David Mayor
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 2 (2009)

Chinese medicine is pluralistic and qi itself is likewise dynamic and multidimensional. Our understanding of qi and the ‘body-mind’ it enlivens is partly based in felt bodily experience, especially of the breath, and warmth. This is very different from the ‘structural corpus’, the body as conceived and analysed in thought. All thinking has been construed as based in a limited number of metaphors. One in particular, the ‘core metaphor’ of qi flow in health and its disturbance in illness, is not unique to Chinese medicine but has parallels in many cultures and is used to underpin most forms of complementary therapy. A short history is presented of western reinterpretations of this metaphor, showing how these have changed with the current worldview. The importance of maintaining the metaphor in the face of a rationalising and reductive approach to acupuncture is emphasised. However, both ‘subtle’ and ‘gross’ anatomy have their place: ‘Throughout the universe, there is no qi without li, nor li without qi.’

Stephen Birch
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 2 (2009)

The author contends that traditional forms of acupuncture practice have been hardly, if at all, investigated in the West. While many clinical and scientific studies of acupuncture have been conducted, these almost never involve the traditional practice methods of acupuncture with their clinical observations and theories of practice. In this article - the first of two papers on the subject - he attempts to bridge the gap between traditional practices and their historical sources and theories, and more modern perspectives with their methods of investigation. He discusses the purposes and possible mechanisms of the supplementation needle technique and models what might be happening when we apply it. Effects triggered by the needling itself, focusing especially on local and global qi circulatory effects and traditional explanations of these, are highlighted, as are the effects arising out of the interaction of the person needling and the person being needled, looking in particular at global changes in the vitality of the patient and the role of the mind of the practitioner. Various possible scientific perspectives are described, especially involving electromagnetic phenomena that could explain the effects of the needling and various interactional effects. Implications of this for understanding acupuncture practice are briefly discussed.

Diane Dutton
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 2 (2009)

The increasingly widespread practice of acupuncture in the West, as well as interest in eastern forms of self-cultivation such as qi gong, provoke debates about the legitimate interpretation of concepts which have their roots in ancient eastern traditions. Modern western approaches to health have often assumed that the experience of illness is universal across cultures and time periods and that the body can be accurately observed, discretely measured and faithfully mapped by objective means. However, evidence from the historical practice of Chinese medicine, as well as studies of pre-modern western accounts of illness experiences, emphasise the fluidity and intangibility of subjective bodily experience. This paper examines some of the ways in which these earlier explanatory frameworks challenge modern conceptions of the body and explores the possible implications for the practice of acupuncture today.

Sandra Hill
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 2 (2009)

This article was written in response to the lecture given by Dr Jan van der Greef at Westminster University on 16 March 2009, ‘Systems Biology: the Unifying Bridge between Western and Chinese Medicine’.Systems biology understands the body as a self-regulating, self-replicating system, constantly in exchange and dialogue with its environment. Each part exists in a delicate balance with every other part. Our cells communicate one with the other. The nervous system resonates with the immune system. Messages are transmitted through the blood stream by hormones that in turn affect our emotions; our hormones affect our moods, our moods affect our immunity. Interconnectivity, interdependence, the mapping of patterns of relationships are the stuff of systems thinking. The same ideas are at the basis of Chinese medicine, but they have often been disregarded, put to one side, swept under the carpet, in order to gain respectability and fit in with the models of old paradigm reductionist science. As practitioners of Chinese medicine, the author suggests that it may be time for us to embrace this new science, to make use of its vocabulary and methodology, and to bring an awareness, which began for some of us in the 1970s, into the 21st century.

Barry Nester
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 1 (2008)

This paper explores some ‘epistemological orientations to practice’ that can be drawn upon by academics and practitioners involved in Chinese medicine to understand acupuncture knowledge and professional practice. Using the theoretical framework of Anne Mosey (1992) that she used to examine the health professions, it is argued that the four epistemological orientations to practice identified by Mosey can be reflected upon to better understand acupuncture practice and the acupuncture profession. This analysis helps to understand the reasons for some of the developments of the acupuncture profession, and helps to clarify the underlying assumptions and premises for the diverse opinions on the best way forward for the development of acupuncture knowledge, practice and research.

Darren Chandler
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 1 (2008)

This article proposes that acupuncture points and channels correlate to collagen fibres in fascia (Stecco, 2004, Ho, 1997). Fascia is one continuous structure that envelopes and invests all the structures in the body. If you were to dissolve all other tissues and organs leaving just the fascia you would see a ghostly outline of the individual. The author reports on the intracellular and extracellular effects of the stretching of collagen fibres induced by acupuncture needling. He suggests that these neurophysiological effects provide insight into the mechanisms behind not only acupuncture but also tui na and qi gong.

Lee Moden
EJOM Vol. 6 No. 1 (2008)

Sun Simiao once said: ‘Medicine is yi. Those who are proficient at using yi are good doctors.’ Zhao Xuemin said: ‘Medicine is yi. It is not as good to use medicinals as it is to use yi…’ (Scheid and Bensky, 1998). This article grew out of a passion to explore the root of statements such as these, from an interest in the inner orientation of the practitioner and from the subtle, dynamic interactions between patient and practitioner. It also arose from a belief that from understanding the wisdom of the ancient guiding principles contained within the Chinese medical classics, we may find significant relevance of that wisdom in contemporary practice. It is only by exploring (both cognitively and experientially) these concepts for ourselves that we might avoid dismissing potentially rich information that offers the possibility of deepening our understanding and informing and transforming our practice.

