Writing and the formation of a vigorous Chinese medicine profession
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So, I passed my thesis defense! I have a few revisions to make – when I’m done with those and have final approval I will (a) breathe a big sigh of relief, (b) begin posting portions of my thesis for discussion on the blog. As I see the topic, particularly of the last half of the document, being the ground for the next decade or two of my intellectual work – it seems prudent to discuss it with as many people as possible. How else am I going to get good ideas? ;)
The thesis process was a good one, overall. I know that most Chinese medicine students don’t have to produce something like a thesis – opting instead to do a final project or something of that nature. If you would have asked me six months ago what I thought about our writing a thesis, I would have given you a pretty negative answer. At that point, I was still pretty freaked out by the clinical aspect of things and I really felt like we should be focusing entirely on the clinic during our final year. I can still see the benefit and wisdom of that idea, but I think I’ve developed a different stance over the last months.
Our program at NCNM is a little different than most in that it expressly intends to develop people who are or can be scholars in the field as well as practitioners. While many great scholars come from programs all over the world, NCNM is the only one that I checked out that actively attempts to develop the scholarly spirit in its students. Now, of course this is not always successful. People come to the program for different reasons, only one of which is to develop that scholarly acumen. It was (and is) definitely a priority for me. Why?
I continue to feel that this is a critical time in the development of natural medicine, including Chinese medicine. Great practitioners are needed. I truly believe that there is a difference between a person who has dedicated their life to the embodiment of the principles underlying Chinese medicine and a person who sees it simply as a career choice or something interesting to do for now. The experience of opening one’s self to the medicine completely and seeing what happens is profoundly moving, profoundly changing. Truly great practitioners emerge from this process. The one-on-one patient-practitioner interactions that these practitioners engage in are doing great work for our medicine as a profession, one changed heart at a time.
However, we also need people who can do more than be practitioners, in my opinion. We need people who can go out into the community at large and talk about health, healing and living in harmony with nature. We need people who do not shy away from difficult conversations about our history and our future. We need people who can write, people who are willing to do cross-pollination between disciplines in an overt and publicly available way, people who aren’t afraid to put themselves out there. We need to develop a vibrant community of people who are practitioners but also thinkers, scholars – people who can engage in well researched, passionate and decently written discourse both internally and externally. While a particular educational program is not necessary for that (may great writers have no particular education), in my case it has been helpful.
I was reminded of how something longer than a blog post is written. Your reading always takes longer than you think it will. You need plenty of time to think about it, between reading and writing and revising and reading and writing and revising. You need time to talk things over with peers and advisors. You will always need to read it many more times than you think. You will always open more cans of worms than you close. You will always go through periods of doubt and despair, punctuated with honeymoons of wild elation. It takes time, it takes energy, and it is so worth it. So, I learned (or relearned) quite a bit.
I also rediscovered and refined my passion for Philosophy and opened my interest into a whole new realm. Somehow, all of this has really improved my love for our medicine and has enhanced my clinical practice. So, it’s good all around.
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Thesis aside – the majority of my time has been spent studying for, and taking, the NCAAOM board exams. I’ve successfully completed the foundations and biomedicine exams already. I found them to be much different from what I was expecting. I know I am not allowed to share much about my experience – but I’ll just say that I don’t think any commercially available study aid helped me…
I’ll talk about this more in my next post. I promise it will be soon. :)
Eric
Wellsphere Health Blogger Awards!
Hey everyone,
It’s time for another award competition! :) This one is on an interesting new health-focused website : Wellsphere. You may have noticed the badge I got for being a “top health blogger” in the sidebar on the right side of the screen. I think this site has a lot of promise – I really support efforts to combine social networking tools (like personal blogging, profiles, and subject focused message boards) with a focus on sharing health goals and information. I encourage you to sign up.
Do also feel free to vote for Deepest Health in the competition – it runs through January 15. You can do so by clicking on the graphic below or by visiting Deepesthealth.com and clicking on the graphic in the sidebar (scroll down until you find the badge talking about the awards).
Thanks everyone and if you’re on the West coast of the United States – enjoy this crazy weather! I’m snowed in!
Eric
Are contemporary diet plans compatible with Chinese medical theory?
No.
But, let’s discuss this further. I’ll be brief. Consider, say, Medifast. It’s popular among teenage girls and, apparently, some Chinese medicine students. Perusing the website, it seems like a perfectly reasonable diet plan. Things seem balanced, on the whole. Great, great.
Let me ask you a question – is there something wrong with a basic whole foods diet consisting of whole grains, legumes and/or lean organic animal products, vegetables and fruits? Maybe some exercise? In the form of gentle Qigong, Taiji, walks outside, hiking, playing team sports and the like? Are contemporary people so different from ancient people that we can’t engage in the same activities that they did and manage to stay fit?
No. No, no, no, no, NO.
Medifast, like many of these programs, has you eating the bulk of your foods in the form of highly processed proprietary products. These foods are Qi-less and likely damaging to the Spleen Qi. All the clinical data in the world can’t convince me that these diets make sense, at least not from a Chinese medical point of view. Now, is there anything in the Neijing that says, “Don’t eat Medifast meal replacement bars?” Well, no.
The fact of the matter is that food processed in the way that we know simply didn’t exist in Han dynasty or earlier. But it is clear in many passages throughout the Neijing indicate that food is the source of vitality. We also know through our own experience and reasoning that foods that are closer to their natural state feel more vital and nourish us more deeply. We also have the research of various modern institutes as well as the extensive work done by followers of Rudolf Steiner to help us understand the importance of vital foods more deeply. An excellent book to begin one’s search for a balanced, whole diet is Paul Pitchford’s Healing with Whole Foods.
