My commitment to excellence in scholarship

chinese_medicine_schoolWell, it’s almost time for the Year of Sagely Living to begin. 2008 should shape up to be quite an experience. We’ve already got some great folks involved. Three bloggers other than myself have publicly committed: (1) Abdallah Stickley at Even Unto China, (2) Brandon Brown over at his blog, and (3) Michael at The Life Giving Sword. There’s already considerable “buzz” across the internet being generated concerning the project. I hope this continues, as a concerted effort at self improvement on the part of many people can only be a good thing. It’s also going to be more fun as a community effort. There’s always time to get involved, just reply to any of the Year of Sagely Living posts to let us know where/how you’ll be sharing your experiences with the rest of us. I should also note that several people without blogs have indicated their willingness to participate in the project, and if they create online spaces for sharing their experiences I will certainly share them here.

Now, I’d like to publicly commit to my Scholarship practices for January 2008. Drumroll, anyone? I should note that because school doesn’t start until January 7, I will do something slightly different until then. I will be reviewing each of last term’s classes once per day and producing a blog article about each. I will move to the following practices on Monday the 7th.

Practice/habit #1: Daily study

  • I described this practice a bit already in my post about this category of habits. It has been my experience that the extent to which I work with a subject frequently defines my success in comprehending the material therein. However, I’ve rarely been diligent enough to work with each subject every day. I think this is a logical test of the method. I may find that it’s overkill, I may find that it actually interferes with my comprehension. But, I won’t know until I try. For anyone that thinks this doesn’t seem like a difficult practice, it definitely represents a shift in strategy for me.
  • I will study each of my major subjects daily for at least half an hour per day. This includes: Advanced Cosmology and Symbolism (Heiner Fruehauf), Business Seminar (David Berkshire), Clinic Shift (David Berkshire), Formulas (Arnaud Versluys), Pharmacology of Natural Substances (Paul Kalnins - ND and anthroposophical medical genius), Points and Points lab (Dr. Xiaoli Chen) and Internal Medicine (Dr. Rihui Long). That’s three and a half hours total per day.
  • To make this maximally manageable, I will be utilizing “down time” to the best of my ability. This includes flashcards on the bus, when walking, when standing in line and being very conscious about my use of time in general. Because I’ve recently tightened up my time management system, I should be able to make it happen.
  • During exam weeks, I may shift my strategy slightly. I will reduce non-testing study time to only 15 minutes a day, increasing the testing subjects to necessary levels. This feature will only come into play if I decide to extend this habit out past January, as our first exams are unlikely to come in January. I hope.
  • I will not study on Sundays. I may read Chinese medicine related materials for pleasure on Sundays. I will not study on any special family days (birthdays, weddings, other celebrations or very difficult times).
  • I will not study for a class on the day that I have that class, though I will take 10-15 minutes at the end of the day to review my notes.
  • I will report as frequently as makes sense. I will try daily updates at first, but may decide to do batch posts every week or twice a week.

Practice/Habit #2: No distractions

  • This is a little simpler, as I’ve already moved strongly in this direction over the last year. I find that I study best when I’m distracted least. I know some folks seem to thrive in busy, crazy atmospheres - I’m just not one of them. I have had great study sessions in coffee shops, but those times are balanced by the number of times that I’ve ended up just watching folks walk by. I’m a Fire Dragon, what do you want from me?
  • I will always seek out solitude when studying - when at school, the back of the library with headphones on. When at home, the meditation room upstairs where I already have a beautiful study space created. Additionally, at home, I will make sure to let everyone know not to disturb me and for how long. I find that if my family knows when they CAN disturb me, they tend not to disturb me until then.
  • If I do not need my computer to study, I will not have it near me. If I do need my computer to study, but not the Internet, I will disconnect the Internet. If I need the Internet to study, I will not check email, blog statistics, Google Reader or anything else. Whatever I am working on, I will work only on that without any other programs open. I have already disabled all “automatic notifiers.”
  • If I decide to listen to music while studying, I will listen to only music without words.
  • I will turn off my cell phone during all study times.
  • If I must be disturbed while studying, I will deal with the disturbance in as little time as possible - marking my place or writing down a quick note to remind myself where I am in the study process. Then I will return directly to that task without even thinking about it.
  • These distraction reduction measures will be used regardless of if I’m studying for half an hour or five hours.
  • The only exceptions to this rule will be (a) when studying with others - a rare occurrence, (b) in long study breaks, I will break every 45-50 minutes for about 10 for some physical movement.