Barry Nester
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 6

In this paper some understandings of the nature of acupuncture knowledge are explored in relation to contemporary models of knowledge. It is argued that the contemporary acupuncture practitioner now utilises several types of knowledge, including propositional knowledge, non-propositional knowledge, and personal knowledge. In the discipline of acupuncture, knowledge has developed in the past through a variety of ways. The paths to acupuncture knowledge include the study of classical Chinese texts, authority and tradition, apprenticeship, trial and error, personal experience, and reflection on clinical practice. Acupuncture knowledge can be further developed through the use of both traditional methods and by the appropriation and use of research methods from other disciplines.

Andrew Flower
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 6

There seems to be a general consensus within the acupuncture and Chinese herbal community that research is a necessary process to establish our professional status. It may be regarded as a ‘good’ thing, a bold venture to bring Chinese medicine into the cosy confines of evidence based medicine; or perhaps more cynically ‘a necessary twenty-first century evil’ that we need to grit our teeth and get on with. This is an account of the author's foray into the research world to explore the role of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in the treatment of endometriosis. He set off on his journey dressed in a shiny suit of optimistic positivist fervour. Now several years down the line he feels more like Don Quixote lining up his intellectual lance and charging heroically towards the next windmill on the horizon. This then is the story of how a naive would-be knight lost his armour, encountered the dark forces of bureaucracy, and depending upon your point of view either grew up or went quietly nuts.
Read the whole article

William R. Morris
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 6

This article expands upon pulse diagnostic ideas discussed in Chapter One of the Nan Jing. The global view of the right distal position that is presented in Chapter One can be explored from the perspective of other chapters within the Nan Jing as well as from perspectives generated from contemporary practice. Nan Jing Chapter One discusses the use of the right distal position as a method of diagnosing the conditions for the whole person. The right distal pulse position is said to be the meeting place of all the vessels and is the source of all vessel movements from within the ‘Great Abyss’ or the ‘Big Source’ (Lu 9 tai yuan). This investigation explores four applications of Chapter One, based on pulse qualities and depths, and the finger rolling and organ clock methods.

Daniel J. Windridge & Harriet Lansdown
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 5

This article gives an outline of a BSc (Hons) dissertation submitted as part of the BSc (Hons) Traditional Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture) degree programme at the University of Salford in April 2003. The purpose of this quantitative study (Part One) was to measure the skin resistance and thus conductivity of a given set of the Influential points. The aim was to determine any differences in the conductive properties according to the gender of participants involved. Vacancies were a set sample of 30, which involved stratified criterion non-random sampling. Quantitative comparative descriptive was the method design used. The results of readings were compared and were shown to support the yin and yang theory used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The outcome of Part One established that yang acupoints had the highest conductance compared to yin acupoints. Also it was found that the conductivity of all the yang acupoints measured from the male participants were significantly greater when compared with results obtained from the females.

Qu Lifang and Mary Garvey
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 2

The Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon) contains numerous references to ‘spirits’ that are said to reside within the body. The term ‘shen-zhi’ means ‘spirit-mind’ and telescopes the five spirits (shen, hun, po, yi, zhi) of early Chinese medical theorising. Shen-zhi theory explains the principles for understanding Chinese medicine’s perspective on human consciousness. The theory describes how each of the wu shen (five spirits) govern certain aspects of mentality and are closely related to sensory faculties, body tissues, visceral systems, and physiological substances according to the wu xing (five phase) framework of correspondence and relationship. Spirit activities thereby provide the human organism with its distinctive array of mental and sensory abilities including intelligence, insight, focused attention and memory. Shen-zhi theory is derived from key sections of the Neijing that define the nature of the wu shen, their physiological activities and relationships. When these resources and relationships are disrupted a variety of common or more serious disorders may result. We discuss some of these, and a number of specific disorders that have a particular connection with the five spirits and shen-zhi theory. Broadly speaking, they are ‘mind’ or ‘mental’ disorders. Analysis of their signs and symptoms illustrates the theory and clarifies its diagnostic relevance for modern clinicians. 
Read the whole article

Frances Turner
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 5

This article - subtitled 'How Teachers’ Use of Language Reflects Their Perception of the Characteristics of Chinese Medicine' - is a summary of an MPhil research degree, completed by the author at Exeter University in 2003.  The study, which was based on interviews with 20 practitioners, teachers and authors of Chinese medicine, examined respondent approaches to the importance of language in the teaching of Chinese medicine, ranging from the view that it is practice which is important, not language, to the view that theory and practice, like language and understanding, are inextricably linked in a circular relationship, and that language is central to the preservation of Chinese medicine itself.  The non-standardisation of the language of Chinese medicine in the West reflects a rich melting pot of different approaches to the discipline itself. The author considers that one of the most interesting findings of this study was that since our understanding of what we do is expressed in the language we use, our language use is a reflection of what we perceive Chinese medicine to be. 
Read the whole article.

Kevin Baker
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 5

Baker describes the development of modern Western psychotherapy, and Core Process Psychotherapy (CPP), which integrates eastern spiritual traditions with psychotherapy. From this psycho-spiritual perspective, patterns within one's life situations, as well as deeper existential issues including impermanence, insubstantiality and the truth of suffering are explored. The qualities of the therapist are also discussed.

