Chinese med in the west (herbs and Formulas)

[Guest guest]

I would start the course, with normal introduction of a herbs and formulas, and

then would start teaching for example:

1 - The 6 herbs of Lui Wei Di Huang Wan, and their hierarchy

2 - Then invite the srtudents to discover themselves the use of the formulas

(which is what I understood Sara Meyer was doing)

3 - And finally teach them the formula

 

And then move on to another formula

 

I should also mention that here in Mexico there are absolutely no books on

chinese herbs and formulas in spanish, I only got a " materia medica china "

from Beijing (very superficial for herbs, and no formulas).

 

I hacve though TCM for many years, but this is the first time for herbs and

formulas, so any tip or advise is very welcome

 

 

Doug, Thanks for the tip of redondant pages

 

Gaal

wrote: I

assume you meant (first the formulas and then the herbs) .

 

Seperately, I want to remind people to not put whole long posts made

up of the past posts... those who get a digest end up with pages of

redundant material.

thanks,

doug

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

I prefer teaching single herbs from the formula. I remember back in the

early 1970's Subhuti Dharmananda was the first to teach Chinese herbal

medicine that way. Then it was a brilliant innovation, eventually applauded

by Chinese pundits. He'd start with a root formula like cinnamon combination

and show the various permutations of it and teach the herbs as he moved

along.

 

_____

 

 

On Behalf Of Gaal Cohen

Friday, April 06, 2007 7:26 AM

 

Re: Re: Chinese med in the west (herbs and Formulas)

 

 

 

I would start the course, with normal introduction of a herbs and formulas,

and then would start teaching for example:

1 - The 6 herbs of Lui Wei Di Huang Wan, and their hierarchy

2 - Then invite the srtudents to discover themselves the use of the formulas

(which is what I understood Sara Meyer was doing)

3 - And finally teach them the formula

 

And then move on to another formula

 

I should also mention that here in Mexico there are absolutely no books on

chinese herbs and formulas in spanish, I only got a " materia medica china "

from Beijing (very superficial for herbs, and no formulas).

 

I hacve though TCM for many years, but this is the first time for herbs and

formulas, so any tip or advise is very welcome

 

Doug, Thanks for the tip of redondant pages

 

Gaal

<HYPERLINK " taiqi%40taiqi.com " taiqi (AT) taiqi (DOT) -com>

wrote: I assume you meant (first the formulas and then the herbs) .

 

Seperately, I want to remind people to not put whole long posts made

up of the past posts... those who get a digest end up with pages of

redundant material.

thanks,

doug

 

---

 

---

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with Mail for Mobile. Get started.

 

 

[Guest guest]

I think the trick with teaching both herbs and formulas is developing some

familiarity with the scope of what is being done with them before charging into

the material. Better and more comprehensive examination of treatment principles

and actions and effects of herbal formulas would be very useful for most of the

students that I grade exams for. One problem is that there is even less

standardization of language in regard to treatment principles and actions and

effects than the rest of CM. The standard text, F & S, has a wide variety of

somewhat nonsensical or at least non specific treatment strategies in some

formulas (given the diversity of sources it is understandable) that students are

asked to memorize (at least they are at NESA). The end result is often some

confusion in regard to what they are trying to do and why it will work or not

work. This is somewhat compounded by the need to somewhat arbitrarily categorize

herbs and formulas by function; frequently creating great estrangements between

very similar substances or formulas. Those similarities, in an ideal world,

could be used to enhance understanding of the nature and relationship of the

substances and formulas in question. I think the introduction of a much more

rigorous grounding in TCM physiology and pathology would also help, as in many

cases people are only beginning to integrate physiology and pathology

information when they start getting herbs thrown on top of it. Without that

strong understanding of pathology they have no " pegs " to hang their new herbal

information on and the information exists as an isolated piece, more easily

forgotten.

 

Additionally, there are a number of what I call " kernel formulas " (formulas that

are representative of a class, compact, and generally work on a single

pattern/issue) that should be introduced first, as they crop up over and over in

various guises and make nice blocks of functional herb groupings. My first

single herb teacher pushed a lot of duiyao on us pretty early, and I'm now

beginning to understand why it is considered a more " advanced " topic, and why

duiyao might be worth considering last in some ways. I say that because it is

really quite nuanced, and it differentiates things on a much more subtle level,

and frankly, I think it was lost on us because we were just assimilating too

much generalized, broader information at the time.

 

Par Scott, MAOM, Lic Ac

19 Belmont St

Cambridge MA 02138

617 499 2957

 

 

-

Gaal Cohen

Friday, April 06, 2007 10:25 AM

Re: Re: Chinese med in the west (herbs and Formulas)

 

 

I would start the course, with normal introduction of a herbs and formulas,

and then would start teaching for example:

1 - The 6 herbs of Lui Wei Di Huang Wan, and their hierarchy

2 - Then invite the srtudents to discover themselves the use of the formulas

(which is what I understood Sara Meyer was doing)

3 - And finally teach them the formula

 

And then move on to another formula

 

I should also mention that here in Mexico there are absolutely no books on

chinese herbs and formulas in spanish, I only got a " materia medica china " from

Beijing (very superficial for herbs, and no formulas).

 

I hacve though TCM for many years, but this is the first time for herbs and

formulas, so any tip or advise is very welcome

 

Doug, Thanks for the tip of redondant pages

 

Gaal

wrote: I assume you meant (first the

formulas and then the herbs) .

 

Seperately, I want to remind people to not put whole long posts made

up of the past posts... those who get a digest end up with pages of

redundant material.

thanks,

doug

 

---

 

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