As an additional push, though extending beyond the month of January - I will attempt to get honors in three courses this term. No small feat given the courses I’m up against.

I want to point out that this is just two habits, one more difficult than the other. For those of you who don’t geek out on personal productivity literature or for whom this is going to be your first concerted habit change - one changed habit per period is usually preferred. This may be especially the case for this project, given that most of us will probably want to maintain some of our habits throughout the twelve months.

To keep updated with the latest about the Year of Sagely Living, including my own experiences in establishing and maintaining these crucial habits, be sure to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or via email.

Eric

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December 31, 2007 · Filed Under Student Life, Year of Sagely Living

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Year of Sagely Living : Scholarship and study as a category of practice

Be sure to check out the original introduction to the Year of Sagely Living. You can read other articles on the project by choosing the “Year of Sagely Living” category in the dropdown menu to your right.

This is an important category for me, as I am in my third year of Classical Chinese medicine study. I think it is very important to become a scholar in this medicine, both to increase my clinical effectiveness and to help develop the contemporary understanding of ancient medical science. I’ve listed below my initial thoughts for practices. I’d love to hear your ideas, both comments on what I’ve written and practices you are considering. Because January is just around the corner, I will announce my practice choices tomorrow. After that, I will post a brief entry each day that touches on my experience with the practice as well as revealing substantive content related to what I learned.

  • For students: Study each course subject every day for at least half an hour. EVERY class. For me, next term - this would mean doing half an hour of the following subjects every day:
    • Advanced cosmology and symbolism
    • Medicinary practicum
    • Qigong
    • Business seminar
    • Formulas
    • Pharmacology
    • Acu-moxa point lecture
    • Acu-moxa point techniques
    • Internal medicine

That’s 4.5 hours a day!!! In the interest of maintaining sanity, I could reduce a few of these - combining some of the less intense courses. If you have fewer classes you may not need to do this. Further, to make this more realistic and participants more likely to succeed, I suggest the following nuances :