David Mayor
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 4

When treating patients with pain, it is important to at least try to understand what pain is. This first article in a series on chronic pain covers some general aspects of pain and its taxonomy, in particular the differences between acute and chronic pain, and between nociceptive and neurogenic pain. The next article will explore the psychology of pain, and in particular the relationships between pain, anxiety and depression. A follow-up article will be devoted to some of the thorny issues of pain measurement. The references given should be useful as a starting point for anyone embarking on their own exploration of the literature on chronic pain.
Read the whole article

Professor Wu Boping
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 5

Professor Wu Boping, head of the research library at the Beijing Academy of TCM discusses the engendering and restraining (sheng and ke) relationship among the five phases and gives his recommended herbal formulae in cases where 'disharmonious relationships' occur. He cites four case histories: dizziness, cough and dyspnoea, abdominal pain, and palpitations. Translated by Chao Baixiao.
Read the whole article

Miki Shima
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 4

Many schools of thought have flourished in Japan since Chinese medicine was introduced 1,200 years ago. Unique evolved practice includes abdominal diagnosis and treatment - toxins in the abdomen are declared the source of all human ills - and point location by direct palpation rather than by visual observation of anatomical structures. Rigorous practical application is superior to book learning.
Read the whole article

Giovanni Maciocia
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 1

In discussing the nature of the psyche in Chinese medicine, the author proposes the translation of shen as ‘mind’ and the complex of the five mental-spiritual aspects as ‘spirit.’  The nature and function of each aspect is discussed in detail, as is their inter-relationship and interaction.
Read the whole article

Poney Chiang
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 4

In many primitive societies, shamans or witch doctors often performed the dual roles of healer and intermediary between the worlds of men and spirits. With the support of ethnographic evidence, similarities between acu-moxibustion and shamanic practices are presented to suggest a possible origin of acu-moxibustion in the occult. Shamanic motives based on sacred-pain, spirit-letting via fenestration and fumigation are theorised for acu-moxibustion. Possible contributions from Daoist mysticism to Chinese medicine are proposed, particularly in the nomenclature of points. Tracing the origins of Chinese medicine and acu-moxibustion from a shamanic perspective can provide a novel appreciation of these arts.

Allen Parrott
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 3

The aim of this article is to set out some of the ways in which the basic philosophical assumptions about knowledge and reality that underpin mainstream scientific thinking, and therefore most current research, can be challenged, and to explore the relevance of such challenges to acupuncture research and practice. The author argues that randomised and double-blind clinical trials may be useful in certain contexts, but they no longer need be esteemed as the ‘gold standard’ to which all serious enquiry should aspire. For most healthcare research, a different ‘lens’ is desirable, for practical and ethical as well as for theoretical or more purely philosophical reasons.

Oran Kivity
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 3

This article outlines a method of delivering individualised diagnosis and treatments in group settings. It has been used to treat addictions and general health problems in the UK and, more recently, on the Acupuncture Sans Frontières project in Sri Lanka. The method combines the ECIWO protocol (a 12-point micro-acupuncture system based on the second metacarpal which was developed in China by Dr Zhang Ying Qing) with minimal auricular acupuncture. The author discusses auricular therapy as used in detoxification settings, and elaborates on the genesis and principles of the ECIWO system. He outlines the influence of Japanese acupuncture styles in the development of his approach combining these two systems and concludes with an explanation of how to apply the resulting simple and flexible protocol in clinics.

Richard Graham
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 3

The catalyst for this article was a Problem Back Masterclass for physiotherapists held at Highgrove under the auspices of the Prince of Wales. The article describes the author’s personal experience of chronic back pain and the inspirational influence of the maverick Australian physio, Sarah Keys. The ability of the spine, given the right condition, to heal itself of even the most recalcitrant problems is highlighted. Pointing to acupuncture’s ability to provide simple, safe and highly effective treatment for back pain, the author concludes by affirming that: ‘We have much to learn from western medicine, but western medicine has much to learn from us. This is what real integration is all about.’

Professor Charlotte Furth and Sue Cochrane
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 3

In this e-mail exchange with Sue Cochrane (TCM lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, Australia), the feminist historian Professor Furth (University of Southern California) helps pose some of the questions which, as practitioners, we should perhaps be considering when we treat women. She argues that in studying fuke/gynaecology, we need to know something about the history of Chinese medicine so that we are able to recognise how much of our therapeutic approach is based on ‘Chinese sexist values that have shaped understanding about healing.’

Neil R Gumenick in collaboration with J B Worsley
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 2

This article outlines the teachings of J R Worsley and clarifies the basic premise behind Classical Five-Element Acupuncture – the Causative Factor – which sets it apart from other systems of acupuncture. Accurate diagnosis and treatment of the Causative Factor is the key to Classical Five-Element Acupuncture, which recognises that the health of each unique individual’s body, mind and spirit must be taken into account to fully understand and treat the cause of illness. The article includes a critique of two recent variations of what J R Worsley taught, namely ‘constitutional’ five-element acupuncture, and the concept of the ‘guardian element’. It also exposes what it calls the myth of ‘elemental types’. The importance of the practitioner’s internal state and sensory awareness are highlighted and the use of moxibustion, and the concepts of tonification and sedation are discussed.

