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Chinese medicine draws some of its most important images from classical thought. The polar pair of yin and yang has been used since before written language for interpreting the results of divination procedures. These concepts have continued at the core of historical Chinese attempts to understand the mysteries of the…

One of the many topics of discussion from fellow TCM students is a general lack of confidence. This flaw appears once students get into a clinical setting and realize that, while they may have studied hard, their cases are rarely “simple” because of it. This quickly leads to students feeling…

Hua Tuo was born into a poor family. When he was seven years old, his father passed away, taking with him the only source of family income. Faced with financial hardship and poverty, Hua Tuo began to work in a local herbal pharmacy. While working there, he carefully observed the…

The April 2008 issue of Acupuncture Today carried a front page article in which the AAAOM protested the appointment of a medical doctor to the advisory council of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The doctor teaches an acupuncture program for physicians.

As practitioners, we value communication with our patients. We work hard to establish open and honest lines of communication. We should listen without judgment and be able to offer a non-biased, clinically based opinion. We do this because it establishes a bond of trust between us and our patients. They…

In my last two articles, I discussed simple formula combinations for gan mao and gynecological pathologies. In this month’s column, I will examine clinically effective formula combinations for common gastrointestinal complaints. Many chronic diseases develop due to a poorly functioning digestive system.

Did you know that if you were to search for “Acupuncturist” as a distinct professional designation on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Web site, you wouldn’t find it? Additionally, if you searched the BLS database using the term acupuncture , you would find that it…

We all know our profession is blessed with many wonderful and special people. However, an exceptional few are true social entrepreneurs, dedicating their skills and knowledge to people around the world who would otherwise have no access to the healing benefits of AOM. I would like to see them receive…

As any chronic sufferer will tell you, migraine headaches can be debilitating, affecting concentration and the ability to perform daily tasks. In fact, the odds are high that a patient will come to see you with a complaint of migraines.

Last April, Acupuncture Today reported on the case of Juliana Cumbo, a blind acupuncturist in Texas seeking her license to practice. (See “The Blind Leading the Blind?” in the April 2008 issue of AT. ) Cumbo had graduated with a master’s degree from the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin…

If your Chinese medical school business-management course was anything like mine, the main focuses were your clinic name, location and business-card font. Sure, presentations and networking were mentioned for a few seconds; then it was back to the business-card design obsession. Or maybe your class went on and on about…

“There is at work within all biological systems a path of interchangeability to standardize unique vibratory levels. Our galactic body of creation controls its renewing functions through meridian axiatonal lines which are the equivalent of acupuncture lines that can connect with resonating star systems.” 1

A situation common to American herbalist/acupuncturists is the arrival of a new patient reporting multiple complaints. Although a single chief complaint might be written on their intake form, when one gets to interviewing them, there could be a lot of concurrent complaints: digestive problems (discomfort or irregular stool), menstrual problems…

Dayan Qigong Program Now Offered at ACTCM Starting this summer, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) in San Francisco will offer an 18-week dayan qigong program. This program will be available to current students, as well as to the public.

One of our most basic sacred contracts with our clients is confidentiality. It seems simple and straightforward enough: We keep confidences by not speaking about our clients to anyone outside of the treatment room. We don’t tell their stories. We don’t mention names. We don’t even say, “Oh, so-and-so is…

During the past year, I was introduced to a rather obscure herb by some local village elders while traveling up in the mountains. It’s the tender, dark-green sprouting leaf of the eucommiae tree. This is the same tree that yields du zhong pi /eucommiae bark.

In 1981, I opened my acupuncture office in San Francisco. Acupuncture was such a foreign form of medicine at the time and people were so frightened of needles that marketing was virtually impossible. In the same office building, a chiropractor was successfully treating professional athletes by combining chiropractic adjustments with…

In this second installment in my series of financial articles, let’s pretend I’m Jesse James or John Dillinger. No, I’m not really going to rob a bank, but I will show you how banks are stealing from you. I’ll also show you how you can play the same game they…

Hyperventilation is the cause of asthma and many other chronic conditions. This is the hypothesis of the late Konstantin Buteyko, the Russian physician who questioned long-held concepts of respiration. He created a training method that teaches people how to breathe in a way that improves health. It took many years,…

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