  • No study of a given subject on the day one is in class for it - just a quick review of notes at the end of that day.
  • Utilize “in between times” for half an hour of flashcard study, for instance. For me, I’m often on the bus for at least an hour a day. That hour could take care of two subjects. The idea is simply to engage the material each day for enough time to actually learn, re-learn, memorize or come to some conclusion about something. This will substantially reduce the amount of time needed to study for any tests and should increase overall comprehension.
  • Daily writing: One of the best ways to learn something is to explain it to others - or attempt to. Writing, whether in an online or offline form, can really help solidify your concepts. Ask yourself questions about the material. For instance, let’s say you’re studying herbs. Take five herbs you’ve learned and ask yourself basic questions about those herbs such as: how does this herb work? what are its properties? what qualities does it share with other herbs you’ve learned? where does it grow and how? how long has it been used in Chinese herbal medicine? what conditions is it used to treat? what does the Shennong Bencao Jing say about it (if anything?). The same can be done with formulas, similar questions could be asked of points. Write out these answers in a narrative form, read it over and write anything else you can think of about the herb. If you are currently working on a major paper, project or thesis/dissertation, try writing for half an hour a day. Just sit down and write from your last stopping point.
  • Reading the classics: Study, and even memorization, of the Classic texts of Chinese medicine should be a basic practice of any scholar in this field. Choose one classic you would like to come into greater relationship with - this could be a non CM classic for folks who prefer that, but it should be an ancient text. If you can read the original language, do that. If not, find a highly recommended English translation. Read a chapter or two each day, seeking to understand all you can. Write for 5-10 minutes about what you’ve learned. Alternatively, simply memorize the lines of text. It would be best to do this in the original language. You might get through less using this method, but it could be quite valuable. You could also combine the two techniques as follows: (a) choose 15 lines of text from a Classic, (b) on the first day, memorize the first line in the original and with a translation, (c) on the second day, study that line carefully - writing a page about what you’ve learned, (d) repeat b and c with the second line and so on.
  • Take a subject you have a basic grasp of to the next level. Produce an in depth article about this subject that reflects the deeper understanding. Spend the first half of the month studying and the second half writing.
  • Memorize an essential set of facts that you work with on a regular basis, but that you don’t have ready at hand. This is especially good for students and new practitioners. For instance, I do not have all of the points and point names memorized yet. I might take the month to well and truly memorize as many point names as I can. To get through most of them, I could take ten points a day - create flashcards for them, and study them whenever possible throughout the day.
  • Dive deeply into a basic principle of Chinese medicine - such as Yin/Yang, the 5 Elements or the 6 Qi. Pick a book each day and find every elaboration of these principles in that book, record them, consider that grouping. Or you could do a Chant database search for that term or set of terms. You could look through lecture notes, as well. Write each day about your evolving understanding of that concept several times a week. You could clean this up in the last days of the month and produce an article for publication on your own blog or website or that of someone else. Just ask!
  • Learn Chinese (or another language) using self-study and report progress each day. I wrote a post recently of some great free resources to help with a practice like this. You could also buy a proven product like Rosetta Stone. Obviously you won’t be able to learn the language in a month, but you could make significant progress.

Eric

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December 30, 2007 · Filed Under Student Life, Year of Sagely Living

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Year of Sagely Living: Some more thoughts on the twelve categories

Just a few more thoughts on the categories and a few example practices. Be sure to check out the original introduction to the Year of Sagely Living. You can read other articles on the project by choosing the “Year of Sagely Living” category in the dropdown menu to your right.

1) January (GB) - Study/scholarship: Taking Confucian/neo-Confucian principles seriously means developing a serious and self-motivated attitude towards learning. Instead of being outwardly motivated, one becomes deeply interested in learning despite what rewards or penalties are associated with it. This doesn’t mean studying for no reason, or studying for the sake of studying. It means that one doesn’t study for grades, or for the sake of feeling clever. One learns to improve one’s own understanding and abilities, and takes this to be one of the most important activities possible. I will post later today about my current list of practices in this category.

2) February (LR) - Strategy/business: As physicians, we are likely to be in business for ourselves. Too often, CM schools neglect this topic in the curriculum. Following in suit, students fail to learn how to run their practice and thus not only do they end up broke, but suffering people do not gain the benefits of the student’s care. In this month we might learn business specific skills or simply how to think in a way that is strategic without sacrificing personal principles. Possible practices include:

  • If you have a business, clear your mind of everything that it is so far and write a mission statement as if you do not have a business yet. Let your dreams run wild and really write a road map of your ideal business. If you do not have one, this is easier - just write that statement. Include objectives, the central vision of your business, your desires for both financial and non-financial gains, etc…
  • Read a book about compassionate/principled business and write up a summary of each chapter.
  • Goals specific to your business practice. For instance, if you have a practice seeing 15 clients a week, pick a goal for the end of the month (say 20 clients per week) and do something specific each day to bring in new clients or re-contact old clients you haven’t seen in a while.
  • A simpler goal might be simply to call everyone back who calls you within 2 hours.

3) March (LU) - Rest/activity: Sleeping and waking in time with the seasonal rhythms is often mentioned as a key to good health in ancient Chinese literature. Failing that, at least some regularity has been shown in many systems to be very beneficial. However, how many of us follow these recommendations?

