Blogger’s Choice Awards - Vote for Deepesthealth.com
Well, it’s time for the Blogger’s Choice Awards again. My friend Yael over at Chinesemedicinenotes.com helped remind me that Deepest Health is in the running. So, vote for Yael - vote for me - vote for any one of the other fine Health related blogs out there, but do vote! It only takes a minute or two to sign up and the winners get a pretty good traffic boost for their troubles.
What do you have to lose? Click it!
Eric
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Tags: awards, BloggingRelated posts
Creativity, Classical Chinese Medicine and our right to be wrong
Image via Wikipedia
The impact of this video should be experienced by everyone. How does it relate to Classical Chinese Medicine? How does it relate to this blog? Where do I begin?
All over the planet, there are people who think like I do. There are people who find a sense of hope in Classical Chinese Medicine, its way of treating human beings and its way of opening our minds to a perception of reality alternate to the one most of us are schooled within. I’m not talking about anything you can dismiss rapidly, so please, let rest your assumptions. For 20 years, I’ve been frustrated by the oppressive, soul killing, pervasive worldview that so dominates everything one sees through the mass media and through public education. This worldview says that the left brain is where it’s at, that logic (narrowly defined as it is in most University philosophy departments) should always rule, that there are no ghost or fairies or spirits, that something isn’t real or useful if it can’t be tested placebo-controlled and double blind and that intuition is a chemical reaction and nothing more. I’ve been frustrated by this worldview, but also enticed by it.
Why?
Because it brings the promise of security. Of safety. Of making the chaotic and gut-wrenching world into something that can be calculated, predicted, understood and dealt with. Also, because some of the most dynamic and interesting people in my life have been ruled by this worldview. Only sometimes I forget that they are dynamic and interesting despite their religious fervor for the elements of this worldview as described above. I’ve also variously drawn close to this worldview because sometimes the alternatives make me ill. It seems, at times, that the only choice is between what I’ve described and a kind of dreamy-eyed, crystal worshipping, close your eyes tightly and hope for a better future kind of stance. Neither is an option for me, and I guess the former seems more likely to be productive of something worth having.
Chinese medicine, for me, opens the door for an alternate interpretation. The world is both chaos and order. Both predictable and unpredictable. We predict with caveat and we accept unpredictability with tools to deal with the result of that unpredictability. We embrace chaos while seeing the beauty of the order within. We calmly respect order while allowing space for the chaos that whirls in the eddies of the human soul. We breathe in, we breathe out. We dream. We memorize. We try and fail. We fail and get back up again. I have learned all of these things and so many more in my brief three or four years seriously seeking to understand Chinese philosophy and its flowering in the most complex and promising medical system ever to grace our planet.
I know that for some of you all of this is easy to dismiss. But, I’ve grown tired of caring. I’ve grown tired of stifling myself for the sake of avoiding conflict with people who simply don’t think like me. Rest assured, this is not the abandoning of logic. It never has been, not for me. Watch that video again. Does that seem like a guy who has abandoned reason? Do his arguments ramble with no sense? Sure, you could probably find a way to logically refute his arguments - but what does that feed? Where does that go? I think we can all see where the worldview I have described is leading us. I refuse to walk that path.
Classical Chinese Medicine rests firmly on a scientific basis that accepts contradiction, embraces the totality of human experience and - perhaps most of all - makes a real difference in the lives of real human beings. It resonates deeply with the essence of the TED lecture linked above and, really, the essence of the entire TED project. That creativity and inspired intelligence are the deepest inheritance of humankind, that these traits are what will save our species and take us into a beautiful tomorrow. That color and sound and movement, art and introspection and perception, that THESE THINGS are what will lead us towards cures for disease - regardless of what else is necessary. That the symbols contained within Chinese characters are instructive, that symbolism in general is a language we can all understand. All of this I take to be self evident.
