can play in our health and wellbeing. We have various models for understanding the fluctuations and trajectories a human body can travel as we navigate the time we have between Heaven and Earth.

In this conversation with Jaguang Sunim we explore the Korean Sa Sang constitutional perspective as it relates to our physiology, along with the strengths and deficiencies that we can mitigate with the foods we choose to eat on a regular basis. Additionally we’ll explore how the influences bestowed on us as viewed through the Ba Zi chart can help us to better understand how our unique mix of the Five Phases gives us insight into our constitution.

read more
Apr 2, 2024

Subscribe To This Podcast In Your Favourite Player

311 Principles, Methods, Knowing and Know-How • Jason Robertson & Stephen Brown

311 Principles, Methods, Knowing and Know-How • Jason Robertson & Stephen Brown

The story of the blind men exploring the elephant is alluded to often enough that it’s easily dismissed as cliche. And yet, the profound truth of how our senses and meaning making influence of our mind are worth pausing to consider.

In this conversation with Jason Robertson and Stephen Brown we consider the 理 Li, the patterning or connective coherence that runs through creation. As acupuncture and East Asian medicine are pattern languages, this concept touches on the core of our work.

read more
Jul 4, 2023
310 Navigating Destiny, A Personal Journey Into Japanese Acupuncture • Maya Suzuki

310 Navigating Destiny, A Personal Journey Into Japanese Acupuncture • Maya Suzuki

Mind and body are inextricably entangled together. The effect of emotions on the physiology leave a palpable trace. It’s something that we as practitioners can acquire the capacity  to discern and use as part of assessment and treatment.

In this conversation with Maya Suzuki we touch on how touch is a potent aspect of treatment. How it gives us direct access to a patient’s inner terrain, and how it gives us reliable information that stands apart from theory and protocol. We also explore unique properties of moxa and how it engages the adaptive healing process.

read more
Jun 27, 2023
309 Artificial Intelligence for Acupuncturists • Heidi Lovie

309 Artificial Intelligence for Acupuncturists • Heidi Lovie

Is it the end of the world, or the beginning of a new one? 

That is the question of the day when cultures go through seatide changes. Ever since the turn into of this yin water rabbit year in February, we’ve been hearing about power, potential and perhaps peril of ChatGPT and the other Artificial Intelligences that have burst into the digital landscape.

What is in store for us as acupuncturists? That is the question I put to Heidi Lovie who has been getting her hands dirty with various kinds of silicon based intelligence for quite a few years now. You might not know this, but she can make Excel spreadsheet datasets dance and sing. 

read more
Jun 20, 2023
308 Body Constellations, Qi Maps and Full Throttled Curiosity • Jason Brazil

308 Body Constellations, Qi Maps and Full Throttled Curiosity • Jason Brazil

The acupuncture channels are a curiosity that practitioners have puzzled, and argued, over for centuries. Even as these structures and processes so fundamental to life have been used for treatment and well being since Chinese medicine first began to emerge far beyond recorded history. In a sense, the channels are maps that help us to orient and navigate life, health and meaning.

In this conversation with Jason Brazil we discuss his voyage of discovery as he took his hand's on experience as a massage practitioner, and began to investigate the clock opposite organ pairs of the Chinese meridian flow clock. We'll touch on the importance of fostering a presence between practitioner and patient, the crucial role love and connection play in healing, the impact of self-cultivation on a healer's capacity to work and the way love creates a matrix of connection for healing and wellbeing.

read more
Jun 13, 2023
307 Everything Reminds Me of a Story • John Scott

307 Everything Reminds Me of a Story • John Scott

It can be hard, impossible perhaps, at the beginning to know that you’re at the start of a tidal shift. It’s only in looking back and connecting the pivotal moments that you can see a challenging moment didn’t happen to you, it happened for you. It’s only later that you can see how attempting to solve a troublesome problem would take you down a path your imagination couldn’t dream up in that moment.

In this conversation with John Scott we take a trip in the Wayback Machine to a time when acupuncture was more of a curiosity than a career.

read more
Jun 6, 2023
306 Suffering is Meant to Awaken Us, Qi Gong and the Alchemy of Transformation • Chris Shelton

306 Suffering is Meant to Awaken Us, Qi Gong and the Alchemy of Transformation • Chris Shelton

There’s a saying that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Maybe. I suspect that it has something to do with the capacity of your 意 Yi to make meaning, and the vitality of the 志 Zhi to take that meaning and marry it to the sense of what you’re here to do in this post-heaven formed world of the created.