Sylvia Schroer
EJOM Vol. 5 No. 1

This article reports on a small study to investigate how patients explained the workings of acupuncture in the light of their own experience of treatment. 15 patients of different ages and from socio-economic backgrounds were interviewed and issues such as reasons for having treatment, the effects of treatment, and the importance of the therapeutic relationship were discussed to reveal the explanatory models which they used to describe their experiences. One of the findings of the study was that patients’ narratives shifted during the course of treatment from mechanical theories or physical explanations of illness towards theories of equilibrium, of mind-body harmony, and ethical theories, with treatment seen as a cleansing process. The study found that also found that patients themselves, through their experience of treatment, are moving away from a narrow definition of acupuncture as a treatment for the relief of pain or physical symptoms towards a much broader conceptualisation for its therapeutic potential in the context of their lives.

Zhongxian Wu
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 6

This article, structured in a question-and-answer style similar to that used in the Nei Jing, highlights the importance of daily qigong practice and the significance of the Three Treasures (san bao) – jing, qi and shen – and their refinement through qigong practice. Qigong as a therapeutic practice is discussed and its place at the very root of classical Chinese medicine is emphasised.

Richard Graham
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 6

This article gives an account of the author’s experience as a volunteer with Health Volunteers Overseas at the Shastin hospital in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. He spent 4 weeks working with the medical team in the hospital’s rehabilitation centre treating musculoskeletal conditions, neurological problems (especially those associated with stroke), physiological diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, congenital deformities and growth problems, and mental and emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. As a practitioner and teacher of Five Element acupuncture, the author’s pulse reading and treatment strategies intrigued his new colleagues, with concepts such as entry and exit blocks, Aggressive Energy and Possession being totally new to them. Most of the patients given Five Element acupuncture appeared to show improvement, with the most noticeable improvements coming from patients who had recently (within 6 months) suffered stroke.

Elisa Rossi
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 6

This article – drawn from the book Shen – Psychological Aspects of Chinese Medicine: the Classics & Contemporary Practice (currently in translation) – examines the various pathologies associated with emotional illness, paying particular attention to their links to fire. The concepts of constraint (yu) and stagnation (zhi) of qi, fire (huo), phlegm (tan), blood stasis (xueyu), empty fire and ‘restlessness and agitation’ (fanzao) are discussed with reference to classical Chinese texts by authorities such as Liu Wansu, Li Dongyuan and Zhu Danxi.

Stephen Birch
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 5

The article describes the system of Japanese traditional acupuncture - Keiraku Chiryo or meridian therapy - which is a form of acupuncture that has been practised for over 60 years. When it was introduced into Europe in the 1950s it had been virtually unknown outside of Japan. In the last 15 years it has established a place for itself in the US, Australasia and Europe and is being taught in postgraduate workshops and training programmes in these places. The author has studied with a number of leading meridian therapists since 1988, principally with instructors of the Toyohari or ‘east Asian needle therapy’ school of meridian therapy, in particular Kodo Fukushima, Toshio Yanagishita, Akihiro Takai and Shozo Takahashi.  In this article he explains the development, basic theories, diagnostic and treatment methods and patterns of meridian therapy.

Carl Williams and Diane Dutton
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 5

Conceptual metaphor theory has indicated that thought is mostly metaphorical and largely unconscious. This has implications for the translation of Chinese medical texts. Western thinking and western science has employed mechanistic metaphors to describe health, illness and the body, whereas oriental thinking and science is grounded in a quite different organic, naturalistic view of the world. If the translator has a subtle sense of the metaphors and images behind the literature to be translated, this will result in the best form of translation. Mistranslation and misunderstanding occur when inappropriate cultural metaphors are unconsciously employed.

Sylvia Schroer
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 5

This article, derived from a larger project initiated by the author and Dr. Vivienne Lo of UCL’s Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, focuses on contemporary practice in the European context in relation to the Chinese medical concept of xie (often translated as ‘evil’ but also implying the opposite of zheng or ‘upright’). The author suggests that modern TCM texts have played down or completed excluded the concept of xie, arguably through systematic attempts to scientise medicine and eliminate superstitious and feudal elements. In the study, 15 acupuncturists were interviewed, all but one of whom had some training in Worsley and/or Toyohari styles of practice – approaches which the researchers considered to be more relevant to the theme of xie. Two techniques taught by Worsley were found to be related to the xie concept: one taught as ‘internal/external devils’ and related to various states of emotional distress including ‘madness’ and depression; the other  emerged in a treatment known as ‘aggressive energy’, something external to be drained away. The author explores the practitioners’ approaches to xie and how they talk about it with patients. The study reveals how practitioners have adapted the moral concerns inherent in the concept of xie to the ecological debate that has increasingly taken centre stage since the 60s and 70s.

John Boyd
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 5

Ancient Chinese medical texts do not in themselves form a complete, workable system of psychology. They restrict themselves to a discussion of certain aspects of psychology in the context of diagnosis and treatment of the qi. The author suggests that a broader picture of the ancient Chinese understanding of human psychology can be derived from a study of ancient Chinese literature, particularly the philosophical classics. He discusses a number of mainly Confucian concepts in order to sketch in some of the ‘background’ ideas about the psychological nature of man.

Henry McGrath
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 4

This article argues that if we wish to treat at the level of the Soul, in other words metaphysically, both practitioner and patient must consciously be aware and involved in the process. We cannot just assume that our treatments are working on the level of the Soul because we are using herbs, or for that matter acupuncture. Similarly, ‘medical acupuncture’ proves that it is perfectly possible to use acupuncture on a purely physical level. Working at the level of the Soul is, of course, not for all patients, or even for all practitioners. Nor should it be. But many patients wish to go beyond merely getting rid of obvious signs of illness, and seek treatments that help them towards a fuller, richer life. For these people, true health is not defined merely as an absence of disease, but as a life of fulfilment, meaning and purpose. Chinese medicine has the potential to help them towards this fuller model of health.

