Deepest Health Chinese Medicine Podcast : Episode 10 : End of term clinical reflections
Welcome to another Episode of the Deepest Health Podcast! In this episode, I discuss my reflections as I come to the end of my first term/quarter in clinic at NCNM. I reiterate the importance of memorization and excellent patient care, but then go in a philosophical direction on a couple of topics. First, I discuss my experience of being able to separate the disease from the person experiencing the disease. Second, I talk about the paradoxical reactions of some patients to treatment. I wrap up the podcast by a discussion of utilizing our many human gifts, referring often to the quintissential “Renaissance Man,” Leonardo da Vinci.
In the podcast, I reference a blog - but cannot remember the name of the blog, so cannot link to the post that inspired my da Vinci explorations. If you, for some strange reason, know what I’m talking about - let me know and I’ll link it. I also reference a book I’m currently reading about da Vinci and the practices one might take from his life. You can click on the link below to check it out.
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Tags: clinic, memorization, ncnm, patient care, PodcastRelated posts
Deepest Health Chinese Medicine Podcast Episode 3 : The power of self cultivation
Hey everyone,
It’s Friday and time for another podcast. I’m hoping to invest in some equipment to make the podcast a little more refined in the future, but for now I hope things sound alright. This week I discuss the power of self-cultivation for Chinese medicine (and all) physicians. I also discuss why I think it’s so important to care for our patients from the time they step in the clinic door until the time that they leave. I ramble a bit, but hopefully it’s endearing and not annoying. ;) This one weighs in at about 20 minutes and almost 30MB. The podcasting software that I have been using needs updating, so you may see some changes in the way that the podcast is displayed in the relatively near future.
Some links I discuss in the podcast:
- My beloved alma mater : NCNM
- Some articles of my own that I mention:
- Website of Heiner Fruehauf, founding professor of the Classical Chinese Medicine department at NCNM
Please click on the player below to hear the podcast, you should also be able to right click and download it or - NEW! - download it via iTunes! Please let me know if you have any technical issues and I can help you troubleshoot.
Deepest Health Chinese Medicine podcast : Episode 3 [20:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (132)Thanks as always,
Eric
Tags: Acupuncture, Blogging, clinic, Cultivation, heiner fruehauf, meditation, ncnm, Podcast, QiGong, Student LifeRelated posts
7 Ways to Keep Focused on a Lifelong Journey
Today, I truly start my experience as a practitioner of Classical Chinese Medicine. It’s my first shift at Pettygrove Classical Chinese Medicine clinic in Portland. I have the honor of learning from David Berkshire, LAc - a local practitioner who specializes in a variation of Worsley style five element acupuncture. I have been excited about this for a long time. At the same time, I’ve been anxious about my abilities and worried that I’ll do something horribly wrong! :) Also, as I enter Year 4 of this medical training, I am beginning to feel a little fatigued.
My situation is familiar to many of you. Anything worth doing takes time. This medicine is complex and worth working on for a while. Nonetheless, I have a family and a life and hopes and aspirations and sometimes I’d like to just get on with it. :) Regardless of your profession or stage in life, I think you can appreciate this sentiment and the situation that inspired it. Consider this got me thinking about how to keep energized when the road before one is long and potentially bumpy. I figured I’d share my thoughts with you. Please share your reactions and your own words of wisdom in the comments.
1. Inspiring literature : One of the easiest ways I have found to stay focused is to maintain a small library of books that easily inspire me. For my part, I choose writing that is closely related to Classical Chinese Medicine. A partial list of my “inspiration library” reveals:
- Dao De Jing
(Star Version)
- Huangdi Neijing
- Learning to be a Sage
- Notes from classes taught by Arnaud Versluys, Heiner Fruehauf and others
- The Web of Life
- Wholeness of Nature
2. Old journals/writing : I’m not super reliable in my journal writing, but it is consistent enough that I can read back through and get a sense for where I was in the recent and distant past. It is helpful for two reasons. First, I can see how far I’ve come and become energized by my progress. Second, I can sample my youthful (!) enthusiasm and use that to propel me through.