In this conversation with Chris Shelton we hear how his troublesome childhood laid the groundwork for a qi gong practice that would not only help him to heal himself, but to be of service to others as well. We’ll touch on the impact of emotions on our physiology, the central practice of accountability and the importance of being both present and non-attached in the face of difficulties.

read more
May 30, 2023
305 Thinking About Business Should Release Dopamine in Your Brain • Danielle Weil

305 Thinking About Business Should Release Dopamine in Your Brain • Danielle Weil

In this conversation with Danielle Weil we focus on the importance of understanding our patient’s needs, and developing the skill to be able to accurately describe their problems. We also discuss some basic copywriting frameworks that will help you both connect with your patients, and to invite them to take the next step in resolving their health concerns. Additionally we explore old school advertising and how to use AI to help with your marketing research and content creation.

Listen in for a lively discussion of marketing, copywriting and the effectiveness of mental shortcuts in decision-making and how to use them ethically to better get your message across to patients.

read more
May 23, 2023
304 Considering Qi, or Not • Leah Fehres

304 Considering Qi, or Not • Leah Fehres

East Asian medicine uses a completely different map of physiology and function from that of modern biomedicine to understand health and illness. It’s a set of tools and perspectives that gives us a unique look at the entanglements of function and form. And when using acupuncture to help our patients it’s all about the qi, right? Maybe not.

In this conversation with Leah Fehres we consider the relationship between acupuncture points, nerve structures, and the body's intricate nervous and fascial systems. How the bifurcation of nerves is frequently the location of an acupuncture. And how traditional diagnostic methods might not reveal for us how we can consider neurophysiology in formulating an effective acupuncture treatment.

read more
May 16, 2023
303 Way of the Teishin • Bob Quinn

303 Way of the Teishin • Bob Quinn

What’s more powerful, a whisper or a shout? What has more impact, a punch to the gut or an intended and targeted slight? Strength and power, these are two different things.

In this conversation with Bob Quinn we explore the gentle practice of using the Teishin, and the landscape that emerges as we attend both to the quiet sensitive aspect of the nervous system as it manifests in the skin, and our rooted sense of perception and attentiveness to the space we inhabit with our patients

read more
May 9, 2023
302 The Business and Opportunity of Practice • Jimmy Yen

302 The Business and Opportunity of Practice • Jimmy Yen

A successful business is founded on the principles of providing honest value. And technological advances through social media give us the possibility of connecting with people who are looking for your services. It can be an opportunity to create something that reflects who you are and to promote our medicine by facilitating learning.
In this conversation with Jimmy Yen, we dig into the intersection of running a business and leveraging social media for your practice. We discuss self-cultivation, getting our hands dirty with the business of medicine, and the need to band together as Chinese practitioners for the betterment of our medicine. Jimmy also shares his perspective on social media and some tips to make it work for you.

read more
May 2, 2023
299 Optimistically Integrative • Robyn Adcock

299 Optimistically Integrative • Robyn Adcock

Western and Eastern medicine have often stood at odds, separated by skepticism and worldview. But perhaps the best path is neither, but both.

In this conversation with Robyn Adcock, we delve into the curious (and oftentimes contentious) topic of integrative medicine. We look at navigating the barriers into the conventional medicine world by helping those working in conventional medicine ‘experience’ the value of East Asian medicine from the inside through direct experience. Along with why we may need qualitative methods in our medicine, and how we can leverage scientific improvisation in our clinical work. We also touch on the innate trustworthiness of East Asian medicine and its untapped potential.

read more
Apr 11, 2023
298 Made in America- The Story Behind Quality Made Cups • Kevin Ferst

298 Made in America- The Story Behind Quality Made Cups • Kevin Ferst

Tools in East Asian medicine are not just inanimate objects. They are a tangible extension of the healer's touch, a conduit for their energy and intention to flow through. Our tools are essential for turning stagnation into flow, pain into ease, and the discordant notes of illness into wellness.
And while the true power of our medicine lies in the practitioner’s ability to evoke the body’s innate capacity for balance and harmony, the tools are essential to the work. And fine tools are a joy to use.

