經方學

This October in Nanjing will be a unique opportunity to study constitution and the classic formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue with Dr. Huang.

What you will gain from this special course:

• Learn the 10 basic constitutional types as outlined in The 10 Major Formula Families
• Understand the similarities and differences between the frequently used formulas families of the Shang Han Lun and Jing Gui Yao Lue.
• Observe and discuss clinical cases.
• Learn to use constitution diagnosis, and how to select appropriate prescriptions from within formula families.
• Become facile with the classic formulas.
• See Chinese medicine as it is practiced in China.
• Learn specific indications for particular formulas.

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When and where?
We will depart Seattle as a group on Oct 1st, begin classes on Oct 4th, and then leave China and return to the States on Oct 19th. Classes will be held in Nanjing in the conference room of our hotel, and clinic observation will be at the Nanjing TCM University, which is a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

What else?
There will be an optional day trip to Shanghai for a day of shopping, eating, and a trip to the top of the tallest building in China for a bird’s eye view of China’s biggest and most exciting city.
Of course, Nanjing itself is full of history, and colorful Chinese life to be explored.

China is a long way to go for just two weeks.
For those wishing to extend their stay in China, and explore the otherworldly natural beauty of Guilin, for an additional fee, we are offering an optional 5 days in Yangshuo. This lovely river town is at the very center of Guanxi province’s watercolor-like karst limestone mountains and meandering streams.

It all sounds great. How much for this adventure?
Price of $2,795 includes tuition, translation, accommodations, airfare from Seattle, ground transportation between Shanghai and Nanjing, and a Chinese visa.
Space is limited to 8 participants!
To reserve your place, a non-refundable US$300 deposit is required.

But wait, there’s more!
We are applying for NCCAOM PDA units.

Contact:
To be considered for this unique trip, email: michael@classicformulas.com
or call 206-788-5941.

Through the miracle of MP3, I’ve been having discussions with Dr. Huang on my morning walks to work. Actually, re-listening to the discussions we had in Nanjing. But, since words in Chinese have this sneaky way of going transparently through my ears when engaged in thinking and making sense, listening again to our conversations yields all kinds of new information.I have recently begun to translate the Ma Huang (麻黃類方) chapter, and in the Ma Huang Constitution it includes the sign of “aversion to cold.” People with the Gui Zhi Constitution also have that. So, I asked Huang about it.

This feeling of aversion to cold, is it different for Ma Huang and Gui Zhi types? 

His answer was surprising to me in that it had little to with the patient’s subjective sense, and more to do with an intersection of their feelings and objective perception of the practitioner.

Yes, they are different. The Ma Huang type has sensitivity to cold, but there is a lack of sweating, their skin is course and even sandy looking. Those Gui Zhi types, they also dislike cold, but their skin is fine, moist, and tends to be pale. 

It is not helpful to simply go on what the patient says. People all have different ways of experiencing themselves and body. Of course, listen to a patient’s subjective experience, but then back it up with your own objective observation. There is a more dimensional image that emerges when the observable and reported mutually inform each other.I rather like this approach of Dr Huang’s. That there are concrete physical signs that help us to differentiate a patient’s particular constitution. It is this background, along with the various signs and symptoms that help us to to determine how best to help a patient.It is not just a matter of what symptoms are present, but more importantly, the kind of person that is having those symptoms.

I did not expect so many comments so quickly. If this continues I will have to look into setting up a discussion forum on this site as well.I love going to Chengdu for the ma-la hotpot, cheap foot massage, and teahouses. I also love to visit there because I get to hang out with Eran Pupkin, an Israeli friend who is about to begin a 5 year Masters program there. I’m jealous!A recent email of his had this:

Can you write more about the gui zhi type, and what happened if the person does not sweat at all, but have all the other symptoms, does he/she still consider a gui zhi type? 

Oddly enough, this was the question that was at the top of my list to ask Dr. Huang when I met with his last week to discuss some questions I had about the book.He had this to say:This is tricky. First of all, you can not really rely on your patients for much useful information. Often they really don’t know what it is that you are looking for. Then, there are those that will try to tell you what they think you want to hear. Others, will exaggerate. Still others, just do not really pay much attention to their experience. So, if you ask them questions like “do you sweat easily”, they either misunderstand what you are asking about, or just plain don’t know.What to do? Look for yourself at the skin, if it is coarse, dry, and looks kind of sandy, they are NOT a gui zhi type. If, however, they have skin that is fine, more white in color and is moist, then this is can be seen as an indication that they are a gui zhi kind of person.You as the doctor need to use your own eyes and hands to make sense of the person in front of you. Do not overly rely on what they have to say!

Will Cooper writes:

“By the presentation, prescribe the herbs” as being the rationale and foundation of Dr. Huang’s approach to treatment. Dr. Huang obviously has decided for himself what is meant by “presentation”, but do we know what the original author meant by that use of the word?

In a sense, yes, it is “root.” I was talking with him the other day, and told me about an insight he had at one point. That what originally he was seeing as “symptoms” in a patient was not really “symptoms” at all. It was just who they were.

Let’s take for example a “gui zhi” constitution person. They tend to have fair and fine skin, generally are thin and wispy, they are prone to stomach aches, they tend to sweat easily.

Now, you can look at their tendency to sweat and think “qi deficiency” or you could look at it and think “gui zhi people, they just are like that.”

…a more Japanese concept of the root is, “the root of the person, i.e., the background of who they are”, and that being resonant with the French concept of “terrain”, as being the background of who someone is as well. I remember when Volker Scheid was visiting us at SIOM, and he worked people up, it seemed that he utilized this approach also.

When he worked me up, he saw me as a “yang ming” type constitution, for example, and he used this ‘lens’ or perspective of what sort of constitution/terrain I had to then view my signs/symptoms/complaints, which then informed the herbal prescription he gave me.

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Yes, I think Dr. Huang is looking at it more like this.
Constitution, or as is said in Chinese 體質 (tî zhì), or the French concept of Terrain. If we use that lens to view our patients illnesses (or health for that matter) we come up with a different picture. It is another way of looking.

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Gui zhi people have a tendency to get sick in a certain way. Their illness tends to be different from, say, a shi gao person. Where this gets interesting is when the gui zhi person gets sick like a shi gao person, then you know you have an unusual problem on your hands.

I think one of the contributions of Dr. Huang’s work is bringing this concept of constitution, and its affinity toward the function of key herbs, into play.

Actually, there is a triangular  relationship that he uses. It involves Herbs, Person (constitution), Illness. But, more about that in another post!