It will take you just over an hour and a half to be revitalised and re-enthused about life, the universe and everything.

Clare and Lee’s lively discussion covers her research and her clinic but also details the difficulties we all face in choosing our path and making transitions.

This episode sees Clare joined by the renowned Australian acupuncture expert, Dr John McDonald who has been practising and teaching since the early 1970’s. They discuss all things acupuncture including addiction, allergies and autoimmune issues and John’s fascinating career spanning 5 decades. 

More information about Dr John McDonald can be found via: 

Webinars: https://southportacupuncture.com.au/john-mcdonald-webinars

Mentoring: Information at : https://southportacupuncture.com.au/john-mcdonald-mentoring                      

Acupuncture Point Dynamics Volume 1

https://au.blurb.com/b/10139097-acupuncture-point-dynamics-volume-1

Acupuncture Point Dynamics Volume 2

https://au.blurb.com/b/10139144-acupuncture-point-dynamics-volume-2

Acupuncture Point Dynamics Volume 3

https://au.blurb.com/b/11090866-acupuncture-point-dynamics-volume-3

Enquiries to: twindragon@bigpond.com

As practitioners our scope goes beyond just the face to face appointments with patients, and this conversation delves into the importance of undistracted time, being a good fit with your patients and growth as practitioners and hidden bias. 

In todays episode of Heavenly Qi, Clare talks with Sean Tuten a renowned TCM practitioner who has taught Acupuncture and Chinese Herbalism throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia since 2004. They talk about the joy of healing others, helping people open up to their potential, the importance of connection and deep dive into Jeffrey Yuen and Ann Cecil-Sterman's work on the luos and their role in the healing process.

To learn more about Sean and find out about his upcoming Australian class visit www.acupuncturementorship.com

https://www.seantuten.com/

This week on Heavenly Qi Clare is joined by Dr. Randine Lewis, author of The Infertility Cure, and a leading expert in treating infertility conditions combining Eastern and Western based medicine. They’re talking all things practitioner wellness including why practitioners find it so hard to ask for help when they’re sick and the role of western medicine when treating yourself and others. 

A metabolically healthy person can exist in a body of any shape or size. With that in mind this episode of the Heavenly Qi Podcast has co-hosts Clare Pyers and Naava Carman dissecting the many issues surrounding body size and fertility. Including a deep dive into the problems that arise from the use of Body Mass Index (BMI).

We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this episode, Join us on Facebook to chat with the show hosts and other listeners.

“Rest and self care are so important… you cannot serve from an empty vessel.”

― Eleanor Brownn

Do you have a self care list? In these extraordinarily difficult times the balance between service and self care and has never been more difficult to maintain. Most of us in the last year have, at least at some point, been in a "fight-or-flight" state which has many negative consequences for our health. Clare Pyers and Naava Carman talk openly about their personal journeys and discuss ways to keep you and your patients in a balanced state.

Naava’s Current Life Hacks

https://www.getsensate.com/

https://www.kingyaa.co.za/birthing-beyond-the-binary

The tendency is to consider a pregnancy so delicate that we should take a ‘hands off’ approach to treatment especially in the first trimester. Sharon Weizenbaum joins Clare Pyers to dispel fears and give practitioners a solid grounding on giving herbs during this important time. There is a fundamental lack of text books on this subject and so Sharon has begun the arduous task of translating some of the ancient Chinese texts into English. If you can read Chinese then this may be your calling.

Sharon Weizenbaum graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture in 1983 and has been practicing Chinese medicine for over 30 years. Her first gynecology teacher was Dr. Zhu Shu-rong from Shang Hai. In 1990 she traveled to Hang Zhou where she studied herbal gynecology with Dr. Qiu Xiao-mei as well as Chinese language. She continued her language study at Mt. Holyoke College and translates much of her own teaching materials. In 2007 she traveled back to China to study classic formulas with Dr. Huang Huang, who continues to be one of her teachers. She studied and apprenticed with Kiiko Matsumoto for 12 years and developed Integrative Mandala Acupuncture as a synthesis of her study with both Chinese and Japanese acupuncture teachers. Sharon is the director of White Pine Healing Arts clinic and educational facility. She teaches the Graduate Mentorship Program and Integrative Mandala Acupuncture nationally as well as shorter courses. Her articles have been published in The Lantern and in the North Amercan Journal of Oriental Medicine. She is known for her engaging, clinically relevant and clear teaching style.

https://whitepineinstitute.org/

https://whitepinecircle.org/

It is essential that everyone who comes to our clinic feels respected, included and heard. The emergence of the LGBT community represents some significant challenges to not only practitioners but to society as a whole.

In this podcast Co-hosts Naava Carman and Clare Pyers explore the issues involved in creating a ‘safe place’ - for all of our patients.

Gender and Sexuality in Chinese Medicine by Catherine J. Lumenello

Men’s fertility is sorely unrepresented in the literature and it can be a joy to a couple to find out there are many things that a man can do to help improve their chances of having a baby. Some men, on the other hand, can be reluctant and may need some coaxing to get them on board for their fertility journey. Co-host Naava Carman joins Clare Pyers as they discuss the training of dogs, children and men.

"The truth about mobile phone and wireless radiation: what we know, what we need to find out, and what you can do now"

Presented by Dr Devra Davis, Visiting Professor of Medicine at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, and Visiting Professor of Medicine at Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwyDCHf5iCY

Albert Einstein wrote that “Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it.” If you specialise in Women’s Health and Fertility then this episode of Heavenly Qi is essential listening. With nearly 40 years of combined experience co-hosts Naava Carman and Clare Pyers delve into past cases, examining what they have learned and what they would do different.

