May 17, 2006 was truly a black Wednesday. At 6:10 p.m., our good friend, Roger Hirsh, forever left us. He was riding a crane toward the Western Heaven to visit LaoZi, and Heaven kept him. The rivers and lakes, Heaven and Earth, alas for his death, mourned for his passing. For the past month we have grieved and missed him, day and night, every minute and every second. Roger's superb medical skill, optimistic manner, and humor shall be with us in spirit.
Dr. Roger Hirsh was born on August 31, 1948 in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was a diligent man who studied hard since childhood, worked tirelessly, and struggled arduously growing up. Like everyone else, Roger experienced a harsh life and faced many difficulties. Yet, he embraced life with an optimistic outlook and was forever becoming the better for it.
In the 1970s, Roger went to England to study Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and then went on to many countries in North America for advanced studies. Initially, he established an office in San Francisco, then moved to Santa Monica, and finally to Beverly Hills. Roger specialized in acupuncture treatments, martial arts, and qigong teaching. He transformed from an ordinary practitioner into a publicly praised, highly prestigious, and beloved professional acupuncturist.
In the past 30 years of practicing acupuncture, studying Chinese medical theory and science, Roger gained a profound knowledge on natural treatments from both Chinese medicine and Western medicine, which led to his spearheading a unique way of using acupuncture techniques to treat infertility. In the early 1980s, Dr. Hirsh worked hard and overcame difficulties to achieve success; he enrolled in the study of treating menopause by using chocolate with the Chinese herb clematis and received a breakthrough achievement. Dr. Hirsh's academic attainment was approved by the American acupuncture academic field and his technique has become a popular natural treatment for menopause.
In the 1990s, Dr. Hirsh helped me with many qigong, taiji chuan, Taoist Sword and feng shui classes, as well as Chinese medicine seminars, which received approval by NBC, CBS and the Los Angeles Times, to name a few. Since the year 2000, his treatments for diabetes have gained high praise from patients and his magic effects for difficult medical cases such as Parkinson's disease have become favorite topics among the Chinese medical field.
Dr. Hirsh was always forging ahead and striving continuously with his positive, enterprising attitude. He never settled for just being content with the current condition. Two days before his departure from this world, he was discussing qigong and Chinese herb treatments with me. Dr. Hirsh was always seeking to hack his way through difficulties. He dedicated his life to developing Chinese medicine and spreading the acupuncture technique to the world.
Roger was a warmhearted, compassionate, bright and cheerful person, and with these characteristics he made a lot of friends. Roger's office in Beverly Hills was a place for friends to gather, where he worried about what his patients' worries were, and where he responded to every plea. He cared about his patients and his friends more than himself.
While on a trip to Egypt, Dr. Hirsh was injured and came back with an infection, but the treatments from the hospital were in vain; he passed away at a youthful age. With such a sudden, unwilling departure, he left us mourning for him. It is a big loss for the Chinese medical field in America and the world.
Today, on this piece of land full of freedom, democracy and love, we are here to see him off for the last time. We wish him a good journey ahead and that his spirit stays forever. Life is not about being long or short; it is about value. It is easier to be a smart person than an honest, kind person. Dr. Hirsh, you did both. Your name will be in the annals of acupuncture and qigong forever; you will live in our hearts forever.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
| Digital Exclusive
One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
| Digital Exclusive