On a more personal level, I really feel that this lecture has unlocked the last little bit of reservation I have had about stepping into my power as a scholar, as a clinician, as a blogger and as a person. As you know from reading some of my recent posts, I’ve been struggling with what to write. This struggle has come primarily from my worry that others would attack me, would call me “wrong,” that I would make my teachers and my program look bad - a pervasive perfectionism shaped by a misguided sense of self preservation. I cannot always be right, and neither can you. But those of us who care about the world, who care about human beings, who love the beauty and the power of Classical Chinese Medicine (and, of course, other modalities) need to speak out, speak freely, and be willing to be wrong.
It’s our responsibility and our right.
Eric
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Deepest Health is a member of the 9rules network!
Blogging can be hard work. For the most part, I do it because I really enjoy my interactions with all of you. I also enjoy the opportunity to work out my ideas in a more solid form and share things that aren’t easily available on the web. Anyway, as I shared in my post about a year of Chinese medicine blogging, things have been going well for the site. But, I wrote too soon. I am very honored and excited to announce:
Deepest Health has been accepted as a member site to the popular 9rules blog network!
For those of you who don’t know, a blog network is run by a dedicated group of individuals that want to make it easier for folks to filter through the huge number of blogs out there. 9rules was started in 2003 and has built a reputation as a valuable resource of use to anyone who is interested in reading the best material on the Internet. I encourage you to check them out.
Thanks everyone,
Eric
PS: It will take a bit for my content to be republished by 9rules, so if you try to look for me there, you won’t find me - yet. :)
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Deepest Health LIVES!
It’s true, my friends, Deepest Health is still around. It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted, but I shall fail you no more. I needed some time to rejuvenate my brain and - perhaps more than that - reevaluate why I created this blog in the first place. I spent a lot of time working on this last summer, and I think my work has paid off handsomely. But, frankly, it can get a little wearing sometimes.
The same is true of the Year of Sagely Living. I am the kind of person who seems to be able to do a whole lot without tiring. However, I can only do this if I understand on a deep level WHY I am doing it. With life getting so busy as the reality of being in the clinic and starting my own business start to set in… well, it’s easy to lose sight of why I do the things that I do. I think you can relate?
Out of this extended hiatus has come two things - both of which I would like to share. This will be followed rather shortly with a return to a semi-regular posting frequency and all the things you’ve come to love so much about this sweet little corner of the Internet.
The first thing - A VISION STATEMENT for Deepest Health
If there was ever any question that I’m a total dork, I hope this will put that question to rest. But, seriously, while the idea of having a formal mission statement may seem silly, it is a construction that helps me keep focused on my vision. Without vision, the people perish! Doubtless this vision will undergo significant evolution as time goes on. Without further ado…
Deepest Health is a place for the exchange of information and inspiration about Classical Chinese Medicine through the publishing of written, visual and audio material of value to students, practitioners and patients. Deepest Health makes no claim to have a monopoly on the truth of Chinese Medicine or medicine in general. Deepest Health, instead, encourages a warm and expansive spirit of exploration, experimentation and exhortation so as to participate in the evolution of Classical Chinese Medicine as the medical system of choice for contemporary people.
The second thing - A reorganization of the Year of Sagely Living project
I’m pretty excited about this. As April came and went (without an update from me - despite the fact that my garden is doing FABULOUSLY well) I began to rethink the whole Year of Sagely Living concept. Through conversation with my partner, Amanda Barp, and my friend Abdallah Stickley, I determined that a reorganization of the thing could be quite rejuvenating. First, let me share some of the reasoning before explaining what I will be doing from now on. I’ll try to keep it simple.
Initially, the idea for the YSL came from conversations between Dr. Stickley and myself about how self-cultivation seems to be the very essence of what it is to be a Classical Chinese physician. We both have particular traditions of practice (or amalgams of traditions, in my case) that we feel are in some harmony with the principles of self-cultivation that the Classics discuss. In essence, we wondered if our cultivation practices would be similarly productive of great physicians. This led to further conversation about the types of cultivation exercises that seem embedded in the theory and practice of Chinese medicine. Eventually we began to talk about the organ clock and how it might be a helpful organizational tool for a program of CCM centered self-cultivation. Thus, the YSL was born.
