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[Guest guest]

Hello All,

Very interesting dicussion about the practice of Acupuncture and the

dispensing/prescribing of

herbal medicines. Currently I am completing my Doctorate in Ayurvedic Medicine,

which has

it's own pharmacopia of herbs and formulae. A great deal of my participation in

the Ayurvedic

program has left me longing for my TCM education, and many things have been a

source of

relief to be branching out.

 

I agree with , one of my most esteemed teachers, regarding the

teaching of TCM here

in the West. Z'ev is correct in saying that there are certain complex trains of

thought that are

uniquely TCM that many Western minds are not grasping. Perhaps this stems from

the programs being too

abbreviated, perhaps it is the completely different cultural roots, I don't

know. Unfortunately, many students are

concerned with covering all bases, acupuncture, herbs and whatever other

techniques that may

set them apart in order to make a living and be " successful " in their chosen

career. It is quite

contrary to the Eastern mentality.

It would be very important to deepen our knowledge of EITHER acupuncture

or herbs, since our educations require we learn so much superfluous information

to conform to state

standards, that we lose a lot of deeper knowledge unless we seek it AFTER

graduation.

So, I whole-heartedly agree that students should minimally have a focus on

either herbs

or acupunture. There is immense knowledge and learning that goes into each of

them separately

let alone together!!!

When I was in China, that is precisely how most doctors practiced. There were

the herbal docs (who

often did do some acupuncture, but were not " known " for that) and there were the

docs that

practiced the acupuncture and hands-on methods. Tui na was also practiced

separately.

 

Another person here at CHA had mentioned that the laws are part of the problem,

which I also

agree with. Our herbal medicines are easy to come by, and every Whole Foods or

health food store

has people there telling comsumers what to ingest in the name of health. This is

CRAZY!!!

The government takes Ma huang and typtophan off the shelves and out of our

practices when they should not have

been so freely available to the public to begin with... We face too many people

with no or too

little training " practicing " herbal MEDICINE!!!! In the Ayurvedic community, we

are facing huge

issues as well... there is no formal " license " so we have enormous issues

regarding people practicing

this form of medicine without any training... Not that we need over-regulation,

but APPROPRIATE

regulation is certainly needed.

 

I suppose I am not chiming in anything new. My hats off to practitioners and

brilliant professors like

who light the way with their knowledge... Unfortunately, schools

are also BUSINESSES so

there is not enough of a weeding out process in who really is there for the

correct motivation. I, for one,

am grateful for the few excellent teachers I had that encouraged me to continue

learning, and

to arrive at the Doctoral level in the hope of improving the field as well as

peoples' health. Thanks for

all of your input... and for the very interesting discussion.

 

Sincerely,

Stephanie Schneider LAc, MTOM, AyD (in process)