  • Set a sleeping and waking time for the month that is close to the cycle of the sun. Stick to it for a month, recording observations.
  • Regardless of the hectic nature of your schedule, take at least 45 minutes out of every day to simply sit and rest. Preferably do this in a beautiful atmosphere, free of electronic or other distractions.
  • When in a protracted period of stillness, such as when studying, break every 45 minutes to change position and relax your mind.

4) April (LI) - Care of planet/consumption: I think nature appreciation activities should be included in this category, since its harder to care for something you’re not well acquainted with. There are many simple practices here that will not only improve one’s relationship with the natural world but also help to reduce your impact on the planet.

  • Start a compost pile and resolve to compost all of your biodegradable material for the month.
  • Don’t buy anything new (except food and medicine) for a month.
  • Walk, bike or take public transportation to work, without fail, for the month.
  • Learn the Latin names for all of the plants in your yard, then sit with each plant in turn for some time to get a better feel for it.
  • Go to a new park each week and pick up any trash you find while appreciating the natural beauty of the place.

5) May (ST) - Physical cultivation: Keeping my body strong and flexible, my channels unobstructed and vital, my balance and poise fully attuned… all of these things are important in becoming a great physician. While I could be quite out of shape and be a decent doctor, I would rather that my body not be an obstacle in my quest.

  • Daily Qigong, Taiji, Yoga or martial art
  • Take a walk in the morning each day, begin with 15 minutes and increase by 2-5 minutes per day. Pay attention to breathing, and gradually increase the strenuousness of walking until you notice your breathing rate increase.
  • Begin some specific program of exercise, but be careful not to exercise to the point of tiredness.
  • Even something simple like doing isometric exercises at home and keeping track of progress could be a great practice - sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups?

6) June (SP) - Food choices: Moderation in food intake will help physical cultivation to be more effective. Immoderate food intake is also behind a lot of pathology. Eating pure, simple foods in moderate amounts, at appropriate time and with careful attention can only help you maintain excellent health. I’m astonished at how difficult this is to practice.

  • A wide variety of elimination programs could be undertaken. No refined sugar! No dairy products! No alcohol! Even tobacco could be included here.
  • Conversely, you could add things - Eat leafy green vegetables every day! Add Omega 6,9 fatty acid containing foods to your diet?
  • Eat at precisely regular times each day for all of your meals.
  • You could follow one of the Paul Pitchford meal plans - eating twice a day, or even the one bowl method!

7) July (HT) - Community building/Charity: Another epidemic in contemporary society is personal isolation. Though many of us have close family and friends, how many of us stay in close regular contact with relatives and friends that live far away? How many of us know our neighbors? How many of us give time or money to help improve the lot of less fortunate people in our community, and in so doing, get to know those folks? How many of us spend significant amounts of time participating in other communities - such as at our schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, religious institutions, etc…? The practices in this category should help remedy any deficiencies in this area.

8) August (SI) - Ethical behavior: For me this is going to mean taking the more prohibitive precepts of my preferred spiritual systems to heart. The Eightfold path of Buddhism contains some gems. Certainly the deeper elements of the Christian path will play a part. Also, the more difficult recommendations brought forward by my training in feminism and moral epistemology will be examined closely. I expect a wide variety of practices will emerge for folks, regardless of their spiritual predilections. It should be interesting to see how this plays out!

9) September (BL) - Arts/aesthetics: This is a fun category. This category should include all of the “associated arts” of the classical Chinese educated person.

  • Using a book or your own prior knowledge, practice calligraphy. Take one character per day as a subject and write it for half an hour. At the end, write them all together as well as you can.
  • Learn Go! Start a Go study group at your school or in your community.
  • Take up an instrument or get back into one you have already learned to some extent.
  • Visit the local art institutions in your community including museums, galleries and schools.
  • Pick up a book of poetry at the bookstore or library and study one poem each day - allow it to do its work on you.

