Qiological Podcast
Qiological is a podcast about acupuncture and East Asian medicine, hosted by Michael Max. It explores how this medicine comes from clinical observation and the treatment of individuals rather than laboratory research. Through conversations with practitioners, the show examines herbal medicine, cultivation practices, and the daily work of having a practice. It aims to deepen understanding of the craft through thoughtful dialogue and inquiry.
Episodes
482 The Conundrum of Singularity & Diversity in the Practice of East Asian Medicine • James FLowers
Every tradition has an official story, and then it has the people who actually treat patients. In this conversation with James Flowers, a historian, anthropologist, and practitioner of East Asian medicine, we ask a simple question: where did the Saam organ pairs come from? The answer, it turns out, is surprising.That mystery opens onto what James calls the conundrum of singularity and diversity in
481 Revisiting the Genius of Dr. Manaka • Oran Kivity and Co.
We often think good treatment begins with certainty: first identify the pattern, then decide what to do. But in the tradition of Dr. Yoshio Manaka, treatment itself can be the means of discovery. The practitioner learns by engaging the body directly and paying close attention to how it responds.In this conversation, Oran Kivity, Marian Fixler, Brenda Loew, Stephen Birch, and Paul Movsessian reflec
480 History Series - Searching for the Dao of Medicine • Volker Scheid
A tradition can feel like a single lineage, but some histories reveal a wider terrain — one that spans discernment, devotion, and the slow accumulation of who gets to call something new.In this conversation with Volker Scheid, we explore four competing visions of what good Chinese medicine practice actually is, from Zhu Danxi's cultivated discernment to Zhang Zhongjing's devotional authority, and
479 Consciousness, Ghosts, Magic & The Inexplicable • Neil Theise
Liver pathology draws curiosity as both a clinical discipline and a lens for encountering the unknown. Its practice of looking without preconception speaks meaningfully to how we meet the mysteries at the edges of a life.In this conversation, we visit with Neil Theise and explore the relationship between diagnostic training and beginner's mind. We look at how staying present with what's in front o
478 Often Confused and Having Fun • Linda Kim
Confusion is often treated as a problem to solve on the way to a real answer. But in the clinic, it may be closer to the beginning of the process than an obstacle to it.In this conversation with Linda Kim, we explore what it means to practice acupuncture with curiosity rather than certainty. We discuss why diagnosis may be something revealed through treatment—through palpation, real-time feedback,
477 Shen, Emotion, and Ghosts • Henry Tarazona
Long before Chinese medicine took the form we recognize today, healers drilled holes in skulls to release demons. Philosophers debated what the universe was made of, while a wandering doctor read pulses instead of casting spells.In this conversation with Henry Tarazona, we trace that lineage from the wushi shamans through the Hundred Schools of Thought to Bian Que, often called the father of Chine
476 Beyond Normal: Reading Blood Work Through a Chinese Medicine Lens • Jessica Parker
Reading blood work well means resisting the urge to sort everything into simply normal or abnormal. But what happens when the real diagnosis lives in the relationships between markers, not the markers themselves?Dr. Jessica Parker is an acupuncturist and lab-work educator who teaches practitioners to read blood panels through a Chinese medicine lens. In this conversation, she joins Michael to expl
475 The Practice of Seeing- Ming, Hidden Jing and Original Face • Anita Chopra & Angela Hunt
In this episode Qiological celebrates its ninth anniversary. For nine years new conversations on East Asian medicine and methods have appeared in your podcast feed each Tuesday morningAnita Chopra, our guest from episode 429, joins us again not just to discuss face reading, but to give us a demonstration of how she uses severeal of the basic maps that chart the face.We’re also joined by Angela Hun
474 Character, Nature & Fate, A Manual of Polestar Astrology • Gregory Done
As astrology draws curiosity as both a spiritual practice and a lens for self-understanding. Its symbolic language of image can speak meaningfully to our modern linear life.In this conversation, we visit with Gregory Done we explore the relationship between fate and free will, and how inherited ancestral patterns shape our character, our challenges, and our sense of purpose.We also discuss the dif
