Chinese medicine and professional development
I have been thinking quite a bit about my February Year of Sagely Living goal. Before I reveal what I’d like to do this month, I want to look at the symbolism of this month in a little more detail. Let’s revisit the original explanation in the inagural post of this project.
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.
Liver as the General
In the Neijing (Chapter 8), it is said:
肝者將軍之官謀慮出焉
gān zhě jiáng jùn zhī guān móu lù chū yān
Translations vary, of course. Here are my favorites: “The liver is the official of managing the horsepower, planning and strategizing emerge from it.” “The liver is the general who is valiant and resourceful”
I think a lot of people who are interested in Chinese medicine tend to shy away from the old General. We don’t like to hear that we have a Wood voice, we shy away from the concept of an organ as associated with war. We look down on people who express their anger, even in appropriate ways. I don’t feel this way. I embrace the General. The wood is the motivating and moving force in nature, in our bodies, and in our organizations. I reckon that my school and our profession in general could use a little invigoration. Certainly it must be kept in balance - but a focus on this powerful force can only be a boon for me and mine.
When I think about the General, I think of so many of the personal development gurus I’ve known and learned from over the years. David Allen. Steven Covey. Anthony Robbins. Many others. I’m not implying that these folks are constitutionally Wood (though certainly a couple of them are) but simply that what they do resonates with the principle we’re trying to invoke this month. A focus on developing ourselves into the kinds of people that effortlessly and courageously interact with the world in some of its more difficult and potentially conflict-ridden arenas - business being one of those. So, resonant activities for the Year of Sagely Living should take the General as their inspiration. They should involve managing the horsepower (resources), planning, strategizing and valiant effort.
February - the end of Winter
About now in Oregon, everyone is complaining about the weather. Constitutionally damp and cold people have finally become saturated and get depressed. Even folks with strong Spleen energy start to long for the easy warmth and beauty of spring and summer. But I’m smiling. Because I feel the energy on the upswing. In fact, the winter is as good as gone! My bulbs are sprouting vigorously. Buds are growing fat on the Japanese maple. My dog is shedding. I am strangely compelled to play frisbee in the rain. February for me is all about opening myself to the increased activity of the spring season. In that way - a focus on the strongly outward realm of business is certainly warranted. It will help shake out the cobwebs. :)
I do recognize that the weather is still quite cold most places in the Northern hemisphere. In fact, the agricultural nodes for Liver time all relate to intense cold. Further, the time associated with the Liver (1-3am) is certainly a deep and dark time of the day. This is why we didn’t choose to put a type of activity here that was strongly physical, demanding lots of opening of pores or outdoor activity. Do keep this limitation in mind when crafting your goals for February.
Many realms of professional development :my interpretation of February’s category
A variety of activities could fit in this category. On the more low-key end of things, you might think about reading a book on small business, leadership development or the history of some great leader in your religious or cultural tradition. On the more intensive side of things, you might consider developing a business plan (if you don’t already have one), setting some new goals for your (already existing) business, or taking a professional development course. On a more subtle level, you could consider doing a series of meditations on Liver, general, and the wood element in general and how those forces are functioning in your life.
This category is a little challenging for me because I’m already engaged in so many streams of habit that would fit in it. For instance, I’m working my GTD system. I’m the President AND Vice President of my class. I’m engaged in a variety of leadership development groups in Portland and at NCNM. My partner and I are working through our own business plan while we are both taking formal classes about business! Because of all of this, I think I will take one of the more low-key options. I’m going to be reading one of two books (or their audiobook versions) - either Principle Centered Leadership by Steven Covey or Personal Power II by Anthony Robbins. Along with this, I will be doing daily meditations concerning my future business - simply stilling my mind and letting myself be guided. Simple, but I think powerful.
Eric
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Tags: Business, business development, Leadership, liver, ox, Personal Development, professional-development, strategic planning, symbolism, winterRelated posts
Why does Classical Chinese Medicine seem so complicated?
This is the first part of a two part guest article by my friend and peer, Michael Givens. Michael is also a third year student of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. He shares my fervor for the medicine and has been an inspiration to me as I seek to plumb the depths of this profession we have both chosen. I hope you will enjoy what he has to say. Please do leave your thoughts in the comments - he is a regular reader of the blog.