Naava has been in practice over 20 years and spends most of her time working with tricky multi-faceted Reproductive Immunology issues in women over 40 such as recurrent miscarriage, unexplained infertility and multiple failed ART cycles. When she isn't practicing, Naava runs the Fertility Support Trained Community. You can check out her training on www.fertilitysupport.training which houses The Advanced Level Diploma in Fertility Acupuncture. This is the most comprehensive integrated medicine course available to help Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners gain an in-depth understanding of some of the most complex issues in fertility, such as the role of the immune system and how Traditional Chinese Medicine can support artificial reproductive techniques like IVF, IUI and ICSI.

In this episode of The Heavenly Qi Podcast Clare is joined by another speaker from the upcoming International Integrative Chinese Medicine Conference Dr Olivia Pojer. Olivia is a Western medical doctor and a Chinese medicine practitioner based in Austria who specialises in male infertility. This is an exciting conversation covering Olivia’s approach in the clinic, recommendations for male fertility testing and her book “Integrative Treatment of Male Infertility with Chinese Medicine”.

What is your internal dialogue when it comes to prescribing raw herbs in the clinic? Are you wrongly assuming your patients are time poor? Raw herbs are the most potent, quickest working and the most customisable solution to offer your patients. A commitment of a couple of hours a week to the boiling of the herbs is something that most patients will do when the benefits are properly explained to them. Mary-Jo Bevin joins Clare Pyers in an episode full of encouragement to inspire your patients to take the time and consume those raw herbs.

Take at the first sign of cold/flu:

xing ren

Chen pi

Jie gang

Fang feng

Dan dou chi - 10g

The Daoists believe that life begins from stillness.

Take a moment for a pregnant pause, to appreciate the way the soul manifests, grows and develops throughout pregnancy.

To consider what is the curriculum that your soul has signed up for in this lifetime? What is the curriculum of the other souls you connect with, and how do you influence each other’s learning and pathway in this lifetime?

It all starts at the very beginning of life, and unfolds throughout pregnancy, before we officially begin our life in the outside world.

Join Clare and Randine on this journey as they go deep into the intricacies of the psyche, the soul, life purpose and the glory of the Dao, and how this information can be used to understand the stages of pregnancy from a different perspective.

Dr Randine Lewis is a practitioner based in Asheville, NC, USA. Randine leads transformative practitioner retreats around the world, and mentors students via her website CEFP – Clinical Excellence Fertility Professionals. Her fertility program and work with patients is found at www.thefertilesoul.com You can find Randine’s continuing professional development webinars at www.healthyseminars.com//bio/randine-lewis

There’s always going to be tricky dynamics that we come up against in clinic from time to time.

What about that patient who is always late?

Or are you a practitioner who doesn’t run on time in a perfect schedule?

How about when your patients are self-prescribing and getting needled by another practitioner for “a separate issue”…

It doesn’t stop there. Dr Google is always ready to diagnose! Some people send too many emails, some argue, others lie!

Communicating certain things early on can prevent many of these tricky dynamics and awkward conversations. Phiona and Clare discuss some of their sentiments to these and other issues, and some helpful approaches that they have utilised in addressing these problems.

What is it that makes the difference between a clinic that is struggling financially and one that is thriving? What are some of the key things that any practitioner can implement in their clinics in order to get better outcomes for their patients AND also help their own bottom line?

Hamish and Sohial are well known and respected in Australia for their excellent clinical skills, as well as their fabulous business skills. They generously share their expertise in seminars on a range of clinical and business related topics.

They have just released their new book “In Demand – The Health Professionals Guide to a Winning Practice” on running a successful practice. There is a pre-release special price for Australian practitioners, you can purchase the book with this release pricing on this link here.
In this episode, Clare and Phiona are joined by Hamish Reid and Sohial Farzam to discuss the ins and outs of having a Business Mindset. Covering topics such as acupuncture treatment dosage, patient expectations and goals, and different ways of discussing challenging patient dynamics.

Can you give me acupuncture over the internet?

In this episode, Phiona and Clare discuss the ins and outs of running an online clinic. Why would you offer online consults? Maybe patients are contagious but would benefit from herbs and nutrition. Sometimes patients need more discussion than acupuncture. Separating consults and herbal prescriptions from treatments can also allow you to change up your own schedule during different times of your life.

We go into some of the how-to on setting up your clinic & website to handle online consultations. We also discuss tips for preparing patients before online consults and the technology they’ll use – including how to get a good tongue photo.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this episode, or for you to spark a conversation about what the ideas in this episode mean for you. Join us on Facebook to chat with the show hosts and other listeners.

It’s been a while since we posted a new episode – but wow is this episode worth the wait! Clare has returned from the world of maternity to do a live interview with Randine Lewis which was recorded in May 2018 on her trip to Australia for leading a practitioner retreat. Kirsten Wolfe joined Clare for this interview that goes deep into the types of challenges that practitioners can face when they are faced with the need to transform themselves and their practice. (Listen out for the gurgles of baby Michael who was there for the interview too.)

The topic of conversation is Transformations in Clinical Practice. Based on how we start out in clinic, and who we are when we start out, it’s not necessarily easy to predict how things will end up in the future. There is also an additional thing that happens where the way we change as practitioners is prompted by who we need to become for our own spiritual and emotional wellbeing and fortitude.

