Category: Guest Blogs

Yesterday I visited my superbly skilled acupuncturist, Neena Barua. My chief complaint? Something I can’t remember having experienced for decades: nightmares. The Chinese medicine theory of dreams is closely aligned with Jungian theory, or rather, Jungian dream theory closely aligns with the ancient Chinese medical theory. During the process of falling asleep, wei qi, also

It’s so good to be home after so many months away.  The tour was quite marvelous with wonderful hosts, over 600 students in 16 classes, four Pacific and six Atlantic crossings making a total of 67,000 flight miles (108Kms), which is the equivalent of 2.7 times around the globe. The two central tenets of this

So far this year, probably because my travel schedule appears tough on the website, I’ve received many inquiries about staying healthy during travel. There are lots of things you can do to ease travel stress on the body, but first it’s important to understand the nature of that stress. Wei qi—otherwise known as receptive, warming,

There’s a friend with whom I share a love of cars. We talk about naturally aspirated engines, i4s, GT3s, and other cool things, but today we texted about something beyond cool: I remember one day when I was seven my mother telling me to put on a sweater so that I wouldn’t catch cold. My

Tomorrow we’re heading out to Scotland to drop off Miriam for her second year at University and then to teach two classes in stunning European cities: sinew channels in Edinburgh, and luo channels in Venice. My usual quest before leaving— to have everything spotless, bills paid, laundry done, some social time, and to answer as

Sometimes people ask whether they’ll be able to “incorporate” classical medicine into their practice, after study. Classical acupuncture involves the use of dozens more channels than in the modern acupuncture repertoire, so entering this world is really entering new territory for many. It also has fully intact theory and practice of the key concept of

Sorry to be out of touch. It’s been a very full and beautiful past few weeks. The first text today was from a staff member: “Long time, no blog, Ann!”  Timely. I hit the road at 4:17AM this morning, and now that I’m in the air, there is plenty of blog time. I enjoyed my very

“You don’t even know if the sun will come up tomorrow,” I wrote yesterday to a student who was having difficulty choosing what to believe. I encouraged him to imagine not believing anything at all for a while. It’s hard not to believe that the sun will come up in the morning, but last night

I just got through security at what must be one of the most beautiful airports in the world—Greenville, South Carolina—where you actually drive through a magical forest to get from the highway to the terminal. Then, when you’re through security, which today had no line at all, you can pause and enjoy a classically trained

Talking to patients about coffee is a challenge. Sometimes it seems to me that most people drink it. Last week I stayed with dear friends, one coffeed and one uncoffeed and I was stunned by the high voltage change in temperament after the first morning hit. This has become a cultural norm. Even Andrew, who

A few weeks ago I opened the front door to the office at 7:40am to find a patient sitting in the waiting room with his phone open on the side table. He was quite happily unwrapping what he told me was a homemade falafel wrap with hummus and parsley. He began to stand, but I

Tonight, curled by the fire with five inches of snow in the 10 degree cold outside (-12 degrees celsius), I’m reflecting on the subject of this afternoon’s third lecture of the mentorship, the Chong channel. How extraordinary is that channel—containing not only the blueprint for the physical being, but the whole plan of one’s life. 

As I head back to New York from a lovely family gathering in Massachusetts, a young person in the car just asked about my new year’s resolution. It’s very boring.Notice all thoughts, slough off 98% of them, and meditate to clarity—no matter how short-lived that clarity it is—every day.If the purpose of resolutions is to

Recently the office received an email from a practitioner who had been told by an advisor to go ahead and combine in a single session divergent treatments and treatments of a very different (modern) practice. He was justifiably concerned. Imagine you’re in a restaurant overhearing someone at the next table making an order:Yes, I’m ready,