3. Go back to the source : Everyone came to their profession/topic for a different reason. When I get a little distant from my passion, I just think back to what motivated me in the first place. For me, the essence is twofold. First, I love the Classical Chinese way of thinking about human beings and the natural environment we live in. Also, a deep desire to be part of a profession that demands of me total integrity and closeness to nature has always been part of my driving force. To revisit these, I need to simply sit in a beautiful place (Portland abounds with them) and consider those things. I might spend 20 minutes considering the interplay of Yin and Yang in everything around me. Alternatively, I might vision the kind of practitioner I see myself being.
4. Talk to people further along on the path : Talking to experienced Chinese medicine physicians goes a long way in keeping me energized. When I am privileged to hear someone like Heiner Fruehauf talk about his method of treating patients and the beauty of those interactions, I feel renewed. When I make time to talk with my friend Abdallah B. Stickley about his prolific and inspired practice, I am buoyed. It’s also been helpful shadowing with some of the recently graduated interns during their rotations - watching the effortless way they interact with patients and wield the needles helps calm my fears and excite me about my future.
5. Talk to people further back on the path : Nothing gets me going quicker than talking to folks new to the field of Classical Chinese Medicine. It’s one of the reasons I love being associated with an institution of higher education. Every year, new students come in - full of enthusiasm and wonder. It lightens the heart and makes me forget my worries about my future or my irritation with the present. At NCNM, we have a mentoring program where older students take on the responsibility for helping out new students. That has certainly been a good experience.
6. Brainstorming : Sometimes none of the above seems to work. So, I start mindmapping. I’ll put my central concern or question in the center of the page and just start working from there. For instance, I might put the question, “Why become a physician?” in the center of my page. From there I let the ideas flow. “To have the privilege of accompanying fellow human beings on their path through life,” “To alleviate suffering in those who need it,” “To get paid to consciously work with my own energy,” and the list goes on. From there I often get sparked to think of my chosen profession in new ways. In fact, many of my blog articles come from brainstorming sessions like that one.
7. Spiritual practice : Certainly there is nothing better to align me with my purpose as a student of Classical Chinese Medicine than my spiritual practice. Whatever tradition (or no-tradition) you come from, simply dwelling in that place of spirit can deeply nourish every part of your life. I find that when I am doing meditation, prayer, Qigong and reading sacred texts, peacefulness about my path comes without my forcing it. If I sat down to meditate with worries on my mind or heaviness in my heart, I scarcely remember it when I stand back up.
Tags: clinic, Learning, ncnmRelated posts
Taking it all in: Buddhist practice and Chinese medicine school
I’ve been struggling for the past couple of weeks. I’ve gone through the range of responses to my difficulty, mostly hovering in the realm of “just keep moving” which seems to work for me. The fact is that since I began Chinese medicine school at National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) I’ve gone through periods of difficulty. Some of them come with warning - I am asked to interact directly with something challenging for me - but mostly they sneak up and don’t give much explanation as to their origins. This time has been one of those latter types. Finals week was hard. I mean, medical school is supposed to be hard, right? True, this finals week was particularly difficult. It reached deep and it wouldn’t let go, even with a very relaxing Spring break. But, somehow, this isn’t enough of an explanation for the kind of existential weirdness I’ve been experiencing.
Well, most of these things come on quickly and without much fanfare and leave much the same way. This time it broke open gently, slowly, and not all at once. In fact, there are some stubborn bits that refuse to go. But the breaking open has released some articles that I’m going to write all in one sitting and release over the week. They may represent something of a departure from my regular musings, but I hope they will be helpful to you nonetheless. The first, this one, is probably the most important for me to get out. So pay attention, will you? And let me know how it goes.
A short time ago, I was reading the Shambhala Sun,a wonderful Buddhist publication for anyone (not just Buddhists), and was struck by an article by noted Buddhist author Sylvia Boorstein. The article discusses the Divine Abodes, an element of the Buddhist explanation of reality that centers on particular states of consciousness that are (in part) an antidote to some pretty common negative emotional states of human beings. The Divine Abodes can be translated as (1) equanimity (2) impartial goodwill (3) spontaneous compassion and (4) genuine appreciation. The article discusses these states of consciousness in a very approachable manner and I learned a lot from it, but that wasn’t really moved me.