Randine offers insights and shares her experience as a trailblazer in the world of Chinese medicine: from establishing a busy fertility practice through to running patient and practitioner retreats.

Dr Randine Lewis is author of the Infertility Cure, and is a member of faculty at the Daoist College of Chinese Medical Arts in Asheville NC. She leads transformative practitioner retreats around the world, and mentors students via her website CEFP – Clinical Excellence Fertility Professionals. Her fertility program and work with patients is found at www.thefertilesoul.com

Randine is keynote speaker at IICMC2018 in Melbourne, November 9-11 2018. She is also running an intimate 1 day workshop on November 8th in Melbourne on True Fertility: Opening up to the source of the 8 extraordinary meridians. Tickets for the conference and workshop are available at iicmc.com

We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this episode, or for you to spark a conversation about what the ideas in this episode mean for you. Join us on Facebook to chat with the show hosts and other listeners.

In this episode with Dan Bensky we discuss the intricacies of palpation, his insights around palpating the San Jiao, and how refining your palpation skills can assist with your diagnosis, your acupuncture choices, and better inform your herbal prescriptions. Inspired by his background in osteopathy and craniosacral methods, Dan brings the classics of ancient acupuncture descriptions to life using the osteopathic approach to help bridge the gap in the practical hands on palpatory learning of acupuncture.

Dan Benksy has a diploma in Chinese medicine from Macau institute of Chinese medicine, and a PhD from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. He also has a Doctor of Osteopathy. He practices in Seattle and you can find his clinic here. (www.danbensky.com).

Dan has authored and co-authored many important Chinese medicine texts including the Shanghai Acupuncture text, Chinese medicine material medica, and Chinese Herbal medicine formulas and strategies.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

How do dosage ratios and cooking methods help avoid adverse reactions to many herbs and formulas?

How many grams can or should you use of Chai Hu in XCHT? What about 125g?

Simon Feeney takes us on a journey from 20yrs ago, when he met a monk who became his friend and teacher. This monk introduced Simon to herbal medicine, inspiring his studies in Chinese medicine and the Shang Han Za Bing Lun.

Simon’s investigations into classical Chinese herbal dosages, with the help of ancient texts, has led to some really interesting and useful insights. Yielding strong clinical results, as well as some funny stories of passion and effort.

Have you heard Simon puts more Gui Zhi and Sheng Jiang in his porridge than you do in your Gui Zhi Tang?

Simon’s clinic is Empirical Health and is based in Port Macquarie, in NSW Australia.

He has just released a Shang Hang Za Bing Lun app called “Chinese Medicine Classics” to help you with his immense herbal knowledge, and passion for clinical results with Chinese herbal medicine.

You can also check out Simon’s exceptional classical herbal range of Sans (powders), Wans (real honey pills) and Tangs at Empirical Health, and his high quality range of organic herbs.

Get the app via the apple store or for android

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

What’s your libido like on a scale of “can’t get enough” to “can I please have a cup of tea?”.

Male fertility is up for discussion this week and Peter Kington is just the man for the job.

When girls hit puberty, she is afforded many subsequent years to observe her menstrual cycle and to get a sense of any problems that might be present. However, when a boy hits puberty and starts to ejaculate with masturbation, there’s no feedback to let him know that his sperm is fine or that there’s any sperm there at all. Yet as Peter Kington so eloquently describes, it’s an assumption that almost every man (and society) makes, and it doesn’t necessarily get questioned even if a couple is suffering from fertility problems.

Peter has a keen interest in treating male fertility, not just from a clinical perspective, but also from a social point of view that by and large still places the “blame” with women and isolates men from the process. This is an in depth episode where we cover just about all there is to know about male fertility and getting the guys on board with treatment through to strategies that can be applied clinically.

Peter’s clinic is located in Brisbane, and he also lectures regularly across Australia and New Zealand. He will be presenting at IICMC Supercharge your Fertility Conference in Melbourne in November 2018.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

Have you heard the Chinese saying that a pregnant woman should read beautiful poetry, and no one should deliver bad news to her?

In this episode we discussed all things pregnancy related with Debra Betts – including the merits of this old superstitious advice.

We covered everything from the basics of pregnancy, and forbidden points, through to some more complicated scenarios around inducing labour, and the rise of gall bladder attacks during pregnancy in modern times.

For further information – about Debra’s clinic work and her patient handouts,  information about the acupuncture training for midwives, and the online Masters course for acupuncturists.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

As a regular guest of The Heavenly Qi Podcast over the years Randine Lewis has always managed to surprise us with her wisdom, touch us with her compassion and titillate us with her humour and this episode is no exception. From discussions of dispensing herbs in the clinic, to reality creation, to Shennong, the “Divine Farmer” in this episode Clare and Randine find nuggets of wisdom to inspire us all.

Who better to have a chat with about Han Dynasty medicine than the King of Shang Han Lun himself – Arnaud Versluys.

We talk about how he went from a standard TCM education to being a practitioner who exclusively practices classical herbal medicine. Phiona and Clare asked Arnaud about many aspects of Han Dynasty medicine, including the use of acupuncture alongside Han dynasty herb formulas, the best translation of the Jing Gui Yao Lue, and whether he thinks it’s worth it to learn to read Chinese and be able to understand the texts for yourself.

We speculate on rumors that Arnaud will write a book on Shang Han Lun – he promises that he has it on the agenda!

And of course we get into some detailed discussion of some aspects of Shang Han Lun theory. Something for everyone in this episode!

