Simple solution to a complicated study problem
In the post I wrote recently about transitioning to a more self-motivated form of studying, I presented a fairly complicated problem. When you leave the comfy confines of rigorous acaemic life, it becomes difficult to keep focused on scholarly achievement. Okay, that sounds simple. Really, it isn’t. It’s complicated by a whole host of life factors, personal habits and actual needs. I started to work my way through the problem, and ended up a bit more confused than I started out, as friend and blogger G. Michael Reynolds probably could have predicted. :)
Ultimately, the issue is that I’m pretty good at figuring out what’s wrong but not so fantastic at finding solutions. Sometimes. When I do find solutions, I’m sometimes a little dense when it comes to implementing those solutions. But, this blog is - in part - about solutions! What a conundrum. So this is a short post to indicate that I’m trying a new solution for my vexing problem.
For the next eight weeks (until school at NCNM starts back up and things change) I’m going to study for an hour every morning, right after my Qigong practice. It’s only an hour, what harm can it do? This doesn’t mean I’ll never study more than that - but it does mean I won’t feel bad for not doing so. Why only an hour? Well, I’ve got several other obligatory hours in my day and it’s also an amount of time I can fit into even the busiest days in my schedule. An hour also seems to be the minimum amount of time I can study and actually get something out of it.
For this simple study method, I’m going to be dividing my work into fourteen subsections (okay, so maybe it gets a little complicated - but actually just so it gets easy again):
- Acupuncture Points
- Section 1 : locations and cautions
- Section 2 : categories and relationships
- Section 3 : basic (tcm) and advanced (ccm) functions
- Section 4 : important combinations
- Chinese herbs
- Section 5 : single herbs - basic set, wei (flavor) and qi (temperature) both according to TCM and according to the Shennong Ben Cao Jing
- Section 6 : single herbs - advanced set, which basically includes all the herbs we need for the board exam but haven’t learned yet
- Section 7 : formulas - formula names (english and chinese), herbs included, dosages
- Section 8 : formulas - associated pulses (tcm and arnaud)
- Section 9 : formulas - basic and advanced functions
- Chinese medical symbolism and pathology
- Section 10 : symbolism - twelve organ networks and all associated symbolism
- Section 11 : TCM/Zangfu basic physiology and pathology
- Section 12 : The Liuqi (Six conformations)
- Section 13 : Five element physiology/pathology and the 19 Lines of pathology (Neijing)
- Section 14 : Cancer (research project)
Is there other stuff to learn? Sure, but this is the stuff that’s the most important to me right now. I’ve taken all of my notes (electronic and paper) and flashcards and put them in stacks. Obviously the electronic and paper-based information resides in different places. Every day after Qigong, I’ll sit down, pick up a stack and go for it. That means I’ll get through the entire cycle of section 4 times. I’ll report back how it goes. If you have a method for studying such a diverse amount of material in a systematic and effective way, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Anyone? Anyone?
Eric
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Tags: chinese-medicine, erics-habits, scholar, Student Life, study, studyingRelated 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
Chinese Medicine Podcast - Episode 2 : Visualizing my way to Chinese Medicine clinical success?
Hey everyone,
Here’s my second try at a podcast. It’s just over 16 minutes long. As I get better and have more to offer, they will probably get longer. Interviews/conversations will most certainly be longer - though I might break them up into pieces for easier listening. I am trying to get a little better at this each time - I may have to buy another mike to improve production quality. I’m hoping to get some interviews and conversations up soon - it just takes time to arrange. Again, if you have an idea for a podcast subject, someone you would like to see interviewed, or questions you think I can answer - let me know in the comments. Click on the player at the end of the page to listen. RSS readers will need to surf to the site, using the enclosed link (please just surf to the site if you don’t see a download link).
Deepest Health Chinese Medicine podcast : Episode 2 [16:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (38)In this podcast, I discuss:
1. My clinical experience thus far: difficulties and excitement
2. How I use visualization as a way to learn to be more effective and efficient in clinic
3. A few questions I have about clinical practice
4. The new blog I’m launching in the next couple of weeks
As always, thanks for reading/listening and watch for more great content soon. :) I’m submitting to iTunes this week, so you should be able to find me in the podcast directory shortly.
Eric
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Tags: clinic, Learning, Podcast, Student Life, visualizationRelated posts
How to make the transition from forced study to self-motivated study
Now that I am in my fourth year of schooling in Classical Chinese Medicine, the “academic” pressures lessen in a number of ways. We have a few classes outside of clinic, but they are not academically rigorous in the way that Acupuncture points and Herbal formulas classes were. Our focus now is clinic and our Chinese medicine focused thesis. The latter is, of course, academic - but it’s a very different thing to write a thesis than to study for and take an exam. Since the end of last term, I’ve been struggling to figure out whether and how much - but most of all HOW - to study without the pressure of exams.
Some of you may wonder - if no exams, why study? Every shift, I find things that I’ve forgotten or don’t know. Every shift I realize the importance of having key information readily available in the mind. Every shift I realize that while I know some, I *don’t* know even more. By the end of my first shift I realized that this summer is going to be a time of profound transformation as well as intense study. So, I’ve devised a plan and have been determining how I can dive even more deeply into the material.
There seem to be three key problems:
1. No regular testing to act as carrot and stick leading me forward.
2. Clinic and thesis to balance with other kinds of study.
3. Lack of confidence in what I need to be studying because I don’t have anyone helping me to understand where I should apply my focus.