473 Right Tradition for the Condition, Combining classical Maps in the Treatment of Long Covid • Brendan Kelly
A diagnosis can feel like a single label, but some conditions reveal a wider terrain — one that spans immune response, cultural rhythm, and slow imbalance over time.In this conversation with Brendan Kelly, we explore long COVID through the lens of classical Chinese medicine, looking at how frameworks like the Shang Han Lun's cold-to-heat progression and the Wen Bing's epidemic theory make sense of
472 Art of Medicine • Bonnie Wright
Much of what happens in the treatment room never makes it onto an intake form, yet it often shapes the outcome as much as anything measurable does.In this conversation with Bonnie Wright, we explore what she calls the art of medicine, the intuitive, relational sense of truly knowing the patient in front of you, and how the body's structures act less as separate parts than as one continuously adapt
471 History Series: Nature is the Primary Curriculum • Judy Worsley
Practicing acupuncture for over fifty years asks us to trust intuition and stay open even when the path ahead isn't clear. But what happens when a life's direction comes not from planning, but from being pulled toward what you love?Judy Worsley is a five element acupuncturist who trained alongside J.R. Worsley for decades, helping shape this medicine's growth into the profession it is today. In th
470 Wen Bing Anatomy • Kerri Westhauser
As chronic, hard-to-treat disorders become more common in clinic, many practitioners are returning to Wen Bing theory for answers.In this conversation with Kerri Westhauser, we explore lurking pathogen theory and how deep-lying evils help explain complex conditions like lupus and POTS.We also discuss why tonification often backfires in chronic disease, and the importance of venting, regulating, an
469 You Don't Know Before You Know • Shaun Goodman
Not every point sits in the textbook. Others only appear when the body decides to show them.In this episode we visit with Shaun Goodman, longtime practitioner of Dr. Tung's acupuncture, a Taiwanese system built on its own map of the body. What begins as a question of pronunciation quickly opens into a wider conversation about channels, diagnosis, and the discipline of looking closely.We explore th
468 The Challenge of Chinese Medicine • Alex Jacobs
As acupuncture and Chinese medicine face regulatory pressure and institutional change on both sides of the Atlantic, many practitioners are asking what it takes to preserve the tradition while still being taken seriously as medical professionals.In this conversation, we visit with Alex Jacobs, CEO of the British Acupuncture Council, we explore the relationship between tradition and regulation, and
467 History Series, Rebellious Empirical Scientists Pt. 2 • Bill Prensky & Gene Bruno
Part TwoHow does a profession begin? Not on paper. Not with licensing boards or schools. Often enough, it starts with a handful of curious people who become convinced there's another way to do things. Part determination, part serendipity, and perhaps a good measure of luck.Bill Prensky and Gene Bruno were there before acupuncture had a place in American healthcare. In the wake of the Vietnam War,
467 History Series, Rebellious Empirical Scientists Pt. 1 • Bill Prensky & Gene Bruno
Part One.How does a profession begin? Not on paper. Not with licensing boards or schools. Often enough, it starts with a handful of curious people who become convinced there's another way to do things. Part determination, part serendipity, and perhaps a good measure of luck.Bill Prensky and Gene Bruno were there before acupuncture had a place in American healthcare. In the wake of the Vietnam War
The Cost of Entry—Loans, Schools, and Sustainability • Bex Groebner
It’s not news that there are changes afoot in the world of education. You’re probably already well aware of the closure, over the past few years, of schools with a long history. There are concerns with loan debt that have been an issue since Obama was president. Most recently, the changes to student loans that not only fundamentally affect the acupuncture trade, but will change the landscape for g
466 Not Two, The Geometry of Heaven and Earth • Johan Hausen
Some teachings are preserved in books. Others are preserved in people.In this episode we visit with Johann Hausen, translator, publisher, practitioner, and long-time student of Daoist traditions in the Wudang Mountains. What begins with martial arts and Chinese medicine quickly opens into a wider conversation about cultivation, character, and the responsibility of carrying knowledge forward.We exp
