Pulse Diagnosis​

Specialties: A Not-So-Quiet Storm

Specialty board development is an area that I have actively supported. Yet, specialization is not an area that interests me; I don’t specialize, at least not now. Curiously, I see the value in generalism as well as specialism. Further, I see them as yin and yang components, mutually defining each other, transforming, opposing, generating and […]

Deep Change: Leadership and Education in Chinese Medicine

“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where all the fruit is.” – Will Rogers I am writing this piece because I believe leadership is not only a key to becoming an effective teacher and practitioner; it also is a key to success in the field of acupuncture and Oriental medicine (AOM). It may […]

Shen Harmony: The Normal Mental Condition in Chinese Medicine, Part 1

Psychiatric and psychological conditions are a common experience in the daily clinical process. In this paper, we will discuss the normal shen as a method of understanding conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders and addictions. We have been interested in the importance of shen harmony for some time and consider shen to be the […]

Shen Harmony: The Normal Mental Condition in Chinese Medicine, Part 2

Shen Flexibility The flexibility property of shen relates to the ability to respond effectively to differing and complex scenarios. Conscious awareness while sustaining this flexible state of shen is a key property. This relates to an agile ability to switch concentration or to follow a complex process in its evolution. It involves the ability to […]

AOM Education, Critical Thought and Complexity

Knowledge is not an object or a tool that can be used without studying its nature. It is a question of preparing minds to reach for clarity. Part of this comes with the awareness that what we know is subject to error. There are several bases for these errors of knowledge, which might include irrational […]

Partnering for Success

Whole Foods Helps Create New Possibilities for AOM Could occupational medicine revolutionize the field of acupuncture and Oriental medicine and health care in general? The Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin (AOMA) is involved in a joint initiative with Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Lerner Education to provide an avenue for acupuncturists wishing to get […]

Integrative Medicine and Public Health

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public, Feb. 25-27 in Washington, D.C., in order to advance the science and progress of integrative medicine in the United States. The summit brought together educators, policy-makers and health care providers from multiple sectors to present challenges and opportunities […]

The Bright Future of Acupuncture

Chaos theory suggests that we cannot predict the future, yet it is human nature to try. People have looked for predictive signs since the dawn of time. Here, we consider the present as a seed for the future in terms of trends, education, market demands, social systems and policy. It will be necessary for us […]

AOM Program Helps Vets Recover from PTSD

Veterans can now gain hope for recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a condition that has symptomatic features of recall, arousal and avoidance. The Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin (AOMA) partnered with the nonprofit Save A Vet (www.SaveAVet.com) and the Austin Veterans and Family Advocacy Council (AVFAC) to assist in a program […]

Clean Needles for Acupuncture Safety

A recent article in the British Medical Journal by Woo et al. argues that infection from acupuncture needles is a serious problem.1 Pointing at 50 cases worldwide since 1970, the author implies that acupuncture is dangerous because the risk of infection is high and that acupuncturists are not using sufficient care to prevent infections. Both […]