I was made aware of this misleading article by a colleague from Israel, Aviv Messinger, who along with Daniel Seidman wrote a response to the article. whic the journal chose to publish.
Here is the full comment.

**************************

I read with great interest the article of Boivin and Schmidt published in the July 2009 issue of your journal.
Although I agree that there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the role of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies in the management of infertility, it appears that the present report provides limited evidence to support its seemingly one-sided conclusions.

The weakness of this study stems from several sources. First, there was no enquiry as to why and when the patients requested the assistance of CAM therapies, nor what the duration of the CAM treatment was. Using this poor methodology, a patient could have begun her CAM therapy a day before T2 evaluation, and still be considered as a CAM patient. Although the authors state that failure to conceive may have preceded the use of CAM rather than followed it, this limitation is critical when evaluating the results, and cannot be overlooked.

The assumption that CAM therapy can be considered as a uniform form of treatment is groundless. The CAM therapies considered in this study vary widely in their proposed mechanisms of action, as well as in their known effects and side-effects. For instance, herbal therapy is a vast field that includes an enormous variety of different herbs and ways of administration. In this article there was no attempt to classify the CAM therapies that were used.

The authors suggest that the use of CAM therapy can lead to an increased incidence of congenital malformations. This conclusion, however, cannot be made from the article of Zhu et al. (2006) to which the authors refer.
Zhu et al.(2006) concluded that although babies born following infertility treatment have a higher incidence of malformations, this was a result of the primary infertility condition, and not a result of the treatment.

Moreover, comparing six categories of fertility treatments, CAM users had the lowest incidence of congenital malformations.

In addition, the paper claims that applying acupuncture on the 2nd day after embryo transfer leads to a two-fold increase in abortions - based on the paper by Westergaard et al. (2006), ignoring the fact that these results were found not to be of statistical significance.

The authors’ claims regarding safety concerns are in stark contrast to the conclusions of three recent meta-analyses (Cheong et al., 2008, Manheimer et al., 2008, El-Toukhy et al., 2008) that examined the efficacy of acupuncture in IVF treatment. These comprehensive studies noted that acupuncture should be considered a safe practice, with no serious adverse effects. The authors admit that they were unable “to isolate the effects of specific CAMs”, but claim that it may be important to publish “contentious associations in reproductive health” and that their finding “are important because they show that CAM use ’can’ be associated with poorer outcomes.” However, despite the admitted poor methodology the title and conclusions strongly emphasize a presumed strong negative association between CAM and the outcome of fertility treatments, which we believe not only has low plausibility, but is also poorly supported by the actual evidence presented.

Aviv Messinger, Daniel S. Seidman, MD, MMSc
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, and the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Address for Correspondence: Daniel S. Seidman, M.D.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Chaim Sheba Medical Center
Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel
Tel: +972 3 604 6596
FAX: +972 3 535 2081
E-Mail: dseidman@tau.ac.il

Reference
1. Boivin J, Schmidt L. Use of complementary and alternative medicines associated with a 30% lower ongoing pregnancy/live birth rate during 12 months of fertility treatment Hum Reprod. 200924:1626-31.
2. Zhu JL, Basso O, Obel C, Bille C, Olsen J. Infertility, infertility treatment, and congenital malformations: Danish national birth cohort. BMJ (2006) 333(7570):679.
3. Westergaard LG, Mao Q, Krogslund M, Sandrini S, Lenz S, Grinsted J. Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial. Fertil Steril (2006) 85:1341–1346.
4. Cheong YC, Hung Yu Ng E, Ledger WL. Acupuncture and assisted conception, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4 (2008).
5. Manheimer E, Zhang G, Udoff L, Haramati A, Langenberg P, Berman BM, Bouter LM. Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilization rates of pregnancy and live birth meta-analysis. BMJ (2008) 336:545–549
6. El-Toukhy T, Sunkara S, Khairy M, Dyer R, Khalaf Y, Coomarasamy A. A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture on in vitro fertilisation. BJOG (2008) 115:1203–1213

I know I’ve been neglecting my writing on CMNotes.
*hanging head in shame*
I also know that lately, you heard many reasons. They really are reasons, real valid ones too, not just excuses.
I love writing about Chinese medicine, and I love writing about it in English. Lately, I’ve been meeting new and interesting people through this blog and I am very grateful for it.
Please bare with me, and forgive me for not being able to write more. I hope this will soon change.

So here are some of the things I found interesting:
Chad Dupuis over at Yin Yang House wrote a great post about treating Parkinson’s disease with Tuina and acupuncture. I found it very educating and I hope that you will too.

The NCCAM published the results of a research, which concludes that Chinese herbal medicine may benefit people with pre-diabetes, but evidence is inconclusive. Click here to read more.