Solutions for Problem 1 : No regular testing - the need for the carrot and the stick
Even the most engaged student sometimes will need some help to get motivated. It’s probably an artifact of our No-Child-Left-Behind like culture of education, but testing often serves as a motivational force for people. The carrot has many facets. There is the feeling of a job well done, the praise or relationship development with your instructor, the admiration of your colleagues (!), advancement to higher levels of learning, possible scholarship benefits and so on. The stick likewise has many aspects, most of which are simply the reverse of the “carrot” features above. No one can deny that, regardless of your dedication and internal sense of motivation, we are all motivated to some extent by the carrot and stick approach.
However, I’ve always maintained that in the practice of medicine and similar fields, things are different. When I studied Philosophy, it was crucial that I remember key points, that I be able to build an appropriate argument, see flaws in logic, etc… I had to learn the material that I was studying, sure. But, noone’s health and wellbeing was going to be impacted by how well (or not) I learned various arguments for the existence of God. Nobody’s ability to run around and play with their kids rested on my ability to memorize 42 logical fallacies and their refutation.
In my study of Chinese medicine, every sentence uttered by an instructor could be the key that unlocks a pathological process in a patient. Each formula I memorize takes me one step closer to being able to quickly and elegantly devise a perfect treatment for someone who comes to our clinic. I don’t allow that to stifle me, I also don’t have the arrogance to think that my treatment is going to be what is “saving” or “fixing” people. But, I do see a greater human significance in what I’m studying now compared to everything I have studied before.
I suppose one could see all that I’ve just said as a further instantiation of the carrot and stick - but I think it’s more than that. There’s also the fact that the vast majority of what I’m learning fits into a system of knowledge that is more than it seems. It’s a method of living (see - year of Sagely living), it’s a system for rearranging myself spiritually, for learning to interact more appropriately with the world…
What does this have to do with lack of motivation? Well, here are three tools I use to keep me motivated despite the lack of testing. I’m going to word these in such a way that I feel they can be applied to folks studying pretty much any subject that has a practical application in a similar way to medicine.
1. Get clinical/practical
Though I’m not being tested in the traditional sense right now, every clinic shift is a test. Will I understand how to fit the symptoms and signs into a pattern I can understand, will I be able to come up with at least a few points that would help the person, can I think of a decent formula to send them home with? In some way, this kind of testing is even more intense than the stuff that involves pen, paper and a ticking clock in the background. So, I dive as deeply as I can into the practical applications of what I am learning. Further, I realize that when I leave the site of that practical application, there’s still work to be done. After clinic shifts, I review the cases, analyze the formulas, consider alternative points and herbs, imagine future treatments, investigate the person’s Western diagnoses and prescriptions and so on. This is the real stuff. At first it seemed intimidating. But now, it’s just plain exciting.
Even more importantly, I remember that I’m dealing with human lives as I discussed above. What I’m learning, and how well I learn it, matters. That’s tremendously motivational.
2. Understand what it does for you, personally
Most true professions are meant to shape the professional. You don’t become a lawyer without examining your own life and embodying some kind of lawyer-ness. Perhaps in the law case it would manifest in becoming very cognizant of how the law relates to you personally, learning about historical figures in the field of law and emulating them and generally making yourself into the kind of person who is a great lawyer (and also a lawyer who is a great person). Of course, not all professions reach this lofty goal and even fewer people actually take this seriously.
In Chinese medicine, as I’ve discussed before, this is actually CRUCIAL. Self-cultivating and letting the medicine become part of us isn’t just icing on the cake - it’s the cake. What I’ve been doing is seeing how not studying this material has really been impacting me in larger ways. I’m less likely to do my Qigong and other exercise, I’m less likely to eat well, I’m less likely to adhere to my spiritual discipline, I become a vaguely irritated person in general. Observing this in myself has helped me to understand the deep transformation that this medicine is creating in me. So, as a solution to the lack of motivation, I focus on the many ways that study of Chinese medicine improves me as a person.
I have created a list of five main areas that are significantly improved when I engage deeply with Chinese medicine study. I have created an “ultimate” goal for each of these, with mini-goals that act as signposts along the way. I review these at the beginning and end of each day and allow myself to meditate on each for a couple of minutes. This helps recharge me on a very deep level. Quickly, as an example:
One of my “areas” is that of my physical health and well-being. My “ultimate goal” is to be at my ideal weight, with specific strength goals that are measurable and to have an abiding sense of buoyant energy throughout my day. One of my mini goals is a specific weight and body fat number, another is that I wake reliably at 5am with minimal grogginess. I review these each morning when I wake (not always at 5am!!!) and when I go to sleep at night. I allow myself to think about how my Chinese medicine study reinforces these goals (by helping me learn more about the human body, by learning about my place in the macrocosm, by deepening me in a vigorous Qigong practice, etc…) and how my doing these things reinforces my Chinese medicine study (by giving me more energy and ability to focus, by helping to ensure vigor into my elderly years, etc…) It’s been a profound practice.
3. Less desirable solution - focus on bigger carrots and sticks
Obviously, there are always carrots and sticks that we can use for external motivation. The most persistent looming for me is my board exams. I will be taking these throughout my fourth year and in the summer afterward. It’s never too early to study for these exams and they can provide me with a basic structure. I don’t feel that this is an ideal way to motivate myself, but sometimes it’s the only thing that works. Certainly even post-licensure there may be similar external motivators. Perhaps you could mention a few in the comments?
—
There are two more problems I’d like to look at, as described above. First, the issue of balancing study with thesis/clinical work. Second, dealing with the lack of confidence that I’m studying the correct things. I’ll discuss these in a separate post to be released soon. Please also expect another podcast this week - I’m hoping to work on my production and general quality of the podcast. If you have any ideas for what I should discuss, let me know in the comments!
Eric
Tags: chinese-medicine, Student Life, study-methods, studyingRelated 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, study
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