Free Lectures/Seminars

Ann as guest Speaker with the British Acupuncture Council
Topic: Long Covid

Recorded on December 20, 2020

Introduction to Food Energetics in Classical Chinese Medicine

Full Lecture by Andrew Sterman, Presented by China Books, Melbourne, Australia

Q&A with Ann

Divergents: DSD or SDS?

History of Classical Acupuncture

Question Time:
Cold Water

Movements of Diagnosis of the Sinew Channels

Ann Talks Needles

Grief and Coronavirus

Acupressure

Burn Treatment

Question Time:
Bedtime

Cooking with Andrew

Congee

Dit Da Jow

Rye Grain Crackers

Home Made Vanilla Extract

Walnut Soaking

Articles by Andrew Sterman

Check out these free resources by Andrew Sterman on Food as Medicine. Learn everything from structuring meals to cooking as an herbalist. Click to view them below!

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman grains

Cook As An Herbalist

Food can be our medicine, but we need real strategies to get real work done. This piece unfolds the strategies of the famous herbal formula, Preserve Harmony, by the great master Zhu Dan Xi, with ideas on how to construct meals based on its principles.

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman wet damp

Diet and Dampness

Dampness—the slowing of fluids including special types of weight gain--is a key affliction of modern times. Chinese medicine has much to say on this subject. Diet must always be included; here is an introduction to clearing dampness with diet.

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman Spices herbs

Herbs & Spices

Kitchen herbs are potent tools to use for health. Here is a simple guide to using familiar spices as understood in the dietary branch of Chinese medicine. A quick reference chart is included.

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman grains

In Praise of Grains

The trend of low-carbs unfairly maligns healthy grains. Mostly, damage done by carbs is done by sugar, not foods like whole rice or millet. What then are the potential benefits of healthy grains in a balanced diet, how can they be used for their energetics, beyond polemics?

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman bone broth

Bone Broth Finds the Spotlight

Once the secret of chefs, bone broth is now mainstream. Here are shopping instructions, recipes, explanations of the energetics of different broths, and information on when to use or avoid the different options.

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman fresh meal

A Guide to Structuring Meals

We often hear about single foods to include or avoid, but the real art is in structuring meals, the art of food combining. Here is an introduction to making simple, nourishing and delicious meals based on fundamental principles of health and healing from the dietary branch of Chinese medicine.

Food As Medicine Andrew Sterman Ann Cecil-Sterman wet hot breakfast

Congee and the Importance of Wet, Cooked Breakfasts

One of the strongest things we can do to transform health is to adopt wet breakfasts. Although each is different, breakfast porridges profoundly nourish yin, supporting not only the organs of digestion but also immunity and healthy hormones. Here are my instructions for making delicious congee and other breakfast porridges

Dietary Treatment for Conditions Called Wind

Of the six climatic influences of Chinese medicine (cold, heat, dampness, dryness, summer heat, and wind), the idea of wind is the most difficult to understand. It is the least tangible, the most mysterious, the furthest from modern thinking.

Blog Posts by Ann Cecil-Sterman

View our full BLOG for more!

The Sophistication of Not Knowing

This week I received another surprising email from an experienced practitioner looking for definitive answers to specific questions. If you find that you are studying in order to put more and more questions to rest, you will not be able to treat in the moment; you won’t be treating the individual in their unique humanity—you

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Professional Confusion

Can I combine what you teach with my current practice? This good question is sometimes asked by prospective students.At first I always wonder why the practitioner wants to change their mode of practice after so much study and personal investment. Perhaps they feel that their style of practice has limitations and that a different practice

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Birthright of Calm

Currently I’m in the fourth week of teaching a six month course in acupuncture to a group of beautiful individuals, every one a treasure. I can’t imagine a more enjoyable teaching experience. This week one of the students was inquiring about why she couldn’t feel in her body an acupuncture channel we were working on.

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Tests, Triggers, and Personal Responsibility

A patient arrived eager to announce she had given blood for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene blood test. Her grandmother had ovarian cancer and her aunt breast cancer, and she felt she wanted to know.  Generally, I have a reasonably good poker face and very nearly always offer no dissuasion for any decision. Though I

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The Guilty Knees

This week my teaching venue was a huge, beautiful old stone house built in 1877, not far from Barcelona. For the last nine years, one of my dearest friends and Spanish translator of my books and classes, Monica Martin, has brought me here to teach. People usually come from all over the world, but this

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The Future of Acupuncture

Something that concerns all of us is that professional publications in our field are becoming more and more removed from acupuncture. They look like tabloids that misrepresent and disrespect western medicine. Western medicine is not our business. And as acupuncture training becomes increasingly a fusion of western medicine and modern acupuncture; where students are taught

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