I am a 62-year-old cisgender white male who has studied and practiced Buddhism since 1978 and Asian medical traditions for almost that long. I started my Tibetan medicine studies in 1980 and my traditional Chinese medicine studies in 1982. I received my NCCAOM certification in 1989 and my California License in 1990 and since then have practiced, taught about and run programs for learning TCM on both coasts. I say TCM because I think that’s a good term for what I do, but I’ve studied and used quite a few Japanese styles.
I am also an anthropologist and my work in the area of Tibetan Medicine and American approaches to Chinese medicine. Over the years I have been involved in the acupuncture research world and it is an area I teach in. I also work, study and teach in the area of “herbal” safety and drug herb interactions. Most of my clinical work for the last 11 years was at VA Medical Center treating intractable chronic pain and supervising students.
I’ve been married to Marnae Ergil (the smarter and kinder partner, and better acupuncturist) for 29 years, just about as long as I have had my California License. I have three children of whom I am ridiculously fond and proud. We have two cats who spent their childhoods behind a dunk in donuts. For the last 14 years we have lived in the City of Geneva next to Seneca Lake.
I am blissfully unemployed (semi-retired?) and working on consulting projects (clinical, educational, organizational, technology), books, teaching and other projects. Besides the areas I spoke about above I spend time studying and thinking about the impacts of culture, technology, and organizational systems of human beings. I am a “systems oriented” student of organizations and how the systems that humans arrange for themselves impact their experience in desirable and undesirable ways. This is all just more thinking about anthropology, administration, teaching, learning and tech in relation to human experience, but I like it.