Leon Southgate
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 4

This article gives an outline of an MSc dissertation submitted to the Northern College of Acupuncture and University of Wales in May 2002. The dissertation investigated common ground and differences between the theories of Chinese medicine and Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957). Reich was an Austrian psychoanalyst who studied biological energy functions. Many previously undocumented parallels and differences were found between the theories. A double blind, placebo-controlled experimental study (N=72) was also reported. The experimental study investigated whether effects are produced when a device reported to collect life-energy by Reich’s theory, is attached via a connecting wire to an acupuncture point. Reich describes this life-energy as Orgone. The concept of Orgone is similar in its definition to that of qi. The study found an objective effect by Orgone on the acupuncture process (P<0.03).

Peter Mole
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 4

JR Worsley’s death on June 2nd, 2003 has inspired several obituaries and tributes in the pages of EJOM and elsewhere. He was an inspiring teacher and a remarkable practitioner, but what did he teach? And how does the Five Element style he taught fit into Chinese medicine theory? This article attempts to give a brief outline of this approach for those who were not taught by him. This interpretation of his teaching is solely that of the author and should in no way be construed as any form of authorised synopsis of his teachings. In his article, the author affirms that JR Worsley’s ‘greatest gift to the acupuncture community was in his understanding and teaching of how to use acupuncture to treat people rather than illnesses.’

Stephen Birch, Peter Deadman and Felicity Moir
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 4

This is an extract of the keynote debate, which took place at the British Acupuncture Council’s Conference in October 2004, which was chaired by Mike O’Farrell, Chief Executive Officer Executive Officer of the BAcC. The three keynote speakers were Stephen Birch who has co-authored seven books on acupuncture and regularly contributes to the debate on the use of scientific methods in the integration of Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) in the West, Peter Deadman who is Publisher and Editor of the Journal of Chinese Medicine and co-authored the major acupuncture textbook a manual of acupuncture, and Felicity Moir who is a Course Leader and Principal Lecturer at the University of Westminster, School of Integrated Health. Questions or comments follow the introductory views of the keynote speakers, together with the responses of the speakers.
Read the whole article

Stephen Birch
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 2

The sanjiao, triple burner, is an elusive yet important and central concept in traditional East Asian Medical (TEAM) and acupuncture theory. A number of modern authors have attempted to explain what it is, conjuring up a wide range of different and often contradictory ideas about it. The historical texts have also evidenced a wide range of different ideas about the triple burner. Perhaps such differences are best explained by Nathan Sivin: 'the authorities of any medical tradition, if we read those of different times side by side, contradict each other in many ways. The synthesis that makes a classical system possible reconciles these differences'. This article attempts to support such a synthetic reconciliation (if it is at all possible with the triple burner) through a brief examination of many of the functions and concepts ascribed to the triple burner entity.

Volker Scheid
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 1

This is a reprint of the final chapter (Chapter 9) from Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis, recently published by Duke University Press. The book examines the development and transformation of Chinese medicine over recent decades based on extensive fieldwork in Beijing and Shanghai. References within the text are to other chapters in the book, which also discusses at length the key concepts such as 'infrastructure', 'plurality', and 'synthesis' employed in the present text.

Tomoyoshi Saito
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 1

This article attempts to investigate the origin of acupuncture. It appears that there is no clear evidence that insertion acupuncture existed before the 4th century BC, and acupuncture technique had shifted from the use of instruments in bloodletting to the use of insertion acupuncture in the period from the 2nd to the 4th century BC. Moreover, the foundation for acupuncture was laid before 4th century BC with a treatment that exorcised evil wind, evil demons, and departed persons with the use of a medical instrument (Yu) that was used to make an incision in the patient’s skin and drain blood.

Claude Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 1

An excerpt from Essence Spirit Blood and Qi, published by Monkey Press in 1999. The book is an edited transcript of a seminar by Claude Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée. This excerpt covers Jing Essence, and examines the character of Jing as well as the different aspects of Jing essence.
Read the whole article

Paul Hougham
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 1

This article explores the nature of intention/intent (yi) in acupuncture traditions with reference to some of the classical discussions of intention and in relation to contemporary developments of acupuncture in the West. Its central thesis is that the intention of the practitioner is the principal 'active agent' of acupuncture and is cultivated through the development of the practitioner's senses as embodied in their qi field, this awareness being 'sensory intent' (yi shi). The qi field, with its various shapes, patterns and rhythms (unique to the individual practitioner), is also proposed as the primary diagnostic instrument in acupuncture, operating through the mechanics of resonance (gan ying).

Sandra Hill and Peter Firebrace
EJOM Vol. 4 No. 1

An obituary of Claude Larre 1919-2001, describing how finally he knew the tree of Chinese medicine, and how he kept mindful of the Chinese-ness, the subtlety, the constant return to the root, to understand not just what they thought, but how they thought, not just what they wrote but how they wrote. Claude Larre's life and family are described, giving a fully-rounded description of this compassionate, generous-spirited man.

