Deepest Health Chinese Medicine Podcast : Episode 8 : Interview with Dr. Heiner Fruehauf
If you like what you read here, you may want to keep updated by using my RSS feed. Want to know more about RSS/feeds? - read more here. Thanks for visiting!
Hello everyone -
I’m happy to offer an interview for this edition of the podcast. Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, founding professor of the school of Classical Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR, agreed to talk with Deepest Health readers about the nature of Classical Chinese Medicine. I’m incredibly grateful to Heiner for offering his time and wisdom – I think it will be a treat for all of you.
Dr. Fruehauf has been a great inspiration to me as I navigate the deep waters of this discipline, and he is beloved by students of Chinese medicine all over the world. He currently practices at his clinic in Corbett, OR as well as teaching classes at NCNM. He runs the incredible website, Classicalchinesemedicine.org, which is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning more about the roots of Chinese medicine. In fact, I have an exciting proposition for folks concerning a discounted membership to the site that I will talk about in a separate post sometime this coming week. Stay tuned. If you haven’t perused the great free content Heiner has put up on the site, do visit and check it out.
I want to mention that Dr. Fruehauf also recently launched a line of high quality, professional grade herbal capsules based on Classical principles for a variety of common conditions. Check out the site and see what you think. Every effort has been made to ensure that this is a high quality product. This product is unrivaled by anything on the market of which I am aware.
This podcast was split into two parts – the first of which you can access below. The second part will be released on Monday or Tuesday. Each section is around 30 minutes long. Enjoy!
[display_player]
Emotional Freedom Technique and other modalities that use acupuncture points
Deepest Health reader Jason left a comment on the last podcast post that got me thinking. He said,
“Something that I’ve found helpful is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) which is a real simple method of locking onto an emotional disturbance and neutralizing or at least diminishing its “charge” by tapping certain acupressure points. It works even better when combined with affirmations.”
My partner, Amanda, has done a little research into EFT and I know some folks at school who have used it to get over a variety of minor psychological difficulties such as insomnia and social anxiety. I know that it makes use of acu-points. There are other modalities of bodywork and energywork that make use of the channels and associated points along those channels, but that are not directly associated with the East Asian medical lineages that we normally associate with “Chinese medicine.”
I have to admit that I have traditionally regarded these modalities with some standoffishness. This is my nature being inherently conservative and a lover of all things ancient. The closer to the source, the better, I say. But, some have pointed out that these theories are universal and should not be attached to any particular era or people. I can see the wisdom in that stance. It does not eradicate my essential worry about systems that use the points and channels, yet mostly ignore the thousands of years of understanding that have developed the simple recognition of energy pathways into a complex system of theories that can elegantly rectify any imbalance in the human being.
I’d be interested to hear readers’ take on this – do you have experience with any of these systems of healing? What were your results? How do you feel that they fit under the umbrella of “Chinese medicine” or, at least, “East Asian medicine?” Leave your responses in the comments, providing URLs of relevant sites if possible. I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Eric
The power of networking in natural medicine
Last week I was approached by the owner of a Portland owned coffee shop with a proposal to offer massage as a benefit to her employees. She borrowed the idea from Portland’s own Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Stumptown offers their employees massage as one of the benefits of working for their company. The important thing about this interaction that I’d like to convey here is: I met her at my weekly networking meeting.
I’m learning, once again, the power of networking.
I started going to an early morning networking meeting at the beginning of August. It was a safe bet for me, as the group was just getting started. The idea of walking into a more formalized group of people and being the new kid doesn’t really appeal to me. The first meeting I attended only had two other people there. As the month has gone on, we have about six regular attendees and are always trying to recruit more. The goal is to create a strong network of business entrepreneurs who strive to get to know one another in the hopes of creating a referral base for the clients of our various endeavors.
I am usually not one to put myself out there in a business sense. I still struggle with the act of presenting myself as someone who has something to sell. I’m in the business of selling healthcare, more specifically, massage. Massage can act as an option for a range of concerns – someone experiencing acute pain, preventative medicine, palliative care, stress – you name it, massage can probably help in some capacity. I’m learning through networking that selling massage has turned out to be something more complex than I thought it would be. I have a serious need to refine my thoughts about just who it is that can benefit from my style of massage. What am I calling my style of massage these days anyway? I’m taking all of my education and experience from the last three years and turning it into a session that I don’t know how to describe anymore. I do know that I have pretty good results and that people come back to me, so it must be working.
