A Messy Pulse

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Yael

I started studying the Stems and Branches this year.
I’ve been waiting to study S&B for 6 years now, and am very excited to finally dive into the world of deep energies, stems, branches and unlike Qi.
I even find the hexagrams to be quite interesting!
This course of course makes all that I heard from Prof. Heiner Fruehauf more sense.
It’s not that Heiner wasn’t clear enough. It’s all me- I didn’t know enough of the basics to fully understand him.
But I’m happy to say- I’m catching up.

Taking the pulse is like riding a bike
On class, last Tuesday, we were talking about the pulse.
It’s not boring, but the amount of information that pulse classes give you can really stagnate your brain.
I always felt some what “stuffed” after each pulse class during my 4 years in school, mainly because the teachers always use many words to convey a certain quality of the pulse.
I don’t blame them of course, it’s quite difficult to teach anything that has to do with the pulse.

I haven’t felt pulses in about 2 years.
It’s been a bit more than 2 years since I stopped treating people, except for the S.O.S treatments on my family and friends. I sometimes feel my husband’s pulse, or my own, but that’s it. So I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about studying about the pulse and feeling pulses- I am so rusty!
Turns out, at least for me, that taking the pulse is like riding a bike.
Quite quickly it all came back to me- the positions, different qualities on different positions… I was quite impressed by the fact that taking the pulse felt quite natural to me.
Granted I am a bit rusty, but I remembered a lot more than I thought.

A messy pulse
We quickly paired up, and after a long monologue by our teacher, we started to feel each other’s pulse.
One of the pulses I felt was of a man I didn’t really know. This was probably the first time we talked to each other.
We had a few words, some how we talked about the weather, and he said that his Liver is going crazy during the summer. I told him I’m quite happy to be meeting him in the winter, he nodded, and I took the pulse.

The eyes
Before I go on to write about the pulse, I will stop and say a word about his eyes:
My fellow student has blue eyes, with a stern expression. Something that shouts out “WOOD!!!”
The second course I’m taking this year is all about the 5 Elements and the Shen. This is a course that my mentor is giving, and it is about life and Chinese Medicine.
This course makes my soul want to sing and hug everyone I see.
It seems that what we were talking about in just 4 meetings, also about the Wood element, really sunk in.

… Back to the pulse
Remembering the Wood from his eyes, I took this man’s pulse.
Things started out pretty usual, you know, Yang deficiency, Kidney Xu… but then something strange happened- the pulse started to feel kind of messy.
I don’t quite know how to describe it, but it just felt like it’s there and then it’s not, stronger on the Yang and then stronger on the Yin…

I looked at him and I asked him “are you a messy guy?”
He looked at me, not quite sure what to say, and then he said “well, if you’ll ask my wife she’ll say yes”.
One of his friends heard my question and started laughing, saying “yes, this is one messy guy you’re looking at”.
The “messy pulse” man laughed.

After thoughts
I was very surprised by this class, mainly because I found that pulse diagnosis really is a bit like riding a bike.
Granted you lose the ability to distinguish various qualities of the pulse, but the basic stays firm. And the more you practice, the better you can master this art.
Just like playing music.
I was also very pleased to see my two courses combine so nicely together.
It brings me back to Heiner’s words, about Stems and Branches, 5 Elements and TCM- they are not separate methods. They are all one beautiful thing called Chinese Medicine.

Over to you
What are your thoughts about pulse? What can you and can’t you feel through this art?
How long did it take you to master it?
Please leave your comments, I’d would love to read your thoughts.