Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Blog

An Intro to Pros and Cons of Drugs & Chinese Medicine - John Chen

Submitted by elotus on Thu, 11/01/2012 - 2:25pm

The main focus of the Webinar Weekday with Dr. John Chen was on infectious diseases and the treatments for it. Dr. Chen covered antibacterial drugs and antiviral drugs on the Western end and various Chinese formulas such as Long Dan Xie Gan Tang and Ba Zheng San on the TCM end.

This was a great preview on what to expect for the full day course on the Pros and Cons of Pharmaceutical Drugs & Chinese Medicine: A Comparative Analysis happening on Nov. 11 next Sunday. What a great way to learn about both pharmaceutical drugs and Chinese medicine from a man who has a degree in both pharmacology and Chinese medicine.

Watch the TCM Wisdom Tube of An Intro to Pros and Cons of Drugs & Chinese Medicine here.

Click this link to register for next weekend's classes or to see what other webinars we have coming up.

~Donna

For more great and FREE recordings of past 1-hr webinars, click here for the TCM Wisdom Tube!

An Intro to Treating the Cardiovascular and Endocrine Systems - Jake Fratkin

Submitted by elotus on Thu, 10/25/2012 - 4:19pm

Yesterday, we had Dr. Jake Fratkin join us to give a sneak 1 hour preview of what's to come this weekend! It was a great introduction to the Cardiovascular and Endocrine Systems. I can't wait for Dr. Fratkin to share more info this weekend!

Here are some notes I picked up:

  • In heart disease, diet is the main factor. The main focus is on sugar and carbohydrates.
  • Having too much blood sugar raises insulin output. Insulin is destructive to blood vessel walls and creates an inflammation. This can create artheriosclerosis.
  • Vitamin D makes natural killer cells
  • Thoracic Bi Syndrome aka chest pain includes sudden acute caridac arrest, angina pectoris, myocardiac infraction, etc.

There was so much great information, I didn't get the chance to write it all down. Luckily there's the TCM Wisdom Tube. I'm defintiely going to go over this again before the webinars this weekend!

Watch the TCM Wisdom Tube of An Intro to Treating the Cardiovascular and Endocrine Systems here.

Click this link to register for this weekend's classes or to see what other webinars we have.

~Donna

Abdominal Pain: Differential Pulse Diagnosis & Herbal Treatment, Part II - Jimmy Chang

Submitted by elotus on Mon, 10/22/2012 - 4:46pm

Great Webinar last week with Dr. Jimmy Chang!

He continued his discussion on Abdominal Pain and focused in on various topics such as:

  • Abdominal pain d/t male issues
  • How you can tell if someone has a weak immune system
  • Various types of inflammation
  • A bonus formula for varicose veins
  • Endometriosis
  • Urinary tract infection
  • Kidney stones

The kidney stone part was the big talk of the webinar! People were asking what happens if the pain from the KD stones persist... do you take more or less of the formula? Can you guess??? You would take more because you'd want to break up the stones so that it passes. If you take less of a dosage, the stone won't move and will just stay put. And the most interesting fact is that the patient will feel the pain travel from the back to the front. Very cool.. but probably not if you are the one with KD stones!! yikes!

Listen in to Part 2 of Abdominal Pain in the TCM Wisdom Tube to hear what formula to use for Kidney Stones and the other valuable info on abdominal pain.

Here is PART I if you'd like to listen in on that too!

~Donna

Intro to Auricular Medicine - Li-Chun Huang

Submitted by elotus on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 12:44pm

This weekend we have the honor of having Dr. Li-Chun Huang join us again for another webinar of auricular medicine. This time she will be showing us what the ear is trying to tell us!! I swear, the ear is just screaming, "Look at me!" We just need to pay attention.

I took a peak at the Powerpoint Dr. Huang has compiled and there are sooo many auricular images!! Can you imagine how long it took her to gather all this great info up!! She really is a pro and I am compeltely honored to be learning with her.

I heard a little rumor that Dr. Huang is getting to the point that she may be retiring soon so I need to hurry up and start taking this ear diagnosis seriously!! How cool is it that we can look at someone's ear and tell them what they have!?! I LOVE doing it.. I'm pretty elementary in it because I just started learning but it always blows people's minds away. I love it! =D

And just to give a heads up, Dr. Huang's english may be difficult to understand for some people but really... she can speak English.. that's a gift in itself! You really have to pay attention which is beneficial to you anyways because it makes you focus on her every word. We are soooo so super lucky to have her at least know the English language. The art of auricular diagnosis is not lost in the English-speaking world!

If you want so see a sneak preview of what you will be in for at Dr. Huang's weekend seminar, click here for a 1 hour clip of a past class.

The Origins of Acupuncture - Matthew Bauer

Submitted by elotus on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 3:57pm

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having Matthew Bauer join us and give an insight to acupuncture and how it all began. It was very insightful and intersting to hear since no one really knows how it all started. He also took some time to discuss ancient astronomy and ancient wisdom in modern times.

Here are the 3 Most Common Dates of Acupuncture's origin
5,000 years ago
3,000 years ago
2,000 years ago

According the Matthew, he believes this acupunture folklore regarding its origin is true: Ancient people noticed they developed sore spots that vanished with pain or illness. Matthew discusses the theories of his milestone discovers regarding sore spots too!

