Shameless self promotion?
This Saturday’s links are, perhaps, a bit self serving. I hope you won’t think it’s too much - but if you do, I apologize. I just started two new blogs that I hope you will be interested in reading. They are both just brand new - like a baby still covered in various tissues, squinty eyed, bright red and squalling. The designs are fairly stable, but the sidebars will get more complex and certainly lots of new free content will be added over the next several months. Remember how fun it was a the beginning of Deepest Health? No? Well - get in on these while the fun is still building. :)
1. Naturalmedicinesuccess.com : This blog has multiple purposes. At base, it will be a blow-by-blow chronicle of the building of my medical practice with my partner, Amanda Barp LMT. We will take you through our process from nascent vision statement to opening day and beyond. Along the way, we hope to offer tons of value. We’ll do reviews : of herb and other types of companies, of software and hardware, of organizations, of anything that warrants a review. We’ll do interviews : of prominent business people in the field of natural medicine, of folks in various companies in natural medicine, of our peers who are struggling to do what we’re doing, and so on. We’ll tell stories : of the adventure that is working with your spouse, of the even greater adventure that is integrating your whole immediate family into one’s business, of interacting with patients (confidentiality preserved, of course), peers, vendors and official persons of all stripes. We’ll offer our take on the best of the best and the worst of the worst. We may have other folks joining us in the writing as well. I think it will be a great read for beginning entrepreneurs in any field but the particular bent will be, of course, natural medicine - since that’s what we’re doing.
2. Ericgrey.com : It’s time for me, finally, to have a personal site. There’s just so much I do that has little to do directly with Chinese medicine. I want to keep Deepest Health as focused on Chinese medicine and the things it directly connects with in my mind. I hope you appreciate that. Ericgrey.com will be far more personal, and it is the one of the two that you may be less interested in as Deepest Health readers. No offense taken, I promise. I’ll talk about a variety of subjects, but because of the nature of my life I will almost certainly focus primarily on the following topics:
- My eclectic spiritual practice (that takes Christianity as its base but involves Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism)
- Veganism and raising a vegan family in a wacky, wacky world
- Personal development, including personal organization and various technology involved
- Raising a conscious and compassionate kid (again, in a wacky, wacky world)
I reserve the right to go off-topic there. It’s mine, ok? :D
Okay, so I owe it to you to put a non-me link in the list. :)
3. I’m not sure how many of you know Steve Pavlina. I acutally read most of Steve’s stuff before I started Deepest Health, so I may not have talked about him much on this site. Steve has nothing to do with Chinese medicine, but his personal development philosophy (focused on love, compassion, and clear thinking) certainly resonates with many of the principles of the medicine. I’ve linked specifically to a great month of his blog archives - nearly every article is a winner. He has an extensive archive - I recommend you read through the first two years in particular. Great, great stuff. Very helpful for practitioner development.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
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Tags: Blogging, Business, eric grey, fun, internet, links, Personal Development, vegan, veganismRelated posts
Compassion as the driving force of Classical Chinese Medicine practice
A while ago, I began a series of posts designed to describe my experiences with Dr. Liu Lihong, renown Classical Chinese Medicine clinician and scholar. He visited NCNM in Portland just about a month ago, delivering powerful lectures and teaching us all with grace and simplicity. Many folks have asked me to share what he had to say about the Fire Spirit school of Chinese herbalism, a school that takes the use of Fu Zi (aconite) and Gui Zhi (cinnamon) to be its guiding methods. Unfortunately, I didn’t take written notes - only a recording - and it is taking me some time to transcribe. It may have to wait until school is out in a couple of weeks, when I have time between clinic shifts.
The truth of the matter is that the most powerful information that Dr. Liu gave us really had nothing to do with the practicalities of herbal formulations. I would like to share what I learned about a lecture he gave in our Medical ethics class about compassion in Classical Chinese Medical practice. I will soon share more of what I learned from this contemporary master of our medicine.
Medicine as the Bodhisattva way
Dr. Liu started out by talking about the concept of a Bodhisattva in Buddhism. In my reading, I have discovered that not everyone agrees on the definition of this concept. A basic understanding of Bodhisattva reveals a being who is either enlightened or well on their way who decides to hold off Nirvana in order to help other human beings reach enlightenment. By this definition, they embody the purest compassion and service to humanity. Certainly a noble goal for anyone, particularly a physician.
Dr. Liu wanted to help us understand what it would mean to live as a Bodhisattva. He explained that for him living this principle in daily life certainly involves living life to its fullest while striving to deeper understanding of what it means to be alive. Living a full life was explained to involve coming to a state of balance in health both in body and in the emotions. That way both Xing (form) and Shen (spirit) will be unified and harmonious. This allows us to be a great resource of inspiration for our patients while also allowing us the ability to walk our path with strength and purpose.
