Puerh tea is a fermented tea is known as the champaign of tea. It’s more like wine, with analogs to red and white wine. In addition to oolongs, it is the only collector’s tea, with collection of puerh being the prime collector’s tea in the Chinese world, i.e., HK, Taiwan, Malaysia. Anyway, the puerh universe…
This autumn has been the strangest on record in my 13 yrs in Los Angeles, sorta like we’re getting the May gray only five months too late. Anyway, such conditions has me reaching for the ripes and some of the smokier raws. 2011 Chun Hou is a dry-stored cake that meets up to its name,…
Right about now is the time to prepare your lungs against the bugs that attack in autumn and winter. A useful herb in this regard is andrographis. Andrographis isn’t on the radar screed of traditional American Western herbalism nor is it recorded among the formulas of Classical Chinese medicine. However, in traditional Thai, Swedish, and…
Progressively over the past 10 years it seems that the dogma around the low-fat diet has taken a beating, with mainstream medical publications joining the fray. The shift seems to have not only caused quite a stir, but, in what seems to be a case of science catching up with alternative viewpoints, there has also…
Gentle Reader {subtag:name}, A recent article that I was reading discussed research findings on the differences between aerobic exercise and strength-training in promoting cognitive acuity. They found that strength training improved cognitive function whereas aerobic activity had no effect. Boiling it down: strong muscles equal strong mind. Such a strange coincidence that this should affirm…
Gentle Reader {subtag:name}, Our last time, we discovered a strange coincidence between the findings of modern research and the ancient correspondences articulated in Chinese medicine insofar as “the trinity” of digestion, muscle mass, and cognition are concerned. It was next reasoned that, instead of a complex cocktail of isolated nutrients to advance the trinity’s cause,…
Of All the Nerve: Acupuncture and Post-Traumatic Spasmodic Syndrome Yeah. The nervy part is coming up with a fictitious term like Post-Traumatic Spasmodic Syndrome (PTSS). In the ICD10, the insurance coding bible, it falls under the code M62.838 and includes a list of spine-related muscles, without any particular mention of trauma. “PTSS” is the proposition…
The Hairdresser and a Tale of Prevention In a previous missive, I mentioned something about “cankles.” For those who are as in the dark about cankles as I once was, it refers to the loss in definition between the calf and ankle such that they merge. Unfortunately, since there won’t be any commercials on TV…
“In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cupping is a method of applying acupressure by creating a vacuum on the patient’s skin to dispel stagnation — stagnant blood and lymph, thereby improving qi flow— to treat diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. Cupping also is used on back, neck, shoulder and other musculoskeletal conditions.”
In medical school, much of our training centered around the memorization of acu-points and point protocols. The challenge that became obvious was differentiating between many of the overlapping point functions and indications in a clinically meaningful way.
Even before practicing in the Yosan clinic, it seemed to me that rote reliance upon protocols was often not likely to produce a response that most Western patients were seeking. This is not to say that such approaches were not useful, but that there were more efficient means by which to approach certain conditions. In China, it is not uncommon for patients to receive treatments everyday and sometimes twice a day. In the States, due to time and expense, a weekly model is the norm, which puts greater demands upon high performance through quick results. Furthermore, it seemed unlikely that protocols were intended to act as a script to be followed to the point and more as a framework for understanding body dynamics. The example of Bach’s compositions come to mind, where many scholars have proposed that some pieces have been written to allow for improvisation. Similarly, it is likely that many point protocols are merely guidelines for developing an appropriate approach given the circumstances of the patient at hand. Below are three factors that inform a dynamic approach to applying acupuncture for dramatically benefitial results.