Richard Blackwell and Paul Hougham
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 5

The authors review aspects of what has been termed ‘reflective practice’ and go on to identify its themes within acupuncture traditions. They cite hua (transformation) as our point of origin for education, medicine and spiritual practice; they examine the nature of engaged awareness and the path of the heart; they explore the concept of reflection itself and its role at the core of Daoist alchemy; they develop the notion of acupuncture traditions forming a body of knowledge rather than mere intellectual knowing, and explore the challenges inherent in working from somatic knowledge. They conclude by revisiting reflective practice in the light of Scheid and Bensky’s work on yi - signification, or intent - (published in EJOM Vol. 2 No. 6; Winter 1998/99), and argue for a wide interpretation of reflective practice within acupuncture traditions that honours their roots and diversity and embraces bodywork and the cultivation of inner stillness as much as it does intellectual knowledge.
Read the whole article

Linda L Barnes
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 4

This article explores ways in which Chinese healing practices have undergone acculturation in the United States since the early 1970s. Reacting to what is perceived as biomedicine's focus on the physiological, those who describe themselves as favouring a holistic orientation often use the language of 'energy blockage' to explain illness, whether thought of as 'physical' 'emotional', or 'spiritual'. Acupuncture in particular has been appropriated as one modality with which to 'unblock' such conditions, leading to its being used by some practitioners in conjunction with more psychotherapeutic approaches which include valuing the verbalising of feelings. Some non-Chinese practitioners in the United States, returning to older Chinese texts to develop 'an American acupuncture' are reinserting diagnoses eliminated from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by the People's Republic of China as 'superstition'. The assumption has been that many such diagnostic categories refer to psychologial or spiritual conditions, and therefore may be useful in those American contexts which favour this orientation. Among these categories are those drawn from traditions of demonology in Chinese medicine. What was once a religious category in China turns psychological in the American setting. At the same time, many who use these terms have, since the late 1960s, increasingly conflated the psychological and the religious, the latter being reframed as 'spiritual'. Thus, this indigenisation of Chinese practices is a complex synthesis which can be described as simultaneously medical, psychotherapeutic, and religious.
Read the whole article

William Weinstein
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 4

This article examines the nature of the integration of 'body' and 'mind' in Seem's BodyMind Energetics, comparing cultural assumptions of Chinese and western medicines. The ideas of writers such as Groddeck, Deutch and Alexander are discussed. The Chinese categories of the three Heaters are analysed with, reference to psychosomatics, in an attempt to bridge cultural notions of body and mind.

Avi Magidoff
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 4

The author introduces his article: All medicine is philosophical in nature. Even modern medicine is based on our modern-day understanding of life as a biochemical, possibly mechanical, process. Chinese medicine is also based upon certain philosophical understanding cloaked in cultural terms appropriate to its time and geography. If we get caught in the language used we might use sight of the essence of the medicine: its view of the human process. When we look deeper, past the cultural differences, we can find the core statements and realise their relevance to our lives along.

Wainwright Churchill
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 3

This article reflects on themes presented in Volker Scheid and Dan Bensky’s article ‘Medicine as Signification’ (published in EJOM Vol. 2 No. 6) and the subsequent exchange between these authors and Mike Fitter (in EJOM Vol. 3 No. 2). Wainwright Churchill gives a critical assessment of the three possible approaches to research into Chinese medicine and other complementary and alternative medicines, and their different outcomes. Warning that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) faces effective colonialisation by biomedicine, he contrasts the 'meditative thought' which characterises TCM and which allows for holism and flexibility, with what he calls the ‘calculative thought’ which informs biomedicine and which is essentially reductionist and mechanistic. He argues that Mike Fitter’s proposal for a ‘world medicine’, while making a great deal of sense at the level of the individual, is an unrealisable and even a dangerous ideal in that it inadvertently extends an invitation to biomedicine to increase its dominion by appropriating the diverse medical systems of the world.

Kwee Swan Hoo
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 3

For Western MDs, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is quite an alien paradigm. Acceptance is subjected to strict scientific rule. For this western scientific rule the 'context of justification' of western medicine is totally commensurable with the 'context of discovery' of western science, but it is not commensurable with the 'context of discovery' of Chinese science, for example with acupuncture (qi-paradigm), acupuncture anaesthesia, the compass and architecture. The 'context of discovery' and the 'context of justification' are the two main contexts in scientific enterprise. Incommensurability in philosophy of science means: two bodies of discourse - whether theories, worldviews, paradigms or what have you - are incommensurable, if the assertions made in one body are unintelligible to those utilising the other. The incommensurability of the two medicines is especially at the conceptual level and not within the empirical level. So Chinese medicine should also undergo testing in the same way as evidence based medicine and try to develop its own scientific base, which will facilitate the integration of Chinese and western medicines. Consideration must be given to any gains or losses resulting from this process. The incommensurability diagnosis and the suggested integration method are discussed.

Marian Fixler and Oran Kivity
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 3

In modern day China it is apparent that there is one unifying and distinctive style of acupuncture, familiar to us all in the West as TCM. Japanese acupuncture is more pluralistic, and embraces many different styles and schools. In this article the authors give an overview of a number of Japanese acupuncture systems. The four systems reviewed are: Dr. Manaka’s Yin Yang Channel Balancing Therapy; Keiraku Chiryo Meridian therapy; Toyohari Meridan Therapy; and Kiiko Matsumoto’s Integrated Approach. The authors convey the characteristics of each system and contrast them within the wide spectrum of Japanese acupuncture styles. Becoming open to these contrasting systems, which have demonstrably powerful effects, can challenge our conceptions and add new meaning to the concept of 'maximum benefit from minimum intervention.'