Deconstruction or Innovation • Valerie Hobbs
We tend to think of the acupuncture profession as something fixed and stable, but the reality is that it is always in motion. The practice of East Asian medicine in North America has been shaped by decades of effort—by practitioners, educators, regulators, and advocates working to create a place for this medicine in the American healthcare system.In this conversation with Valerie Hobbs, we take a
465 Fire and Water, The Fire Horse at Mid-Year • Christine Cannon
As the Fire Horse year reaches its peak, many practitioners are noticing shifts in both the environment and the clinic.In this conversation with Christine Cannon, we explore the interaction of fire and water through the lens of Wu Yun Liu Qi, and how these energies may be influencing respiratory health, anxiety, fatigue, and emotional resilience.We also discuss the importance of protecting Wei Qi,
What is Essential • Kathleen Lumiere
What if the very things that seem to be pulling our profession apart are actually the forces that will finally condense it into something more resilient? We’re in a moment of choppy waters—school closures, shrinking enrollment, and a shifting financial landscape—where the successes of what have brought us to this moment will not take us into the future. .In this conversation with Kathleen Lumiere,
464 Time, Timing and the Timeless • Peter Firebrace
Many of us experience life through schedules, deadlines, and calendars, yet beneath them are deeper patterns that shape how we grow, adapt, heal, and change.In this conversation with Peter Firebrace, we explore Chinese perspectives on time, timing, and the timeless. Through seasonal cycles, the Chinese calendar, and the rhythms observed in nature, we look at how a deeper awareness of time can info
Realities of the Math • Ryan Hofer
We’re at a moment where the structure of loans and professional education is changing. Not just for the acupuncture profession, but across the entire educational landscape. While it seems the storm has suddenly blown in, it’s been brewing for a while.In this conversation with Ryan Hofer we discuss the reality of Grad Plus loans, the true cost of them in terms of the interest they generate, and why
463 Complexity, Boundaries and Biomes • Neil Theise
Clinical practice asks us to recognise patterns, trust experience, and make decisions under uncertainty. But what happens when discovery comes not from certainty, but from staying open to surprise?Dr. Neil Theise is a liver pathologist, stem cell researcher, Zen practitioner, and one of the scientists behind the discovery of the interstitium. In this conversation, he joins Michael to explore the t
Reckoning the Present, Wayfinding the Future • Danielle Reghi
The acupuncture and East Asian profession is facing a number of critical challenges as long-established schools close, new federal guidelines on graduate education loans will dramatically change how much students can borrow, and fewer students consider a career as an acupuncturist.How to wayfind through these troubled times? That is the question explored in this series with practitioners, research
462 History Series: When Resistance Strengthens Tradition • James Flowers
Medicine is never only about treatment. It also carries culture, identity, and memory. Sometimes preserving a medicine is a way of preserving a people.In this episode we visit with James Flowers to explore a potent moment in the history of Korean medicine and how Hanbang became part of Korea’s cultural resistance during the Japanese colonization. Not through politics or violence, but through prese
461 Neurology, Concussion and the Curious Organ of Chinese Medicine • Clayton Shiu & Ayla Wolf
Often what brings someone into our office looks straightforward at first—a concussion, dizziness, headache, or a sense that something is not quite right. But what begins as the search to fix a symptom often reveals something deeper—a nervous system that has lost its bearings, sensory maps that no longer line up, and a body quietly adapting around signals it can no longer fully trust.Ayla Wolf and
460 Using Chinese Medicine to Treat Alpha-Gal • Rebecca Chrestman
We often think of allergies as simple reactions, but some conditions reveal a far deeper conversation between the immune system, environment, and daily life—one that evolves with every exposure.In this conversation with Rebecca Chrestman, we explore Alpha-Gal syndrome through both modern understanding and Chinese medicine, looking at how patterns like damp heat and spleen imbalance help make sense