I know that my sessions are effective, the trick is how to get clients in the door in the first place. Massage, like many other health care practices, is a very personal thing. It often strikes me as bizarre that I am a massage therapist. People hand over the care and trust of their bodies – in such a way that I can’t think of many other situations in which that would occur. Because the work I do is so personal in nature, I believe that networking is an integral part of my marketing plan. It allows a person to become comfortable with me on a one to one level before entrusting me with the care and keeping of their body for an hour. If I am successfully able to convey that I am a trustworthy, professional person at these networking meetings, the chances that I am going to be the go-to for a massage referral is pretty high.
In the month that I have been attending these meetings, I have made several connections with some of Portland’s long-time residents and entrepreneurs. They will help to support me as a burgeoning entrepreneur, as well as help to supply me with referrals and some business acumen. I can only imagine what will come of my success as I continue to make these connections.
Amanda Barp, LMT
Where do you find help in getting started with your natural medicine business?
This is the last in a series of three articles about getting started in your natural medicine business by Bonnie Koenig. You can find the previous two articles by clicking on either I’m an acupuncturist, not a business person or Open for Business…I think. You can find Bonnie’s bio here.
————
In the last two articles of this series I have reminded practitioners that running a small business can be a full time job, just as practicing medicine can be a full time job. I then focused on the types of help one could expect. This leaves the question of where to find this sort of help.
In the initial stages of starting a business places like SCORE (I looked in my yellow pages for this) will work with small business owners to work out what they want their business to look like and also discuss the types of licenses they might need. At the time I contacted them, I was sent a wonderful packet of business related information that outlined what various government offices (state, county and city) needed what from me.
Another great place to check out online is Insights for Acupuncturists. This site is geared towards acupuncturists, obviously, but it can be applied to anyone who will be in a healthcare practice running a small business. Lisa Hanfileti, the site creator, is an acupuncturist with a biology background. She graduated back in 2000 and she and her husband, a medical doctor, set up their office.
Very often practitioners tend to think small at the beginning. Lisa did not. While she discusses the pitfalls of this at points in her website, the important thing about this is that Lisa had to find out a lot more about various aspects of running a business than many of us have had to. This makes her site a great resource. One thing to remember is that this is a website geared towards anyone trying to start an acupuncture practice. Some information must remain general as exact laws vary state to state, county to county and city to city. Lisa is good about pointing your towards specific offices that may need to be contacted to find out specifics.
If you don’t have a vision of what your practice should look like there are many personal coaches out there. You can search online or ask your friends who they used. Like natural healthcare providers, business coaches use a variety of approaches.
Jenn Givler is a business coach I’m familiar with. Her website is Create a Thriving Business. Jenn works with practitioners who are trying to figure out what they do and do not know about the process of running a business. She says, “I refer to this as putting an infrastructure in place for running a business.” Jenn can take new practitioners through the process of visualizing their ideal practice, focusing on the strengths they have to create this ideal practice (not just their healing strengths but their business strengths) and then help them clarify the areas where they need help.
Additionally Jenn will keep working with practitioners through all phases of their business, whether that be creating new marketing opportunities or creating new opportunities for revenue streams as well as re-evaluating the business and what help is needed as the business vision grows and changes. On Jenn’s website you’ll also find a link to her group which keeps people in contact with like minded people who can offer feedback.
One area many practitioners get stuck is figuring out how to market their business. Of all the business tasks this one is often the most hated task for practitioners. Not only do practitioners seem to dislike it the most, but marketing is one of the most ongoing tasks a business owner faces. If that isn’t enough, marketing is the one task that most often needs updating and changing.
One of my favorite books on running a small business is Lynn Grodzki’s book, Building Your Ideal Private Practice
When I started the Acupuncture Marketing Blogthere were very few sites out there for me to draw information from. The Alternative Health Practice Blog existed (but did not look nearly as lovely as it does today). It’s a great resource, though updated about as irregularly as I update the Marketing Blog.
Kevin Doherty came out with his site Build Your Dream Pracice. Kevin is an acupuncturist and he also does some web design and personal coaching. Kevin’s information is about keeping acupuncturists in business and one area he really focuses on is website information.
Burton Kent is one of the newer names on the scene. Burton began with Acupuncture Clinic Marketing. I’ve had conversations with him about his “No More Closed Clinics” blog post. Burton’s area is marketing. However he’s used acupuncture and had fantastic results with it. He feels that acupuncturists can benefit from the information on marketing that he can provide. He’s also serious about the no more closed clinics. Both Burton and Kevin offer ebooks and some personal coaching.