I know I already told you about the Blue Poppy blog, but I will say it again- this is a very good blog!
You should check it out and decide for yourselves of course, but I think it is a great source of information about Chinese herbs.
Today I would like to mention 2 posts:
Karmic Disease- by Bob Flaws. This post caught my eye because, well, you must admit, it is a catchy headline.
But also because I think there’s truth to it. Sometimes, and we can see it in children too, we see things that we can not explain with the present or past. We have to go even further back- pregnancy, and sometimes a past life. Sometimes, those are the only places we’ll find reasonable explanations to some situations. What do you think?

Modular Approaches to Formula Combining: Er Chen Tang- by Eric Brand. I know I said that I am not very into herbs. I did not change my mind. I do however think that it’s important to point out those who are very much into herbs and write about it and share their knowledge about it.

Here’s a link to a new research that proves how acupuncture works. How about that?!
This article is worth at least a brief reading.

First- a short explanation
The lack of posting is mainly due to a lot of work.
For those who might not know, I have a big website in Hebrew about Chinese medicine, it’s name is Sinit (which means “Chinese” in Hebrew), and it’s been running for the past 4.5 years.
The website has grown a lot over the years. What started as a little thing is now huge with a blog and another site where the community can share notes from their years in school and from various lectures.
All the work is being done by me, and normally I will not complain about it (ok, maybe just a little…). But in the past month we- my husband and myself- started a huge make over fort he website: logo, layout, target audience- almost everything is going to change. The things that will not change will still grow.
The make over+ keeping the website up and running as usual take up all my work time, which is limited to begin with. So what I’m trying to say is- I don’t blog not because I don’t want to!

Community acupuncture in Israel
Having said that, a very exciting thing is happening in Israel, and I can’t help but feeling like I had something to do with it:
Last year I uploaded an article on my Hebrew website about community acupuncture, written by Roy Green Pach.
Roy talked about the struggles he had with being out of school and trying to make it as a practitioner. He also talked about deciding to adopt the principles of community acupuncture in his hometown Jerusalem.

That article was one of the most popular articles I ever published on my website.
It created so many comments and echos- it felt like something happened in our little community- something positive and good. Something that can actually help people in their struggle after 4 years in school and realise their dream of being practitioners of Chinese medicine, and not throwing in the towel.
People were shocked, amazed, overwhelmed by the new concept, something that is very different from what we are being taught in our schools. But mostly- the whole community was inspired.
Yep, I can safely say that we created a little revolution.

Since the article was uploaded and created this wonderful buzz, I heard of at least 4 new community acupuncture clinics that opened up in different cities in Israel.
Suddenly, many people started debating if this new concept can work for them, and even one school that I know of is about to announce their opening of a new community acupuncture clinic on their grounds.
At the same time, Roy started writing regularly on my Hebrew website, on his own blog, and he continues to create debates and provoke thoughts about treatment, community acupuncture and Chinese medicine in general.

Proud Jewish Mama
Yeah, I feel like a proud Jewish mama.
I know, I didn’t write about it, but I provided the stage for a very refreshing debate for the Israeli Chinese medicine community. And apparently, the debate lead to a change.

I feel proud to have been able to contribute something to this positive change.
I love the fact that the Internet made this change happened- people were exposed to the option of community acupuncture through a website, a change that helped them fulfill their ambition of being practitioners in Chinese medicine.

I would like to give a round of applause to Roy, who writes great posts, so great that they get people’s Qi flowing in the right direction!
Roy can say that it’s not him, that it’s really Lisa Rohleder.
But as far as Israel’s concerned, if Roy wouldn’t have talked about it, none of this would have happened.

So how should we mark this day?
The web is full of explanations of how acupuncture works, yin and yang… You don’t really want me to start writing about that, right?
I thought that maybe we should take a more interesting appraoch and so things a bit different this time.
So I’m going to suggest a number of links that I think offer good information about how Chinese medicine can work well for patients (and practitioners too!):

I would like to present a video and a message of peace from a colleague in Israel, Eli Sapir.
Eli chose to send a message of peace in various languages, and the one thing in common is Qi Gong.
To find out more about the message, click here and scroll down a bit for the English version of the message.

I found a great video on about community acupuncture, a very trendy topic around the world it seems- and with good reason. My guess is that once it stops being a trend, the clinics who are true to the main idea of community acupuncture will survive.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here’s some info:

As I was searching for information about Tuina, I didn’t find a lot of good sources about the subject.
I wonder why that is, as I find that in this field, not many practitioners write and document their work.
Is it just me? And if not- do you have any idea why that is?
A good general view of Tuina that I did find is this video:

If you are interested in Chinese medicine and really want to know what it is- I urge you to experience it.
We can talk for hours and hours about how it feels, what it does, but the best way to understand what’s going on is to feel it on yourself. Click here for more about experiencing Chinese medicine.

