What I did not expect is that the practice would grow as quickly as it has. And so I am seeking an associate to join the clinic here in St. Louis, MO.

Yong Kang Chinese Medicine Clinic is located in the delightful and accessible neighborhood of Kirkwood. We draw patients from both St. Louis city and county, as well as from southern Illinois.

St Louis offers a low cost of living, access to the arts, spectacularly vivid weather, an increasingly diverse community, some nice restaurants and the City Museum. It also is in a region that up till recently has not been exactly open to acupuncture.

That, however, has changed and Chinese medicine is rapidly becoming THE alternative treatment of choice.

Do you want to build a practice, and built it fast? Do you like the idea of a cash-only business? Does it sound appealing to practice in a community that is very supportive of new practitioners? Would you like to see patients with difficult and challenging health concerns? Do you happen to have a weak spot for frozen custard? Then this opportunity just might be for you.

Interested? Visit the clinic website to get a taste for what we have going on here. Like what you see?
Follow up with an email.

The American Midwest is desperately in need of more Chinese medicine practitioners.
You can make a difference here!

About this project
Walk into any reasonably sized bookstore in China and you will find shelves full of the experience of Chinese medicine doctors. Case studies are the bones and blood of furthering one’s skill as a doctor. We all gain a foundation, a skeletal structure from our textbooks and first years in medical school. But it is the actual application, the use and practice of medicine that allows us to distill meaning from our experience.

Here in the West we have plenty of books that teach us how-to, books that are rich in theory and heavy with fundamentals; we all need a foundation from which to work. But to really understand how medicine unfolds in the clinic, how to engage the conversation between patient and practitioner, connect the dots between symptom and treatment, and navigate between knowing and discovering, it is within the case study literature where we really see medicine come alive.

Chinese medicine is both vast and deep. This book seeks to bring into focus one aspect: the use of the classic formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue in modern practice.

Why the focus on classic formulas?
There is not just one way to read the Shang Han Lun; its 398 lines have multiple interpretations and there is a plethora of ways to apply its methods. Formulas that were used 1,800 years ago for a single purpose now have multiple applications in modern life. Just as a single substitution or changing the amount of one herb can profoundly change the function of a formula, so too does clinical perspective have a deep impact on how prescriptions are chosen and modified.

Through the window of case studies, this book seeks to allow the reader a glimpse into the contributor’s clinical reasoning, to throw light on how they gather information and distill its meaning, and to share their perspective on how the lines of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui can be applied to understanding the use of these ancient formulas in the modern clinic.

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Who will be contributing?
This is not just a look at how the jing fang are used in the West. Invitations to contribute will be distributed to China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and other countries where there are stories of innovative use of the classic formulas.

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The goal is to improve our clinical results
We are not looking to prove the classic formulas are effective, or that Chinese medicine is useful. We already know that from our clinical work. This book, which unfolds the practice of medicine via case study, gives us a glimpse into the mind and clinical reasoning of the seasoned practitioner. It will help us to understand how to sort out what is important, as it maps out a method of inquiry and intervention. The classics have given us a common set of prescriptions, but the ways in which they are clinically applied in modern practice are as unique and varied as the practitioners themselves.

This is an invitation to contribute to a work that will give the reader a diamond-faceted look at the clinical application of the classic formulas, an opportunity to contribute a more multi-dimensional view of those formulas in modern clinical use. As well, it is an opportunity to add to the discussion that has been going on for 1800 years now about how to help our patients with these often simple, but effective formulas.

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Would you like to join us?
If you would like to submit a case study for review and inclusion, please write and let us know of your interest. You will be sent a submission package that details format, writer’s guidelines, timetables and other pertinent information.

I’ve been using this software as part of the beta testing program for the past six weeks. It is brilliant.

If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and noodling through Chinese is part of your way of engaging Chinese medicine, do consider this as one of the tools of the trade. You could schlep around several dictionaries, or just have a Pleco product in your pocket. In addition to the iPhone, they have software that runs on the Palm and Windows Mobile platforms. Excellent software from a savvy software company that has the very best tech support in the known universe.

又方便又實用!

UPDATE 12/18—  The new Pleco for iPhone has a basic level that is FREE. Visit the Pleco website for more information, or visit Apple’s App Store to download it, and take it for a drive.

If any of you have inclination toward reading Chinese, then you probably are familiar with Pleco software. Yes, that is their logo on the iPhone app in the picture. No, it is not yet available. But, from participating in the beta-test I can tell you that if you have an iPhone in your pocket, and have some kind of relationship with the Chinese language, this application is going to rock your world.

Unlike the PDA versions, you use your finger to write directly on the screen. The word lookup is blinding fast and startlingly accurate. The handwriting input system is also smart enough to differentiate simple and traditional characters on the fly. While the initial release will not support flashcards, an update that does will not be far behind.

For a glimpse at the magic click here.