To listen in and join Matthew as he takes you back to the Origins of Acupuncture, check out the TCM Wisdom Tube!

~Donna

For more great and FREE recordings of past 1-hr webinars, click here for the TCM Wisdom Tube!

Skin Diseases: Pulse, Auricular, Herbs, & Acupuncture - Jeffrey Russell

Submitted by elotus on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 4:07pm

What a treat it is to have Jeffrey Russell share his experiences in treating Skin Disorders. Jeffrey is a long-time student of Dr. Jimmy Chang on clinical diagnostic techniques using pulse diagnosis and herbal prescription as well as with Susan Johnson – the foremost teacher and practitioner of Master Tung style acupuncture. This means that Jeffrey has wrapped up, into a pretty package, all his knowledge on pulse diagnosis, herbal treatment, and Master Tung's points. And the best part about all this is that he does a really GREAT job on explaining what he does, and how he does it. Perfect for someone just starting out!

Here are some highlights (and nice reminders that I may have forgotten!):

An Intro to Chinese Veterinary Medicine - Signe Beebe and Michael Salewski

Submitted by elotus on Fri, 09/21/2012 - 1:50pm

 

Treating animals is such new territory when you're mainly a human acupuncturist so I was so happy to hear this introductory class from Drs. Signe Beebe and Michael Salewski!

This was a special 2 hour webinar and first up was Signe Beebe talking about tonic herbs for treating mainly small animals like dogs and cats. In the hour after, Michael Salewski, gave a sneak peek at what he will be covering with horses.To tune into the full 1-hour webinar, click here!

Here are some highlights:

  • Tonic herbs can increase production of hormone, have immunologic, adaptogenic, endocrinological, and cardiovascular pharmacological effects 
  • Why do animals get deficiencies? Same as humans - genetics, poor Kidney jing, aging, chornic illness, poor diet, chronic drug therapy, overwork, over breeding, emotional stress. 
  • Qi tonifying formulas primarily treat the Lung and Spleen.
  • Blood tonifying formulas treat blood deficiency syndromes that often impact the Spleen, Heart, and Liver.
  • Use direct moxa for horses, the effect goes deeper in.
  • The best place to take the pulse on a horse is the carotid artery. (I didn't know this!!)

~Donna

The Ancient Art of Cupping - Susan Johnson

Submitted by elotus on Fri, 09/21/2012 - 1:41pm

 

What a great class!! There's not much material out there on cupping techniques so it was such a great opportunity and honor to hear Susan talk about this. From school, I've learned that the cups bring up the toxins from deep in the blood so that the fresh blood can easily heal the body of pain or disorder. That's the gist of it and Susan gives a really good explanation in the article that are part of the lecture notes of this class. So basically, cupping is an ancient technique used by many different cultures for many generations (Who knew?? I thought it was just the Chinese!).

Susan also mentioned that the most important thing to do is explain to your patients how cupping works, what it is, and what it does... which makes sense. If your patient is not familiar with the cupping technique, it will definitely freak them out. You also have to be well aware of the patient's breathing during the cupping session. They must breathe slowly in and out through their nose, otherwise they may get lightheaded. 

Another important thing to remember - 10 minutes is all you need for the cup to stay on the skin. The magic works within the first few minutes.

~Donna

For the good cupping tips, you will need to Watch the 1-hr Webinar Here. Susan does a beautiful job explaining it!


For more great and FREE recordings of past 1-hr webinars, click here for the TCM Wisdom Tube!

Structural Alignment Acupuncture - Regan Archibald

Submitted by elotus on Wed, 08/29/2012 - 3:04pm

The 1 hour webinar on Structural Alignment Acupuncture was pretty interesting! This is actually the first time I've heard about this type of acupuncture before so I was very interested in finding out more about it. Click the following link to listen in on  Structural Alignment Acupuncture for yourself: Watch the Aug 28 1-hr Webinar Here!!

After listening in on the webinar, Regan stressed on posture very much. It seems like the better your posture, the better your health and sure, that makes total sense. A better posture is easy on your organs, muscles, and as Regan pointed out, your immune function. Pretty cool right?

Here are some great tidbits I took away from the webinar:

  • When sitting in a chair, pretend you are sitting on a horse with your legs apart and arms close to the body.
  • Did you know 80% of people will visit the doctor for back pain??
  • When you walk, swing your arm with the opposite leg. For example, if you take a step forward with your left leg, swing your right arm out. Regan noted that the eldery typically swing their arm with the same leg instead of the opposite and it may cause deterioration of the mind. By practicing proper walking, this will help them breathe easier, thus leading to a healthier life.

~Donna

Essential Tung's Acupuncture - Dr. Brad Whisnant

Submitted by elotus on Mon, 08/27/2012 - 5:03pm

What a GREAT webinar this weekend with Dr. Brad Whisnant!

This past webinar weekend, we had the honor of having Brad join us and share his amazing knowledge of Master Tung's acupuncture! The first day started off with the theories and Master Tung points on the hands. The second day finished off with the remaining points on the body. Brad taught the most commonly used points, showing us where they are and what they are used for. He even gave us his input on how to treat certain conditions!

In case you missed the class, it is availalbe as a Distance Learning Course - Video Recording. Look for it here!

Here are some highlights in the class:

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