Have a great day everyone!

I decided to start reading about the swine flu, to know more about it.
The more I read, the more paranoid I became- is it possible that we are being scared out of our minds over a simple disease? Is it possible, that we are being pumped with only one side of the story?
I mean, there were little notices about people recovering from swine flu just like any other flu, but for some reason, those little articles were not made into huge headlines.
Why is that? Could it be that the reason for spreading the fear is for better vaccine sales?

OK, OK, I can hear you all rolling your eyes now.
I’m also rolling my eyes and saying to myself that it is time to stop reading about the subject.
Stop reading, but maybe it’s time to start writing.
I thought that maybe it’s time to write something that is more calm, and not all hysterical with a frightning headline.
Maybe this way people will have access to more information about the subject?

The first thing I would like to point out is that I read some information that was written by a doctor turned Chinese medicine practitioner in Israel, Dr. Reuven Barak.
He has a clear look at things and tends to not panic, which is always a good thing.
In his Hebrew blog he states that he didn’t want to talk about the issue, but since he was asked about it, he would just say that he thinks that H1N1 is just like any other flu, therefore there are no different recommendations to prevent it, but the usual ones: vitamin C, Yu Ping Feng San and so on.

Dr. Barak also mentions an important report from the website flu.org, from which he concludes:
1. This is a flu just like any other flu.
2. It’s best for all of us to calm down.

Interesting, don’t you think?

Another thing that troubles me is the vaccine.
A new vaccine is about to be brought to the world, and many will get it. I will not be surprised if governments around the world will invest too much money on explaining to the public why they should get the vaccine.
I wonder though, what do we know about this vaccine? Is it safe? Are there any short term and long term side effects?
I mean, this vaccine has been produced so fast, surely we don’t know a lot about it. How can someone decide that it is safe to use on millions of people around the world?
Naturally, one of the recommendations will be to give the vaccine to children, and I ask- do we know enough about the vaccine and how it will behave when given with other vaccines that we already give so freely to children- especially babies?
And if we decide not to give the vaccine- then what?

I found this video on YouTube, from Fox News, which only adds more reasons for me to this twice about this vaccine:

Conclusion
This is not a post that aims to say that vaccines are bad for you.
I gave my son some of the vaccines as I believe it is a good thing, but should be used wisely, and more important- one should always consider the person we are looking at.
One will have no reactions at all, and some will have devastating side effects.
Julian Scott, the author of  Acupuncture in the Treatment of Children, stated in one of the lectures he gave in Israel that vaccines are here to stay and we need to learn more about them, but there are certain things we need to pay attention to when considering giving vaccines to babies and children.

Panic, fear, hysteria- those are not our friends when it comes to make decisions, including ones that affect our health.
This post aims to encourage self-education about H1N1 and about the vaccine.
Educate yourselves so you will be able to educate your patients and your family members.
The more information that is based on facts and not on panic will benefit everyone.

Over to you
So what do you think about swine flu? Any recommendations?
You are welcome to leave you thoughts.

One of the practitioners who teach the pulse is Dr. Leon Hammer.
Dr. Hammer himself might not teach anymore, but he has students to carry the torch and pass on the valuable information.
One of those students is Ross Rosen, who had a guest post about Chinese pulse diagnosis in CMNotes last year.
Ross will be teaching a Shen-Hammer Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis Seminar on November, in NJ.
I am attaching all the details for you below.
If you get a chance, if you can get to NJ, studying more about the pulse is always a good thing.

The class details:
Dates:  November 21 and 22
Times: 9am - 5pm
Location:  Center for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, 166 Mountain Ave, Westfield, NJ 07090
Cost:  $300
CEUs/PDAs:  16
Registration:  email rossrosen@gmail.com and send check made payable to ‘Ross Rosen’ to the above address.
Instructor:  Ross Rosen, JD, MSOTM, LAc, CA, Dipl OM (NCCAOM)

Ross Rosen is one of a small group of close students of Dr. Leon Hammer and a certified teacher in Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis.  He works closely with Dr. Hammer on a regular ongoing basis.

Ross Rosen…is a valued instructor of and a direct inheritor of my work and teaching. He is extremely observant and creative in his work, adding to our accumulated knowledge more than any other associate. Of great value is his ability to formulate the essence of Chinese medicine in simple terms accessible to the average person. Chinese medicine at its best, as practiced by Ross Rosen, is capable of discerning the disease process at a very early stage before it manifests an illness, therefore preventing disease, and above all capable of delineating and treating the individual who has the disease.