But I have noticed a few problems with the original format. First, we switch too often. While there is some continuity between months, mostly they represent very different categories of practice. I could spend a year simply on the excellent practice of raising my own food, delving deeply into it, learning from it… The same is true of all the categories. The second problem is that somehow the categories and their practices were feeling like an extra veneer I was placing on my life - not as something being deeply embedded in me in the sense I expected. I expect this has something to do with the character of my own situation, but it failed to meet my desire for the project. Third, more nebulously, somehow the project as described and practiced so far doesn’t speak to the initial impulse behind the whole thing. It’s wonderful how it’s gone and I appreciate very much everyone’s participation - but I’d like to see it evolve.
While the conversations between Abdallah and I have not (and probably never will) come to some “final” or “static” conclusion, I feel that my mind is settled with regards to the topic. We batted several ideas around. One was to create a YSL focused on scholarship - twelve months of different scholarly topics (Yin/Yang theory, Five element theory, etc). An incredible idea - but not appealing to the overworked student in me. Perhaps after I graduate? Another idea was to halve the number of categories and double the time spent in each. Good, but perhaps not solving the root. There are two “winning” ideas that I’d like to see others play with.
First, one would become more serious about one’s own personal practice. For instance, a practicing Zen Buddhist might renew his or her dedication to that practice. He or she would then use that practice as a lens through which to look at Classical Chinese medical theory and practice. For instance, consider the practice of meditation. How does diving deeply into a meditative state enhance or hinder the practice of Chinese medicine? How can we characterize meditation from the perspective of CM theory? How does quieting the mind in this way develop one as a physician? What do the Classics seem to say about this kind of activity? What is the experience of the practitioner or practitioner in training? In this way, we come to bring our deepest selves fully into our practice of Chinese medicine. Does that sound fun or what? In many ways, Abdallah exemplifies this kind of work in many of his blog posts and, indeed, in the whole concept behind his blog.
Second - the choice I will be working with - requires that we artificially cleave the calendar year into two parts, yin and yang. It would be easy to get bogged down in discussing various theories about which months are Yin and which are Yang, but I’d like to make this as easy as possible. Because of the time, I’m going to say that April began the Yang phase and it will consume April, May, June, July, August and September. Then we will enter the Yin phase of the year until the following April. Feel free to divide where you like. Then take just ONE category of practice behind the YSL. I will be choosing that of my physical body, energy and vitality. Use the entire year to focus on this category, altering the precise habitual expression of the category as necessary to match the seasonal energy and one’s own situation. For instance, in the more “Yang” time of the year I plan to focus on the relatively more Yang aspects of physical activity, moving Qigong forms, intellectual assessment of the physical body, etc… In the Yin part of the year, perhaps I will focus more on developing stillness, balance and thorough nutrition. Does this make sense?
I’m anxious to hear folks’ thoughts. Please chime in and feel free to adapt any and all of the ideas above for your own practice. I believe moving into this kind of YSL idea will help me to produce more posts about it, as I will be diving more deeply into it.
Thanks for reading - more soon,
Eric
Tags: Blogging, inspiration, vision, Year of Sagely LivingRelated posts
Classical Chinese Medicine resources on the web
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about what’s available on the web for people interested in Chinese Medicine. Living in Portland, OR, I have so many amazing wellsprings of knowledge and experience all around me, I sometimes forget that other folks are relatively more isolated from the information they seek. The Internet is a fantastic source for both the more and the less isolated. You just have to know where to look! I’m in the process of updating my Resources page, but I thought I would do a more in depth review of a few of the most promising resources.
1. ClassicalChineseMedicine.org : Internet home of Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, PhD the founder and continued inspiration behind the incredible Classical Chinese Medicine program at National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. I’ve talked many times about Heiner Fruehauf on this site, but let it suffice to say that he is what drew me to this medicine and what he has taught me has helped me to expand my ideas not only about health and healing, but about the world and my place in it.
There are some articles available for free available along the top of the main page, including basic information about Classical Chinese Medicine, some partial translations of Classical Chinese texts and more. You can also access information about upcoming lectures, Dr. Fruehauf’s clinic and a list of excellent links. There is some incredible paid content available as well. For $195 a year, you have access to an ever expanding collection of video and written material from leading voices in the field of Classical Chinese Medicine. This is content you simply will not find anywhere else. You can also obtain NCAAOM continuing education credits through the Associates Forum, which more than justifies the cost. You can check out a preview of the Associates Forum if you haven’t already. I’ve really benefited from the use of this site and I think you will as well.