459 Wandering Into Saam- History, Premodern Medicine & The Power of Four Needles • Philip Suger & Michael Brown
What makes a system feel trustworthy—results, lineage, or the way it brings you into the resonance of what’s happening?Philip Suger didn’t start with Saam acupuncture. He was in Beijing in 2010, following a thread that led him to Wang Ju-Yi and channel palpation—hands on the body, feeling where things change and where they resolve. Later, back in the States, he found himself working with patients
458 History Series - What a long strange trip it's been • Jeffrey Dann
The path into acupuncture isn’t always clean or linear—sometimes it begins in the grit and confusion of working out just who you are in this world. From anthropology studies in Seattle’s Skid Row to the disciplined intensity of kendo in Japan, Jeffrey Dann’s journey was shaped by curiosity, discomfort, and a search for something deeper. A knee injury, a moment on a subway, and an unexpected recove
457 Apprentice to Curiosity • Arnie Lade
Points don’t really have a number, they have a name. They are not just a function, they embody characteristics and relationships.In this episode I get to sit for a conversation with Arnie Lade. He’s the author of a book I spent a lot of time with in the library when I was in acupuncture school. Acupuncture Points: Images and Functions wasn’t a book I read to pass exams, it was one I read to get a
456 Something About Slowing Down • Sue Crites
In practice, healing often begins with seeking a solution to a problem that has us looking for help. What first looks like a search for relief becomes an encounter with something wider: the patterns of striving, the habits of attention, and the quiet ways body, mind, and spirit reorganise when we slow down enough to notice.Sue Crites is a qigong teacher with a background in ecological science, hol
455 Psychoacoustics, Healing Frequencies and the Songs of Plants • Yuval Ron • Rick Gold
Some projects kick off with a business plan. Others begin as a response to an odd little ad in the back of a magazine, or sparked by following a hunch. When you think about it, this is often how the interesting work begins—not with certainty, but with curiosity and enough craft and gumption to stay with the question.This conversation with Rick Gold and Yuval Ron moves through the strange and incre
454 History Series- You Have to Start with Imagination • Holly Guzman
We all find our own unique way into the practice of East Asian medicine.It’s part luck, part dogged curiosity and persistence, and sometimes a bit of fate.In this conversation with Holly Guzman, we wander through her circuitous route into the medicine—from knocking on the door of the Chinese embassy in Kabul, to hanging out at a bookstore in San Francisco, waiting to see who might pick up the one
453 Dry Needling, Tensegrity, and the Challenges of Integration • Darren Maynard
Sports medicine acupuncture is one of those phrases that sounds neat and tidy. But, what does it actually mean?.In this conversation with Darren Maynard, dig into the complexity and methods that fall within the world of orthopedic and musculo-skeletal medicine. We explore what it means to be bilingual in clinic, and the value of being able to hold a Chinese medicine diagnosis and a Western ortho
452 Perspectives on the Mingmen • Anne Shelton Crute, Thomas Sørensen, Z'ev Rosenberg
Some concepts in Chinese medicine don’t need more poetry. They need a hands-on palpable marker, and a willingness to admit, “I think I get it… and then the light changes and I can’t see it.” That’s the territory we’re in with the Ming Men—the so‑called Gate of Destiny, the fire that isn’t just heat, the thing we can discuss over the centuries and still not be sure about when meeting it again on T
451 Zang Fu Tuina and the Microbiome • Henry Tarazona
We no longer pretend the gut and the mind are separate; we know the interconnections are vast and rich. Furthermore, their communication isn’t a hack—it’s a relationship that responds to your input, and it’s something you can actually touch.In this conversation with Henry Tarazona, we hear about his unlikely path into Chinese medicine—his love of tuina, and how he uses it to affect organ function
450 The Fire is Unavoidable • Haunani Chong Drake
Sometimes the people who shape us most aren’t the ones who formally taught us anything. They’re the people in a potent moment who say something that we hear with something other than our ears— it sends us down a path we hadn't noticed that was right under our feet.In this conversation with Haunani Chong-Drake, we explore the edges of mentorship—not as a program, credential, or transaction, but as
