David Yeh

Yeah. I'm just trying to come up with some helpful things to give a stroke patient, something not too complicated. I think it could still be qigong if done in a qigong state of mind. This one popped into mind but I don't know what the supposed energetics of it are.

Sounds like a circulation problem, which is often connected with deficiencies in the lungs and/or heart. It may be related to blockages that arise from incorrect practice, poor breathing or posture, low energy from long-term poor lifestyle, emotional or physical trauma, or other things. Hard to say with just one symptom!

There's a story from Dr. Bates about how he taught an older gentleman to do the palming exercise. He neglected to tell the guy how often to do it, so the man, on his own, ended up sitting in a dark room for some 20+ hours with his hands over his eyes -- and it cured his eyesight! Granted, that was a remarkable result, but that anecdote always stuck in my mind.

Nice. I'd be up for experimenting with that. It looks like a qigong version of the palming exercise found in many Bates-method books, but doing something as qigong may make all the difference.

Yes, here's an example from Shaolin Wahnam: One-Finger Shooting Zen

Absolutely. In Chinese medicine we even talk about different qualities associated with imbalances different aspects of the five phases or various internal organs. Commonly, I've found that people with a "groan" in their voice pretty consistently have some sort of Kidney qi deficiency, and people who "shout" their words have exuberant energy which often has to do with repressed anger. So you can go really refined with this stuff. But it's also the case that the quality of the voice has a bit more to do with the health of the lungs, so keep it in that context (while also acknowledging that the health of the lungs correlate to other organs such as the heart, digestive system, etc.).

Yes. Hope I can make it back to one of your seminars soon, Michael; I've gotten a lot out of the one I took, and I can see how you can develop the ability to "see" just by those practices. Okay, had to dig this out of my notes. According to Dr. Hammer, it was actually the first time he saw Dr. Shen. He came out to a small town where Dr. Hammer lived and he was working with another doctor. Finally let him sit in with him one day. After a brief examination, he privately told Dr. Hammer and the other doctor that the man had killed someone in 1943 and also got syphilis that year. They went back and questioned the man and confirmed that he'd been involved in a battle in North Africa between the Vichy French and Free French. Evidently there was a large amount of a quality which in this pulse system is called Rough Vibration, which is associated with shock, trauma, and fear, sometimes fear associated with guilt. Possibly determining the timing of the event had something to do with face diagnosis, though, too. Understandably, this was the event that made Dr. Hammer decide to study under John Shen. I also heard another story where Dr. Shen examined someone who had headaches and within minutes of seeing her said that it was because she'd had head trauma at age 10, or something like that. Kinda crazy. Thanks for the details. That is fascinating. If you learn from him and get as good as him, I want to come learn from you! That sounds like a fantastic opportunity.

Eternal_Student, I was more asking specifically about pulse diagnosis systems you've learned. z00se, I'd be interested in more details/stories on each of those things you've described. I honestly could not figure out how he could tell how a lady had eaten a sweet potato, however, now I can see that he may have felt something on the pulse describing a category, and maybe he was throwing out examples of that food category to see which one stuck. The way I learned pulse diagnosis was according to variables such as position (placement on the wrist), depth (how deep you push), and quality (the type of sensation). Different positions correlate to different organs or functions in the body, and different qualities correlate to different diagnoses or pathological functions. I've heard of people trying to computerize it, but I doubt it can be done with much refinement. Still, it can be as simple a matter as feeling sensations at particular positions and then determining the diagnosis from what you've been taught the sensation at that position means. My favorite story is of pulse diagnostician John Shen feeling a patient's pulse, then pulling aside his two observers (one of which was his longtime student Leon Hammer) and correctly stating that this person had killed someone. Not only that, but correctly predicted the year! Anyway, z00se, I'd especially like to know the story of what happened when you observed these! If you feel like telling:

Fair enough. I just wondered what system(s) you studied.