2. Arnaudversluys.com : Website for Dr. Arnaud Versluys, PhD, leading scholar and clinician of Chinese Medicine in the Shang Han Lun tradition. There are a few gems here, although I think the best is still yet to come. I want to point out the incredible resource that is the Forums section of his website. There are some pretty intense theoretical discussions going on, plenty of food for thought in an environment of open inquiry. I would love to see more people putting their questions out there and sharing their wisdom. You have to sign up to access the forums, but there is no cost and you will not be spammed! You won’t get a follow up email once you register, just try your username and password later the same day to see if you’ve been given access. You can also find information on the now forming Journal of Classics in East Asian Medicine, Dr. Versluys’ diagnostic services, his clinical practice and the upcoming addition of Continuing Education material.
3. Not strictly Classical, but an invaluable and rapidly developing resource is the Chinese Medicine site, Rootdown.us, my go-to source for basic info on herbs and acupuncture. There are 7 basic portions to the site: Herbs, Formulas, Acupuncture, Tests, Community, Pearls and CEUs. The first three sections are basic information about Chinese Medicine presented in a very accessible format. The databases for these three sections are expanding and being cleaned up all the time. You can also add your experiences with these categories through the “suggestions” tab - such as special clinical information that you’ve learned about a particular formula. Through this tool, I think this section can grow to be a repository of great Chinese medicine information!
The last four sections are incredibly exciting! The testing section is new and is growing daily. Here you can take tests on a variety of Chinese medicine subjects for free, both California-only information and information on the national Board exams. What an incredible asset! I don’t have space to discuss the rest of the sections right now, but they are all well worth your time. Accounts are free - if you sign up, be sure to add me as a “buddy” as the social interaction with colleagues all over the world is one of the primary aims of Rootdown.
4. A newly launched Classical Chinese Medicine wiki was started by a NCNM student. If you don’t know, the idea of a Wiki is that anyone can edit the information and through the power of the group, a rich and accurate resource is created. While it is true that “anyone editing” means that “anyone can add incorrect information,” in general the group will correct any misleading passages quickly - particularly when the amount of subject material is relatively small. I suggest you check it out and add what you know!
5. A couple of resources for research purposes: You can do a Google Book Search for “Classical Chinese Medicine” and restrict it to give you only books that have partial or full previews, then read full pages of various texts. If you’re working with Chinese language texts and would like more information on a particular character, including ancient forms of the character, check out the Chinese Etymology Home Page. Finally, definitely check out all of the articles available for free with Blue Poppy’s “TCMInfo” online database.
6. Finally, I’ve recently come across a number of great Chinese medicine related blogs to add to my daily reading list. I’d like to list them (as well as my old favorites) here and ask you to check them out.
Abdallah B Stickley writes about Chinese Medicine, Islam and clinical practice at Even Unto China
G. Michael Reynolds writes about Asian martial arts, Chinese medicine and many topics at The Life Giving Sword
Yael in Israel writes about many facets of Chinese Medicine and clinical practice at Chinese Medicine Notes
Ross Rosen writes eloquently about Chinese medicine practice and other facets of daily life on his blog
The recently started Five Minds holds a lot of promise in discussing some more esoteric and personal aspects of Chinese medical theory and practice.
Portland Acupuncture Blog is just getting started but covers some specific conditions and provides a ready example of how blogging can be used to promote CM businesses
I don’t mean to leave anyone out - these are just the few that stand out in my mind as being quality sources of Chinese medicine related information with relatively frequent updates.
If you think I’ve missed something vital - add it in the comments and maybe I’ll edit the post and add your choices! Don’t be afraid to self promote… if I missed you and you think I shouldn’t have, it’s probably just because my mind is melted after having PASSED MY CLINICAL ENTRANCE EXAMS. Oh yeah!
Eric
Tags: Acupuncture, Blogging, Blogroll, Character, chinese-medicine-research, internet, scholar, websites
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