In this conversation with Kevin Ferst, he walks us down the unexpected path that brought him to working with local artisans in the crafting or vessels for healing in the remote Appalachian mountains of New York. We explore the nuances of cup making, from the intricate art of glassblowing to how the quality of the tool makes a difference in the clinical experience of both the patient and the practitioner.

read more
Apr 4, 2023
297 Covid Long Haul, Threat or Opportunity • Nigel Dawes L.Ac

297 Covid Long Haul, Threat or Opportunity • Nigel Dawes L.Ac

In a world where change is the only constant, East Asian medicine offers a way to track change even in the midst of change. Our medicine has a way of adjusting to changing times and has the capacity to bring the essence of ideas and perspectives from the past into the unique moment of the present. History rhymes with itself, and it’s our job to figure out how.

In this conversation with Nigel Dawes, we take a dive into the mutability of Covid and other wind viruses, the long-term sequela of Covid, and how to be inventive with our formulas as we look to adapt to ever unfolding change in our clinical work. We also touch on the impact of political, behavioral, and psychological underpinnings of the pandemic.

read more
Mar 28, 2023
296 Considering Long Covid, Research and Practice • Beau Anderson

296 Considering Long Covid, Research and Practice • Beau Anderson

Our experience of the past three years has revealed gaps in our knowledge, fractures in our social fabric and the influence of toxic social media. It’s been a pandemic that has not only affected our bodies, but our minds as well.  

In this conversation with Beau Anderson, we look at long Covid through the lenses of Western and East Asian medicine,  discuss the flexibility and adaptability of Chinese medicine for systemic disorders like long Covid, and the shortcomings of attempting to validate the ancient healing practice using modern scientific methodologies. We also explore possible ways of harnessing and positioning our medicine for the future.

read more
Mar 21, 2023
295 Covid Lessons Learned • Sally Rappeport

295 Covid Lessons Learned • Sally Rappeport

Chinese medicine is a rich tapestry of knowledge and techniques, ancient wisdom honed and passed down through the ages. But the ‘superpower’ of our medicine lies in its ability to explore the unknown. To navigate uncertainty and delve into both the unknown depths of the human body and the ever changing environment.

In this conversation with Sally Rappeport, we mull over the clinical experience of living through the pandemic, including the stigma and psychological effects of a fear mindset and addressing lingering symptoms like coughs. We also talk about some of the different herbal formulas and strategies practitioners developed in response to the Covid crisis.

Listen into this discussion on the lesson we’ve learned (and continue to learn) from our co-evolution with SARS-C0V-2.

read more
Mar 14, 2023
294 Tempered by Fire, Responding to Covid with Chinese Medicine • Daniel Altschuler

294 Tempered by Fire, Responding to Covid with Chinese Medicine • Daniel Altschuler

Amidst the chaos of contagion and windstorm of viral woes, Chinese medicine offers ancient remedies, and beyond that, perspectives to guide us through the turmoil.

In this conversation with Daniel Altschuler, we delve into the Covid19 pandemic's tumultuous past and the challenges of the present. We discuss its parallels to the 2003 SARS epidemic, the long-term issues with some viruses, questions surrounding the vaccine, and the multifaceted approaches of East Asian medicine in treating these wind viruses.

read more
Mar 7, 2023
293 Facereading as Part of the Clinical Conversation • Juli Kramer

293 Facereading as Part of the Clinical Conversation • Juli Kramer

Like the patina and wear on something touched often, or the way shoes and fabric carries the memory of the wearer. Our life and spirit shows its presence on our face. To read the face is to delve into the intricacies of the being woven into the lines, curves, and expressions of the human face.

The face reflects the depth of our being. It’s an invitation into a world of untold stories, capacities and potential. Sparse eyebrows speak of emotional strain, the fullness of your lips reveals the ability to express emotions, and the ear lobes indicate prosperity. Perhaps the tales told by face could help foster greater understanding and healing for those seeking vitality and wellbeing.

In this conversation with Juli Kramer, we delve into the art of face reading and how it can serve as a valuable tool in our work.

read more
Feb 28, 2023
292 Rethinking Acupuncture Education • Lisa Rohleder

292 Rethinking Acupuncture Education • Lisa Rohleder

As the winds of change sweep through the healthcare landscape, the acupuncture profession stands at a crossroads, and as is the nature of a crossroads– there is uncertainty. But as with any crisis, there is both danger and opportunity. It is an opportunity to consider where we have been as a profession and what kind of future we’d like to see for ourselves and our profession. 

In this conversation with Lisa Rohleder, we chew over the state of our profession, including an out-of-the-box approach to integrative medicine, the issue of student debt, changing our perspectives to thrive as small businesses, and how we fit into today’s economic and medical landscape. 

read more
Feb 21, 2023