449 History Series, In the Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor • Peter Eckman
Often enough, medicine evolves not through the accumulation of answers, but instead by posing annoying questions. The thing about learning, it usually carries an element of disruption.In this conversation with Peter Eckman we follow him in his journey of sleuthing out where JR Worsley learned his medicine. But, it’s not just a story of where Worsley got his stuff, to set the stage we have to go ba
448 Chinese New Year of the Fire Horse • Gregory Done
There’s a moment, in the slack tide between one flow and another, when a potent stillness arises, and the possibility of a new direction arrives with a feeling of invitation. It’s like standing on the threshold of a dream.We share this conversation with Gregory Done as we metamorphize from the Wood Snake to the Fire Horse. What’s in store as we enter a year of unmitigated Fire? Where is caution ad
447 AI Acubot Dispatch • Vanessa Menendez Covelo
In clinical work pattern and intuition inform each other, treatment decisions arise somewhere between what we can measure and what we can only sense. This episode investigates that in-between space, where “knowing” as a human and the patterning of Large Language Models merges in uncanny ways.Vanessa Menendez-Covelo has been a guest on the podcast and recently she’s been exploring the ever changing
446 Failing Forward • Neal Sivula
What if “failure” was just expectations being uncomfortably rewritten by reality?In this conversation with Neal Sivula we discuss the experience of failing forward—what it actually looks and feels like when you’re a practitioner, a clinic owner, and a person who cares. How to navigate the employee who doesn’t show up the way you hoped, the power outage, or the appointment someone forgets. And the
445 History Series, From Mitzvah Corps to Quan Yin • Misha Cohen
The path that connects can’t be seen when you’re looking forward, but there are values, hunches—and maybe even whispers from the future—that nudge us onto the path that matches our spirit and heart.In this History Series conversation on Qiological, we take a trip in the Wayback Machine with Misha Cohen to the early days, when her interest in health and wellbeing crisscrossed paths with Chinese med
444 Following the Tides- A Personal Journey with Hormone Replacement Therapy • Mark Brinson
There comes a time in midlife when the body’s signaling becomes a bit disordered. Energy dips without explanation. Sleep thins out. Recovery takes longer. It’s not that the system has failed—it’s that the signals aren’t as attuned as they used to be. Something in the conversation between stress, hormones, and resilience has gone a little quiet.In this conversation with Mark Brinson, we explore wha
443 Panel on Palpation • Slate Burris, Rick Gold & Mark Petruzzi
In the clinic, communication happens before a word is spoken. It unfolds through attention, listening, and the tactile information the body offers when we slow down enough to notice.In this conversation, we explore palpation as a central pillar of acupuncture practice—not simply as a diagnostic tool, but as a way of relating. Drawing from diverse clinical backgrounds and decades of hands-on experi
442 When Knowing Becomes Love • Daniel Schulman
The lines we draw define us. In the pursuit of "objectivity," modern medicine draws a sharp line between the observer and the observed—the doctor and the patient. But what happens when we intentionally blur that line? What is discovered when we move toward the subject rather than away from it?In this expansive conversation with Daniel Schulman, we explore what happens when acupuncture is practiced
441 History Series, What Happens When You Look with Interest • Stephen Brown
Good medicine has less to do with having the “right system” and more to do with the human being holding the needles. With the way we listen. The way we wait. The way we’re willing to not know… yet.In this conversation with Stephen Brown we trace his unlikely path from welding in a west coast shipyard—literally working with fire and metal—to becoming one of the key bridges between Japanese acupunct
440 Reimagining Menopause • Heidi Lovie
There are seasons in a woman’s life that don’t arrive quietly. They come with a tremor, a shimmer, a sense that something deep in the architecture of who you are is being rewritten. It’s not collapse, but instead a reordering that can’t be ignored.In this conversation with Heidi Lovie, we wander into the transformation of menopause. She invites us to consider this transition not as a breakdown, bu