How do we do accomplish this task? By following the guiding hands of the ancients. 文化 (Wen Hua) is a Chinese term that’s something like “culture.” Dr. Liu related to us that the deep meaning of the term encompasses more than what the normal American interpretation might reveal. It isn’t just a collection of wheres and whens and whats, but a body of knowledge produced by great people that can be used for transformation of human lives. The study of culture and cultural artifacts, like the Classical Chinese texts, is more than an empty academic exercise. Or, at least, it should be.
The ancient texts, like those written by Kongzi (Confucius) are part of the Wen Hua that we can use in our quest to follow the Bodhisattva way. It isn’t important that we analyze the texts in an analytical manner. The important thing is that through our study of the texts, we allow them to Hua - to transform us. I think I understand from what Dr. Liu was saying that he believes Chinese medicine knowledge is this way as well. Many of us know a person who has nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Classical texts or Zangfu differentiation or herbs or acupuncture, yet remain a mean-spirited and uninspired person. This is a waste of the information.
So, our goal should be to allow what we are learning to transform us. Our program at NCNM, I believe, really takes this matter to heart. The whole first year is all about breaking you open to receive the teachings fully. It’s a tulmultuous year for many. My experience was truly a birth process. I felt the pain and the subsequent release of that pain only to be shot into an unknown world that is both breathtaking and a little frightening! On the other hand, these last two years have been a lot of information, taking it in and trying to figure out how to use it. I feel that it would be easy to become obsessed with the consumption and reproduction of information, forgetting to be transformed. Now that I look closely at the next three weeks, I realize that it is another birthing process. Our finals are pretty laid back and my mind and spirit naturally turn to cultivation. I find myself wanting to do Qigong, wanting to spend time in nature, wanting to read texts that inspire me. I find myself reading back over my first year notes, reconnecting to the symbolism we were steeped so heavily in during our first year.
Words to live by
I realize the truth of what Dr. Liu was teaching us as I’ve described above. But, there was more. After talking to us about the process by which we can get closer to enlightened awareness, and the purpose of that in turning us into superior physicians, he let us in on what he believed to be the highest truth of the Way of the Bodhisattva. It’s a simple statement, echoed through many cultures in one form or another. In this instantiation, it is expressed in a slightly different form than most Westerners are used to - by Kongzi (Confucius):
子曰、其恕乎、己所 不欲、勿施於人
Zǐyuē, qí shù hū, jǐ suǒ bù yù, wù shī yú rén
The master said, it’s perhaps “Shu”, do not place upon others what you would not have placed upon yourself.
I acknowledge my translation could use work. :) But, you get the point. It’s another statement of the Golden Rule - in this negative form sometimes called the “Silver Rule.” Important within it is the character 恕 Shu. This character is composed of three radicals. On the bottom, we have the Heart. Above that on the left we have the radical for Woman and on the right the Mouth radical. So, “Shu” is something like a woman speaking her heart. Or the kind of speech that comes from the strength of a woman’s heart. Opposed to this elsewhere is the character for anger, 怒 Nu, which looks very similar. The only difference is the upper right radical which is a picture of a hand. The woman radical and the hand radical together as a character by themselves means “slave.” So, anger is when your heart is enslaved. We can look at this in an external way - as when someone is somehow preventing us from living our heart’s desire. But, Dr. Liu asked us to look at it differently. Anger is, he suggested, like not having a master within yourself - when one loses control. Shu is an antidote to this - it is living out our heart’s greatest desires, our heart’s purest desires. This gives us ultimate freedom and it allows us to arrive at our true nature which is always productive of behavior in line with the “Golden Rule” as listed above.
Perhaps you’re not sure what this has to do with Chinese medicine, but for me it was clear.
- To achieve mastery in medicine, we must not only learn from the Classical texts and the wisdom of our teachers, but also allow this information to transform us on a deep level.
- This transformation will be on many levels. Physically, we will “follow our own advice” and live in accordance with the ways that our teachers lay out for us. Emotionally and spiritually, we will walk the path of the Boddhisattva.
- This path is one that brings us into line with Shu - opening to our true nature through living the truth of our heart. This in part involves, and is productive of, behavior in line with the Golden rule.
- This Golden rule indicates that we should treat others as we treat ourselves, or that we should not do to others what we would not have done to ourselves.
- In some sense, all of this tells us to polish ourselves into the kind of doctors that can serve as great examples for our patients. But, we must also allow our patients to be a mirror for us - when we gaze into that mirror we must always be asking ourselves if we are treating our patients as we would want to be treated in similar circumstances.
I’d be interested to hear what you think about this in the comments.