Following these links you can find more information about Arnaud, his clinical practice and his upcoming seminars and lectures.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

In this brilliant episode we managed to cover a lot of ground with Ann Cecil Sterman – where we talked about dynamic pulse diagnosis, and how actively taking the pulse allows a practitioner to derive conclusions about how the organs are interacting with each other.

We covered so much more than just dynamic pulse diagnosis. We got to hear about Ann’s life mission, her passion and even how she plays in a professional orchestra from time to time.

We also got into the nitty gritty on the “other channels” that are often forgotten about. Ann discusses how they are very powerful and an essential part of every acupuncturists toolkit that should be learned about and not be ignored.

And of course the question of dosage for acupuncture – how often should we be giving acupuncture to our patients in order to get them an optimal outcome? And what to do if your treatment that should be working isn’t working.

Ann Cecil Sterman is a long time student of Dr Jeffrey Yuen, and has a busy practice in Manhattan New York where she focuses on treating chronic degenerative diseases. She has published 2 books: Advanced Acupuncture, A Clinic Manual, Protocols for the Sinew, Luo, Divergent and Eight Extraordinary Channels, and The Art of Pulse Diagnosis. Ann’s teaching schedule can be found here.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

In your life, what or who is a pain in the neck? Do you suffer from the burden of trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders?

Neck and shoulder pain is a common complaint amongst patients – whether or not you specialise in musculoskeletal cases, pain in the neck and/or shoulders will be experienced by many of your patients.

Treating and resolving neck and shoulder pain is often fairly straight forward – but what about those cases where it just doesn’t seem to respond to treatment the way you think it should? In this episode Clare and Phi discuss their strategies to deal with really tricky neck and shoulder pain, and surprising ways they’ve found to help resolve it.

Some of the things we discussed in this episode include:

Heather Bruce’s navel cupping technique

Mouth breathing, the consequences for TMJ, bruxing and neck pain, and what you can do about it

Pterygoid muscle release

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

If you treat fertility patients in your practice – this is a must-listen episode! If you are looking for ways to really make your clinical approach holistic – this is a must-listen episode.

We recorded a live episode with Yaron Seidman a few months back, and now here it is for all of you who didn’t get to join us live to enjoy listening.

We had a great discussion with Yaron about his Hun Yuan approach to treating fertility, and what it means to take a truly holistic approach to treatment. We talk about life medicine, and how we can use all kinds of tools – not just acupuncture and herbal medicine – to help reconnect someone who has lost their connection to their health potential.

Yaron shares gems including the foundational approach of his unification formula, how he prescribes different types of music for patients to listen to, as well as his understanding of the importance of a Heart connection with patients.

Yaron Seidman has been practising for 27 years, and his clinical practice is specialised in the treatment of infertility. He consults with patients around the world from his clinic based in Connecticut USA. Yaron also runs a 3 year practitioner training in Hun Yuan Body, Heart, Medicine.

Yaron will be presenting at the 2018 IICMC fertility conference in Melbourne Australia, November 9-11th 2018.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

Are you walking the walk when it comes to getting your work-life balance right? Are you taking enough time off?

For many practitioners it’s tricky to get the right balance between work and leisure.

What’s the best way to take time off without having a negative affect on your business? It’s a common occurrence for practitioners – you take some much needed time off from clinic – only to return to find that your patient numbers have dropped.

Women in particular can have a stressful time in planning for maternity leave – it can be hard to know exactly when will be a good time to finish up work, and when you think you’ll be ready to return to work is often not the time you thought you’d be coming back.

And what about regular time off – like sick leave? Do you go to work when you’re so sick you should really stay at home? Can you afford to take a day off work and still be able to pay the bills when they come rolling in?

Some get locums, some working in group practices have other practitioners to cover for them, others just close down their clinic for their holiday and reopen on their return. We talk about it all in this episode, and whilst we don’t profess to have all the answers, Phiona and Clare talk about what has and hasn’t worked in their particular circumstances in the past.

We would love to hear about the challenges you have faced, and how you went about dealing with it. Was it a success? Would you do it again differently next time?

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

We as humans are manifestations of the universal spark, and when the universal spark fragments, it radiates energy from Heaven outward towards us, and it is up to us as human beings to answer back to Heaven with our thoughts, our actions, our feelings and emotions. The more we are focused on our desires, frustrations, anger – the more we are not connected to that connection. The more we are connected to the Heavenly energy the more we are connected to our true nature.

In this episode we go into some of the intricacies of stems and branches theory – as Joan Duveen shares his 3 decades of clinical experience in using this approach with his patients.

The important influence Dr van Buren had in the teaching of stems and branches

How to apply knowledge of the 4 pillars in a clinical setting

How stems and branches can be used with fertility patients

The relationship between Zheng Qi, stems and branches, and the connection to our true nature

How to make the adjustments in the calculations for the Southern Hemisphere.

Joan Duveen commenced his studies in Chinese medicine in 1975, and studied and worked closely with Dr van Buren for many years. Joan is practising in Netherlands and lecturing internationally on a regular basis.

He will be holding a seminar on Stems and Branches acupuncture in Melbourne, Australia from July 21st-24th. Tickets can be purchased from the event organiser Qiology.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

What to do with your gynae patients who seem to have every single pattern of disharmony happening in their body all the same time? It’s like they’ve asked for a burger with the lot – and it has every. possible. ingredient. all piled in between the two halves of the bun.