439 Inhabiting Community • Liz Vitale
Medicine finds its way into our lives not through textbooks, but by getting sand in our shoes, salt in our hair, and noticing how our hands long to be in the dirt—or on people.Liz Vitale didn’t simply move to the Oregon Coast. She rooted herself there among fishermen, surfers, firefighters, foresters, Latina moms, and retirees. Over time she became part of the village, not just as a practitioner,
438 Visionary Chinese Medicine Ophthalmology • Marc Grossman
We tend to think of eyesight as a technical problem—retinas, optics, refractive errors, clearer lenses. But eyes don’t just see—they interpret. They blur when the world feels too intrusive, or sharpen when clarity feels like safety. The eyes are woven through with story, memory, emotion, and the ways we've learned to look—or to look away.In this conversation with Dr. Marc Grossman, optometrist, ac
437 I Thought About Chinese Medicine in High School • Will Martin
Some people find acupuncture after a twisted ankle, a twist of fate, or some stubborn health condition that finally surrenders to a few needles. But every now and then you meet someone who caught the spark early—before the world had a chance to talk them out of their own curiosity.In this conversation with Will Martin, we trace the path of a high-school kid who dove headfirst into Chinese medicine
436 History Series, Punk Rock American Chinese Medicine • Tyler Phan
Punk rock and Chinese medicine might seem worlds apart, but both pushed back on dominant systems. Punk challenged the mainstream music industry; Chinese medicine, the dominance of biomedicine. Each created space for alternative voices, for people questioning authority and rewriting the rules.In this conversation with Tyler Phan, we explore how rebellion, identity, and power intersect in the making
435 Saam and Skin Conditions • Fang Cai
Sometimes clarity doesn’t come from adding more—it comes from taking away. Simplifying helps to see more clearly what’s already there. In medicine, that often means noticing the simple patterns hiding beneath complex presentations.In this conversation with Fang Cai, we explore the meeting place between Saam acupuncture and dermatology. Fang brings years of clinical experience and study with Mazen
434 The Art of Connection- Healing in the Age of Technology • Kenan Akbus.mp3
The tools we use to shape our world, they in turn shape us. Whether it’s the brush in a painter’s hand or the software code that organizes the clinic day. The interface becomes part of our perception. Technology, like medicine, is an expression of relationship.In this conversation with Kenan Akbas, we trace the unlikely path from acupuncture to algorithms. This is a story that begins in the club s
433 Finding What You Weren't Looking For• Dan Bensky
Sometimes the most interesting things happen when we stop trying to confirm what we think we know. In clinic, certainty can close doors—but curiosity opens them. There’s a kind of listening that goes beyond the intellect, a way of paying attention that allows discovery to unfold on its own time.In this conversation with Dan Bensky, we explore the art of noticing. What it means to let medicine be a
432 History Series—First Licenses, Lasting Legacies- Acupuncture Amid the Zeitgeist of the 70's • Gene Bruno
The 1970s were a turbulent time—streets alive with protest, classrooms charged with new ideas, and an entire generation questioning the stories they’d inherited. It was a decade of upheaval, but also one where curious opportunities arose. For some, those opportunities led not to politics or protest, but to the quiet pulse of a medicine few in America had ever heard of.In this conversation with Gen
431 Heaven, Earth, and the Geometry of Being Human | Rory Hiltbrand
Ever wonder if being human is less about mechanics and more about patterns? Not the kind of patterns you memorize in a textbook, but the ones that repeat like spirals in a sunflower, or the way a thought can shape the body before we even realize it.In this conversation with Rory Hiltbrand, we wander through the field of being human—where Daoist numerics, fractals, and the golden ratio intersect wi
430 Medicine & Gongfu, the Blueprint of the Neijing | Ethan Murchie
Sometimes old books get treated like sacred relics. But what if the Nei Jing isn’t a mystery text at all? What if it’s closer to a well-worn how-to manual — a guide for the hands, a companion for the clinic?In this conversation with Ethan Murchie, we explore the Nei Jing not as a theory to be memorized but as a craft to be lived. Ethan comes to this work through martial arts and manual medic
