tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1250480 2008-07-10T09:25:32-07:00 Information on the ideas, new and old, that are the foundation of alternative health care. TypePad tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32182 2010-04-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-04-01T12:00:07-07:00

I have just returned from a visit to Taiwan and the interior of mainland China. There was a saying that I discovered in the SuHo Paper Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It reads: "We understand we have to plant our feet on solid ground to practice our dreams, little by little, to make them last for good." Of course, this made me think about acupuncture and Oriental medicine, both through it's connection to the past and where it is going in the future.

By Marilyn Allen, Editor I have just returned from a visit to Taiwan and the interior of mainland China. There was a saying that I discovered in the SuHo Paper Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It reads: "We understand we have to plant our feet on solid ground to practice our dreams, little by little, to make them last for good." Of course, this made me think about acupuncture and Oriental medicine, both through it's connection to the past and where it is going in the future. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32185 2010-04-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-04-01T12:00:07-07:00

It had been a long time and was always unnerving. Two counselors and I had our lives threatened. Actually, the person we were dealing with threatened to "take out" anyone who got in his way, staff or client. As he put it, "We all gonna be on the news." The story is cliched but nonetheless upsetting. Abusive sort-of-ex-boyfriend of client is asked to honor confidentiality and leave. Any limitations are perceived by him as disrespecting his concept of manhood. All reasonable conversation comes to a halt. County sheriffs are called as he saunters away spewing threats and epithets.

By Gregory Ross, LAc It had been a long time and was always unnerving. Two counselors and I had our lives threatened. Actually, the person we were dealing with threatened to "take out" anyone who got in his way, staff or client. As he put it, "We all gonna be on the news." The story is cliched but nonetheless upsetting. Abusive sort-of-ex-boyfriend of client is asked to honor confidentiality and leave. Any limitations are perceived by him as disrespecting his concept of manhood. All reasonable conversation comes to a halt. County sheriffs are called as he saunters away spewing threats and epithets. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32162 2010-03-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-03-01T12:00:07-07:00

Last article, I ended off by writing about how men generally do not have good role models for how to be a modern parent or husband. In this article we will explore this idea more. As I mentioned previously, the roles of most of our dads, and probably all of our grandfathers, were solely as providers. Most likely, they were not directly involved in the childcare all that much. Things have changed in the last 20-30 years. Men are now expected to share with the childcare/housework. This is not a complaint, just a statement of fact. With the vast majority of women out in the workforce, it is only fair that the chores be divided up. How each couple decides to divvy up the housework is up to them. However, my point is that the way our households are run is probably quite different than the way the households that we grew up in were run.

By Kaleb Montgomery, DTCM Last article, I ended off by writing about how men generally do not have good role models for how to be a modern parent or husband. In this article we will explore this idea more. As I mentioned previously, the roles of most of our dads, and probably all of our grandfathers, were solely as providers. Most likely, they were not directly involved in the childcare all that much. Things have changed in the last 20-30 years. Men are now expected to share with the childcare/housework. This is not a complaint, just a statement of fact. With the vast majority of women out in the workforce, it is only fair that the chores be divided up. How each couple decides to divvy up the housework is up to them. However, my point is that the way our households are run is probably quite different than the way the households that we grew up in were run. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32163 2010-03-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-03-01T12:00:07-07:00

Jennifer carried herself with quiet authority. A picture of elegance, the long, lean, impeccably dressed executive delicately deposited her cappuccino mug on the cafe table, excused herself, grasped her necklace, leaned over and threw up in the flower pot. "How indelicate!" she remarked when she was finished. "I don't know what I ate that caused this, or maybe it was too many years drinking the corporate Kool-Aid!"

By Nancy Post, MAc, PhD Jennifer carried herself with quiet authority. A picture of elegance, the long, lean, impeccably dressed executive delicately deposited her cappuccino mug on the cafe table, excused herself, grasped her necklace, leaned over and threw up in the flower pot. "How indelicate!" she remarked when she was finished. "I don't know what I ate that caused this, or maybe it was too many years drinking the corporate Kool-Aid!" tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32146 2010-02-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-02-01T12:00:07-07:00

At times the interplay between a detox acupuncturist and a client approaches the absurd. Case in point: this conversation between myself [G] and a young Asian woman [AW].

By Gregory Ross, LAc At times the interplay between a detox acupuncturist and a client approaches the absurd. Case in point: this conversation between myself [G] and a young Asian woman [AW]. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32113 2010-01-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-01-01T12:00:07-07:00

Chaos theory suggests that we cannot predict the future, yet it is human nature to try. People have looked for predictive signs since the dawn of time. Here, we consider the present as a seed for the future in terms of trends, education, market demands, social systems and policy.

By Will Morris, DAOM, MSEd, LAc Chaos theory suggests that we cannot predict the future, yet it is human nature to try. People have looked for predictive signs since the dawn of time. Here, we consider the present as a seed for the future in terms of trends, education, market demands, social systems and policy. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32120 2010-01-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-01-01T12:00:07-07:00

Have you ever blown a treatment? I mean messed up royally so that your patient felt worse as a result? I have. It's important to know that we all make mistakes. Even those of us who have been in practice a long time. I thought you might get some relief by hearing how I have messed up my patients. If I can share my mistakes with the entire country, perhaps you can confide in a colleague who can help you get through it. As I learn to improve myself as a practitioner and can see the cosmic humor in my mistakes, perhaps you can be gentler with yourself when such events occur in your practice.