This week we discussed some of the intricacies of treating gynae patients – women’s health and fertility. Some clinical gems including

some mini herb combos – triplets that are good for treating menopausal symptoms, depression, sinusitis

when Steve uses yi mu cao in doses as high as 30g

how he doses tian qi to deal with heavy bleeding

what he uses for patients with a subplacental hemorrhage

Steve Clavey is a master of Chinese herbal medicine, and runs a busy fertility and women’s health practice in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Fluid Physiology and Pathophysiology

Steve is an editor of the internationally regarded Chinese medicine journal The Lantern that is published 3 times a year. You can also read some of his Daoist translations and some of Steve’s other writings at https://thefatmonk.wordpress.com

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on this episode. Please drop by our Facebook page to let us know what you think on this topic!

In this week’s episode, Phiona and Clare go through the foundations of how to treat thyroid disorders from an integrative TCM perspective. From start to finish – from the basics of what the thyroid is doing, what the thyroid blood tests mean, what the optimal reference ranges are and how to use that information in your clinic.

They discuss the importance of formulating a proper TCM diagnosis to ensure your acupuncture treatment and herbal formulas are targeting your patient’s pathology in just the right way.

Clare and Phiona discuss a range of integrative approaches to treating the thyroid, including addressing heavy metals, the importance of selenium, zinc and other nutrients. Also the right way and the wrong way for patients to be supplementing with iodine, especially if they have Hashimoto’s.

We mentioned it’s a good idea to go back and refresh yourself on the episodes we did with Heiner Fruehauf on gu syndrome – episodes 24 & 25.

We’d love to hear your favourite gem from this episode, please share it with us on our Facebook page.

What does your patient’s heart rate tell you about their history of trauma? The types of qualities present in those with PTSD?

Can you tell from the pulse what an aneurysm, prolapse or valve problems feel like on the pulse?

What is the significance of an increase in the leathery pulse quality in today’s society?

In this episode we had an in depth discussion with Ross Rosen about so many aspects of pulse diagnosis of the Shen Hammer Pulse System.

Ross early interest in Chinese philosophy, culture and martial arts led to the study of Chinese herbal medicine at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City. He has dedicated years to the study of Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis (CCPD) and Contemporary Oriental Medicine and Chinese medical psychology is one of only a few practitioners who is certified practitioner and continues to receive hands on training with Dr Leon Hammer. Ross has also studied under Dr Jeffrey Yuen.

Ross’ clinic is located in Westfield, New Jersey. You can find details on his clinic at www.acupunctureandherbalmedicine.com and information about his upcoming seminars at rossrosen.com

We hope your ears and your own Shen can take the info from this episode to help your fingers to have a new understanding of your patients’ pulses in clinic. We’d love to hear your favourite gem from this episode, please share it with us on our Facebook page.

“We get sick when we’re not paying attention”

From Picasso, to Dostoyevsky, to Zhang Zhong Jing – we discussed many great ideas from great minds in this episode with Z’ev Rosenberg. This is a long episode – where we really dive deep in exploring the ways in which we can best equip ourselves to be the best diagnostic clinicians we can be.

In this long discussion we had a great discussion with Z’ev who shared his 30+ years of experience as we covered many ideas ranging from the intricacies of pulse diagnosis, through to the treatment of autoimmune disease and menopause. Your passion for Chinese medicine will be renewed after this discussion.

And to round off this spectacular episode – a special song for the outro at Z’ev’s request.

Z’ev Rosenberg, L. Ac., began his studies of Asian schools of medicine in the early 1970’s, with studies in macrobiotics, shiatsu, and theory of Chinese medicine.  He received a degree from the Santa Fe School of Natural Medicine in Western herbal medicine and body therapies in 1976, Kushi Institute (Boston, Massachusetts) in 1979 in macrobiotic counseling, Southwest Acupuncture College in 1983 in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and Emperor’s College of Oriental Medicine (post-graduate master’s degree in Oriental Medicine) in 1989.  He worked as a macrobiotic councilor and shiatsu practitioner throughout the 1970’s, and has been in full-time practice in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine since 1983.

You can find more about Z’ev on his website http://zevrosenberg.com/

Let us know what your thoughts and reflections are on the ideas in this episode – over on our  Facebook page.

In this episode of Heavenly Qi Clare guides Mandy Gratzer’s infectitious enthusiasm into a wonderful hour of useful ideas for your clinic. Clare and Mandy have a shared passion for keeping TCM practitioners ‘in business’ making this indispensable for anyone looking to survive, and maybe even thrive, at this challenging profession. All practitioners will benefit from getting to know Amanda Gratzer.

“All musculoskeletal problems will have an internal component – you just have to look for it.”

Matt Callison is the King of Musculoskeletal acupuncture, and if he could meet any of the ancient acupuncture masters, he’d choose Hua Tou for his interesting take on the points. We had a very informative discussion with Matt about his own interesting work combining acupuncture and sports medicine. Matt shares some less well known methods with Hua Tou Jia Ji points, and effective ways to treat pain holistically with particular combinations of acupuncture points, motor points, shu & mu points. As acupuncturists, being able to treat pain really quickly, with a full view of the holistic picture, is going to boost our practices, and our patients’ experience. 

If you want to be a world class acupuncturist, you need to know what is contained in these texts. If you want to be a world class diagnostician, you need to know what is written in the pages of these books. David is a master of this domain and he shares his in depth knowledge of Han medicine with us in this episode.

The Nei Jing and the Nan Jing contain enough clinically relevant information that you could literally spend your entire career refining the details contained within their pages and still not uncover all the intricacies.