Roisin Golding interviews Dr David St. George
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 2

During this interview David St George develops a variety of theories and ideas that transcend the limitations of the currently accepted scientific view, which is based on 'atomic materialism' and which sees the building blocks of existence but not the creative forces, including consciousness, which may line them up like a 3-dimensional holographic structure and determine their functioning. The following is a paraphrased quote:  An expanding force, originating in the big bang, is pulsating out of the sun, which is counteracted by gravity.  Similarly, out of the earth, out of plants, out of every atom and molecule, out of every living being, come these expanding and contracting forces, which are orchestrated by what is called life force, biorhythms, qi or prana.  David St George questions a scientific paradigm which is unwilling to discuss evidence that does not fit into the current belief system, reminiscent of the church elders refusing to look through Galileo’s telescope.

Avi Magidoff
EJOM Vol. 3 No. 1

Although the use of the qi jing ba mai is very widespread, not many people pay deep attention to the philosophical statements that they might represent. This article is an attempt to look at the qi jing ba mai as the basic scheme of human life. The ideas presented here are based on the work of Daoist priest Jeffrey Yuen and the author's own understanding and experience.

Volker Scheid and Dan Bensky
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 6

A question to which we pretend we know the answer (for it is crucial to everything we do), yet which to the best of the authors' knowledge has never been addressed in a satisfactory manner by any proponent of Chinese medicine in the West is the question of what Chinese medicine actually is. In this article the authors provide an idiosyncratic response which, While neither complete nor based on the kind of comprehensive investigation which would indeed be necessary, reflects their current thinking. They believe that this response can act as a stimulus for future research, reflection and debate.

Arnold Desser, Dr Kevin Baker, Nadia Ellis, Roger Newman Turner, and Dr Adrian White
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 6

Five practitioners from different backgrounds, including Western medical doctors, an osteopath, a physiotherapist and a university lecturer, express their personal views on this subject. The contributions range from the philosophical to the practical and include views on the effectiveness of acupuncture and its role in health care, and notes on the foibles and idiosyncracies observed in members of the acupuncturist 'species'. Transcribed from the presentations given at the 1998 BAcC Conference.

Ken Lloyd
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 5

Using a case history, the author shows how the patient's psyche can be helped with TCM; that even though the patient's psyche may be in a complicated state, it is in the understanding of yin, yang, qi, xue, jin ye, i.e. 'substance', that TCM operates most effectively.
Read the whole article

Phillip Beach
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 5

Continuing on from his previous two articles, Phillip Beach analyses the Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium, Sanjiao, Gall Bladder and Liver channels. He looks at how needling patterns affect the shape of disease, and at how acupuncture works on internal organs.

Peter Mole
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 5

In this article, Peter Mole discusses the internal causes of disease and explains how he feels that they have been marginalised in TCM, which tends to focus on the external causes of disease. The article also addresses how the practitioner/patient dialogue can affect patients' expectations and experience of acupuncture treatment.

Adrian Lyster
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 4

Pain relief is the most widely practised application of acupuncture. Research evidence suggests that acupuncture is credible but conceals a number of unanswered questions that are of relevance to practitioners of TCM. What is the nature of the relief provided, is it palliative or therapeutic and is acupuncture a clinical match to different pain conditions? What method of acupuncture is used in research trials and does it correspond with clinical practice? What are the different descriptive and explanatory models for chronic pain? This article critically reviews the current models and examines some of the implications for both our understanding of pain and our application of acupuncture.

Philip Beach
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 4

This is the second paper on the issues of 'what is the meridian system encoding?' and 'how does needling a distal point affect the visceral and neural life of an organism?' It also discusses the significance of the 12 'regular' and  8 'extraordinary' channels, internally and externally related channels, the six channel axes and so on. The author's first paper on this subject was published in EJOM Vol. 2 No. 3.

Philip Beach
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 3

A ‘critter’ is used as a simple biological form to model the movements induced by needling. Lines can be seen that link the sensory organs to the caudal pole of the critter; points along those lines induce similar movements. If the critter is restrained in its movement response is felt internally. A new description of muscle function is presented that is based on the primary vertebrate axes. ‘Muscle chains’ are delineated and envisioned as contractile rivers that have long evolutionary and developmental co-histories with the primary facial sense organs. Embryologically, the Wolffian ectodermal ridge integrates the sensory platform, hands, feet and genitals visa line that is intermediately placed between the dorsal (somatic) and ventral (visceral) aspects of the embryo. The limb buds are located on this ridge so therefore act on and are acted upon by both the dorsal and ventral aspects of our being. This ridge also overlies the kidney precursors, an organ that develops from the same embryological layer as the muscles and bones. It is hypothesised that distal points act on the visceral function of the organism by affecting the shape of the body wall via a long lever effect. With dis-ease the organism gets ‘out of shape’; needling in patterns moves the organism back towards better shape and hence function.

Hla Myat Saw
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 2

Phuoc Huynh describes his training in oriental medicine with his teacher, the Vietnamese master Dr Ba Van Nguyen, who specialised in the Shan Han Lun and the Jin Kui Yao Lue.

Francesca Diebschlag
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 2

Diebschlag outlines the main features of the sciences of complexity, those sciences which deal with self-organising systems such as general systems theory and chaos theory and how they might inform what occurs in the therapeutic encounter.

Xiang Yi and Weng Encong
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 1

The authors, employing the conventional theory of acupuncture and the fundamentals of modern electronic technology, based upon the biological piezoelectric effect of the human body, undertake research to explore the mechanism of acupuncture treatment. Translated by Xy Zhang.