I was particularly interested in the simple explanation Boorstein gives of one of the primary insights of Buddhism. That is that situations, in and of themselves, have no inherent nature. My sitting in this coffee shop writing an article cannot, in a sense, MAKE me feel one way or another. I may have various reactions to being here (the basics being positive, negative and neutral) and those reactions are ok, but they can cause problems. For instance, if I enjoy it very much my clinging mind may start scheming to find a way to retain the experience and, knowing that I have to be somewhere in 45 minutes, I may begin to suffer the negative effects of knowing that this, too, shall pass. Boorstein talks in easy prose about her lived experience as a person observing her own reactions to various stimuli and finding equanimity within these situations. Equanimity allows us to experience all situations in such a way that we do not suffer from them, though we may still (of course) feel pain, pleasure or indifference in response to particular stimuli.
What does this have to do with Chinese medicine? Well, plenty. As I mulled over this article, I realized how important its insights are for students. In every educational program, we have classes that move us tremendously, others that we don’t really care one way or another about, and others that we actively dislike. When I am in a class that I love, I feel inspired and excited and I’m so reluctant to leave! This is particularly the case if I have a class that I don’t prefer soon afterwards. In fact, wonderful classes negatively impact my experience of classes that are less interesting to me. When I’m in a class I don’t prefer, I find myself not really taking in the information and - indeed - not even really being IN the class. I disconnect. I suffer in response to considering having to go to that class in the future. All of this dramatic running towards and running away serves no purpose but the stroking of my own ego - my steadfast resolve that I know what is good or valuable and what is bad or worthless. It detaches me from my lived experience and probably robs me of a great education.
So, I’ve begun trying to cultivate equanimity in class. When I say “try” I really just mean that whenever I notice my state moving in the direction of overt negativity, overt positivity or obvious indifference, I try to come back to being in that moment. What’s going on around me? What is my body sensing? What is the professor saying? Where is my breath? In this way, I had the best pharmacology class EVER today. The danger, of course, is that I become so interested in so many things that I don’t know what to focus on! :D But, there’s no rush and no aching need to spend every waking moment in pursuit of knowledge when my state is one of equanimity - so hopefully no danger there.
I realize I may not be communicating this absolutely clearly, but I hope the essence is coming across. I think this kind of state might be quite helpful in a clinical situation as well. It’s really just a variation on the old exclamation, “BE HERE NOW!” I’d be interested in hearing others’ thoughts in the comments.
Eric
Tags: buddhism, Cultivation, education, Learning, ncnm, Personal Development, Student Life, students, studyRelated posts
Questions for the ancients
I’m part of the student government association at NCNM in Portland, OR and I am currently working on creating a scholarship for Classical Chinese Medicine students at our institution. The SGA funded the scholarship and now I’m just working on logistics. Part of the scholarship application will involve students answering a question - with the best answer (as judged by a panel of students) getting the nod for the award. Anyway, as I was brainstorming potential questions I became lost in thought at my potential answer to one. I thought I would pose it to you, my readers.
If you could ask three questions of any ancient scholar of Chinese medicine, who would it be, why, and what would your three questions be?
For me, it would definitely be Zhang Zhong Jing. I know that in ten years time I will have much more insightful questions, but right now my questions would be:
1. To what extent did you base your work on the Neijing and Tang Ye Jing?
2. What’s up with Wu Zhu Yu Tang? I mean, seriously.
3. Are there any diseases you feel can’t be treated by what you present in the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui? If so, what are they and why can’t they be treated by the formulas and procedures set out in those books?
As a bonus, I would ask him if he has an intact copy of the Tang Ye Jing and, if so, if I can have it. :D
Post your questions in the comments.
Eric
Tags: ancient scholars, books, chinese-herbs, Classical Texts (general), classical-chinese-medicine, formulas, Learning, ncnm, Portland, scholar, scholarship application, shang-han-lun, student government association, tang-ye-jing, Zhang Zhong Jing
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