Understanding Psychospiritual Disorders
A Trilogy of Taoist Medicine and Psychology
Summer 2007 (June 30, July 7, August 4)
$140 per part or $375 for 18-hour trilogy
Taught by Lok Kwan Cheng
Each part offers 6 NCBTMB CEs or 6 NCCAOM PDAs
and counts for 6 hours Elective Credit for current students
"All of acupuncture's laws first must be rooted in the spirit."
-Ling Shu/Spiritual Pivot, chapter 8
Han dynasty 206 B.C.E. - 220 C.E.
Chinese medicine is a spirit-based medicine. This implies that the psycho-spiritual is the root of all matters of health and disease. Hence the spirit is also the source of healing.
This 3-part seminar/workshop is an introduction to the Oriental equivalent of what we call psychology and psychiatry in the West with one major difference: here cosmology, spiritualism and manifestations of health and disease embody each other. To understand a disease we have to understand how it is integrated in the patient’s being and how it is sustained by forces that are ancestral, karmic, even astrological.
These seminars address both the professional and the layperson. Their purpose is not only theoretical but also practical. They provide a conceptual framework for understanding psycho-spiritual pathologies and offer methods for their treatment. There will be hands-on practice of treatment procedures. Practitioners of shiatsu or other kinds of meridian-based bodywork can readily adapt them to their practice. Just as importantly, these workshops introduce the layperson to a humanistic vision of health and disease, one that takes into account the totality of the beginning and becoming of the phenomenon we call 'life'.
Ritualistic Cleansing with Shiatsu
Saturday, June 30, 9am-4pm
6 CEs, 6 PDAs
Register now!
Based on the teachings of the great Jin dynasty (1115 – 1234 CE) physician Ma Dan-yang as transmitted by contemporary Daoist master and educator Jeffrey Yuen, this is a step-by-step ritualistic procedure that harvests, strengthens and cleanses the qi and prepares it for physical and spiritual renewal. It can be performed to promote spiritual progress or to treat obstinate diseases when other methods have failed. It can also be embedded in a treatment to enrich the ground for healing.
The student will learn to perform a ritual for spiritual cleansing with shiatsu. She will gain a perspective of Daoist cosmology that is central for understanding Oriental medicine. She will learn the spiritual significance of 5-Element and 6-Channel theories and the use of a group of powerful acupoints. She will also understand the deeper meanings of working in the prone, supine and side positions.
All practitioners of meridian-based bodywork can easily adapt this cleansing procedure into their work. For non-practitioners, this is an opportunity to receive the cleansing and learn about the fascinating integration of spiritualism, philosophy and medicine in the East.
The Five Minds: Understanding and Treating Psycho-Spiritual Disorders
Saturday, July 7, 9:00am-4:00pm
6 CEs, 6 PDAs
Register now!
Chinese medicine is a spirit-based medicine. This seminar provides the vocabulary and framework for understanding and treating psycho-spiritual pathologies with meridian-based bodywork.
First, we will examine hun, po, yi, zhi, and shen, the spiritual aspects of the five phases/organs. We will look at their psycho-spiritual-emotional manifestations and the dynamics of their integration both in health and disease. Then we will consider a conceptual model for understanding the state of 'being' of a person that takes into account not only physical and psychological factors but genetic, karmic and astrological etiologies.
The second part of this seminar will present important acupoints that access these spiritual aspects and promote their harmony and integration. We will venture into some depth about their functions and rationales for their use. We will show how this knowledge can be applied in meridian-based therapeutic bodywork.
The Three Treasures
Saturday, August 4, 9:00am-4:00pm
6 CEs, 6 PDAs
Register now!
The Three Treasures of Heaven, Earth and Human represent the Daoist conception of the origin of life and its relationship to the divine and the unknown. As such, it lies at the core of Oriental medicine.
In retelling this story, we will consider the following:
- The union of heaven & earth, of fire and water, of heart & kidney, of spirit & essence
- The dynamics of qi flow that accompany incarnation
- The psychological and spiritual pathologies that arise as lack of communication between heart & kidney
- Meridians & acupoints for healing
- The application of this information in meridian bodywork
The student will learn the basics of what is essentially psychiatry in Chinese medicine.
To Register:
- If you are not ready to pay, you can still add your name to the class list.
- To pay by phone, call 847-864-1130
- To pay online, click the “Buy Now” button below. You will be charged the full price for the course. If your payment is received by the early registration date you will be issued a $50 rebate. By prepaying you agree to our registration policies.