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When I first started to study Chinese medicine (long before I became a student at NCNM), I fell instantly in love with it because it made so much sense to me. When I read the Huangdi Neijing Suwen for the first time, it was as if all the questions I had about life, my place in relation to nature and the stars, the interplay between light and shade, warmth and cold, and how life seems to exist somewhere between them all were illuminated by Huangdi, Qibo and the other sages. The cycle of the five dynamic movements in nature and how they manifest inside and out of all things, defined for me what I felt was already true; I had found a detailed system that defined the wholeness I had been searching to understand.
As I pursued my studies as a Chinese medicine student, I began to see how my initial understanding was limited and superficial, and soon, rather than being the clearest and most elegant text I had ever read, the Neijing became the most complicated. I found myself spending hour upon hour trying to draw out the inter-lapping cycles of the six confirmations, influencing each other on the right and the left through time, in the heavens and on earth, connecting to the heavenly stems and earthly branches and the five movements…I quickly became lost in the details of such an amazingly intricate systematic understanding of the nature and movement of Qi.
When I first learned about the five organs and their relations to the five “elements”, it seemed so clear; yet, as I deepened my understanding of physiology (Chinese physiology that is), simple concepts like “Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water” became extremely complicated. How is it, after all, that Fire descends through the malleability of Metal, physiologically, or that Metal really descends only when Fire descends? What does it mean that Water, while it resonates with the flavor of Salty, is actually reduced by Salty and strengthened by Bitter? What is at the heart of the difference between the six atmospheric conditions and the five dynamic processes and how do they interact physiologically? Questions such as these began to plague me.
Of course, this is what happens as one deepens his or her understanding of something; and, as one narrows his or her focus from the “big picture” to the minutia, the complexities of the universe become overwhelming. Yet, the beauty of Chinese medicine lies in the central view that the Chinese sages held. Rather than lose themselves in the grand picture, focusing only on the Dao or on the stars alone, and rather than (as Western science has done) lose themselves in the smaller and smaller details of the parts, the sages of Chinese medicine maintained an open view of both through using the language of symbolism and correspondences and remaining focused on processes and dynamics, functions and movements. So, though I was swimming out in the ocean of stars, and at the same time swirling amidst the tiny fragments of manifestation, by taking on this central position of the Chinese, I found a way to begin to have clarity and understanding and to flow with the movement of nature.
This is not to say that I would advocate ignoring the details and taking for granted the whole, not at all in fact; as I said earlier, the Neijing incorporates extremely detailed understandings of the very large and the very small, though there is a much stronger emphasis on the very large. What I have found is that one’s lens is what matters, regardless of what one is looking at. The lens of the Chinese medical sages allowed them to see dynamic processes and functional qualities rather than matter or manifestation. Though much of what a Chinese doctor does is to examine the symptoms and manifestations (especially in that the pulse is so very important), the treatment comes about through understanding function and movement, quality and time.
But, this is where a new confusion arises and is really what I meant by the title of this article. Chinese medicine is complicated just because it’s complicated, to be sure. But, how we are learning about Chinese medicine is also complicated. At times we are looking from a point of view of function, and at times we are looking from a point of view of materials. At times we learn of formulas and treatments that are based on an understanding of processes, and at times we learn formulas and treatments that are based on a desire to supplement matter.
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How is a student of this medicine to behave? How are we to wade through this sea of complexity that so many years of history have created for us? That will be the topic of the second part of Michael’s article - to be released soon. Thanks for reading.
Eric
Tags: classical-chinese-medicine, five phases, focus, Learning, Michael Givens, neijing, overwhelm, Science, symbolismRelated posts
Fellow sages-in-training
I just realized that I forgot to add the links of my fellow YSLers to the last post - sorry! Please visit these sites and consider adding yourself to the ranks!
Abdallah B. Stickely from Even Unto China
Kimberly Ann from Helfgott Blog
G. Michael Reynolds at Life Giving Sword
Others are participating without electronic homes, including my friend Michael Givens. I will be featuring a nice article from him shortly - not related to the YSL, but certainly indicative of his great efforts to learn this medicine.
