Bowtie Acupuncture

Acupuncture works because the modern world has only recently recognized the need to manage the insane speed and demands of capitalist society with the all-encompassing umbrella of self-care. Acupuncture works because it is the final word in self-care. It is self-care because it is your own body doing the caring, your body knows how best to care for itself, your body mobilizes its own resources to correct imbalances. Acupuncture works because it has been utilized, developed and expanded upon since before the Romans built their Coliseum. Picture a naked silver birch tree in winter, its branches extend ever higher, separating into increasingly smaller branches until they reach the heavens with the smallest of their appendages. Now picture an anatomical drawing of the vascular system of the human body. Notice the similarities between these two pictures, the way that the arteries continuously divide in order to reach into the smallest of spaces in order to supply blood to every part of th...

From: Kiiko Matsumoto's Clinical Strategies , Pg 71    In the waiting game of bone healing, weeks of hauling a useless appendage in its hard cast can cause anyone to question “Do I really need to wait this long?”. Thankfully, the masters of ancient Martial Arts Medicine discovered an answer that would make any bone-fracture patient exclaim “Yippee!”. Enter bone-knitting powder, an amazing formulation of seventeen herbs that work as a team to not only alleviate the aches and pains of healing bones, but also provides the necessary materials and directions for the bones to heal at an increased rate.             Now, how does bone-knitting powder work? From a broad viewpoint, its functions are to: 1) build the blood and qi so as to provide the necessary materials for bone-building, 2) break and move blood stasis while promoting circulation so that the healing area has a fresh supply of materials and so that all of the detri...

  In this second edition of Chinese Medicine formulas that can assist with your mental work, we have the legendary Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan. Again, this article is not intended to diagnose or prescribe the use of any herbs, it is only intended for educational purposes. Let’s get to the formula! Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan: The name of this formula translates to “the Emperor of Heaven’s Special Pill to Tonify the Heart”. The story of who exactly received this formula is debated, but it is still a fun story. From Bensky’s Formulas and Strategies (2015) “It is said that once, when the Buddhist monk Zhi Gong was exhausted from the chanting of scriptures, he was given this formula in a dream by the Heavenly King Deng…Although (this) account is mythological, (it) refers to this formula’s magical effect in treating exhaustion from too much thinking.” Whether or not you believe that a divine Emperor can appear and dispense herbal knowledge, the fact that this formula originated from Buddhist ...

After three years of TCM school full of studying, connecting with classmates and professors and contemplating what I can learn from my time in school, I have arrived at three simple ways that can make a student’s journey through the rigors of Chinese Medicine school a little bit easier. So without further ado, here are my three tips for success in TCM Graduate school! 1) Study everyday!             From highschool through most of my undergraduate program, I never studied more than looking back over my notes from class or talking to a classmate about the topics the exam may cover. It was not until I encountered my favorite French professor in the latter half of my junior year of college that I began to actually study on a daily basis. I was a sociology major, a field that has more emphasis on understanding and citing previous theories without any rote memorization needed. When I started learning French, I was useless. Languages h...