10) October (KD) - Chinese medicine skills: I will be an intern at Pettygrove Classical Chinese Medicine clinic by the time this month rolls around. Actually, I will have been for several months. It will be a good time to focus carefully on the continued development of the most important skills of Chinese medicine.

  • Outside of your normal “hands-on” time at school or in your practice, endeavor to physically work with one or more skills necessary to the medicine.
  • Find a book or new teacher to help you improve some skill you are particularly interested in perfecting.

11) November (PC) - Relationships: Our personal relationships can either provide a vital rooting for the rest of our lives or wreak havoc on everything we have worked so hard to accomplish. The ability to sustain healthy personal relationships as well as professional relationship skills are covered by this category of practice.

  • Try to wait at least 5 seconds after a person has spoken before responding.
  • Train yourself to focus only on what a person is saying (not thinking about what you’re going to say) in each conversation throughout the day.
  • If you don’t currently have special time to spend with your family, institute a weekly time when you do nothing but focus on your family members - playing games, working on an art project together or something of that kind.
  • Write a letter to each person that is special to you thanking them for their presence in your life, perhaps sending them a little token of your appreciation: a pressed flower, small art project, or collage of pictures relating to your life together.

12) December (TB) - Spiritual cultivation: As our descent into darkness completes, we turn to the explicit cultivation of the Spirit. In some ways, this category is a bit out of place. All of what we’ve already discussed above IS spiritual practice. For some, it is the sum total of spiritual experience in their lives. This month will simply be an invitation to go deeper into your own understanding of Spirit. Even if you have no particular religious preference, taking a month to focus on those parts of yourself that are neither mental nor emotional nor physical nor social - the nurturing of the deepest core of you… this will be time well spent. For some, the practices will be more explicitly religious.

Eric

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December 30, 2007 · Filed Under Year of Sagely Living

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Doctor as medical sage: why the Year of Sagely Living is important

On this blog I have discussed the ways in which Classical Chinese medicine has changed my life. Since the first day of classes at NCNM, I have been shaken to my core by this medicine. I’d like to discuss what that means to me, briefly, as a way of explaining the importance of the Year of Sagely Living project that begins this January 1, 2008.

Chinese medicine is interesting, yes. I am intellectually excited by the concepts presented in courses and texts that I encounter. I find the philosophical foundations of the medicine to be endlessly fascinating. Each day I feel my mind opened a little more by playing with the ideas therein. As my mind opens, I am increasingly able to appreciate the subtleties of other systems of knowledge and practice. Thus, the cumulative effect has been an unbelievably quick and overwhelmingly positive improvement in my understanding of the world and my place in it. However, this knowledge would be nothing if it weren’t for the way that my willingness to actually put it into practice hadn’t also been steadily strengthened. For whatever reason, it has been strengthened, and I find that the person I am today is far more likely to actually practice what he preaches than the person I was three years ago.

I am going to be a doctor. I hope also to be a scholar, in fact I think the Classics suggest that to be a great doctor I must also be a scholar. But, day in and day out, I will be treating real human beings with problems that cause them sometimes considerable distress. In a very real way, their lives may be in my hands. Scholarship will help me to understand, but I need to do more than understand. What else? Of course I will need to be able to exercise skill. In diagnosis, in treatment, in developing the doctor-patient relationship. These skills are very important to develop. Hand strength, point location and palpation, Shen management - all vital in the practice of acupuncture. Pulse and tongue observation and interpretation, full body palpation, sensory perception of the whole body, careful questioning and even more careful listening - all vital in diagnosis. The ability to quickly move from pulse to formula prescription and modification must be nearly automatic and utterly reliable. Handling difficult emotional situations, rapid response to emergencies, facile handling of the whole variety of sticky situations that arise in daily practice - all of these skills must be second nature for a good doctor. But there’s something much deeper that the Classics point to - something about the manner of life of the great physicians. I’ve talked about it before and doubtless I will again. What I note below is only one place in the canonical texts of Chinese medicine where the physician’s spiritual and mental state is emphasized as essential to their abilities.

