https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/chinesemedicine

My guest on today's podcast, Dr. Michael Smith, hails from the First Nations in Canada, grew up on the diet of his indigenous ancestors eating wild organ meats from the animals he hunted and feasting from the wild salmon that he caught. He learned many of the medicine traditions and the "Medicine Wheel" of the First Nations people. He studied Martial Arts and taught Canadian Military self defense techniques, and along the way, his Martial Arts teacher took him aside to say to tell him that he was "more of a healer than a fighter".

His teacher then began to teach him the Oral Tradition of Classical Oriental Science, or better known as Traditional Chinese Medicine. Michael is now a huge pillar in the healing community of Nelson, BC. For example, restaurants in the Nelson area will produce a special menu at certain times of year when he holds the event of cleansing season. He's helped with bringing Medical Cannabis dispensaries to the city and produces supplements paired with Cannabis Medicine sold there. You often see him ushering in folks at open public sweat lodge ceremonies with burning of sage. Michael is an author, speaker, professional martial artist, teacher and clinician, and a respected integrative medicine pioneer with over 20 years experience. In his Nelson, British Columbia practice he combines functional medicine and evolutionary nutrition with the ancient wisdom and vast experience of Traditional Chinese medicine. His primary focus in medicine is complex chronic auto-immune diseases (as a patient, Michael had lived with both Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis for well over 20 years). He is a co-founder of the prestigious Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences, the first five year full time doctorate level training program in TCM in Canada. He is also the primary developer of Neuro-Somatic Therapy, a hands on approach to reducing the way people embody distress, illness and trauma. As a Martial Artist, Michael has been training for almost 40 years. He has had the good fortune to train with some of the highest level teachers in the Western world, including a teacher of the late Bruce Lee. After training prison guards, police officers and members of both military and paramilitary organizations, Michael decided to leave traditional martial arts and develop his own approach to resolving physical violence. He has taught this approach, called Applied Combatives, for over 20 years.

During our discussion, you'll discover:

-The fascinating ancestral health, Dr. Smith learned while growing up in a hunting lodge with the "Mud Clan" First Nations...[9:55]

-How Michael got Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis that lasted for well over 20 years, and how he fixed himself...[14:40]

-What your body is telling you if you can see vegetables in your poop...[18:00]

-Michael's mouthwatering "ancestral" recipe for salmon rillette roulade...[21:30]

-Why Michael believes you should drink one liter of water within the first two hours upon waking...[25:45]

-The fascinating concept of gently "blowing" on your water before you drink it...[29:45]

-How Michael developed something called "neurosomatic therapy", and why some people go into a fit of rage after having it done...[42:40]

-How Michael implements blood letting, needling and cupping in his practice...[48:50]

-The shocking way that acupuncture has been used during open heart surgery for anesthesia...[56:05]

-Michael's thoughts on dream interpretation (e.g. associating teeth falling out in dreams as deficiency of Kidney Qi)...[59:15]

-Whether drinking your own urine is really a component of Chinese medicine...[67:20]

-How pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis work? [72:45]

-And much more...

Resources from this episode: -Michael's website: Integrative Health Solutions -Michael's podcast: Fusion Health Radio -Michael's book: Returning To An Ancestral Diet -Video of open heart surgery using acupuncture as anesthesia -More about The Medicine Wheel -Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy video -More about "pulse diagnosis" -The Heart Of Listening: A Visionary Approach to Craniosacral Work, Vol. 1: Origins, Destination Points, Unfoldment -NCCAOM website for finding local Chinese medical practitioner -Functional Medicine Practitioner directory -Medicine Wheeling - Native Wisdom for Healthy Relationships -The Four Worlds, Evolutionary Medicine and You

Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Michael or me? Leave your comments at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!

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