Fascinating. I can do hints of that but nothing near that level of accuracy, z00se. How long does this doctor take the pulse, and how does he do it (both sides at once, one at a time, etc?). Would love to know more details. Eternal_Student, who did you study from? David

Which system of pulse diagnosis do you want to learn? There are many. Ayurveda, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, they each have their own. And that's oversimplifying, the distinctions are not easily drawn along national or ethnic lines. And, do you have training in the related medical concepts and system? Because that's half the training right there, the pulse will have no meaning if you don't have something to relate it to. Even for most practitioners of Chinese medicine in the West, study of the pulse is an advanced, postgraduate pursuit. That said, I've heard about one relatively simple but effective version, taught by a guy named Jimmy Chang. They actually have a free web-seminar coming up, you might check it out: http://www.elotus.org/lotus_2010/webinar/course_descriptions.html#Pulsynergy. Don't have any experience with him personally. On the other end, I learned a very complicated version of pulse diagnosis, the Shen-Hammer method, which took me a few hundred hours of practice before I felt basically proficient. I would consider it extremely difficult to get even the basics of that particular system without having personal instruction (or being very gifted), though in part because the one published textbook is more of a reference tome than an instruction manual. But that book, Chinese Pulse Diagnosis: A Contemporary Approach, could still be worth a look, if you have the money or can find a library that has it. There are of course other books and resources out there. But as I mentioned, methods of pulse diagnosis are highly tuned to the system you're practicing and what your goals and aims are, so it's harder to make general recommendations.

Sorry, I don't have a specific book in mind. As I said, some of that stuff is standard Chinese medicine stuff; you can find it in textbooks such as Maciocia's Foundations of Chinese Medicine (although I'm sure there's cheaper ones for reference, I just don't know them off the top of my head). Other stuff I learned from teachers who learned from their teachers who learned from their teachers; I just have notes. You can ask more specific questions if you want, here or PM.

It depends on whether your root condition is a qi/yang deficiency or a yin deficiency, but in either case, since the originating problem is a deficiency, the general principle is to root and nourish. Often diet and digestive energy is an important key. You may not be eating the right foods, or at the right times, or the right amounts. A good rule of thumb is how you feel (ie your qi) after a meal, or after you eat certain foods. From my own personal experience, I would suggest that sugar is a major contributor in Liver yang issues and just cutting out sugar and paying attention to blood sugar balance can help. Other than diet, stress is also a big one. (Both sugar and stress affect the adrenals which are, like all the glands, related to yin/yang balance.) The basic theme is that something is not being nourished due to lifestyle, overactivity, overthinking, poor eating, stress, emotional overreaction, or some other external or internal factor. Other people recommended bringing the qi down and putting it at dantian. This is excellent not just in a literal way but in a metaphorical one too. People whose Liver yang "rises" have depleted the place where the Liver yang can go home, they've deprived their "active" or yang natures of a place to be "passive" or yin, and rest. So focusing on that aspect of your being will help you in the long run to restore balance. This usually is more of a long-term and preventative thing, as far as ways to solve your headache when you're in the middle of it, I have a lot less to say because in my experience it's pretty hard, once the yang has floated up it just wants to go. Have had a little limited success with reaching in and pulling the qi down, or strongly tonifying at dantian, but others here probably have a lot more experience with that.

The location of the pain determines the sick channel and gives clues as to the origin of the problem. Gall bladder channel, for instance, runs all over the side of the head. GB is closely related to the Liver, and headaches from the condition called "Liver yang rising" tend to be one-sided, throbbing headaches. Often i've even been able to observe Liver yang headaches specifically at points, like GB-20 (side of the occiput) and GB-15 (front of the head, above the pupil). Frontal headaches tend to be more Stomach channel and are often related to sinus issues. Quality: If it's dull and worse with exertion, it tends to be qi or blood deficiency. If it's sharp and stabbing, it's blood stagnation, even more so if it's needle-like. If it feels like a tight band around the head, it's probably qi stagnation. If it tends to be better than rest then it's some kind of deficiency, if it's worse with rest (i.e. worse when still and not moving as much) then it's some form of excess or stagnation. Of course any headache could be seen as stagnation, but in some cases it's actually because the yang has lost contact with the yin and "floated" up into the head, and thus is rooted in a deficient condition. Which is, in my experience, what most Liver yang rising headaches are (and most migraines I could classify as some sort of Liver yang related condition). If it's worse with meals then the Spleen or other digestive organ is involved. Typically in a classic migraine with one-sided pounding or throbbing headache, it's also somewhat stress-related, and is accompanied by light sensitivity, nausea, sometimes ringing in the ears. All of that is classic Liver stuff. Liver nourishes the eyes, Liver can overact on any organ when it's out of balance (so if your liver is upset, and your Stomach is weak, it'll harass the Stomach and cause nausea). If it is a Liver yang rising condition, it's really rooted in the deficiency, either of Liver yin or qi/yang. The long-term solution is to nourish the qi and the Liver and figure out why it's not rooting. Often it's due to long-term stress and overwork, or repressed emotion eating up your available resources. Some of this stuff is available in textbooks, some of it is from the lineage I studied in. I think Liver yang rising is usually considered an excess type of condition, but in my experience this is not the case. This was sort of rambling, so i hope it was helpful.