 –Dr. Leon Hammer

Ross has published numerous articles on CCPD, which can be accessed at his blog.

The class will introduce the major concepts of CCPD, the Principle and 22 Complementary pulse positions and the most commonly encountered pulse qualities, clinical significance and some interpretation and much more.  70% of class will be dedicated to hands-on pulse instruction and training.  Those attending will leave the weekend with a body of knowledge and skills readily and immediately transferable into one’s clinical practice.

Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis™ (hereinafter “CCPD”) is a sophisticated system of diagnostics which relies on the subtleties of the sensations, qualities and structure of the radial artery at both wrists. Heavily steeped in ancient wisdom and classical pulse diagnosis dating back thousands of years, CCPD breaks out of the dogma of pulse systems that in many respects are not relevant to the present day and age. CCPD provides insight into the modern diseases and constitutional imbalances that affect modern man in an industrial world.

CCPD, while having its roots in classical pulse systems, was significantly adapted by Dr. John H.F. Shen over the course of his long and well renowned career having seen hundreds of thousands of patients. After an intensive apprenticeship with Dr. Shen over a period of 28 years, Dr. Leon Hammer took on the arduous task of codifying and continuing the evolution of this pulse system.

The intricacies of CCPD are complex and require significant amounts of hands on training with a certified teacher to fully learn. Essentially, however, information is synthesized from the combinations of various qualities felt at the six principle pulse positions and the twenty two complementary positions, as well as the qualities perceived uniformly over the entire pulse and at each of the requisite depths. Integrating the information from these seemingly disparate parts, one is able to arrive at a complex diagnosis which prioritizes levels of imbalances of not just the symptomatic representations, but more importantly the root causes of disease.

Incorporating concepts and clinical realities that have not been diagnosed by any diagnostic methods in Chinese medicine, CCPD is truly a treasure which can change the lives of patients. By incorporating a precise measure of a healthy balanced pulse, even the subtlest deviations from this norm can be detected, thus establishing its importance not only in treating disease, but also as a preventative medicine.

To kick things off- a wonderful piece of news from Richard Goodman, the author of Classical Chinese Medical Texts:
If you have a PayPal account, you can now pre-order both volumes of CCMT, pay $55.95 and shipping is free.
That’s right, shipping is free. Ah, that’s great news if you ask me. Living outside the USA or Europe means that you pay extra for shipping, and then when you think about customs… oy.
This offer is good until CCMT volume 2 is out, on October, then the price goes up to $59.95, but shipping is still free.
I urge you to visit Richard’s website and check out the free on-line course that helps one read the book and make better use of it, this way it can help you decide whether these books are good for you or not.
You can also check out the interview with Richard by clicking here.

Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine day is on October 24th.
Got any special plans that day? How about a nice discount for your patients? Or maybe a special post that day?
You can click here to get more information and ideas.

A new Giovanni Maciocia book is not exactly “Chinese medicine on the web”, but it is worth a mention.
Maciocia is a well known practitioner, and he really doesn’t need me to introduce him. He wrote many books, and his latest is The Psyche in Chinese Medicine.
I would love to get my hands on that book! Here’s a book about a topic we don’t read a lot about in Chinese medicine, simply because there’s so little written about it.
If anyone read this book- please share your thoughts.

I enjoy the Blue Poppy Blog very much.
Although I am not a herbs fan, I like having a good source of information about them, and every now and then they actually write something that has nothing to do with herbs. Like this interesting post about an original bronze acupuncture statue- Tong Ren. You should check it out if you’re interested, and if you like herbs, join their RSS.

Swine flu-mania is everywhere, and I keep hearing about a good answer from the Chinese medicine side of things.
One example is a formula that all children got in China, as they got back to school.
And I”m wondering, why not give it to everyone, world-wide? What would cost more, a Western medicine vaccine or the Chinese medicine formula? What would work better?

To all you TCM students out there- a new website is up and running, one that is supposed to help you study for your exams. It was built by a colleague of mine here in Israel, and she hopes that it will help all the people who need help with their studying. Take a look, and bookmark it for your next exams.

And last but not least- a new blog is about to take over the acupuncture blogsphere- Almental Pathways, written by Noah, a colleague from New York.
It’s still new, but it seems like he has a lot to say. Hey Noah- I’ll be following!

Over to you
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments about the written above.
Would also be interested to know what you’re doing for Acupuncture Day….

***

Miriam Lee died at the end of June 2009. Following the announcement of her passing I wish to pay tribute and write a few words about a combination of points that always works.