David White has done just this. He has dedicated his career to studying in great depth the ins and outs of the Nan Jing and the Nei Jing and the clinical and diagnostic info that is so abundant in these texts. Pulse diagnosis, acupuncture techniques, diagnostic indicators – this man knows the details. Scholar and practitioner extraordinaire – David has collected a lot of experience in the Han medicine of the Nei Jing and Nan Jing since entering the profession.

David holds a masters degree from RMIT and is in his final year of his doctorate at UTS in Sydney. He is a former founding member of the International Society for the Study of Classical Acupuncture (ISSCA) and current Director of the Institute of Neijing Research (INR). He is currently in private practice in Sydney’s North Shore, a senior lecturer at SITCM in acupuncture, and holds seminars in Neijing medicine all around the globe. In 2017 David will be teaching, as part of the ongoing Neijing Medicine series through the Institute of Neijing Research, the Compass of Jingluo which is a classical exploration of the channel system. This will be in Melbourne on the 23rd and 24th of April and the 3rd and 4th of June. The INR will also be launching it’s online training for all theoretical studies in Neijing medicine early next year.

We’d love your feedback and interaction on this topic, you can do that on our Facebook page. If you’re loving our episodes, please rate us on iTunes.

We don’t talk about the tough times. New practitioners feel overwhelmed and their education can feel inadequate when they find themselves at the coalface of clinical practice.

Practitioners get burnt out. Practitioners get depressed. Some quit the profession. Some contemplate suicide.

Let’s talk about this.

In today’s episode, we have a real conversation with Greg Bantick about the realities of being a practitioner, and the different cycles we can experience throughout our careers.

Greg Bantick is a highly esteemed senior practitioner who started his studies in Chinese medicine in 1975, and has spent the past 41 years highly engaged in the teaching and practice Chinese medicine both in Australia and in USA. Greg was part of a small group that established the first acupuncture college in Brisbane, Australia in the late 70s, and held senior roles at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine. He has been in clinical practice since the 70s and is currently practicing in Brisbane, Australia.

What is it like to practice in a small town? Where everyone knows everyone else, word travels fast, and your reputation can build quickly. But there are also challenges, like how do you tell a dairy farmer that they need to stop consuming dairy products in order to improve their health? How can you encourage your patients to eat organic, when there are no stores that sell organic produce in your town?

We spoke with the winner of our listener competition: Laura Parkinson and we discussed the intricacies of practicing in a small town with her in this week’s episode. Laura is based in a small town in Iowa with just 6000 people, and she established her practice after spending 10 years in US Navy medical clinics. She shares the story of how she changed careers and started her study in Chinese medicine.

Laura’s clinic Total Family Wellness is based in Oelwein, Iowa. Her website is iowatotalfamilywellness.com

What would you do for a patient with an 11cm fibroid? Clare and Phi discuss the “rule of thumb” that fibroids larger than 5cm can’t be effectively treated with Chinese medicine.

Uterine fibroids are a common problem to see in our female patients as they head towards menopause. Presenting to us with severe period pain, heavy bleeding and associated symptoms, these women are coming to us for help with Chinese medicine to assist them to shrink their fibroids or to help their body resolve them entirely.

In this episode we talk about Heather Bruce’s cold removal via navel cupping and we also mention her 8 extras in women’s health and maternity course. You can find her website here.

We talk about the energetics of how the body and uterus create a fibroid in the first place, and steps you might need to take to begin to unravel the energetic landscape. We also discuss herbs, acupuncture and integrative approaches to helping your patients to reduce or resolve their fibroid using natural medicine.

We’d love to hear your experiences of treating fibroids, or if you have any questions feel free to post on our Facebook page.

Master Tung acupuncture points are named like GPS coordinates, point name 88.25 tells us information about which limb we are looking at and how far up the limb to go to find the point. Channel theory names points with a “stress address”, point name GB31 tells us which location along the gall bladder channel.

Master Tung acupuncture is such a perfect fit for a modern day acupuncture clinic, and this week Brad Whisnant shares his passion for this style of acupuncture that was passed down in one of the most famous family lineages. It’s one of the most practical forms of acupuncture and is revered for its effectiveness.

A lot of the points used in the Tung system are located at or very nearby to regular body points, but often used in different or novel ways than the ways classically taught. We get right into the nitty gritty of Brad’s favorite and most used points, including 88.25-26, 2204 and 2205, san cha yi er san, gu ci yi er san, 88.12, 88.13 & 88.14 and 708, 709 & 710.

Don’t be fooled by the confusing point numberings – this is a great style of acupuncture to learn.

We also chat with Brad at the end about his tips for running a successful clinic. You can find his clinic details here.

Dr. Brad Whisnant is a native of Oregon, graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine and then later from Emperors college with his Doctorate of Acupuncture. He is an avid student of Dr. Jimmy Chang, Dr. Richard Tan and Master Tung’s Acupuncture system. Brad has authored 7 books on Master Tung which have been received with great success. You find his books on Amazon and his website at pinpointclinic.com.

We had a great time recording this episode, we hope you find it inspiring and informative. We’d love to hear your comments on this episode, please do this on our Facebook page.

Limbic system development in infants can be positively influenced by our medicine and in particular the use of shiatsu or tui na. Chinese medicine pediatric specialist Peter Gigante joins us in this week’s episode to discuss one of the main treatment interventions he uses with his patients.