429 On Being Seen— Path, Destiny and Hidden Gifts | Anita Chopra
The face tells a story, etched in its lines, the color of our skin, and the expressions we carry. These are not mere physical features; they are a language—an ancient map that, if we learn to read, can reveal traces of our life’s journey, ancestral gifts, and the yet to be resolved challenges holding us back. This wisdom often goes unnoticed in a world focused on external appearances, but it
428 History Series, From the Cultural Revolution to Harvard • Wei Dong Lu
Here in the West, acupuncture often feels like something foreign, something patients approach with curiosity but no context. “I don’t know anything about Chinese medicine,” they’ll say. And most of the time, that’s true. We didn’t grow up with an uncle who prescribed herbs or a parent using needles to ease the illnesses and injuries of childhood.For Wei Dong Lu, medicine wasn’t foreign at all. He
427 Heating and Cooling with Saam • Roseline Lambert
Ever notice how our bodies have their own climate? The heat of fire and cold of water aren’t just metaphors, they are elemental forces that don’t just live in the weather—they’re playing out in our patients’ bodies every day.In this conversation with Roseline Lambert, we explore her work blending Saam acupuncture with Japanese palpation methods, and how she’s been experimenting with heating and co
426 Tong, Texture, and Ting- The Subtle Shaping of Qi • Felix de Haas
Some things can’t be seen—only felt. The texture of presence, the quiet shifts in atmosphere, the way the body speaks before words arrive. In the clinic, it’s not always the protocols or point prescriptions that lead the way, but something quieter. Something more fluid.In this conversation with Felix de Haas, we meander through the tactile world of East Asian medicine—through pulse, palpation, and
425 Books • Erinne Adachi
Books are more than just words on a page. They carry texture, weight, and the kind of quiet intimacy that screens can never quite match. A book slows down time, unfolds the quiet potency of a moment, and invites us into its rhythm.In this conversation with Erinne Adachi—acupuncturist, editor, and devoted bibliophile—we explore her lifelong love of books and how it has shaped her path, from making
424 Food, Sensing and Body Wisdom, Part Two • Peter Torssell
Part TwoThe body speaks with a visceral language —a hint of thirst, the ache of hunger, the sudden urge for something salty. These signals can be quiet, and easily dismissed when thinking about the “common knowledge” of modern medicine. However, they carry an ancient wisdom that, if we learn to listen, can guide us back toward balance.In this conversation with Peter Torssell, we wander through the
424 Food, Sensing and Body Wisdom, Part One • Peter Torssell
Part OneThe body speaks with a visceral language —a hint of thirst, the ache of hunger, the sudden urge for something salty. These signals can be quiet, and easily dismissed when thinking about the “common knowledge” of modern medicine. However, they carry an ancient wisdom that, if we learn to listen, can guide us back toward balance.In this conversation with Peter Torssell, we wander through the
423 History Series- Hunches, Glimmers and Serendipity • Craig Mitchell
History isn’t always something you study from a distance. Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of it—shaped by the events, people, and unexpected turns that unfold around you. Those moments influence destiny, and over time, they become the foundation for how you see and practice your work.In this conversation with Craig Mitchell, we trace those threads through his unexpected entry into Chine
422 Language as Border, Language as Bridge • Sarah Rivkin
Words shape the world. But they also limit it. Especially when we mistake translation for clarity—when really, it’s an act of interpretation, adaptation, and sometimes… a kind of poetic guesswork.In this conversation with Sarah Rivkin—a clinician, scholar, and longtime student of language—we talk about what it means to translate not just texts, but meaning itself. Sarah brings a thoughtful lens to
421 Global Acupuncture Project • Richard Mandell
Sometimes a few needles and a willingness to help—that’s enough to start a quiet revolution.In this conversation with Richard Mandell, we trace the roots of the Global Acupuncture Project, a training-based initiative that brings simple, effective acupuncture protocols to underserved communities around the world. What started as a gut feeling and an internet search has become a decades-long effort