In the introduction to her book, Insights of a Senior Acupuncturist, Lee describes her early years as an acupuncturist in the USA. I was especially drawn to one paragraph telling of
the time she did not have enough needles to treat a patient, but nevertheless, she “treated her with a prayerful heart”… Later on it seems she managed to widen that heart manifolds, treating up to 80 patients a day, starting at the crack of dawn.

In the introduction to her book, Lee describes growing up in China and working as a nurse and a midwife before becoming an acupuncturist, and living through the Japanese occupation and World War II.  These were extremely difficult times for the people of China. Later on she moved to Singapore, where she practiced acupuncture for many years. As a practitioner she recognized the variations in her patients’ medical ailments. As life in Singapore was easier, she began seeing the kind of problems that, as she said, arise from unfairness and anger – the same problems that are so widespread in America.  Feelings of unfairness and anger can cause depression, hyperactivity, and mental problems such as schizophrenia and suicide – problems that are not mentioned in acupuncture books from China, where people struggle for life itself, rather than over the quality of life. When people anguish over the quality of life there is more qi caught up in emotional blockages. 

After 17 years in Singapore, Miriam Lee came to California, where acupuncture was illegal. Nonetheless, she felt an urge to help people and started practicing acupuncture, News traveled fast and Lee attracted a growing number of patients. As the lines got longer, Lee was in need of a set of points that could be helpful for the majority of common complaints. Specifically, she was looking for a way to facilitate the free flowing of emotional qi in the middle burner. Stagnation of the middle burner prevents pure qi from ascending to the brain. 

Lee found the key to her search in the Nei Jing:
”When the stomach and spleen, the central jiao, are attacked by emotion, pure qi cannot ascend to the brain, and the evil qi, the waste, can not descend. It will remain stuck in the stomach”…

Based on this model, Lee created the following formula:

ST36: the best point to move stagnant qi in the middle burner

SP6: supports the liver, kidneys and spleen

L11: moves the colon thus cleansing the body

LI4: replenishes qi in the body

LU7: Cleans the kidneys, enabling oxygen flow to the brain

Lee explains the combination: these points are well-balanced in terms of yin and yang, and in their position, and they are needled bilaterally. This fact, and their different individual usage, makes them powerful enough to treat the entire body.
The needling technique is also interesting. ST36 is needled first since it activates the stomach meridian, enabling qi flowing to the face. Insert both needles and then obtain qi. Then, with right hand over left needle, and left hand over right needle, move 240 degrees clockwise and back 120 degrees counter-clockwise. This is done 3 X 3 times. After that she needles LI4, and then the rest of the points. The treatment lasts longer than usual – about 30-40 minutes. In my experience, using this combination will yield good results even with the conventional acupuncture technique. In her book Lee talks in detail about treating depression, multiple sclerosis, allergies, emotional and neural problems, overweight and more. In treating diabetes she prefers SP7 ,SP6 and Shenguan.

In April 1974, Miriam Lee was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. The police came at 6:45, after she had already treated 10 patients, one of which had traveled 4 hours to get to her. At the trial her patients filled the courtroom, insisting that they had the right to receive the only medicine which had helped them.
Within a matter of days there was a compromise with Governor Reagan, and acupuncture was made “an experimental procedure”, which allowed Miriam Lee to work under the auspices of San Francisco University, until the signing of the legislation legalizing acupuncture in 1976. It can be argued that Miriam Lee, her incarceration, her patients’ protest and her integrity, paved the way to recognition for all of us.

I learned the 10 points combination in Amir Ragones’ class at Reidman College and I’ve been using them extensively ever since. Sometimes I needle them as the initial stage of treatment, I use them in cases of chronic fatigue, emotional distress, depression and more. Miriam Lee’s students used to write in their protocols the abbreviation ML whenever they used Miriam Lee’s combination, and so do I. In this article I wish to thank her for this powerful combination which has become an important part of my work.

Over to you
Do you work with Lee’s 10 points? Do you find the point afffective in your clinic? Please leave your thoughts and comments, I’m curious to know more about the 10 points.

August is here, and with it came TONS of work, in all shapes.
My Hebrew website is going under major update+ face lift, I had a paper to write which was really one big excuse to have a good reason to sit and watch Heiner Fruehauf’s lectures on his website, I am about to give my first lecture ever on September 7th in front of the Chinese medicine community in Israel- which means I need to a) stop freaking out! and- b) write my lecture.
Top all that with a 2.7 year old boy who is on 3 weeks vacation, and you have very little time to work, lots to do and one Israeli blogger, who really wished she had more time on her hands.

I”m not complaining, these are not troubles.
All these things are good things (yes, even the fact that my boy has so much time off from kindergarten), but they are limiting the time I can invest on my blogs, including CMNotes.