If I’ve missed you - shoot me an email and I’ll add you to the list.
Eric
Tags: Blogging, links, websites, Year of Sagely LivingRelated posts
Reviewing one’s progress in the realm of self cultivation
There is something inherently fishy about “evaluating” myself when it comes to a program of personal development. While goal setting is an important activity, and awareness of my strengths and weaknesses is essential to many things, there seems to be some way in which self cultivation stands exempt from my every attempt to measure it. How did January’s Year of Sagely Living goal go for me? Did I reach the benchmarks I laid out for myself? Well, yes and no.
I originally set out to study half an hour a day in each subject I’m studying in school. This turned out to be impossible given my many other responsibilities. But, this was not a failure. It gave me valuable information. It told me where my limits are and why they are there. It gave me an opportunity to evaluate those supposed limits and decide whether I wanted to accept them. It also helped me to be ok with where I am - pushing myself to my limit let me know that what I *am* able to do is *all* I’m able to do. That’s profoundly nourishing.
Falling short of my original mark, I set another one. I decided to study at least two hours in every subject every week. While this may seem laughable to some, for a variety of respects, it seemed about right to me. While I know I shorted a subject or two due to their lower weight in my overall academic scheme of things, I made up for that by studying a bunch more in my favorite class, Formulas. It turned out that two hours a week is just about right. It has been profoundly helpful and I think it has already increased my understanding of the medicine. As such, I plan to adopt it as a constant goal while I’m in school. After school, other scholarly goals will need to be set.
Several folks have joined on in the Year of Sagely Living - and they have had varying degrees of “success” with the program. I will include links to their sites at the end of this article, all definitely worth reading through. In the end, I think they have all discovered what I have. The simple act of focusing on a particular realm of life is transformative. Whether you can objectively evaluate “progress” is up for debate. So what does this mean for the rest of the Year of Sagely Living?
I still feel that the setting of specific goals, or the declaration of commitment to a certain practice or set of practices is very valuable. In that way, discussing whether one was able to fulfill that commitment makes sense. However, the benefit of these activities are more likely to be fractal in nature and difficult to put your finger on. While I am able to say that I have increased clarity and less stress as a result of my January YSL attempts, the true power is less measurable and more likely to develop over a long period of time. This, really, is the aim of the Year of Sagely Living. Not to set and meet goals. Not to yield some list of optimal practices that everyone could/should follow. Simply to articulate essential features of Chinese medicine and attempt to live by them in contemporary society.
I’m looking forward to February! February 1 happens to be my 31st birthday, so it will be an emergence into new things on more than one front. :)
Eric
Tags: commitment, Cultivation, focus, goal setting, January, Personal Development, scholar, study, studying, Year of Sagely LivingRelated posts
New features of Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine
I can’t overlook an opportunity to put my entire blog title in a post title, sorry. :) I just wanted to quickly point out that I’ve made a few changes to the site.
1. In order to increase community interaction, I’ve added recent comment and trackback sections to the far right sidebar. Believe it or not, people are finding this site for the first time every day and they often comment to quite old posts! By monitoring this sidebar widget, you can keep up with the latest conversation on well aged articles.
2. In order to try to pay for my last year in Classical Chinese Medicine at NCNM, I’ve added a few monetization features. I’ve always run a few ads, which I hope haven’t been too intrusive. I’ve added an Advertise page (still tweaking it) where interested companies/websites can purchase ad space and sponsored reviews. I hope that you, my intrepid readers, will give your blessing for these changes. I intend to make them seamlessly integrated and no detraction to your reading experience. Any paid reviews will be indicated as such, except when compensation is simply a review copy of the book/product being reviewed. Ads will be minimal, highly relevant, and well placed. Please email me any concerns.
3. I have recently updated my Year of Sagely Living page. The story has been less than fascinating, I’m afraid, but hopefully the experience has some worth to folks. I expect some months will be more prolific than others - as with everything. I’m looking forward to February’s business/strategy focus, as lots of that energy has been coming into my field of awareness as of late.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I really appreciate it.
Eric
Tags: Blogging, business strategy, community, money, websites
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