Ted Davis
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 1

The author introduces a model to unite the knowledge and perceptions of traditional Chinese medicine with those of Western medical science in a single unifying framework. This area is fraught with diffculties, not the least of which are the completely different conceptual frameworks and languages which attend these paradigms. It is no surprise that such integration has largely defied the efforts of decades past. The model encompasses the jing luo, zang fu, wu xing, pulse and tongue diagnosis, and the micro systems of acupuncture (hand, face, ear, scalp acupuncture). It is built upon a matrix consisting of an integrated notion of Depth, and a three-tiered conceptual structure which creates a homeostatic hierarchy. It is offered to the profession as a mechanism for initiating debate on the matter.

Chris Low
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 1

Healing within the patient-practitioner relationship is important in its own right and can be seen to be dependent on three things - the treatment itself, the patient and the practitioner. Meaning, evaluation and appraisal however, pose difficulties using the conventional medical model. In Chinese medicine it is the mediation of complementary opposites via the agency of qi which accounts for the resolution of conflict and restoration to wholeness. Using chaos theory, which allows for the complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity of subtle energy, the properties of qi can be modelled and mapped out on a computer screen. The latter can be perceived as an aesthetic model of a mediating function, with meaning on several different levels, as well as a research tool with potentially far-reaching applications in the holistic investigative field.

Mary Garvey
EJOM Vol. 2 No. 1

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers the late 20th century a true complement or alternative to the medical practices of its Western counterpart. Reasons explaining the success of TCM in the modern Western setting are offered and discussed. Apart from its on-going record of positive clinical outcomes, Chinese medicine also offers a unique perspective on life, health and the practice of medicine. Not only is this perspective in marked contrast to the methodologies arising from scientific materialism, but it is readily grasped and understood by Westerners. Part of the Western enchantment with Chinese medicine and part of its success is that some of its foundational philosophies actually resonate with recent scientific theoretical developments. The changing Western paradigm is explored and compared to Chinese medicine's conceptual traditions.

Professor Liu Jingyuan
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 6

Professor Liu Jingyuan reviews the analysis of Ye Tianshi, a famous doctor of the Ching dynasty, who took epidemic febrile diseases and divided them into four stages, explicating a general progression of exterior to interior. Herbal formulae are given for turning back evil qi at the levels of wei, qi, ying and blood. Translated by Brenda Hood.

Geoff Wadlow
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 5

Geoff Wadlow, founding director of the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, responds to an article in the previous edition (EJOM, Vol 1, No 4), called 'Home and Away' by Volker Scheid, who described his impressions during a year studying in Beijing. Mr Wadlow talks about his own visit to China and makes the point that 'diversity flows out of a common heritage...the spirit of which we can only glimpse at and fleetingly experience because we are not Chinese, born and bred in China.'

Selah Chamberlain
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 4

The theoretical basis of the two principal styles of English acupuncture is related to their common source in the Yi Jing. What separates them and what are the disputes between them?

Professor Choi Seung-Hoon
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 4

Korean oriental medicine is a natural medical science with theory and knowledge derived from an experience unique to Korean traditional living culture. It comprises treatment by acupuncture and herbal medicine based on orthodox medical theories.

Judith Farquhar
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 4

Medicine in China is an exemplar of action that is informed by experience. Experience is important at the level of the archive - 'a two thousand year struggle against disease' - and at the level of individual doctors and their life in medicine. The ability to differentiate symptoms and to plan treatment comes above all from personal and collective experience. The article is reprinted from the author's book Knowing Practice (1993) with permission of the publishers Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Volker Scheid
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 4

As a medical anthropologist in China, the author paints a picture of Chinese medicine not necessarily visible from within the international training centres. He explores the changing nature of acupuncture in contemporary China and its relationship to western medical practice in that country. He then compares it with how Chinese medicine is presented in the west, often as a search for a systematic approach. His challenge to attempted integration calls for serious reflection.

Sandra Hill
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 3

Medical tests show no positive results. Patients are not believed. It is all in the mind. Acupuncture procedures are slow but effective. A learning process for practitioners and patients alike.

Peter Mole
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 3

Three case histories in which treatment was solely with acupuncture using an integration of different styles focussed on the Triple Burner meridian.

Giovanni Maciocia
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 3

A chapter from the author's book The Practice of Chinese Medicine deals with early onset asthma especially in children and young adults. The connections and differences between Xiao-Chuan (wheezing-breathlessness) and allergic asthma follow pathology and aetiology of allergic asthma in western medicine. The chapter concludes with a new theory of allergic asthma in Chinese medicine.

Elinor Freilich
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 2

An article inspired by the 16th Mystics' and Scientists' Conference, focusing on ideas about research. The article contains much reference to the contributions of Larry Dossey.

Volker Scheid
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 2

The author explains why he believes that research in Chinese medicine, in the narrow sense of 'research' as it is defined in the orthodox medical establishment, is a process which is likely to lead to Chinese medicine's being subsumed within the orthodox medical framework. He analyses what may happen when one cultural tradition encounters another, and proposes as his ideal for the Western and Chinese medical traditions an encounter where both traditions meet to forge something completely new and different. To facilitate this process, he proposes a model of research more akin to the broader and more deeply questioning research in the social sciences than to the narrower hypothesis testing of the medical establishment.

Richard James
EJOM Vol. 1 No. 1

Discussion of the nature of meridians is followed by the results of the author's research into the coincidence of various linear rashes in conditions such as eczema and psoriasis and the pathways of the channels.