So I’ll be on and off here. I’m not worried, Eric Grey from Deepest Health is back, and waking everybody up to talk about interesting things.
In a month or so, I’m sure I”ll be back too to offer my 2 Israeli Shekels on various subjects, and hopefully, by then, I will be able to tell you that my lecture went okay (if not more) and that I did not embarrass myself.

Be good!

Richard, 34, started law school and switched to his true calling, studying Chinese medicine.
His journey is an interesting one, one that took him from the USA to Taiwan and got him writing books to help people read and understand the classical Chinese texts, such as Classical Chinese Medical Texts Vol. I.
Vol. II is in the making as I write this post.

I asked Richard to answer a number of questions, and being the nice guy that he is, he didn’t complain about the long list of questions I sent him. He actually answered them all.
I hope you enjoy this interview.

***

Please explain the path that leads from plans to become a lawyer to studying Chinese medicine.
I was very interested in the law when I was young because I saw it as a career where I could spend a lifetime solving complex problems. It didn’t take long of working in the legal system to find out that my ideas and the system itself were not on the same page. I had always been interested in Chinese medicine and remember getting a catalog from PCOM when I was just 17 years old. My parents said no way, but as fate would have it a car accident at the age of 21 led me to an acupuncture office. Within six months I was enrolled in a program and I felt like I had found exactly what I was meant to be doing.

How did you come to study the Chinese language? Was it because you wanted to translate the classics? How did it happen? And why did you end up focusing on translations?
Within my first year of studies, I started reading translations of the classics. I just didn’t get it-any of it. I didn’t know why and told myself that I would eventually learn Chinese well enough to read the classics myself so that I could see if there was really anything worth studying. At that point, I was convinced the classics were filled with old superstitions which we had moved past, but some part of me must not have believed that.  I vowed early in my training that I would go to China and learn to read the classics after 5 years of practice. I only made it to three years and decided that there was still way too much for me to learn. I heard that learning classical Chinese in China is nearly impossible, so I ended up in Taiwan.

At this point, I have no interest in doing translations. My interest is in helping people to read the classics themselves. Translation is just one of the tools, and I would say one of the less important tools, that I’m using to do this. I firmly believe that with enough determination, any student or practitioner of Chinese medicine can learn to read the classics themselves. 

Did you study TCM? Stems and Branches? Five Elements? All together?
My first year and a half of studies were in TCM. I figured out pretty quickly that I was only getting a piece of what Chinese medicine had to offer. I don’t really know how I knew this, it just seemed so obvious to me at the time. After that first year and a half, I changed schools and began reading everything I could get my hands on. I studied every style offered and read every book I could get my hands on. I wanted to be a flexible practitioner-everyone seemed to have a style or school that they were identified with, and I was never really interested in that because I saw all of them as limited. I wanted to learn it all, and I still do.

Who are the teachers that influenced you the most? Were there any mentors along the way, who had an impact on your career?
There was one teacher, Lyndsay Tunnel, who said something to me that completely changed my path. I told him about my plans to learn the language, and that I really wanted to raise the bar of what people were doing with Chinese medicine. What’s funny to me is at the time, I had no skills to raise the bar on anything-I wouldn’t even say it that way anymore. He looked straight into my eyes and said, “You can. You have the mind for it and are perfect for it. Go do it.”  Never had anyone boosted me in that way and I still feel chills when I think about it. Lyndsay passed away less than a year after I graduated, but what he said and the way he said it was enough to motivate me for a lifetime.

Your work at your clinic sounds interesting. Why did you stop?
I loved working in my clinic, but after about a year and a half I felt stagnant. I wanted to learn more and I was convinced the only way to really get more was to learn Chinese. I had literally read every book on Chinese medicine in English by then and was finding that everything new coming out at the time was just a rehashing of things I had already read elsewhere. Learning to read classical texts has opened up a whole new world for me. My whole attitude and approach has changed. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I miss working with people regularly in a way that a clinic allows for, but for now, I’m not willing to be tied down to a clinic. I’m much more interested in finishing the work I have already come so far to do, and I think for me, a clinic would distract from that right now.

Where does the Western world stand in terms of knowledge and understanding the classics? How much do we really know?
We know a fraction of what is available, and I would not limit that to the Western world. The Chinese world does not read the classics either. The reason I say this is that a few times per week, I go to a library where there are stacks and stacks of classical texts that no one is reading. I rarely run into another person there, and when I do it’s usually a graduate student from overseas doing research on a travel grant. One person could not read it all in a lifetime. What we get through textbooks is just a small piece chosen by a very small group of people. We have a long way to go, but I do not think that this is a discouraging piece of news. I think it’s exciting. Look how much we have already developed and there is still so much more to do.