Neijing Chapter 25 discusses the essential qualities of a great physician:

(Read a prior article on Neijing Chapter 25)

1) One must have unity of mind and spirit with undistracted focus
2) One must understand and practice the Dao of self-preservation and cultivation
3) One must be familiar with the true properties and actions of each herb
4) One must be proficient in the art of acupuncture
5) One must know the art of diagnosis

Again, I will point out the order of these aspects. Herbs, acupuncture, diagnosis - all vital. Essential! Without these, you are not a doctor of Chinese medicine. But what of the first two? These aspects are mentioned again and again in different texts, by different authors who stand in different traditions. It has been my experience that while a physician can be good only knowing the last three, their ability pales in comparison to those who take seriously the first two. It’s a tall order, to be sure… you must tirelessly pursue skill and knowledge about all aspects of Chinese medicine! But you must also rectify your LIFE. You must order your mind and spirit. This isn’t way down on the list. It’s not optional. I don’t see any way to exempt contemporary practitioners on the basis that they are contemporary. But, make no mistake, cultivating yourself alone will not make you a physician. Study is essential! The two types of activity - self cultivation and study - form an inseparable duo of education. Self cultivation both makes you more able to benefit from study and opens your mind to previously unavailable realms of understanding. Study provides the means by which you utilize your cultivation in service of humanity and itself is a form of self-cultivation when done with the appropriate attitude.

In fact, far from being exempt, I might say that it is even MORE important for contemporary practitioners to take these principles to heart. Our environment has become more toxic, our culture more distracting and potentially damaging, the typical diet is full of poison and deadens our senses, physical exercise is no longer a guaranteed feature of everyday life - everything seems bent on reducing our ability to detect the subtle and understand the profound. But there is no need to long for the past. We can overcome these deficiencies by even more diligent effort on our own part. I like to think of the modern world as a whole-self gym. It is full of places of difficulty and resistance within which we can build our muscles and strengthen our resolve. But it takes effort, it takes persistence, it takes willingness to change and most of all, it takes openness to the ideas so graciously laid out for us by thousands of people through thousands of years seeking to live a life of meaning and purpose.

The Year of Sagely Living project is an attempt to take the Classics seriously on these points in a public and community oriented fashion. The twelve categories each pertain to an essential feature of human life. Taken together, and improved in equal measure, we believe that these features build ideal physicians. I hope you will join us. Just comment on this post or any other to let us know you’d like to participate. Five future sages are already committed!

Eric

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December 29, 2007 · Filed Under Cultivation, The profession, Year of Sagely Living

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The Year of Sagely Living: 12 months of Classical Chinese Medicine habits

organ clock twelveIf you sift through all the posts here at Deepest Health, you will find that I have a passion for personal development. In particular, I have a deep and abiding interest in using principles taken from my study of Classical Chinese Medicine to develop myself into a high level Chinese medicine scholar and physician. Now, all hubris aside, I understand that even in an extremely devoted lifetime I am highly unlikely to reach the heights that the ancients point towards. However, I believe it is my responsibility as a future CM doctor to do my best to struggle in that direction. I look to the Classical texts of Chinese medicine for my main inspiration on how to live and learn, but fill in the gaps in my understanding with other ancient works such as the Dao De Jing, the Confucian classics, Buddhist texts and the Bible. I also consult contemporary personal and business development gurus, particularly around organizational issues. In fact, I think a wide variety of texts are applicable in developing a set of principles to take me towards becoming a great physician.

I’ve discussed these teachings and the practices they explicitly or implicitly reveal with many people. My discussions seem to have reached a critical point and are now spilling over into a plan for action. In particular, in conversations with my friend Abdallah Stickley at Even Unto China, a life-changing project has taken shape and is ready to see the light of day.

