Qiological Podcast

There’s something about the act of touch that goes beyond the physical, isn’t there? It’s like we’re not just meeting someone at their skin but somehow dipping into the unseen—into emotions, memories, and layers that words can’t quite reach. What happens when we listen with our hands instead of our ears?

The guest of this episode, Chris McAlister, is an acupuncturist and shiatsu practitioner who’s been exploring the art of presence and connection for years. He’s inquisitive about how the practical meets the mystical, constantly seeking ways to blend tradition with modern insight, and helping people discover parts of themselves they didn’t even know were there. From his experiences in Tibet to decades of teaching, Chris brings curiosity, exploration, and a touch of rebellion to the table.

Listen into this discussion as we unravel the power of not knowing, the healing spirals that shift our understanding of problems, and why it’s sometimes okay to let discomfort simmer. And there’s bending reality and what that means in the clinic.

When thinking about our toolkit, most acupuncturists, and patients too for that matter, think about needles. Our job, it’s to use those whisper thin slivers of steel with skill and accuracy. But sometimes the best tool for the job might not be a needle.

In this conversation with Orit Zilberman and Hila Yaffee we consider the use of Hui Yin, Ren One.

For sure this point it’s important and there are challenges to using and learning to use this influential meeting of yin.

Listen into this discussion on both the trauma and healing that can result from working with Ren One, how our own image of what it means to be a doctor can influence how we think about working with this point, and some non-needle ways to powerfully unlock the capacity for healing at the Meeting of Yin.

Ever wonder about the unseen forces that shape health and illness? Sometimes it’s the things we can’t measure that hold the most sway. Healing isn’t always about what we see, but what we’re willing to explore.

In this episode, we sit down with Lindsey Wei, a practitioner deeply rooted in the world of Daoist medicine. She has spent years blending the physical practices of qigong and martial arts with the mystical art of talismans, incantations, and ritual healing. She brings a unique perspective on what it means to heal both the body and spirit.

Listen into this discussion as we explore the workings behind Daoist talismans, how the celestial realm might influence your well-being, and how movement and ritual intertwine in martial arts. 

There’s more here than meets the eye, as we explore the boundaries between science and spirit, logic and mystery—and how these might be a little more porous than you realize.

Being in business is not just about tracking the financial health of your enterprise. It is about having a mission worth engaging, a kind of fire in the belly that fuels you through the difficult parts, and a sense for working at the edge of your capacity.

Having a business and all that goes with it, it gives you the opportunity to grow into potentials you can only dream about in the middle of a difficult night.

Our guest in this History Series conversation, Bill Egloff has been helping patients and practitioners for a long time with the products and services he’s provided over the years. He’s got a keen eye for business, regulatory details, and working with seemingly competing interests. It’s a long road from running a natural foods store to collaborating with Sloan Kettering on cancer patients.

As with the other history series pioneers, there have been some interesting forks in the road worth taking.

In acupuncture school we learn the 10 questions, which will get you some information. But it’s more interrogative than rapport building, more about eliciting information than revealing meaning.

Listening with a mindset of noticing the small anomalies. Listening to understand someone from their own point of view. To be inquisitive about how the difficulties might hold unrevealed lessons, and how troubles are lessons in progress.

It’s more than having an unfettered sense of curiosity, there’s something else that goes into it.

In this conversation with Vance Crowe we explore the transformative potential of conversations that invite the stories that haven’t had an audience. Like many of us, Vance did not set out to do what he does. It found him.

Listen into this discussion on rapport, connection, surprise and delight. Often enough, there’s a harvest of wisdom that comes with following the threads that are usually just out of sight.

We have the two of yin and yang, the three of the jing, qi, shen, the four levels of pathogenic invasion from the Wen Bing, the Five Phases of the Wu Xing and the Six Elements— wait a minute, Six Elements?

Have you ever wondered why the Classics speak to the Five Zang and Six Fu? Especially when we have an equal balance of yin and yang meridians. And what is going on with those two troublesome organs, the Triple Burner and Pericardium that have a “function” but no form? Furthermore, have ever wondered how it is that Fire gets four organs, but all the other elements only two?

Our guest in this conversation Slate Burris had those questions as well. He’s an inquisitive guy, so he went looking. What he found is surprising, and once pointed out— a bit obvious as well.

Listen into this conversation on the Sixth Element, how that can guide your clinical work, the power of palpation to track what is happening in the moment for patients, and how one needle in the right place can set off a domino effect that dramatically changes your patient’s physiology.

In our work as acupuncturists, we use differential diagnosis to understand the warp and woof of a patient’s problem, to see how various seemingly marginally connected aspects of their problem give us the pattern that allows for skillful intervention. We also look at constitutional factors, those aspects of our patients that provide a kind of gravity and centering  to their life and how they live it.

Both aspects need our consideration in clinical practice. 

In this conversation with Peter Eckman we discuss the differences between a person’s constitution and their condition. Both give us a handle on working with people, but these are very different aspects of our make up.

How are they different? And how to approach work with these?  Listen in, there’s a lot to discuss.

We are encoded beings. There is a song that plays out through the patterning of our DNA. We are influenced by the tides of culture, family and peers. And there is a great turning of Stems and Branches that leaves an imprint on our mind/body as we enter the world.

The Ba Zi is a description of the moment we enter this world, it’s the weather we carry with us from that first breath. It shows tendencies of expression, not unlike how DNA plays a familiar rhythm through us.

In this conversation with Howard Chen we explore the Ba Zi and in particular the influence of the Day Master, which is a helpful place to begin when sorting through the complex interrelationships of the phases, especially if you’re a practitioner of acupuncture.

Listen into this conversation on why we have tendencies to rely on our generation or control cycle, how our superpower is a resource and at times trouble to overcome, and how we can balance out the wobbles we all carry that make us uniquely ourselves.

In this History Series episode we time-travel with the vivacious Cara Frank. Her story begins in the gritty, creative pulse of 1970s New York City, where as a teenager, she was navigating the counter cultural scene. Her first encounter with acupuncture was anything but ordinary—an illegal treatment that changed her life and set her on the path she travels today.

Cara’s journey is a tapestry woven with threads of rebellion, discovery, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. From the scarring moxa treatments of Dr. So, to her worldview changing with the discovery of herbs in a Beijing hospital. Cara’s story is one of exploration and deep connection to the roots of Chinese medicine practice. 

Listen in as we explore the alchemy of Cara’s life in Chinese medicine—as she reflects on  the influential figures who guided her, her insights into the community's growth and the importance of mentorship.  All with her hardscrabble wisdom, humor, and a dash of New York grit.

You’re probably somewhat familiar with the four needle technique. It’s an innovation said to have arisen through the meditative practice of the Korean Buddhist monk Saam, roughly four hundred years ago.

It has since been passed down both through the monastic tradition, and used as well by ordinary doctors. Today you’ll also find the “Saam Method” used in academic research studies and employed as a key part of their acupuncture practice by Korean practitioners.

In this conversation with Andreas Brüch we explore the more modern thinking and application of Saam as it’s used by Korean doctors today. He’s spent 20 years studying with some of those doctors and using the method in his work.

Listen in to this discussion on organ pairs, phase energetics, six qi influences, a psycho-emotive model that expands your thinking, and how the Sam Boo character of the transport points can help you to select individual points to add focused potency to your treatments.