herbs and the pulses

[Guest guest]

Todd:

 

The pulses in herbal medicine could be more important if you simply

incorporated them in your practice more often. If you observe the

pulses (even from a TCM perspective like you described) you should be

able to see the changes with herbs the way you do in needling.

 

If you have ever watched the pulses when putting in several needles

to check your treatment strategy, you can do so after giving your

client a dose of a herbal formula. Usually you can see effects in

several minutes to 20 minutes.

 

In my office, my acupuncture is very specific (for example

incorporating qi gong techniques with needling) but due to time

constraints I like to use classical formulas or make up formulas for

general conditions. By taking the herbal formula myself or giving it

to my assistant, I can observe how the formula changes the pulse. The

important aspects are to see the balance before the formula is given,

know how the formula should work (what depths, what meridians, what

functions), and then observe the difference in the pulse after taking

it.

 

As an experiment, you can examine someone's pulse who you are

familiar with before having them take their herbal formula.

 

To develop sensivity for herbal qi movement, have someone examine

your pulses before you take your usual perscription (if you take one)

and then try to follow their observations in your own pulse

(observing your own pulse is often tricky due to " feedback " ) and in

the sensations of your body. In this way, you can coordinate pulses,

qi movement, and other internal aspects (meridian induction,

emotions, vision and hearing acuity, body temperature, etc.) with the

formula. The knowledge in this system of medicine is physical and

observable.

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

, herb-t@s...> wrote:

> I've just cursorily scanned a few postings on the pulse, so this is

not

> a specific response, but some general thoughts. First, let me be

> clear. I don't speak with any authority on this subject. It is

hardly

> an area of expertise for me. So anything I 've said (or will say)

on

> this subject should not carry any particular weight, in my opinion.

>

> It is my observation, however, that the herbal texts I am familiar

with

> place little or no emphasis on nan jing style 12 position pulse

dx. The

> majority of the time, pulse is described in general terms like wiry,

> deep or slippery, without regard to position in terms of cun , guan

and

> chi positions. This is true whether we are talking about classics

like

> zhu dan xi, basics like Fundamentals of CM or advanced internal

> medicine, like Philippe sionneau's Tx of Dz in TCM. In some cases,

> reference is made to position, but this is fairly circumscribed.

The

> vast majority of instances I found were for three qualities:

>

> 1. slippery in the spleen position

>

> 2. wiry in the liver position

>

> 3. weak in the kidney position

>

> Clinical use of the nanjing positions for SI, PC, TB, LI, BL in

herbal

> texts is even rarer and never mainstream, as far as I can tell.

While

> these very systematized ideas from acupuncture theory were toyed

with

> during the jin-yuan, according to Unschuld, they ultimately never

took

> hold among most herbalists. Li shi zhen certainly discussed cun,

guan

> and chi in every chapter of his pulse classic, but it is worth

noting

> that this work was a later attempt to systematize all prior

knowledge

> and perhaps did not necessarily reflect actual practice through

much of

> Chinese history.

>

> As to the 28 general pulses of Li shi zhen, I can only observe that

most

> of the clinically meaningful information seems to be connected to

> combinations of fairly straightforward qualities, such as

> floating/sinking, slippery/choppy, xu/shi, fast/slow and wiry/tight.

> this would lend support to Flaws contention that the main clinical

skill

> in pulse dx for an herbalist is memorizing these combinations and

> relationships.

>

> Pragmatically, I'm not sure what role any additional nuancing in

pulse

> dx would play in my selection of herbs. However, the relationship

> between nanjing style pulsetaking and acumoxatherapy is certainly a

> different story altogether, one I can't really comment upon at all.

>