We propose a year-long public effort to live the principles that will take us in the direction of becoming the doctors the Classics talk about. In other words, we’d like to take the principles of Chinese medicine seriously and let them guide our life. We have mined our understanding of the principles that underlie the education of great physicians (who are, by default, great people) and came up with twelve categories of practice. Our thought is if one works diligently to adopt practices associated with each category, one will be taking great strides in the direction of becoming a great, or sage, physician. However, for folks not in the medical field - these practices will take you far in achieving great heights in whatever profession in which you are currently involved. These twelve categories we then associated with a different month, using the Earthly branches and twelve officials as guides. The idea is that we want to be working with the seasonal and bodily energy, not against it. So, for instance, we wouldn’t want to begin a rigorous program of physical exercise in the deep of Winter.

We will focus on one category each month. Participants will assist in articulating practices in each category, though we have come up with quite a few already. Participants will pick one or more practices in each category and publicly commit to doing them throughout the month. The public component is actually quite crucial, as it has been affirmed again and again that when a person believes themselves to be held accountable by others in some action they are more likely to accomplish it. Thus, it is best if people either have an online journal, website or blog already. Alternatively, participants can sign up for one (many are available for free - more details in a future post). Regular updates will be posted, and experiences will be discussed by all involved. There will be other options for people unwilling or unable to have an online home of their own.

Below is a listing of the categories, a brief description of each as well as their timing and an explanation of the pairing of time and category. If you’re confused by the symbolism I discuss, read my post about the Chinese medicine organ clock. In future posts, probably a couple a day for the next 2-3 days, I will explore the categories in more detail and list the practices we have come up with so far. Further, I will explain how I see this project playing out in my own life. Hopefully this will help interested people to understand the project and get involved. For more background, you can visit the links I provide below and also read posts about the Year of Sagely Living at Even Unto China.

January - Gall Bladder, Zi 子 (Rat): Scholarship/Study: This category will contain practices to develop us into true scholars in the Confucian/neo-Confucian tradition. Why this pairing? The seasonal energy is still in winter, a contemplative mood prevails, but the Yang is rising. Similar to this, we can see scholarly pursuits as ACTIVE passivity. One generally sits still, but one’s mind is hard at work.

February - Liver, Chou 丑 (Ox): Strategy/Business: This category will contain practices in the realm of business development and strategic planning in the professional world. Why this pairing? The Liver is the general of the body, so has a natural affinity for this kind of activity.

March - Lung, Yin 寅 (Tiger)- Activity/Rest: This category will contain practices having to do with appropriate cycles of rest and activity in daily life - for instance, appropriate waking times throughout the seasons. Why this pairing? This earthly branch and the essence of the Lung Zang is all about peaceful tension between opposites, like the time of the year associated with both. Further, being mindful of our need for balance between rest and activity is great preparation for the often overactive spring/summer energy.

April - Large Intestine, Mao 卯 (Rabbit) - Care of the planet/consumption: This category will contain practices that develop us into compassionate and sane consumers, while helping to develop our deep relationship with the natural world. Why this pairing? April is a time when we can see the beauty of nature all around us, so is a great time to contemplate our dependence on it and responsibility towards it. Also, the negative side of LI/Rabbit is a tendency to run rough-shod over the needs and wants of others, these practices will seek to counterbalance this.

May - Stomach, Chen 晨 (Dragon): Physical cultivation: This category will contain practices that help us to shape our physical bodies into ideal vehicles for the transmission of healing energy. Why this pairing? The natural world has exploded into full splendor and the weather in the Northern hemisphere will be warm enough in most places to warrant moving around outside. The ST is an Earth organ and is related to the flesh of the body, which we will be building with these practices. Think also of the dragon and its association with martial arts and other physical cultivation practices.

