April 20, 2020 Mark—my wonderful right hand—sent a pressing email a week and a half ago: “Please send me your blog for this week so I can send it out today. It’s already Thursday!” I had started the blog but couldn’t send, it because I was surprised at what was coming out. It was bleak.
We’re in what is for many a very confusing time. As Chinese Medical practitioners, we know that viruses (Wind-Cold) are agents of change. They come in and elicit anywhere from minor to utterly devastating change. And we know, since Chinese Medicine is applied Chinese philosophy, that these changes are a part of human evolution, that
March 26, 2020 Last week I saw a seemingly healthy, vibrant looking man in his late 30’s presenting with particularly severe arthritis. All his joints were aching, especially hips, shoulders, knees and most of his finger joints. How long have you had this joint pain? Probably five years, maybe six. What was happening in your life
Please note that Ann is not practicing in her office at present. Please click HERE to see the video ‘Remote Healing’ for an update on her practice methods during the Coronavirus period. March 18, 2020 “Are you in your office this week?” That’s the question of this month. My answer is yes, of course; that’s
See Ann’s Coronavirus Blog Here March 9, 2020 As efforts at containment of the new coronavirus seem less likely to be effective in the longterm, it’s squarely time to focus on what we can do for ourselves, families, clients, neighbors, and everyone to protect health all around. Although all cases should be taken very seriously,
March 11, 2020 Interesting case today. A patient I’ve known for years came in a sat down on the sofa. The first thing I noticed today was a large dark red mark on his face. He’d presented years ago with severe internal Wind causing daily projectile vomiting and at that time was utterly debilitated, unable
March 2nd, 2020 Even these days, having been in practice a long time, I am often utterly staggered by the results of Sinew treatments. Staggered not just by the increased range of motion and reduction of pain, but by the patient’s pronouncements at the conclusion of the treatment. Today I’m spending a lot of time
What’s your advice about the coronavirus? That’s the question of the month for many practitioners, it seems. No matter what the external pathogen, the body reacts to preserve Qi and life by activating Wei-defensive Qi (the immune system). Wei Qi also governs the musculature and therefore allows us to move. Since viruses have Wind as
My Small Intestine luo seems always to be in gear. That’s the acupuncture channel that acts as the feedback system – the part of you that says, “How am I doing?” If the answer that comes back is, “Not so well, actually…” the body makes an adjustment as that question is answered, concentrating blood into
It’s not often that someone goes into panic in the office. Since the work is with needles and needles are sharp, I’ve tried to minimize the “clinic” component of the office. Although it’s clearly a professional space, it doesn’t look like a medical office. The only give away is the table. Fortunately then, the air
At the last few weeks I had few patients that complained about getting sick all the time. Frequent colds, viruses and other external pathogenic factors are a common complaint. Our society has many agreements we share about how and why one gets sick. Mostly we blame it on the weather. But the weather is the
My last patient of the day just left and I must scrawl a blog before going home. All day I’ve been wishing everyone a “Happy New Year” as is the custom, but I just couldn’t say that to my last patient. Life has been very tough for him; every day brings a whole-body pain that’s
Because I’m in my 50s, the feeling of our current culture where there seems to be so little privacy, decorum, dignity, self-censoring, no quiet realm for deeply personal things, where things that you would never talk about are now common currency on social media—all feels so unbecoming. Is there anything that people think should be
So How Do you Fix That? I really enjoy treating people with Damp-Heat in the joints. In the general population the condition is widely thought be permanent, even incurable, but the Divergent Channels know otherwise. These people can be ill to the point of being crippled, yet relief is usually so fast. A woman came
At first, intention and knowledge seem to contradict one another. What is intention? Is it simply wanting someone to heal? If it is, is it enough?Our intention to help our patients is very strong, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this profession. Yet, how much we care seems to make no difference sometimes. As humans, we
A few days ago in Portland, Oregon, as we were driving from my hotel to the very exciting first day
There’s a friend with whom I share a love of cars. We talk about naturally aspirated engines, i4s, GT3s, and
Tomorrow we’re heading out to Scotland to drop off Miriam for her second year at University and then to teach