Eric
Tags: buddhism, Classical Texts (general), Personal Development, professional-development, study, studying.-confucianismRelated 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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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
How would a sage care for the planet?
April has already begun and I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about the habit I would like to develop in pursuit of a more sagely existence. First, let’s recap what was said in the inaugural Year of Sagely Living post:
April - Large Intestine, Mao 卯 (Rabbit) - Care of the planet/consumption: This category will contain practices that develop us into compassionate and sane consumers, while helping to develop our deep relationship with the natural world. Why this pairing? April is a time when we can see the beauty of nature all around us, so is a great time to contemplate our dependence on it and responsibility towards it. Also, the negative side of LI/Rabbit is a tendency to run rough-shod over the needs and wants of others, these practices will seek to counterbalance this.
My lifestyle is already very much concerned with what I would call “compassionate consumerism,” which is to say that I consider the human and non-human ramifications of my actions every time I buy, consume or discard something. I recycle about 20 times more than I throw away, my version of whole-foods veganism lives lightly on the planet, I use my own two feet and public transportation most of the time, so on and so forth. Looking for a way to leave the planet in better shape than I found it has been a sort of part-time job of mine. So, figuring out an excellent practice for April’s Year of Sagely Living both had more weight and seemed more challenging.
At the end of March, I really took some time to review the whole Year of Sagely Living project. I have a passion for personal development, and my thoughts and actions naturally tend in this direction. However, “regular” personal development is not what my schooling, future career, and this blog are really about! The point is to look at categories of practice that seem to be aligned with the essence of Chinese medical philosophy, live by them, and analyze the results. The hypothesis is that these practices, particularly when they are very deeply rooted in Chinese medical philosophy, will be productive of excellent human beings. What I’m getting to here is that I want to be sure that I stay connected to the aim of reaching back to the ancient wisdom.
So, when considering my April YSL goal, I really tried to consider what kind of practice I could do that would bring me in line with the overall aim of the project. I’ve decided, with my family, to try to grow as much of our produce as possible in our backyard. I have been trying for a long time to develop the habit of growing food. We have beautiful houseplants and have managed to grow some excellent flowers, shrubs and trees in our yard. We have several fruit trees, raspberry bushes, and now a strawberry patch. We have had a container garden on our back stoop for two years running that was mildly successful. Now we have the space and the desire to really make a push and create a beautiful, bountiful space to provide our fruit and vegetable needs and we should use it.
This goal is ideal in a number of respects. First, it really brings us into line with our desire to buy the majority of our food locally. We shop at our local coop which has this goal as one of its goals, so we generally eat food that comes from pretty close to home. However, growing it in our yard would take that to another level. Eating locally is one of the greatest things you can do to reduce your environmental impact, as it reduces theamounto of petroleum used to get you the things you eat. It has a number of residual benefits as well, such as strengthening the local economy. We are making an attempt to make this even more petroleum-neutral by using public transportation when we can to get things for our garden, sharing some supplies (and their transportation) with a garden-savvy friend, etc…
Another reason why this goal is ideal for the YSL is that it connects the two vital practices of interacting with nature and ensuring the viability of our ecosphere. Chinese medicine has nature observation and contemplation at its root. Watching the cycle of growth, death, and rebirth will certainly deepen my understanding of this root. Third, there are a number of health benefits involved in growing a significant portion of our food. Micro-agriculture seems to yield more Qi-laden veggies, having lots of veggies around will promote us to eat them more often and the work itself (when done mindfully) can be tremendously good exercise. Finally, I really believe that interacting with nature on this level will confer some spiritual benefits - improving my general level of personal cultivation.
Some details:
- We will be growing the following: two kinds of kale, two kinds of chard, two kinds of lettuce, lots of tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, summer squash, delicata squash, cucumbers, spicy peppers, chicory, carrots, fennel, basil, oregano and maybe a couple of other herbs. I will be seeking out Chinese herbs to grow as well. I know our local Classical Chinese Garden sometimes has plant sales.
- We will be using all organic soil amendments and pest control.
- We will not be using any machines in creation of the garden.
- We will be using heirloom varieties whenever possible, open pollinated.
- We will be using raised beds created from recycled wood (left in our yard by the landlord) or FCS certified wood
I will discuss the particulars of my experience and probably even find a way to post pictures of the garden as it grows. This will obviously be more than a month, but I will use my Year of Sagely Living intensity to really engage in the process of setting up the garden and getting it in the ground and then do periodic reports as time goes on. I can’t wait to hear about other people’s April Year of Sagely Living goals!
Eric
Tags: chinese-herb, chinese-herbs, environment, environmentalism, garden, habits, nature, organic, Personal Development, Year of Sagely Living
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