June - Spleen, Si 巳 (Snake)- Food choices - This category works in tandem with the previous one to help maintain the physical form of the body in an optimal way. Why this pairing? June is actually a great time to do fasting or other food restriction activities because most of us don’t feel any great desire to eat excessively in the summer heat. Further, reducing the burden on digestion will help us to focus on absorbing the pure Yang energy so abundantly available in June.
July - Heart, Wu 午 (Horse) - Community building/charity - This category speaks to our need to be an integral and contributing member of a number of communities. It also involves the practice of compassion in a world where inequality is the norm. Why this pairing? The summer is a wonderful time to participate in community-oriented projects! Also, the Heart and Fire (the Heart’s element) are about intimacy, about connection to Spirit — both of which are well represented in the idea behind this category.

August - Small Intestine, Wei 未 (Sheep)- Ethical Behavior - This category will include practices not covered in other categories that have some ethical dimension. These practices are likely to be very individual and defined by a person’s background, spiritual/religious practice and culture. For example, practicing “Right Speech” through abstinence from cursing. Why this pairing? The Fu (hollow, Yang) organs are said to transmit the essence of their associated Zang (solid, Yin) organs. SI exemplifies this relationship in its devotion to sacrifice as a way to manifest the Heart’s mandate of connection to Spirit in the purest sense. Also because many of the “ethical behavior” practices we discussed are somewhat prohibitive, it resonates with the descent into metal energy that the earthly branch Wei represents.

September - Bladder, Shen 申 (Monkey)- Arts/Aesthetics: This category involves the use of our creative faculties - particularly as they pertain to the arts associated with Chinese medicine, such as calligraphy. Why this pairing? These activities are Yin within Yang - they are still, yet active - like scholarship. More importantly is the symbolism of 申. One of the meanings of this character is to stretch, and the oracle bones show it as two hands pulling something in opposite directions. We might think about this as the intercourse between Heaven and Earth, the Human Being in the middle being the substrate that is stretched between those two poles. I think Art facilitates this threefold communication.

October - Kidney, You 酉 (Rooster/owl): Chinese medicine specific skills: This category includes the refinement of Chinese medicine related skills, such as hand techniques in acupuncture. For those not in the field, you might look into developing skills that will help you in your work. Why this pairing? The Kidney is often said to be the root of all skill and expertise. Also, with the cool calm energy of autumn, one can become focused enough to substantially increase specific skills.

November - Pericardium, Xu 戌: Relationships: This category will involve practices that help us develop more mature and meaningful relationships with others. Why this pairing? Pericardium is frequently said to mediate intimate relationships. One interesting symbolic note is the association of the earthly branch Xu, which means - essentially - weapon. This speaks on many levels to me. For instance, we must be careful to avoid violence in relationships, on whatever level. Also, relationships are a bit like handling weapons — if you’re not careful and mindful, it can come back to bite you. Finally, the late fall and winter are good times for relationship oriented activity, given that most of us desire to stay at home with family and friends as the weather cools.

December - Triple Burner, Hai 亥: Spiritual cultivation: Although we will be looking at spiritual dimensions of all kinds of activity throughout the year, this month we will give it special attention. These practices will probably be quite individual, but there may be some shared goals - such as having a daily meditation practice. Why this pairing? I’ve always learned about TB as being the mysterious “in between,” the mover between worlds, the ultimate stillness. What a metaphor for spiritual practice!

The project begins on January 1, 2008. However, you can join in at any time. Simply comment on this post to let everyone know you’re “in” and let us know how you will be “reporting back” to the rest of us. I will be providing brief descriptions of the categories along with the list of practices we’ve come up with so far in a post in a few hours. That post would be a great place to comment with your ideas for specific practices. To make sure you keep up with all of the Year of Sagely living articles, be sure to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or via email.

PS: For folks in the Southern hemisphere - you can still participate! Simply reverse the correspondences. The list goes, essentially, winter solstice to summer solstice - so you can turn things around to meet your energetic reality.

Eric

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December 28, 2007 · Filed Under Blogging, Character, Personal Development, The profession, Year of Sagely Living

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