Qiological Shoptalk

Sports medicine isn’t just about elite athletes. Many of the same principles apply to everyday patients recovering from injuries, surgery, chronic pain, and repetitive strain. As practitioners, we’re always looking for ways to support healing while working with the body’s natural recovery processes.In this conversation, I sit down with Laura Christiansen to explore microcurrent therapy and its role in acupuncture practice.We discuss the differences between traditional electroacupuncture and microcurrent, why more stimulation isn’t always better, and how gentle electrical currents may support healing, tissue repair, and cellular energy production.We also explore the relationship between fascia, meridians, ATP production, injury recovery, and nervous system regulation, alongside practical strategies for integrating microcurrent into clinical care.Supporting recovery isn’t always about pushing harder. Sometimes it’s about giving the body the resources it needs to repair, restore, and return to function more effectively.

Kidney essence is precious and not easily replenished. This Shoptalk segment discusses how the Kidney needs material form to create essence. And that it is the Yangming channels with their yang action that help the digestive system to extract the clear qi from food and fluids, and this in turn becomes the material that can transform into essence. This is a simple and effective set of points for burn out or exhaustion and they lean on the dynamic of transform, rather than simply tonifying the Kidney itself. Golden Flower Chinese Herbs also offers herbal formulations for these conditions and many more. Visit them at www.gfcherbs.com.

In this Shop Talk segment John Scott the co-founder of Golden Flower Chinese Herbs discusses the use of Hua Tou points for the treatment of shingles. Additionally, how these points are useful for lower jiao issues like increasing male fertility and for prostate issues. Golden Flower Chinese Herbs also offers herbal formulations for these conditions and many more. Visit them at www.gfcherbs.com.

In this Shop Talk Jason Robertson discusses the importance of putting your hands on your patients heads to understand where physically the points actually are located.He draws from his experience with Dr Wang Ju-Yi in discussing how points are “jie” which you can think of as junctions or spaces, they’re notable by the way they feel. And this isn’t just for points on the head, but through the body. It’s helpful to put your hands on people and let the body tell you where the point is located.Dr. Wang had a special affinity for DU19 and DU21 and how they can be used for treating back pain and for issues that result from a failure of the clear yang to ascend.Clear diagnosis is the key to effective treatment and putting your hands on people both as a diagnostic and to find the most potent points is a practice that will serve you well in the clinic.You can find out more about Jason’s work at www.channelpalpation.org

Join Leta Herman as she shares her perspective on why Chaotic Energy treatments (also known as Aggressive Energy) are so helpful in today's fast paced, modern world.In the past 20 years, Leta has witnessed a significant rise in CE due to increased world-wide stress, smartphones, wearables and a constant media exposure. Chaotic Energy spreads through the Ke cycle, affecting multiple organ systems and even contributing to severe illness.Symptoms of CE include mild to severe emotional agitations, anxieties, and physical discomforts–all related to Wei Qi circulation.In this ShopTalk, Leta describes how to treat CE with needles and with her own unique non-needling techniques. Treating CE has led to amazing results, from alleviating panic attacks to helping transform more severe illness as well as easing some of the more day-to-day stresses for many clients.

In this Shop Talk I’ll be sharing three reasons why I practice Sasang Medicine.Reason #1 Food firstThe condition of the constitution always affects treatment outcome, prevention, overall health and longevity.People vary in their balance and do not inherently all have strong constitutions. People need to nourish their weakness and not feed what is already too strong.Eating all 5 tastes equally balances your plate; not you!Example 1: someone with half their energy in the liver, will make their imbalance worse by eating any liver-building food at allExample 2: So-yang person eating a healthy diet for 70% of the population. Gets sick because they are not part of the 70%.Reason #2 Western medical research assumptionsClinical trials are statistical, what percentage get a positive outcome.The n-value, the number of people in the trial is a homogenous group because of inclusion/exclusion criteria. What does the data ALWAYS show?The mind has an effect on the bodyThe data proves the premise that the group is homogenous is wrongThe real problem is, if enough people have a good outcome and the bad stuff isn’t too bad, it is prescribed for everyone. Yet, the data does not support doing this.In Korea, clinical trials are conducted putting subjects in their constitutional groups to see if there are correlations between outcomes and constitution. They typically are, and there are lots of studies showing correlations between constitution and certain genetic markers.Reason #3 Food helpsI’ve been practicing prescribing diets for people for over 20 years. Almost every single person who follows their constitutional diet has improvements in their health.Of course there is much more to say about Korean Sasang Medicine and you can read more about it on my website, QiBalance.net.You also can sign-up for my Diagnosis Mentorship Program starting August 5th.But if you’re not ready for that, you can experience Sasang by ordering a dietary analysis for yourself. Or send your very sick patients who need support with their treatments for an analysis.

In the initial descriptions of Chinese medicine set down in the Huangdi Neijing, acupuncture was described as a traditional form of ecological surgery.Its primary aim was to restore the natural watersheds of the body by regulating the flow of the blood circulating through these regions. These writings compare the vascular rivers of the body to rivers in nature, understanding them to be formed by the same basic forces and patterns of nature.Similar to rivers in nature, the flow qualities of the vascular rivers display different seasonal variations or ‘tides'. We assess these seasonal tides in the pulse qualities of the major blood vessels of the body. This allows us to synchronize the bodies of our patients with the seasonal patterns of nature.