Qiological Podcast

We’ve long turned to the stars for guidance, from foretelling our destinies to celestial navigation. Chinese Polestar astrology was developed as a means to describe our interaction with the cycles of Qi using a system of calculations and imagery, including the 5 elements and various Chinese court archetypes. It looks at the delicate interplay of an individual’s fate and free will—pointing us to a life that is harmonious with our true character. The question is: Can we  connect with ancient ancestral energies in such a way so that we can lean on our strengths, and bring a clear eye to our challenges? 

In this conversation with Anne Shelton Crute, we touch on several topics such as how to read a Chinese Polestar Natal Chart according to the Song Dynasty system of Astrology, what the upcoming year of the Yang-Water Tiger means, and how to use the information that astrology proffers as a road map into the future.

Listen into this discussion on navigating fate and free will with Chinese Polestar astrology.

Curious to know about your experience in the ER at Dong Zhi Men, where you using Western or Eastern medicine there? Or some combination?

Diabetes and High Blood Pressure are two modern illnesses we frequently see. Most Americans are quite content to take medication for the rest of their lives. I’d like to get your thoughts on how we can help our patients to reverse these problems and live medication free.

Lately I’ve had a lot of patients showing up with neuropathy. It’s a tough condition to treat, and in my experience requires long term care. Which people are not keen on unless you can first get dramatic enough results that they sell themselves on Chinese medicine. How do you approach this problem?

Men’s health is as neglected in our profession as women’s is not. Most men will have some form of prostate enlargement or cancer if they live long enough. It seems to me there is an area that we should be able to do a lot of good. Your thoughts.

Whether you're a young or seasoned practitioner, opening your own Chinese medicine practice is an exciting , daunting and worthwhile challenge. There's a lot that goes into being a practitioner—beyond the medicine part of it. You have to learn how to blend your medical expertise with business know-how. And as our society and life circumstances evolve, so must our perspectives and services.

In this conversation with Cara Frank, we mull over the idea of evolving as a small business and as a practitioner. 

We talk about some of the life decisions we have to make along the way—and how to maneuver through the obstacles on our path. Sometimes you just have to jump into the abyss and trust that you'll figure it out.

Listen to this discussion on the kind of practice we can build and inhabit that reflects who we are, and what we have to offer

Acupuncture is technique, a method, a way to send the body a message. But the message we send— that comes from the long tradition and practice of the medicine that originated in China. Do you consider yourself an acupuncturist, or a doctor of East Asian medicine? Do you see yourself “owning” a technique, or do you see yourself as a link in a chain that stretches into the misty past and at the same time is alive in the present?

In this conversation with Annie White discuss these questions over some high mountain oolong. Along with what it means to be a doctor and a business person. We’ll also touch on the importance of using how you’d like to feel as a way of charting a course through this world, and how Anne’s research into helping her patients deal with stress turned into a process and practice that she needed for herself, and how the pandemic gave her the opportunity to turn that “passion project” into a service that helps people learn to use their brains better.

Listen into this conversation on medicine, creativity, hard knocks and the transformative power of appreciation.

“The poets did well to conjoin music and medicine, in Apollo,

because the office of medicine is but to tune the curious harp

of man's body and reduce it to harmony.”

― Francis Bacon

Music and Medicine have a lot in common. In the deepest sense, medicine is a kind of performance. Like mastering musical instruments and tones, Chinese Medicine is only effective when it moves through theoretical and experiential cycles of learning. This includes lessons from teachers, hands-on experience, reflective observation (what went wrong and what went right in treatment), and conceptualization (why things happened the way they did).

In this conversation with Etienne Simard, we noodle over the idea of finding the right instrument and tone to help people as both a teacher of Chinese Medicine and as an acupuncturist. We talk about using the needle like you would use a melody to interact with somebody’s Qi, presence in practice, and learning on the job, among other topics.

Listen into this discussion on the confluence of music and medicine. Both are different yet so alike.

Most of us typically devote our time, focus, and resources to building a successful Chinese Medicine practice. But how often do you take a step back to think about what will happen when you need to make a move, or stop practicing?

We have to come to terms with the fact that change is inevitable. It is part of the natural progression of life. But managing transition with ease, that is part art, part skill and usually a good dose of new learning. As a person in transition, you must learn to let go of what you’ve built as you move on to a new phase of life.

In this conversation with Jason Luban, we talk about how we are and who we are in practice, and how to leverage proactive thinking to anticipate what might be around the bend. He narrates his personal experience selling his practice—and how that decision unknowingly set him on a new path helping other practitioners manage the transition.

Listen into this discussion that touches on buying or passing along your practice to another practitioner and the unexplored essence that goes into considering the value of that practice.

Western medicine and East Asian medicine have often been seen as two completely different ways of approaching health and well being. Can they be blended together for the benefit of our patients?

It has taken time for the Western world to familiarize itself with the modalities of Chinese Medicine. Similarly, maneuvering through large organizations like hospitals, the military, or the government can be like walking into uncharted territory. It requires an understanding of their lingo, procedures and methods of working together.

In this conversation with Megan Kingsley Gale, we discuss her efforts in creating the Hospital-Practice Handbook Project as an open sourced resource for licensed acupuncturists working in hospitals and institutional healthcare systems. At its core, this is a resource for change-makers in the integrative health field to share their ideas and wisdom. It brings Chinese medicine to places where its benefits had not been utilized – while giving Chinese practitioners who are interested in hospital-based care new opportunities.

Megan has a vision of helping us explore new frontiers as acupuncturists in the modern American healthcare system. A system of integrative medicine where acupuncturists are seen as professionals rather than technicians and ; where cooperation is embraced and the lines between the East and West are blurred for the benefit of our patients.

Listen in to this discussion on the professionalization of Chinese Medicine and how change-makers are expanding Chinese Medicine into the healthcare system

Steve has kept the pulse on dry needling and the impact to the acupuncture profession for over a decade. As a specialist in sports and orthopedic acupuncture, Steve's insightful narrative sheds light on the future of dry needling, how it can be leveraged in acupuncture practices, and legislative initiatives with the goal to set a high and consistent standard across professions.

Yin/Yang is a lovely idea. The counterbalance of opposites sounds so good on paper, but the expression of those heavenly ideas within the limitations and form of Earth brings a lot of suffering, strife and pain. And yet, when we look at the earth as a whole, when we look at human bodies as a reflection of the outer world. We can see how the interplay of opposites is essential to that balance from which Health arises.

In today’s conversation with Sharon Sherman, Jeri Steele and Charles Bishop we hear about their explorations with the Saam acupuncture method, it’s curious organ pairings, and how those can be used to help our patients bring forth their own resources for healing.

Listen into this discussion of what happens when you consider both five phase energies with six qi dynamics and how having an expansive vocabulary of each organ’s character can help you in your diagnosis and treatment and open previously unseen possibilities.