420 Nourishing Mystery • Andrew Sterman
What if the first step in healing wasn’t a pill, a treatment, or a diagnosis—but dinner?In this deliciously nourishing conversation we sit down with Andrew Sterman, a practitioner of tai qi and nutritional arts, lifelong musician, and author of Diet is Medicine for Home Cooks and Other Healers. We discuss how our health is shaped not only by what we eat—but how we live, digest, feel, and listen.An
419 History Series, Wu Zang Lun • Qiang Cao & Yun Xiao
Some treasures aren’t just hidden—they’re buried, wrapped in mystery and legend, and waiting for the right moment to surface and return to the world of human affairs. What’s astonishing isn’t just that these Dunhuang scrolls survived—but that they journeyed from caves to libraries, and fell into hands that knew enough to recognize them for what they are: threads of ancient medicine waiting to be r
418 Fire, Water and Qi Transformation—Essential Insights from Liu Du-Zhou • Eran Even
Long before “cold damage” became a checkbox on exams or a buzzword among classical enthusiasts, Dr. Liu Du-Zhou was quietly doing the work—teaching, treating, and writing from a mind steeped in both lineage and clinical experience. He wasn’t just preserving tradition; he was refining it. His approach to the Shang Han Lun was rigorous yet poetic, grounded in clinical realities and shaped by decades
417 The Influence of Heaven on Earth- Rhythms of Seasonal Qi • Christine Cannon
Wind isn’t just a breeze, it's also an agent of change. Not metaphorical change—but literal, seasonal, even cosmological change that moves through bodies, weather, and even geopolitics. The energies of nature are not only magnificent forces that sculpt landscapes. But also unfold within us as a kind of inner weather.In this conversation with Christine Cannon, we continue our exploration of the cel
416 The Meridian Is the Message- A Clinical Cartography of Emotion, Thought and Physiology • Andreas Brüch
Ever wonder if the body tells its own version of your inner story? That maybe the channels don’t just carry qi—but also the shape of your longings, the tempo of your fears, and the echo of old emotional weather? What if meridians are a kind of cartography, not just for physiology, but for the inner landscape of the self?In this conversation with Andreas Brüch, we explore how Saam acupuncture offer
415 MagnaPuncture® • Greg Bartosiewicz
Sometimes the tools that help us see clearly aren’t visible at all—like magnetism, sound, and light. We feel their effects more than we can explain them, but when you start to work with these in clinic, something subtle shifts.In this conversation with Greg Bartosiewicz, we get into a layered discussion of acupuncture, magnetism, light, and biofields. Greg’s background in proteomics and medical la
414 History Series, From Ideals to Institutions—The Making of a Profession • Sibyl Coldham
In the early 80’s as acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture in the West, it developed differently in response to the established medical and educational systems already in place.In the USA there was no national health service, while in the UK, that was a pillar of the socio-political landscape. Sybil Coldham was not a practitioner of acupuncture, instead she was involved with th
413 How Much Do You Want It? • Henry McCann
What does it take to truly learn something? To not just know it in theory, but to have it live in your hands? Discipline, repetition, and a touch of obsession might be part of it—but so is heart, motivation, and the magnetic force of curiosity that keeps pulling you forward.In this conversation with Dr. Henry McCann, we talk about what it means to engage deeply with the practice of medicine. Henry
412 Music and Medicine • Christoph Wiesendanger
Sometimes it’s not what we hear, but what emerges in the space just before—where meaning hasn’t formed yet—but something is already calling your attention. It’s that quiet edge of awareness where both healing and mystery tend to show up.In this conversation with Christoph Wiesendanger, a jazz pianist with an abiding interest in Chinese medicine, we explore how rhythm, resonance, and reflective awa
411 Part 2, Improvising the Body- Maps, Meaning and Clinical Imagination • Lan Li
Part TwoWhat if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape?In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chinese
411 Part 1, Improvising the Body- Maps, Meaning and Clinical Imagination • Lan Li
Part OneWhat if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape?In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chinese