Another great source that new practitioners might overlook are people who are currently in practice. These people know what has worked for them and what hasn’t. They understand the little pitfalls and misunderstandings based on how you, as a healthcare provider, might think and the way the government offices might think. They can also tell you how to find good help and may know where you can find office space. The downside of another practitioner is that their understanding of the laws may be incomplete so you might not details or get inaccurate information from them.
Finally, when you know you need to find employee help, how do you do so? Many practitioners have gotten good help via word of mouth. While any position may come via word of mouth, nowhere is this more true than with insurance billers. In fact, if you talk to someone specializing in this area, get references from people in your healthcare specialty.
Finding office help can be more challenging. You can post on Craigslist or in your local paper. Ask other practitioners and friends if they know anyone who would be good for a specific job in your office. Very often they may think of someone who is looking or can at least have that person send you a resume. Always check your references.
Office cleaners and laundry services are usually contract positions. You will often find advertisements on Craigslist or in the yellow pages. Again, ask other people in your local area who they use and you’ll probably get some names as well. As many small businesses, not just healthcare providers, use services like these, you may have a larger pool of people to from whom to find referrals.
The biggest gift you can give yourself while your business takes off is the gift of help. As a healthcare provider, I know that finding help was also one of the most challenging things I needed to do. By asking for assistance in various areas of your business you will find you get a lot more satisfaction from what you do than if you try and make do on your own. A streamlined office that is organized and well run is invaluable when you are seeing that one extra who patient who absolutely MUST get in. Further, a well run office can make sure you get to the point where you have that “extra” patient you don’t have time for from time to time.
That’s it for this series!
Bonnie
Chinese medicine, the Earth and the Center
When talking about the five elements, particularly as applied to the organ systems of Chinese medicine, it’s easy to find an angle from which to proclaim the supremacy of any of the elements. Fire gets four organs, for instance, one of those being the Emperor – surely it’s the most important. Water, on the other hand, lies at the depths – no element is more revered than water in the cultural literature of the Chinese (the Dao is often said to be like water, the supreme man is said to be like water in taking the lowest place, etc….). Surely water is “top dog,” then. But what of Wood? Wood begins the cycle of the elements from most perspectives – it is the animating principle of the whole system – Wood must be the most important.
So on and so forth. The answer to the question, “Which is most important,” is the absurdly easy and frustrating, “None.” However, Earth could have a better reason than the rest to lay claim to this elusive prize. Earth is the center – the center is the axis upon which everything else spins. Without the center, you just have a group of unassociated pieces, functioning on their own in vain. The center brings it all together, ensures that it functions.
There are two ways to think about Earth seasonally. One perspective holds that Earth is associated with a kind of “late summer,” just before the fall rains begin. Another, which I prefer, holds that the Earth occupies an interstitial space between each season – the 14 days or so around each solstice and equinox – the transitions from one season to another. I’ve heard a variety of perspectives about the actual length of time and the precise arrangement of those periods, but this seems to be a consensus. Regardless, this “in between” nature of the Earth element makes it vital, it governs our transition from one energetic state to another.
Sunday, I went on a beautiful hike in the Columbia River Gorge. I decided to try to open my senses and not impose anything in particular on my experience. The overwhelming message, again and again, spoke of the Earth element. The sweet smell of decay – cloying, almost – with the merest hint of rich wine or butter or something I can’t define. No matter what part of the trail – metallic/mineral rock faces all around sharing their sharp, clean scent – deep, watery pools of clarity lending a weedy, fresh aroma – high and dry grassy plain full of pungency and heat… behind was the deep Earthen bassnote, emanating everywhere. Now, we are not officially in the period around the autumnal equinox, though we are technically within that “late summer” period perhaps – but the working of the Earth energy was present everywhere I looked.
The overwhelming idea that came out of all of this exploration is simple. Earth is at the center, and you must always look to its health. This is why dietary therapy is the root of most successful treatment plans. It’s also why so many of my patients seem to need a simple Earth tonification formula (such as Xiao Jian Zhong Tang) after any other series of formulas. In fact, from now on, I will be carefully examining that possibility with every patient. I feel that this is, in some ways, superior to the rampant practice of throwing some heavily tonifying formula at a patient after a big illness. The idea behind it is the same, but it is actually looking at the source of weakness and not the branches.
(Photos taken by Eric and his family, August 2008)
What am I up to?
-
Subscribe to Deepest Health
-
Updates from my personal blog (Ericgrey.com)- Some lyrics… May 12, 2009
- A bikeride into God May 8, 2009
- Quiet versus moving Qigong practices March 7, 2009
- A new perspective on the healthcare crisis February 26, 2009
