Chinese Medicine Notes

A Virtual Inspiration in Chinese Medicine

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Yael

You know how it is:
You study something you love, get all wrapped up about it and with it, and every now and then you meet people who inspire you in different ways.

Inspiration found it’s way to grace me in a various ways lately.
During my studies, which has been going on for almost 10 years now, I met people who made me think, create new things, learn more and ultimately made me richer.
I have one teacher who has been and still is a great source of inspiration.
But there are also others.

a Virutal inspiration in Chinese Medicine
Today I want to talk about a Eric Grey, from Deepest Health.
I never met Eric, and our friendship has been purely on the virtual platform.
I found his blog while looking for new websites about Chinese Medicine and was overwhelmed by both the eloquent writing and the material which Eric writes about.
All the things that come from his blog inspired me to start my own blog in English, and it’s been a year now that I have been using Deepest Health as a source of information in my studies.

These are good enough reasons for me to send Eric some questions for him to answer.
One can look at it as an interview with a colleague, but I like to look at it as a chat with a friend.

Biology? Philosophy? Chinese Medicine? How did this combination happened? How did it start? Take me through the process please.
Eric Grey (E.G): I can’t say that there’s a clear story there. Any attempt to create one would be grasping at straws. I guess I just have diverse interests! I started out in the sciences, with a desire to go into veterinary medicine. This morphed to a passion for basic sciences, particularly evolutionary biology and molecular genetics. I worked in a microbiology lab for a while and started to investigate careers. At the same time, I was in a class about a place in the West where a big environmental disaster had taken place because of mining (the Silver Valley in Idaho, USA, a EPA Superfund site) which really opened my mind to different ways of looking at a problem. This coincided with my budding interest in Philosophy. I decided to take some Philosophy classes. This started a lifelong love of study in the subject. I even began a PhD program, but ended up taking a break instead. During this break, I came upon some literature for the Classical Chinese Medicine program at NCNM (in Portland, OR) and found that it was a melding of science and philosophy with the goal of helping people and the planet… all of my loves in one place! The rest is … history.

How did you meet up with Chinese Medicine?
E.G: I think the above question brushes on this. But I should admit that there was a certain amount of randomness involved. I actually avoided Asian philosophy classes like the plague in my undergrad and first graduate degrees! During my break from school, I was helping my partner look into careers – she was interested in investigating the healing arts. With an Internet search, I found NCNM and sent away for information for her. By the time that information reached our house, she had already decided to go to another school – for massage therapy. I casually looked through it and found out how well it matched my own interests and decided to go to a student for a day program at the college. That’s where I first met Heiner. From the first time I heard him speak, I knew I would study Chinese medicine for the rest of my life. No exaggeration.

What about Chinese Medicine made you decide that this is the profession for you? Did you always have the attraction to heal others?
E.G: I suppose I’ve always had a healing spirit. As a kid and into college this mostly manifested with respect to animals. I was one of those kids always “rescuing” baby birds and bringing home strays. I’ve also always had a keen interest in the human condition and always felt for people who are suffering. Because of my socio-economic upbringing, I don’t think “being a doctor” was part of my array of options – too upper class for me. I didn’t even know I could get into college! But once I started college, it seemed that anything was possible. That’s when I began to think of myself as a person who could go into medicine in some way.

As a practitioner who also started to connect between people via the internet (been doing this for the past 4 years in Israel), I’m interested to hear what made you decide to blog about your studies, thoughts and so on. Many of the things we do are similar, and I’m interested to know what drove you to put it on-line.
E.G: I’ve been online forever. I started out online with Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) which, if you don’t know, were basically forums, message boards and sometimes games hosted on a computer or two with phone lines plugged in. Folks would call in (dial-up), reply to messages, mess with their profiles, play games, etc… The bigger ones had several lines and you could have real chats with people. Anyway – I remember when the Internet was born, I remember seeing the first “Internet Portal” and being really afraid of it!!! Haha!

As the technology grew and changed, I grew and changed with it. I’ve always seen the great power of the Internet. Although there’s plenty of bad about it (pornography, hate, time wasting, information overload) I think the ultimate tendency is for it to be a force for good. The highest good I can imagine is spreading the Good Word: that there is a plurality in the world of medicine. Western science does not have a monopoly on medical thinking and practice! When I started school at NCNM, I knew I would want to share what I was learning with others and connect with people all over the world studying the same thing.

I can not avoid the fact that you study with Heiner Fruehauf, as he turned out to be quite inspiring as far as I’m concerned. Heiner graced us with his presence on March 2008, and many people in Israel were deeply inspired by him. Could you tell us more about the experience of having him as part of your teacher’s staff?
E.G: I can’t imagine my learning Chinese medicine without Heiner. I think my story above attests to that. Heiner helped me to decolonize my mind from the way I had been taught to look at the world while simultaneously inspiring me to reexamine all of the ways of thinking I had previously rejected. He has been an incredible presence in my life on a variety of levels, all without really meaning to be.
It’s a combination of his experience, his knowledge as a sinologist and clinician of Chinese medicine, his questing and seeking spirit and the deep root of compassion that he constantly grows from.

Obviously you are very drawn to Chinese herbs. Is that a direct influence of Heiner, or was it something that was there all along?
E.G: It’s probably just my nature – I’ve been needle phobic my whole life and have always had a green thumb. I love plants of all kinds. I’ve since become fine with needles and even really enjoy acupuncture (giving and receiving) but that bias probably steered me in an herbal direction from the beginning. Heiner definitely influenced me further, since that is his passion between the two main CM modalities. Ultimately, though, it was my mentor Arnaud Versluys that helped me to see the beauty and elegance of Chinese herbal formula science. It is his passion and vision that has really propelled me to become obsessed with herbs and formulas. They share some teachers, so the two visions interpenetrate while they help me keep diversified and balanced at the same time.

While I deeply respect the needles and try to deepen my understanding of them at every turn, herbs just speak to me on a level that nothing else ever has. I really find myself not only intellectually drawn to the science of formulas, but also deeply attracted to the herbs as plants, as co-inhabitants of this planet, as biological organisms seeking to find balance. I love that when someone takes herbs at home, it’s like they’re getting an internal acupuncture treatment every day they take them. In this way, they are able to take their healing into their own hands in a very tangible and multi-sensorial way.

How is it to study Chinese Medicine in Portland? As someone who studied in Israel, I always think that things are different when it comes to the rest of the world. Can you draw us a picture? You study, and then what happens? Is it easy to find work in the USA in Chinese Medicine? Do you have to work in various jobs to have enough money at the end of the month?
E.G: Most people go into private practice, either by themselves or with a small group of practitioners. In Portland, there are lots and lots of Chinese medicine practitioners, but graduates still seem to be doing well. Some of us are lucky enough to find a residency where we work for a year or more for a reduced rate – but these are really few and far between. It can be tough for a practitioner who doesn’t think about the business aspects early on – competition can be fierce. On the other hand, there are plenty of areas of the US where we can be licensed to practice but where there aren’t many folks practicing. These areas generally take a little work on the education side to get a good patient base, but can be VERY viable for a committed and patient practitioner. I think most people are able to make a reasonable living if they have a business plan, are tenacious, and not afraid to self-promote.

Lately you have been urging other practitioners to have their own blogs and write in them on a regular basis. What is it that you find so important about blogging for practitioners? I mean, I’m sure people think “Eric does a great job at it, I don’t need to have a go too”