If you want to be a world class acupuncturist, you need to know what is contained in these texts. If you want to be a world class diagnostician, you need to know what is written in the pages of these books. David is a master of this domain and he shares his in depth knowledge of Han medicine with us in this episode.

The Nei Jing and the Nan Jing contain enough clinically relevant information that you could literally spend your entire career refining the details contained within their pages and still not uncover all the intricacies.

David White has done just this. He has dedicated his career to studying in great depth the ins and outs of the Nan Jing and the Nei Jing and the clinical and diagnostic info that is so abundant in these texts. Pulse diagnosis, acupuncture techniques, diagnostic indicators – this man knows the details. Scholar and practitioner extraordinaire – David has collected a lot of experience in the Han medicine of the Nei Jing and Nan Jing since entering the profession.

David holds a masters degree from RMIT and is in his final year of his doctorate at UTS in Sydney. He is a former founding member of the International Society for the Study of Classical Acupuncture (ISSCA) and current Director of the Institute of Neijing Research (INR). He is currently in private practice in Sydney’s North Shore, a senior lecturer at SITCM in acupuncture, and holds seminars in Neijing medicine all around the globe. In 2017 David will be teaching, as part of the ongoing Neijing Medicine series through the Institute of Neijing Research, the Compass of Jingluo which is a classical exploration of the channel system. This will be in Melbourne on the 23rd and 24th of April and the 3rd and 4th of June. The INR will also be launching it’s online training for all theoretical studies in Neijing medicine early next year.

We’d love your feedback and interaction on this topic, you can do that on our Facebook page. If you’re loving our episodes, please rate us on iTunes.

We don’t talk about the tough times. New practitioners feel overwhelmed and their education can feel inadequate when they find themselves at the coalface of clinical practice.

Practitioners get burnt out. Practitioners get depressed. Some quit the profession. Some contemplate suicide.

Let’s talk about this.

In today’s episode, we have a real conversation with Greg Bantick about the realities of being a practitioner, and the different cycles we can experience throughout our careers.

Greg Bantick is a highly esteemed senior practitioner who started his studies in Chinese medicine in 1975, and has spent the past 41 years highly engaged in the teaching and practice Chinese medicine both in Australia and in USA. Greg was part of a small group that established the first acupuncture college in Brisbane, Australia in the late 70s, and held senior roles at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine. He has been in clinical practice since the 70s and is currently practicing in Brisbane, Australia.

What is it like to practice in a small town? Where everyone knows everyone else, word travels fast, and your reputation can build quickly. But there are also challenges, like how do you tell a dairy farmer that they need to stop consuming dairy products in order to improve their health? How can you encourage your patients to eat organic, when there are no stores that sell organic produce in your town?

We spoke with the winner of our listener competition: Laura Parkinson and we discussed the intricacies of practicing in a small town with her in this week’s episode. Laura is based in a small town in Iowa with just 6000 people, and she established her practice after spending 10 years in US Navy medical clinics. She shares the story of how she changed careers and started her study in Chinese medicine.

Laura’s clinic Total Family Wellness is based in Oelwein, Iowa. Her website is iowatotalfamilywellness.com

What would you do for a patient with an 11cm fibroid? Clare and Phi discuss the “rule of thumb” that fibroids larger than 5cm can’t be effectively treated with Chinese medicine.

Uterine fibroids are a common problem to see in our female patients as they head towards menopause. Presenting to us with severe period pain, heavy bleeding and associated symptoms, these women are coming to us for help with Chinese medicine to assist them to shrink their fibroids or to help their body resolve them entirely.

In this episode we talk about Heather Bruce’s cold removal via navel cupping and we also mention her 8 extras in women’s health and maternity course. You can find her website here.

We talk about the energetics of how the body and uterus create a fibroid in the first place, and steps you might need to take to begin to unravel the energetic landscape. We also discuss herbs, acupuncture and integrative approaches to helping your patients to reduce or resolve their fibroid using natural medicine.

We’d love to hear your experiences of treating fibroids, or if you have any questions feel free to post on our Facebook page.

Master Tung acupuncture points are named like GPS coordinates, point name 88.25 tells us information about which limb we are looking at and how far up the limb to go to find the point. Channel theory names points with a “stress address”, point name GB31 tells us which location along the gall bladder channel.

Master Tung acupuncture is such a perfect fit for a modern day acupuncture clinic, and this week Brad Whisnant shares his passion for this style of acupuncture that was passed down in one of the most famous family lineages. It’s one of the most practical forms of acupuncture and is revered for its effectiveness.

A lot of the points used in the Tung system are located at or very nearby to regular body points, but often used in different or novel ways than the ways classically taught. We get right into the nitty gritty of Brad’s favorite and most used points, including 88.25-26, 2204 and 2205, san cha yi er san, gu ci yi er san, 88.12, 88.13 & 88.14 and 708, 709 & 710.

Don’t be fooled by the confusing point numberings – this is a great style of acupuncture to learn.

We also chat with Brad at the end about his tips for running a successful clinic. You can find his clinic details here.

Dr. Brad Whisnant is a native of Oregon, graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine and then later from Emperors college with his Doctorate of Acupuncture. He is an avid student of Dr. Jimmy Chang, Dr. Richard Tan and Master Tung’s Acupuncture system. Brad has authored 7 books on Master Tung which have been received with great success. You find his books on Amazon and his website at pinpointclinic.com.

We had a great time recording this episode, we hope you find it inspiring and informative. We’d love to hear your comments on this episode, please do this on our Facebook page.

Limbic system development in infants can be positively influenced by our medicine and in particular the use of shiatsu or tui na. Chinese medicine pediatric specialist Peter Gigante joins us in this week’s episode to discuss one of the main treatment interventions he uses with his patients.

Peter reminds us that the importance of therapeutic touch and direct human contact in general for infants, and children of all ages, should not be underestimated by practitioners or parents. Touch assists infants to be able to assimilate the stimuli they are exposed to, and helps them to be able to moderate their stress responses to overwhelm.

We also discuss considerations for children who may have had limited exposure to loving and caring physical contact in their early life, and also children for whom touch may be problematic such as children with autism spectrum disorder or who may have had previous trauma.

And of course how touch and palpation in the treatment of children helps to inform herbal medicine prescribing.

Peter Gigante has been practising Chinese medicine for 28 years, and previously studied Shiatsu therapy. He has conducted many workshops and lectures on Chinese medicine pediatrics in teaching programs and seminars. He has been involved with the Victorian Chinese medicine registration board, Chinese medicine registration board of Australia, and past president of the Shiatsu Therapy Association of Australia.

Peter has a collection of articles on Chinese medicine pediatrics and childhood development as understood from a Chinese medicine perspective that you can find at https://jibode.wordpress.com/

We hope you enjoy this episode. Please post your questions and feedback on our facebook page. 

Do you have SJ4 on speed dial? Are you best friends with Hrt3? Do you have a good enough relationship with Kid16 that you could invite her over for dinner?

An evolving conversation that started one afternoon in the dispensary at clinic, Phi and Clare discuss the intricacies of each practitioner’s own unique relationship with various acupuncture points. They discuss their favourites from the point of view of the “not so famous” acupuncture points. And their ideas about how 2 different practitioners can use the same acupuncture points on the same person and have a different outcome.

Which points do you have a special relationship with? Have you cut ties with any particular points, or recently revived your relationship with other points?

Let us know what your favourite not-so-famous points are, how you use them, and how you came to know them so well. Join the discussion on our facebook page – we’d love to hear your thoughts.