While Western medicine can be a life-saver, it also is much more likely than natural medicine to cause serious health problems for the patient.

Heiner and Laurie discuss the issue of practitioner induced illness, and explain why this problem is much more likely to result from the practice of allopathic than natural medicine.

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Listen to the messages conveyed by your physical symptoms

In our culture, we are conditioned to think of symptoms as problems to fix. We have our growths removed with surgery, our fevers lowered with aspirin, and our rashes removed by steroid creams. While this kind of approach can have the blessing of alleviating our suffering, and even be a valuable component of our healing process, it alone does not address why the symptoms were there in the first place.

Heiner and Laurie discuss the importance of listening to your body’s messages about what is out of balance, and learning to make corresponding choices that support the movement toward health. Even in a state of good health, our physical form can be understood as sacred reflection of the inner working of our being.

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The inspirational story of how one woman healed her cancer

Heiner and Laurie interview Gloria Joslove, a Portland mental health practitioner whose cancer disappeared following her participation in a 10-day Confucian emotional healing retreat. We are grateful to Gloria for sharing her story, as the real transmission of what is possible comes from those who have done the work!

For background information on the retreat, please reference the show entitled “Healing Through the Emotions: The Confucian Therapy System of Wang Fengyi”.

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Acupuncture gives hope to the survivors of trauma–even those suffering from PTSD

It is common knowledge that the long-term sequelae of trauma can be devastating, but how many know there is much hope available in the form of acupuncture and other forms of natural medicine? Laurie interviews Roger Batchelor, DAOM, LAc, who has more than two decades of experience treating trauma survivors in public health and private clinical settings. Roger gives insight into how an acute traumatic event (or series of events) can cause chronic problems, and how these can be reversed through the skillful use of Chinese medicine.

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This 5-element emotional release system can result in a rapid and profound return to health.

Tamara Staudt, ND, LAc shares with Heiner and Laurie her direct experience with this powerful system of emotional healing. In 2010, Dr. Staudt was a member of the first group of foreigners to attend in a Wang Fengyi retreat in China. Having received great personal benefit as a participant, Dr. Staudt was inspired to lead the first Wang Fengyi retreat in the United States in June, 2011. Of particular note, one woman who entered the US retreat with liposarcoma remains cancer-free since that time.

Heiner and Laurie have also participated in this type of healing work, and are big proponents of its powerful simplicity.

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A skilled Chinese medicine practitioner can learn a tremendous amount about a patient’s history and current condition just by observing their tongue.  What are they looking for?  Heiner interviews internationally recognized expert Barbara Kirschbaum to find out. Listen as Barbara provides insights gained from her more than thirty years of experience using tongue analysis in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic disease, with a special focus on cancer and trauma.

Barbara Kirschbaum is the author of the widely used textbooks The Atlas of Chinese Tongue Diagnosis,  volumes 1 and 2, and is Director of the TCM Clinic within the Breast Cancer Center of the Jerusalem Hospital in Hamburg, Germany.

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Contrary to common belief, Chinese medicine came to the west long before James Reston’s New York Times account of acupuncture following his trip to China with President Nixon in 1971. In fact, accounts of Chinese medicine practice in the Americas go back to at least the 1600’s. Heiner and Laurie interview expert Linda Barnes, PhD, who not only elucidates how, when and where Chinese medicine came to the west, but also provides insights about intercultural exchange that occurred. The discussion includes a consideration of how western understandings of medicine and the body were informed by interactions with Chinese medicine practitioners.

Dr. Linda Barnes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, and in the Division of Religion and Theological Studies at Boston University. She is also the Director of the Master of Medical Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Practice programs at BUSM. Among her publications are the following: Chinese Medicine and Healing: an Illustrated History, Harvard University Press (in press), and Needles, Herbs, Gods, and Ghosts: China, Healing and the West to 1848, Harvard University Press, 2005. She is co-editor, with Susan Sered, of Religion and Healing in America, Oxford University Press, 2004.

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What did real “surrender” mean to the ancient Chinese, and why did they deem it to be necessary for a person to live a fully authentic life? We’ll explore this question today, through the discussion of the characteristics attributed to the Kidney Channel Network of Chinese medicine. Ancient wisdom keepers defined the body’s root system as a type of “battery” for the storage of our core vitality, called “Source Qi”. In today’s world, we often fritter this core essence away—through a lifestyle filled with anxiety, too much activity, and the use of stimulants such as caffeine, sugar, and media overload. We stay attuned to outer interests and expectations, rather than settling into the natural expression of who we really are.

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Heiner and Laurie discuss the wisdom of traditional diets with “grassroots” expert Sally Fallon Morell. Sally began her journey into nutrition as an interested and observant mother. She quickly found that much of the modern view of nutrition has been highly influenced by business interests, rather than being informed by solid research and time-worn experience. Through open-minded exploration, she has become a proponent of ideas that may surprise (and delight) you!

Sally is the founding president of the non-profit Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.com), the editor of its quarterly journal Wise Traditions, and the founder of A Campaign for Real Milk, which promotes access to clean, whole raw milk from pasture-fed cows. Among Sally’s publications are the popular nutrition/cookbooks Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, and Eat Fat, Lose Fat, both of which she co-authored with lipid biochemist Mary G. Enig, PhD.

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The organ function that leads to Enlightenment

Today’s show is a continuation in our cycle of presenting the organ functions of Chinese medicine. Heiner discusses how ancient symbol scientists described the functioning of what is arguably the body’s most mystical and esoteric channel network, namely the Bladder. It orchestrates the setting of boundaries, the storage of essence, and the raising of bioelectricity along the spine to feed the processes of mental clarity, personal evolution, and enlightenment.

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