Many people claim that these kinds of contemporary diets help modern people to be more moderate with their food intake. That may be true. Moderation is a good thing, but moderation should be combined with a whole foods diet and internally directed Qi invigorating activities. Moderation combined with processed crap, reliant on someone else to tell you how much is a good amount to eat is not going to get you very far, not for very long, and not without long-term consequences.
I can hear a few of you out there saying, “But it WORKS!” and “I’ve already lost 20 pounds!” Who cares? At what COST? Are you developing the internal resources necessary to live healthfully? What’s happening to your organ systems? To your Yang? To your Qi and Blood? I find it incredibly inconsistent to be a person who is entering into a field of holistic, functional medicine and NOT asking these questions. More than just asking the questions, I would expect any self-respecting Chinese medicine student to ask the questions, find relevant answers, and order their behavior accordingly. We are the future of healthcare and we have a responsibility to model a lifestyle that runs in accordance with the principles of our medicine.
If someone has asked these important questions and found answers, yet still engages in this kind of contemporary diet program – please do leave your thoughts in the comments. Everyone else, too. :)
Eric
Deepest Health Chinese Medicine Podcast Episode 12 : Interview with Dr. Arnaud Versluys LAc, PhD (Part 2 of 3)
I’m glad so many people enjoyed the first episode of this podcast interview with Dr. Arnaud Versluys LAc, PhD. The second part finds Dr. Versluys expanding on his definition of Classical Chinese medicine by discussing how one uses the Shang Han Lun in contemporary clinical practice, particularly concerning complex diseases typically seen in modern times. He also discusses the importance of specializing in a particular style of Chinese medicine and gives some advice to those of us seeking knowledge in this profession. I think you’ll really enjoy the information AND the audio quality – I think I finally got it right. :) Check it out at the bottom of this article!
If you missed the first part of the interview with Dr. Versluys you can find it here. For more background on the six conformations read the article linked here. I also encourage you to check out Dr. Versluys’ website, particularly the forums – a great place for discussing Canonical Chinese Medicine.
Dr. Versluys uses a few names that may be unfamiliar to listeners – I want to clarify these things for you. Li Dong Yuan is the author of The Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach (Pi Wei Lun)
and Jin Gui Yao Lue
I’ll release the final part of the interview early next week – it’s a short piece focusing specifically on the issue of herb substitution and the possibility of growing Chinese herbs in the United States. I hope you enjoy today’s podcast! As always, feel free to leave any comments – discussion is a great thing! :)
Eric
Herbal quality : the Fuzi (aconite) dilemma
As you all know, herbs are my passion. More accurately, formulas are my passion. Formula science is my passion! :) But, I do have a strong affinity for the herbs as plants and study them as such. Further, I have a real desire to get as close as possible to the original way of prescribing the herbs in formulas, where “original” means Han dynasty or thereabouts. If you read the Shang Han Lun, there are very specific instructions for how herbs are prepared and how they should be processed. Many of these instructions appear to be ignored in contemporary times, and I can only imagine that this is having some effect with regards to our herbal effectiveness.
However, even if we prescribe and prepare the herbs exactly as indicated it means nothing if the quality of the herbs is terrible. Recently, in a class at NCNM, a professor allowed us to taste Fuzi from different sources. We had three samples of bulk Fuzi. One was from a popular herb company, the second was from China, specially prepared in the traditional way at the instruction of Heiner Fruehauf. The third was raw Fuzi – unprepared – from China.
We were asked to observe how the herb tasted, its texture, and how it made us feel. The first batch was – depressing. It was brittle, soft, had almost no flavor and absolutely no bodily sensation resulted from tasting it. This is similar to what is found in many clinics. We tasted the second batch a few minutes later, the differences were striking! There was an almost immediate pungency and quite a bit of numbness on the tongue. This numbness continued for quite a while. We have been told by several professors that we want to find this quality in the Fuzi we prescribe to our patients – it indicates that the living potency of the herb is retained.
The best fun happened when we tasted (just a bit) of fresh Fuzi. Oh boy! My THROAT was numb after that one. You could really feel the medicinal quality – it was incredible. The only thing I could think after this little taste test was, “How can we get more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff?” The consensus seems to be that the best quality Fuzi is not available in the states or really anywhere in the West. Further, the recent earthquake in China apparently did great damage to the areas where much of the high quality Fuzi is produced – creating even greater shortages.
The quality of the initial herb is only part of the problem – processing is the next piece of the puzzle. Fresh Fuzi is often brined, and then treated in various ways. Reports have indicated that industrial chemicals and harsh processes are used in the preparation of lots of commercial Fuzi. At the very least, you can tell that much of what’s available from the major herb companies is wildly over-brined. The brining process reduces the toxicity of the herb – but we have to remember that the “toxicity” of herbs (usually produced by alkaloid content) is a large part of why it is clinically effective! Skilled herbalists know how to exploit the positive nature of the herb while minimizing the potential for harm from the strong compounds contained within. When we overprocess herbs, we don’t do anyone any favors.
How can we, in the contemporary West, make up for these various deficiencies? How can we prescribe herbs in the way they are meant to be prescribed – full of their vital force and particular benefits? How can we know if an herb has been processed appropriately? These questions can easily be added to the ones I’ve had about using local species and other related conversations on Deepest Health. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about this important issue. Please voice your thoughts and share your research with us in the comments! No registration is necessary.
Eric
What am I up to?
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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