I think it'd be wise to differentiate the cause of the headache. Where's the location of the pain? Back, front, sides? Is it one-sided? What's the quality of the pain? Dull, sharp, stabbing, throbbing, pinpoint, etc? What makes it better and what makes it worse? Better/worse with exercise, rest, meals or certain foods, stress? Any accompanying symptoms, such as light sensitivity, nausea? How frequently do they recur? How long have they been happening?

I burned off my wart using direct, scarring moxibustion ... In the old days the Chinese used moxa techniques that included burning people to the point of scarring. One reported remedy to prevent epidemic diseases was "weeping" scars on ST-36, that is, to keep applying direct moxa to that point until it kept burning, healing, and generating pus. Not for the faint-hearted. Anyway, as a crazy acupuncture student, I tried scarring moxibustion on my wart for a few days. It worked. But it was painful.

Might I ask what you're looking for, specifically?

Initiation Into Hermetics is an excellent foundation, and to my mind provides a very thorough and systematic foundation for mystical and magical development, but only if you approach it in a thorough and systematic way (i.e., you practice according to instructions). Qi "awakening" is fairly bare-bones and, though outlined, is left up to the experimentation of the practitioner. That's the downside; the upside is that it's placed in a broader context of spiritual development. As far as kundalini goes, read what Hermetic adept Rawn Clark says about it here. Basically, "In Bardon's system, the kundalini is left in nature's hands and its rate of rising is left to nature's wisdom based upon the initiate's own rate of maturation." For high quality information on a Bardon perspective, I generally trust Rawn Clark's works as displayed on his website, abardoncompanion.com. Yes. Working on transforming and purifying the character is made a central part of the work from the very beginning.

Hi all, I haven't posted much on here, but I'd like a little constructive criticism. I wrote an essay that's geared toward beginners to qigong. (It's to be posted on my acupuncture practice website.) I'm not a qigong master, but I've done enough practice to feel like I have a little wisdom to share, from an end-user perspective. I appreciate any comments on organization, wording, concepts, omissions, clarity, as well as disagreements or anything else. It is a draft so I'm open to some changes. http://acupunctureecology.com/articles/qig...student-method/ Thanks! David

Thanks! Thank you, Michael. I value your opinion highly! David

This is good to hear. I'm signed up for the Indianapolis class in July.

Hello, been lurking for awhile but this is my first post.

Hello, At least a couple of options I see here, from a Chinese medical point of view. (1) Kidney Qi or Yang deficiency, which may be related to the premature balding and weak legs. Hard to say based on the little information you gave but it's an option to explore. (2) An issue on an emotional level, which causes you to hyper-react due to your upbringing or other reasons. If (1) is true, then you might have other symptoms like low energy, feelings of cold, etc. (but they are not necessarily that clear cut). But when you have that excessive pre-cum -- does it feel like you've lost energy? Do you feel less energized, or more, during and/or after? Also, if (1) were true, I would expect it to be not quite as specifically connected to hanging out with your girlfriend. So ... It sounds like you've got energy that wants to come out, so to speak. If I were you I'd start exploring my feelings, emotional and sexual-physical, on my own because there's something that's literally and figuratively being "expressed." Of course there may be a Kidney involvement that makes it more likely for you to leak, but it sounds to me like the more predominant thing is emotional. David