Qiological Podcast

Heartbreak is unavoidable. It’s not a flaw in character or make up humans, it’s a feature. It’s what allows us to grow beyond the bounds and limits of family, friend group, peers and whatever group identity we find that gives a sense of belonging and security. 

Heart break expands our boundaries, the question is does it break you open or break you closed?

In this conversation with Margot Rossi we give space to how our brokenness is the source of both suffering and redemption. How our greatest troubles, self destructive tendencies and unexamined suffering are all opportunities to cultivate an open field of attention that can be shifted with our intention and spirit. 

Listen into this discussion that touches on the principles of attention, stillness and healing that she brings to life in her recently published book “To Be Like Water.” 

Love it or hate it, social media has seeped its influence into many corners of our lives. Most people have at least one social media platform that acts as a kind of morning news, local gossip coffee shop, private printing press, or digital campfire where we gather to tell and listen to stories. Stories that can incite riots, or stories that remind us of our shared humanity. 

In this conversation with Andrea Dewhurst we take a look at Instagram and how it can be used to create a community that ties together learners of East Asian medicine. And how it can be a creative medium for promoting your practice.

Listen into this discussion of how Instagram can be used in a positive fashion to connect, along with some of the digital tools that make the process easier. And how sometimes the element of constraint gives you the freedom to engage simplicity in the curation and creation of content that is helpful in facilitating learning. 

Money is the lifeblood of every business; it’s the Qi. And an acupuncture practice can not ignore the basics of business. The main focus of a Chinese Medicine practitioner is to deliver holistic care to patients – in essence creating a safe space to share the medicine. But if you’re in business for yourself, you have to come to terms with the idea of exchanging healing services for money. Running your own clinic is grounded in nature’s fundamental relationships of exchange; of creating and sharing value—which is a concept that underpins capitalism.

In this discussion with Eric Grey, we get into the nitty-gritty of making practice work from a business and clinical standpoint. We discuss some of the snags to watch out for when going into business and running a practice. Additionally we focus on the importance of due diligence and conscious planning, adapting to your stage of development/business cycle, and having an exit strategy. The good news is the whole process can help season us into resilient professionals.

Listen into this conversation on running a successful practice, working through conflicts, tending to operation issues, dealing with uncertainty, and how capitalism can be a beneficial force in your practice and community.

There are many schools of thought, methods both ancient and modern, practices based on lineage and those idiosyncratically synthetic. It is easy to think that what you understand is correct, and all too often medicine is practiced with a bit of an attachment to dogma. But biases are dangerous, and they narrow your field of vision—influencing your work as a practitioner. Plus, what happens when the bias or dogma is shattered?

In this conversation with Allen Tsaur, we discuss some of his translation projects of classical Chinese Medicine writing and interpreting old resources. When we borrow from ancient wisdom and Chinese Medicine ideologies it is vitally important to consider the historical context. What questions were the practitioners trying to answer in their time? What were the environmental and cultural conditions that gave rise to their perspectives?

Listen into this discussion as we mull over topics surrounding the process of translating historical messages, the issue of dogma, and learning from crisis moments.

It’s easy to have beliefs about people we don’t know. Especially if they tick the boxes of our biases, prejudice, ignorance and the opinions of our friends. When you think about successful stock market investors you’re probably not thinking about people with compassion, curiosity, spiritually and a sense of fair play. But for some of the top level investors that he interviews, you’ll find humility, generosity and a deep abiding sense of the ​​ephemeral nature of the world and a habit of “cultivation” that would not be foreign to a Daoist, Buddhist or practitioner of the Kabbalah. 

In this discussion with William Green we talk about how top of the game investors lean on morality, responsibility, humility, intelligence and are eccentric in that they are able to face the uncertainty that goes hand in hand with investing and keep their own counsel when the rest of the world is telling them their wrong. We are talking about some high level Gong Fu here.

Listen into this conversation with William Green as we discuss his book Richer, Wiser, Happier and what he has learned about spiritually, generosity and self-cultivation from Masters of the Dow.

Traditions tell a story. They hold and transmit insights into cultural, religious, and sometimes medical practices. They can give us a glimpse into how family lineages consider and refine aspects of medicine learned in the institutional settings. 

In this conversation with Dr. Shoubin Yu and Anthony DiSalvo, we explore some of the methods and perspective of the Yu Family Chinese medicine traditions. Anthony is an apprentice of Dr. Yu—carrying down the Yu Family methods that go back over 500 years. We talk about the history of this family lineage, its underlying theories, and why it’s important to teach people how to utilize Chinese massage (Tuina) to overcome illness and prevent the onset of acquired diseases.

Listen to this discussion on generational health, Tuina massage, and the perspectives that characterize the Yu Dayi Method.

As practitioners of Chinese Medicine, it’s our responsibility to address all aspects of our patient’s experience: mind, body, and spirit. This demands that we listen carefully to the various streams of information at our disposal—whether from our learned experience or from what the patient’s body is telling us.

In this conversation with Velia Wortman, we explore the importance of paying attention to what the body is saying, using our senses to best serve our patients, how to discern subtle motion from wishful thinking, along with recognizing and avoiding overtreatment.

Listen into this discussion as we engage with our patient’s vitality through palpation, osteopathic listening methods and that curious space that arises between knowing and attending.

How we think influences what we do. The models and frameworks we use to understand not just our medicine, but the world itself,  opens or limits the options we can offer our patients for treatment. While the Venn Diagrams of East Asian and Western medicine share some overlap, at their core they are rooted in very different world views. Which in turn influences how we might be able to help our patients. 

In this conversation, with Brenda Hood we investigate the need for a distinction between East Asian medicine and Western medicine in practice, the importance of thinking about Chinese medicine in its own terms, and the failures that arise from mingling Western medical thinking into East Asian diagnostics and practice. 

Listen into this discussion on Eastern and Western philosophy and how that shapes not just our practices, but the future of East Asian medicine.

Stacey Whitcomb, the guest of this conversation was on Qiological, at the beginning of 2018, she was just graduating from Chinese medicine school and thoroughly psyched about building a business. 

In this episode we check in and see where she's at 8 months down the road. What's working, what needs some tuning and how the "practice of practice" informs her days and decisions.

I’m reminded of the stillness of cats. How they can sit both still and yet completely and serenely attentive. So too with resonance, there is the yin aspect of stillness with the yang expression of vibrating with the influence of the environment. And in the middle, ren, person, the human heart.

In this discussion with Diane Fabian-Smith we look into empathy, along with the filters and boundaries that allow us to connect without getting lost in the encounter.

Listen into this conversation on resonance, maintaining boundaries in our practice with patients, creating a friendly but firm relationship with our stories and egos. And respectfully engaging the inner terrain of our patients and ourselves in our clinical work.