Can you please tell us a bit about Windstone Press? How it started and why?
Windstone Press is actually a branch of a Taiwanese press that I have been working with for years. I had been editing and translating for some of their textbooks, which are sold here in Taiwan. I run the Chinese medicine wing now, which we are calling Windstone Press.

Please tell us a bit about Classical Chinese Medical Texts- Vol. I. What sparked the idea? What were your goals while writing it? Who will find it most helpful, do you think?
In some ways, this is the book I have always wanted to write. I had found some pretty good textbooks on classical Chinese, but most of them used the same passages from Mencius and Confucius. I found the contents really boring, and I was memorizing characters that I didn’t really need to know. One day, while studying in Hong Kong, I sat down at my computer (mostly to avoid the work I needed to do) and wrote out an outline of what a book that taught people to read the classics would look like. I had been editing and translating Chinese language textbooks for years, so this was something I had some experience with. I went through a bunch of classics that I had on my desk and started choosing texts that I thought would be easy for beginners. I used almost all of those initial texts in the book. This was at least two years before the book came out and I didn’t take it seriously. After deciding a PhD was not for me, I came back to Taiwan and in my leisure time worked on the book. At some point, I realized that what I had written could be very useful and focused on it exclusively for about 3 months until it came out.

I actually do not think this book is for everyone. I wrote this book for those who really want to go beyond what is available who enjoy authors like Claude Larre but want to look more deeply into the texts themselves. Also, it’s for those who want to go to the root of Chinese medicine and who are interested in going beyond what is available in English. In essence, this book is for those people in Chinese medicine who are completely obsessed with studying it and uncovering what is available.

And what about Vol. II?
Originally, I was planning on one large textbook. When I thought about most Chinese medicine books over 500 pages, I realized that most of them were reference books. I decided to break it into three volumes so people didn’t feel overwhelmed. Studying a language like Chinese is already quite intimidating, and a big solid book makes it seem even more intimidating. I wanted people to look at Vol. I and think they could do it. Vol. II is just an extension of what I was planning initially.

The texts I have selected for Vol. II are not much more difficult from a language perspective, but the theories presented differ greatly from what we learn in modern schools. This makes them a bit more difficult to grasp. Vol. I is pretty easy when it comes to theory, and Vol. II will give people a chance to test their ability to interpret passages that could have a variety of possible meanings.

You are settled in Taiwan- Taipei. Why?
My idea was to come to Taipei for a year and learn classical Chinese. It didn’t take me long to realize that one year was not enough, especially given that I wouldn’t be allowed to take classical courses until I had already studied for a year. All of the courses here are conducted completely in Chinese, so I added another year to my plan. I have tried to leave Taiwan twice, but each time I come back. I love living here-life is easy and everything is convenient. Right now, I stay because it’s easier for me to have access to the texts I need to do the work I want to do. If I find something new, I go to the local bookstore or library and get it. That’s not so easy to do in the US or anywhere else in the world. I do not know how long I will stay, but for now I plan on being here for the next couple of years.

In your work- do you take under consideration the work of others- such as Heiner Fruehauf, Claude Larre and Elizabeth Rochat de la Vallee?
I consider everyone who is doing serious work in the classics. I would add Paul Unschuld and Nigel Wiseman to that list. I would also add people that most Chinese medicine practitioners do not follow, such as Nathan Sivin, Ben Elman, Charlotte Furth, Vivienne Lo, Don Harper, Shigehisa Kuriyama, Volker Scheid, Marta Hanson, and a lot of other scholars who have been doing research into texts and the history of medicine. Even forgetting the classics for a moment, there is a range of scholars doing very valuable work in the history of Chinese medicine and other scholars doing work in related fields that I didn’t even mention. I think as a profession, and especially if we are going to develop a true scholar-physician trend in the West, we need a lot more training. Everything I mentioned above is available in English, and I think it’s a shame that people do not read more by China scholars.

Can you give us an example for a typical work day? So we can better understand the working process…
I love this question, because I love my typical work day. Over the last year, my daily morning habit is to go to the bus stop and go wherever the first bus to arrive takes me. I start each day without a plan. I don’t know what I’m going to do until I open my computer and start doing it. I may form a plan later in the day, but I love starting the day with no agenda. I almost always end up in a coffee shop for at least 5 hours everyday because I can get more work done there.

Over the last year, most of my days are spent either reading classical texts or writing about them. I do not do much blog writing until the evening because my focus is on getting the books on my agenda finished. I spend at least one day in the library every week to look up references that I have found or sometimes I pick random books from the shelves to see what I discover. My days are filled more with reading an contemplating than writing-when I finally get to the writing part, it usually goes very fast because I have spent so much time preparing.