Eastland Press just released an herb index to The 10 Key Formula Families in Chinese Medicine as a PDF.

For those of you that would like a copy you can either go to Eastland’s site and get a copy, or simply click HERE to download a copy.

I am considering adding a discussion forum to the site. If anyone has a comment or suggestions about that, please leave a comment.

Another great interview is coming soon coming your way. Stay tuned!

It has been a long journey and I am delighted to share the news that The 10 Key Formula Families in Chinese Medicine is now available. You will be able to find it at the usual outlets, and of course from Eastland Press. To help celebrate the occasion Eastland Press is offering a discount on the book from now, until the end of August.

From Huang’s forward to the Chinese edition:

While there are no less than dozens of formula categories in Chinese medicine, large and small, in this book we will discuss ten key families. While becoming familiar with theses formula categories and their constituent herbs, will not enable the reader to have complete mastery over all aspects of Chinese medicine. It will however, allow practitioners to grasp the rules in general for using Chinese herbal formulas, to understand the basic principles of Chinese medicine’s differentiation of patterns as a basis for treatment, and to handle these with ease in the clinic. Thus, laying down a firm foundation for the further study of Chinese medicine.

It is deceiving how much time and effort is required to dig the English out of one thin, little book on Chinese medicine; nor is it a solitary endevor. The assitance of my editor, Dan Bensky; the ongoing conversations both in person and by email with Dr. Huang; the patients that have visited Yong Kang clinic over the past few years and various collegues who have proofed the material and offered up their insights and suggestions, all of them share the responsibily for this book making its way into English. All have played a role in helping me to bring Dr. Huang’s words and ideas to the Western reader. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all who have helped bring this project to fruition.

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There is a great saying in Chinese 一步一步來; 
keep putting one foot in front of the other.

It is good advice for any endeavor, but especially apropos for those projects that span years, or for journeys where the destination can barely be imagined, let alone seen, from the point of departure.

Five years ago The Ten Key Formula Families made its way into my hands. Two years ago I received Dr Huang’s permission to translate it into English. This past week my final proofing was completed, and it is now in the hands of my publisher, Eastland Press.

Look for it in the first quarter of 2009. It should be available soon after we have celebrated the year of Ox here in China.

All of Huang’s lectures in October were recorded for the same reason. There is always something that slips by in the moment of an intrusive car horn honk, or slamming hotel door, or moment of mental stutter as Chinese and English words play ping-pong with meaning across a frayed synapse.

So, the other day I caught this on the way to work

Huang: Cinnamon is the Chinese 阿斯匹林. It acts like aspirin to invigorate the blood, improve circulation and keep the heart healthy.

Simple. Effective.
And one of the few Chinese herbs that actually is tasty.

It is not just that one can see more patients with a particular illness in a morning, than you might see in an entire year. Nor, is it that there is something about the busy as a bus station feel of a Chinese clinic, where patients jostle for position like horses at the starting gate.

It is not that it seems a bit odd that patients come in talking of body centered complaints like too much fire, stuffy chest feeling, or dizziness, instead of the oft heard Western psychological constructs of anxiety, depression or fatigue. And it is not that there are magic formulas that Chinese doctors use over on the Eastern side of the Western sea.

But, there is something.

A friend of mine that was recently studying for two weeks in Nanjing had this to say about her time there:

“While I’ve written all kinds of notes about formulas, herbs, tongues and their assorted coatings, what I notice is that I am just different in how I am with my patients, more directive, and without apology.”

There is something about as the Chinese say “opening your world eyes”, seeing how things are different precisely because your usual filters for how to see the world simply don’t work here. There is something about learning to navigate the Qi flow of traffic and crowds that force a completely different sense of movement and space. And then there are the ever present “why do they do it like this?” annoyances of life as it unreels in ways that bring us toe with toe with our assumptions, expectations and unspoken preferences.

Learning medicine in China comes peppered with fragrances and flavors we don’t have in the West. It can offer other views than those we have preciously cultivated. It is not always particularly pleasant, but it can be uniquely informative.
And vastly worthwhile.

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I have been fortunate in my time in Asia to have come across a number of doctors who have inspired and contributed to my journey of learning medicine. Doctor Huang has been particularly unique, as I’ve grown to know him through both his written words and the time we have spent together in his clinic, classes and discussing his book “shi da lei fang.” He is that rare combination of doctor, scholar, and teacher.

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This fall in early October we will hold in Nanjing the very first 2 week intensive for western practitioners. This course will be based on Dr. Huang’s understanding of constitutional types, formula families, and how it all comes together in the clinical setting. It will be an unusual opportunity to learn first hand how to use the classic formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue to treat patients on both a constitutional and illness basis. Watch for more information here as we work out the details.

For more information, and to get on a mailing list so you can be immediately updated with the latest news on this event, send an email to: michael@classicformulas.com and prepare to deepen your own understanding of how these ancient formulas work in the modern world!