Peter reminds us that the importance of therapeutic touch and direct human contact in general for infants, and children of all ages, should not be underestimated by practitioners or parents. Touch assists infants to be able to assimilate the stimuli they are exposed to, and helps them to be able to moderate their stress responses to overwhelm.

We also discuss considerations for children who may have had limited exposure to loving and caring physical contact in their early life, and also children for whom touch may be problematic such as children with autism spectrum disorder or who may have had previous trauma.

And of course how touch and palpation in the treatment of children helps to inform herbal medicine prescribing.

Peter Gigante has been practising Chinese medicine for 28 years, and previously studied Shiatsu therapy. He has conducted many workshops and lectures on Chinese medicine pediatrics in teaching programs and seminars. He has been involved with the Victorian Chinese medicine registration board, Chinese medicine registration board of Australia, and past president of the Shiatsu Therapy Association of Australia.

Peter has a collection of articles on Chinese medicine pediatrics and childhood development as understood from a Chinese medicine perspective that you can find at https://jibode.wordpress.com/

We hope you enjoy this episode. Please post your questions and feedback on our facebook page. 

Do you have SJ4 on speed dial? Are you best friends with Hrt3? Do you have a good enough relationship with Kid16 that you could invite her over for dinner?

An evolving conversation that started one afternoon in the dispensary at clinic, Phi and Clare discuss the intricacies of each practitioner’s own unique relationship with various acupuncture points. They discuss their favourites from the point of view of the “not so famous” acupuncture points. And their ideas about how 2 different practitioners can use the same acupuncture points on the same person and have a different outcome.

Which points do you have a special relationship with? Have you cut ties with any particular points, or recently revived your relationship with other points?

Let us know what your favourite not-so-famous points are, how you use them, and how you came to know them so well. Join the discussion on our facebook page – we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Kidney Yang deficiency, Liver Blood deficiency and many many other patterns can be staring right at you from within your patients “normal blood results”. Serum sodium levels below 140mmol/L can be an indicator of Kidney Yang deficiency. GGT levels below 15U/L can be a marker of Liver Blood or Liver Yin deficiency. Listen to the episode to find out more about ideal levels of TSH, eGFR, white blood cell count including monocytes, eosinophils and basophils and how these non-ideal levels can be understood from a Chinese medicine point of view.

This week Dr Clare Pyers is interviewed by Phi to discuss taking an integrative approach to Chinese medicine, and how she has created a diagnostic framework for interpreting blood tests into a chinese medicine understanding. Clare discusses her passion for staying true to Chinese medicine as she looks further afield into the world of naturopathy and functional medicine to find the pivot between conventional medicine and Chinese medicine.

Chinese medicine treatment approaches help to fill the gap created when patients are unwell, but not quite unwell enough that they fall into the purview of conventional medicine treatment approaches. Many patients have already had their blood tests done by the time they reach us in clinic, we can use these tests to help us to uncover missing pieces of the puzzle or to confirm or refine our treatment approach with our patients.

Clare Pyers is a Chinese medicine practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia who has been in full time practice since 2005. Prior to studying Chinese medicine, Clare studied Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering. The result of combining these two very different career paths gives Clare a very practical, scientific approach that she integrates seamlessly with her heart centred and soul focused style of clinical practice. She has developed a framework for interpreting conventional blood test results into a Chinese medicine diagnosis, which is published in her iphone app and the October 2016 release of Integrative TCM Guide: Pathology text book. She has a series of webinars that gives practitioners a solid understanding of how they can start using this information in their clinics to improve their results with patients. In November 2018 she will be presenting at the IICMC conference in Melbourne, Australia.

During the episode Clare mentioned Dicken Weatherby’s “Blood Chemistry and CBC Analysis” which can be purchased from amazon.

How best to support your patients in their 40s – whether they are doing IVF with their own eggs, or donor egg IVF or trying naturally? Biological age is the main factor that determines fertility in women of any age, but particularly in those above the age of 40. Lorne discusses the integrative approach used in his clinic, and goes into detail about how he runs his fertility clinic – from talking with his patients about their expectations, their treatment timeframes and how best to discuss the types of treatments they are considering.

When the IVF window closes, the Chinese medicine window remains open. Our medicine helps in cultivating the soil: enhancing the uterine environment, improving blood flow to the ovaries and protecting the Jing – improving her fertility potential and overall health and vitality.

Lorne Brown is the clinical director of Acubalance Wellness Centre in Vancouver, and the Founder of Pro D Seminars, Medigogy and the Integrative Fertility Symposium. After a career as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Lorne received his Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Vancouver’s International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Lorne has extensive postgraduate training in gynecology, obstetrics, and reproductive medicine. Internationally known for his ground-breaking work as an educator and advocate for integrated fertility care, Lorne was the first Canadian to be a certified fellow of the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine (ABORM).

Here is the link to Leon Hammer’s medigogy episode on treating infertility.

Lee Hullender Ruben’s study on whole systems traditional Chinese medicine in 3 months leading up to IVF leads to increased live birth rates.

One of several studies by Elisabet Stener-Victorin’s on acupuncture for PCOS.

More information about the Kavish Method of hormone balancing.

Happy listening! We’d love to hear from you too. Please comment on our facebook page if you’d like to ask Lorne a question, or want to share your own insights on fertility for over 40s.

It doesn’t get much better than this. These two great friends have come together, once again, to immerse the listener in their experience, compassion and joy. An extremely open and enlightening conversation about growth and scaling, with their own clinics under the microscope. Welcome to the ‘love fest’ with Naava Carman and Clare Pyers. There is something for everyone in this wonderful episode.