What does it mean, for you, to write a book?
For me, any book is a beginning to a new set of skills or knowledge. I have never read anything definitive, even if that is the intention of the author and I’m certainly not trying to write anything definitive. I wrote this book hoping to open people to new possibilities. There are as many perspectives as there are people, and the authors of classical texts are not a cohesive group at all.

I hope that people can discover a whole new world that they previously did not know existed. That is what reading the classics is like for me. Everyday, I discover something new. I have also found that the more I learn and read, the less I find I actually know. I find something that surprises me regularly. There is nothing more humbling than standing in front of thousands of texts that I have not yet read. We have not even begun to get into the depths of this medicine.

How is it to write a blog? Why did you decide to write a blog alongside writing books?
I decided to start a regular blog after I finished the first book. I had already started one before, but I wasn’t serious about it. There was a period of about 3 weeks from the time I finished the book to the time it came out when it was being printed. I was not yet ready to start on the second book and everyone was telling me I should blog, so I did. I was completely resistant to the idea at first because I wanted to focus on books, but I have found that I can write things on my blog that just would not fit into a book.

The best thing about blogging for me is that, like most people, I get a lot of ideas that I can forget about within hours. A blog allows me to put those ideas down and publish them right away. I used to carry around notebooks filled with ideas for things I wanted to write about, and now I use a blog to put those ideas out right away. The reason I keep blogging is because I can interact with people from all over the world who are interested in the same things I am interested in. It’s also my way of reconnecting with what’s going in other places with Chinese medicine. Living in Taipei cuts me off from Chinese medicine in the Western world. Blogging is one of the ways I can feel the pulse of Chinese medicine in the West.

For those of us who are more into philosophy and less into clinical work, what do you suggest we to broaden our minds?
When I was a graduate student, a teacher asked us to pick our favorite book from the semester and present a report on why we liked it. After all of us had done our reports, he then told us to come back the next week and tear it apart, present all of the holes in the logic, and give ideas on how it might have been a better book. This exercise completely changed the way I read anything. One of the trends I see today is that people tend to pick an author or teacher in Chinese medicine and follow that person almost religiously. They would never look at their teacher critically and follow what they say almost without question.

I would suggest those who want a more broad theoretical view to look at all sides of what any teacher presents.
We in Chinese medicine are lacking critical analysis. Usually, when I see criticisms, they are rather weak or personal and not usually well informed. People are using opinions and offer no real evidence. So first, I think developing the ability to critically analyze without necessarily being critical of the author or teacher is a very helpful skill. Every teacher or author is limited in their perspective; I am limited by my emphasis on texts and pretty much ignore the oral tradition because I have no interest in researching that. Volker Scheid is doing some great work in that regard. My current book, and likely future books, will completely ignore the “religious” views of the body. So we can find limits everywhere and also become aware of our own limits.

Second, I would encourage people to read outside of Chinese medicine. If we ever want to develop a scholar-physician movement, which is something I don’t think we are even close to yet, we might start reading more from academics. Books in the history of ideas and philosophy of science are very helpful in orienting Chinese medicine and science. Reading a lot from a variety of authors is probably the best way to broaden one’s perspective.

What are the must have books, in your opinion, that have to do with understanding Chinese philosophy and medicine?
I think the first one everyone should start with is Unschuld’s Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. This is a very basic Chinese medical history book and without knowledge of where these ideas existed in time, it’s really hard to approach philosophy and orient its relationship to medicine. Chinese medicine has become a “melting pot” of ideas. This sounds good on the surface, but I feel it really weakens our understanding of the development of Chinese medicine. For example, I wonder how many people can name the so-called four great masters and give their time period, let alone give some possible reasons for their ideas in a historical framework? We are given their herbal formulas in the same chapters with formulas that are around 1,000 years older and with those developed less than 100 years ago as if they were created at the same time.

Second, I would suggest people read everything by Nathan Sivin. His writings are excellent and he has great guides to doing research and a bibliography of books he suggests. Sivin is retired now, but thanks to the internet people can still learn from him. I think some of the best writing on Chinese medicine and its related philosophies are at this website.

Third, I really like the book by Ben Elman titled On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550-1900. I think we tend to overestimate the influence the “West” had on science and medicine in China, and Elman has done thorough research which suggests, among other things, that the Chinese were interested in science from the West but certainly drew boundaries “on their own terms.” I find this to be one of the most concrete books on science and China ever written. If people want more, then I really like John Henderson’s The Development and Decline of Chinese Cosmology. This is a great overview of how cosmology changed over time in China. You will probably have to get this in your library, but I encourage people who really want to become scholar-physicians to become very acquainted with their local librarian and take advantage of inter-library loan. Read the annotations of all of these books and you will find even more to read.

*Photo: Yali Shi