By Felice Dunas, PhD Have you ever blown a treatment? I mean messed up royally so that your patient felt worse as a result? I have. It's important to know that we all make mistakes. Even those of us who have been in practice a long time. I thought you might get some relief by hearing how I have messed up my patients. If I can share my mistakes with the entire country, perhaps you can confide in a colleague who can help you get through it. As I learn to improve myself as a practitioner and can see the cosmic humor in my mistakes, perhaps you can be gentler with yourself when such events occur in your practice. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32129 2010-01-01T12:00:32-07:00 2010-01-01T12:00:07-07:00

We clearly live in a time when fresh solutions are needed for a myriad of pressing issues. One of the biggest is the need for more efficient utilization of natural resources. With human population now at 6.8 billion and expected to reach 9 billion by 2040, resources are being increasingly stretched. Areas of scarcity include food, fresh water, habitable land and health care.

By Darren Starwynn, OMD, LAc We clearly live in a time when fresh solutions are needed for a myriad of pressing issues. One of the biggest is the need for more efficient utilization of natural resources. With human population now at 6.8 billion and expected to reach 9 billion by 2040, resources are being increasingly stretched. Areas of scarcity include food, fresh water, habitable land and health care. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32097 2009-12-01T12:00:32-07:00 2009-12-01T12:00:07-07:00

The flow of qi is one of the basic constituents of the human body and its functions; our body's ability to make quality qi is essential to good health. We know that qi is the product of the activities of, and communication between, the zang and fu organs. Therefore, it makes sense that having the ability to examine that flow in the pulses would be key to making an accurate diagnosis.

By Martha Lucas, PhD, LAc The flow of qi is one of the basic constituents of the human body and its functions; our body's ability to make quality qi is essential to good health. We know that qi is the product of the activities of, and communication between, the zang and fu organs. Therefore, it makes sense that having the ability to examine that flow in the pulses would be key to making an accurate diagnosis. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32103 2009-12-01T12:00:32-07:00 2009-12-01T12:00:07-07:00

Today, I cried. I sat down to write this piece, attempting to purge, but it will not leave. The grief is older than this one lifetime. I have read that Taoist practitioners were able to read "past life" imbalances in a pulse and how they affected the present life. About 15 years ago, I took a three-day pulse workshop with a Master in his late 80s who told us that in China, he was apprenticed at age eight to an elderly Master, who himself had been apprenticed as a child. He also stated that he was the repository of a lot of pre-communist, ancient knowledge. He had his own language for pulses and had talked about a rare pulse he called the sad pulse. He took everyone's pulse and shortly after placing his fingers on my wrist, stated, "This man has a sad pulse." He had seen my Vietnam Veterans Against the War button and could extrapolate that information. He asked about my parents. I replied they had both died recently, within the last two years. He nodded his head and asked me if the class could feel my pulse.

By Gregory Ross, LAc Today, I cried. I sat down to write this piece, attempting to purge, but it will not leave. The grief is older than this one lifetime. I have read that Taoist practitioners were able to read "past life" imbalances in a pulse and how they affected the present life. About 15 years ago, I took a three-day pulse workshop with a Master in his late 80s who told us that in China, he was apprenticed at age eight to an elderly Master, who himself had been apprenticed as a child. He also stated that he was the repository of a lot of pre-communist, ancient knowledge. He had his own language for pulses and had talked about a rare pulse he called the sad pulse. He took everyone's pulse and shortly after placing his fingers on my wrist, stated, "This man has a sad pulse." He had seen my Vietnam Veterans Against the War button and could extrapolate that information. He asked about my parents. I replied they had both died recently, within the last two years. He nodded his head and asked me if the class could feel my pulse. tag:mpamedia.com,2008:post-32084 2009-11-01T12:00:32-07:00 2009-11-01T12:00:07-07:00

When I was a student of Chinese medicine and starting my internship, I was struck with the overwhelming amount of signs and symptoms that patients were presenting to me during their initial interviews. It was too much for me to piece together the head cold with the indigestion, the skin rash with the depression, the nightmares, lack of sleep and anxiety, and all the rest. When I confronted my teacher about this confusion, she told me, "Everything you need to know, you learned in the first semester at school. When in doubt with a patient, go back to the theory of yin and yang, and it will make sense to you." What does this mean? Yin and yang is more than a symbol about the interplay of black and white within a circle. It is a complete world view, developed over many centuries and in many countries, that culminated into a complete, and yet simple, understanding of the universe.

By Mike Morgan, LAc, Dipl. OM, Dipl. Ac When I was a student of Chinese medicine and starting my internship, I was struck with the overwhelming amount of signs and symptoms that patients were presenting to me during their initial interviews. It was too much for me to piece together the head cold with the indigestion, the skin rash with the depression, the nightmares, lack of sleep and anxiety, and all the rest. When I confronted my teacher about this confusion, she told me, "Everything you need to know, you learned in the first semester at school. When in doubt with a patient, go back to the theory of yin and yang, and it will make sense to you." What does this mean? Yin and yang is more than a symbol about the interplay of black and white within a circle. It is a complete world view, developed over many centuries and in many countries, that culminated into a complete, and yet simple, understanding of the universe.