The biggest mistake you can make with patients who have MTHFR mutations is to think that giving 5-MTHF supplement is all you need to do for them.

As well as maybe (or maybe not) taking 5-MTHF supplements, Phi covers the 9 other steps around harmonising methylation that are so important not to overlook. And how we can use the wisdom from within our medicine to help these patients to recover from health problems.

Join Phi and Clare in this discussion where Phi reveals how she has learned from her patients who were having severe reactions to B vitamins including nausea and anxiety and how that lead to her on a journey to gaining deep knowledge of MTHFR and other genetic mutations in order to be able to help this growing cohort of difficult patients who were coming to her.

Beginning her formal training 23 years ago, Phiona has studied for 8 years at university gaining two degrees, graduating in 2006 in Chinese Medicine and with a prior B.A in Drama, Dance and Music. Since graduating from Chinese Medicine she has also become an accredited practitioner of Nutrigenomics (nutrition for your genome). Prior to studying Chinese Medicine, she has also undertaken a 5 year shamanic healing apprenticeship focusing on shamanic counselling, hands on healing and shamanic journey meditations.

Phi currently resides in Boulder, CO and is consulting via Skype. Practitioners can work with Phi to get a greater understanding of their patients genetic mutations and how to optimise their outcomes with TCM. Phi can also work personally with your trickiest patients to get them better outcomes by providing integrative treatment that enhances their best genetic expression and supercharges your acupuncture and herbal treatment protocols. You can visit Phi’s website here for more information.

The training that Phi has taken was with Dr Ben Lynch via his online practitioner learning program at Seeking Health Institute.

Herbal exorcisms. Helping our sickest patients to recover from mysterious and difficult to treat diseases. With seemingly inelegant formulas that at first glance look like a mix-mash of random herbs, Gu expelling formulas have their own unique dynamics that are worth learning how to use. These formulas help to extinguish the black magic from your patients who are cursed with otherwise incurable diseases.

There is little doubt that Heiner Fruehauf is a genius when it comes to treating Gu Syndrome, and in this week’s episode we go into more information about treating Gu Syndrome. In part 1 we spoke about the parameters we use for identifying Gu Syndrome, since it doesn’t necessarily fit any defined western medicine diagnosis. This week in part 2 we talk details about treatment protocols, herbal formulas and treatment timeframes. And how to guide your patients through the long and tricky recovery process.

Heiner has been practicing and teaching Chinese medicine for over 30 years, and has an active clinical practice in Columbia River Gorge area. He is also a founding professor of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National University of Natural Medicine. You can find more of Heiner’s work at the following links:

Wildcrafted and sustainably sourced Chinese herbs and formulas can be purchased via http://www.classicalpearls.org/

Articles and academic resources and information about studying opportunities with Heiner can be found at http://www.classicalchinesemedicine.org/

Black Magic. What to do if your patient seems cursed? They’ve been sick for a long time and don’t necessarily have positive tests for parasites or bacterial infection to justify their illness. Perhaps they’re not responding to your herbal formulas the way you think they should? Maybe they feel better for a few days and then relapse. It’s like an evil spell has been cast upon them and we need to effect change on more than just the physical layer. Chinese medicine classifies this knotted, deep seated condition as Gu Syndrome, and has a range of treatments dating back thousands of years.

There is little doubt that Heiner Fruehauf is a genius when it comes to treating Gu Syndrome, and in this week’s episode we were excited to be hearing some of the intricacies of identifying and treating Gu Syndrome. In part 1 we talk about the parameters we use for identifying Gu Syndrome, since it doesn’t necessarily fit any defined western medicine diagnosis.

Don’t worry – we got hold of Heiner to record part 2 of this episode – coming up next week where we discuss the finer details of treatment protocols, herbs to use and treatment timeframes.

Heiner has been practicing and teaching Chinese medicine for over 30 years, and has an active clinical practice in Columbia River Gorge area. He is also a founding professor of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National University of Natural Medicine. You can find more of Heiner’s work at the following links:

Wildcrafted and sustainably sourced Chinese herbs and formulas can be purchased via http://www.classicalpearls.org/

Articles and academic resources and information about studying opportunities with Heiner can be found at http://www.classicalchinesemedicine.org/

This week we were blessed to have a great conversation with Roisin Golding about Chinese cosmology. As fans of the tv show Dr Who – Phi and Clare were both very excited to be discussing the idea that the Yellow Emperor could in fact be a Time Lord.

Time Lord or not – we discuss how Huang Di ascended to heaven, as described in the Su Wen:

In former times there was Huang Di. When he came to life, he had magic power like a spirit. While he was [still] weak, he could speak. While he was [still] young, he was quick of apprehension. After he had grown up, he was sincere and skillfull. After he had matured, he ascended to heaven.

(Unschuld and Tessenow – Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: Annotated Translation, Chapter 1)

We talk about time as it applies to acupuncture, and some of the similarities and differences between Chinese cosmology and western astrology. And many more interesting ideas relating to observing the skies and timing of natural events.

You can find more information about Chinese cosmology and the stems and branches in Roisin’s book – which is a great read according to Clare who has this book in her clinic library. The book can be purchased here.

Roisin Golding has been practicing acupuncture for over 30 years, her clinic is located in London. She has lectured internationally and is currently consulting for the World Health Organisation as part of an international team of experts of acupuncture.

Phi and I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode: are you a doctor who fan?, do you work in conjunction with moon cycles, stems and branches? Please leave your comments on our Facebook page.