Archive for the Personal notes Category
Posted on December 29, 2008 by Yael
I’m bouncing back into action after being sick for a week or so.
As it is the end of 2008, it is only right to look back and see what on earth I’ve been upto here on CMNotes!
Turns out, I have some good stuff:
Dr. Leon Hammer is one name that keeps coming up here, as it did since my second year or so of school.
I was lucky enough to have a number of chats with Dr. Hammer over e-mails, and one of the posts I am most proud of is the interview I got to do with him.
One of his students, Ross Rosen, was kind enough to write our very first guest post here on CMNotes, about Chinese Pulse Diagnosis.
Tags: 2008, chinese medicine, chinese medicine books, chinese medicine in 2008
Filed Under: General notes, Heiner notes, Interviews, Julian's book notes, Personal notes, Practitioners notes, Students notes, The Library
Posted on December 14, 2008 by Yael
Being a mother taught me the importance of taking care of myself.
If I won’t be well, my family won’t function very well, and so I must take better care of myself, and be sick maybe once a decade. At least.
With that frame of mind I’ve been very strict with my acupuncture sessions for the past number of months.
On our last meeting 2 interesting things happened:
1. I was needled in LI-4, LIV-3 and LIV-8. This combo is pretty standard, right? Well, you won’t believe what happened to me, but this will have to wait for a different post.
2. I got a Chinese herbs formula.
You all know by now that I am not a herbs fan.
Many people don’t understand this “weird phase” that I’m going through, but since it’s been going on for the past 8 years- at least- I know that it’s a simple case of being able to connect to one method more than the other.
I connect to acupuncture wonderfully, and to the herbs I don’t connect at all- not as a practitioner and not as a patient.
Posted on November 30, 2008 by Yael
In a previous post I started to talk about Julian Scott’s book- Acupuncture in the Treatment of Children
.
Shahar is going through a great time, even with the latest cough he’s in a great mood, and we were able to stop the attack in time so we feel very good parents.
This great time allows me to read a bit more quietly about Julian’s observation between an excess type child and a deficiency type child.
The importance of diagnosing
We’re talking about a basic principle in Chinese Medicine in general (excess/deficiency), and Julian stresses that when it comes to children, it is even more basic.
A deficiency type person will be different than an excess type person, this we know by the middle of our 2nd year in school. In children it is even more obvious.
It makes sense, remembering that children don’t have the masks us adults have, children don’t have the weight of the years upon them that one might see in an adult’s eyes. Granted there are other problems, but in general, it is easier to know if we have a case of excess or deficiency when we diagnose a child.
Posted on November 27, 2008 by Yael
I have no idea where time goes.
Having a life is not as simple as not having one, and I must admit- I find myself running around crazy, trying to fit everything in. Something always slips away, and lately it seems that CMNotes has been suffering more than anything else.
I’m sorry CMNotes, you’re not a bad blog or anything, and I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. It just happens, and I’m trying my best to be better.
Hopefully this will be a good beginning to mending our realtionship….
One good thing that happened is that we have a new practitioner for my boy.
I told you a while ago about the doubts I have with the practitioner we had. It’s not that I don’t trust the practitioner, as I think he is a very good practitioner. I think it was more a clash between what I needed as a parent of a child (first child, I guess that always makes a difference), and what the practitioner could offer me. There were times I really thought that the practitioner was a bit too odd, but for about 95% of the time, I felt he was helping Shahar a lot, and that was the main thing. Our personal disagreements on how a practitioner of children should be was minor compared to the help he was giving my boy.
But that changed.
Posted on November 19, 2008 by Yael
A few months ago I told you that I have decided to take a course about the treatment of children with Chinese Medicine.
AFter giving it more thought, I have decided that it is not the best thing to do, take a full year’s course, not because it’s not worth it, but more because I am not about to treat children. I just want to know how to help my child a bit more than just hold him when he’s in pain.
So I thought that maybe I should just read about it, at least as a first step. I ordered my copy of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Children, and it’s been 3 weeks now that the book is on my desk, waiting to be read.
In order to make sure that I actually read it, I will try to give you a book report every two weeks and share with you my thoughts, what I have learned, and other wonderful thoughts that enter my brain.
I’m reading the book page by page, although I admit that I’m jumping ahead every now and then to read Julian’s thoughts about issues that are very relevant to our lives now- like cough. Vomitting.
But those who heard Julian talk know that Julian is an excellent teacher, with a very clear structure to his lectures and his books. One thing is based on another, so reading everything in order will help understand everything a whole lot better.
Posted on October 15, 2008 by Yael
It’s Blog Action Day today, and the topic we’re putting the spot light on is poverty.
I will talk about poverty from a different point of view, maybe, than what was intended by the good people who took the time to make this day happen.
I was thinking about the best way for me to talk about poverty, as I am ashamed to say- I don’t know enough about the subject.
Then I thought about Chinese Medicine, which in China was for years the only medicine around, and was the medicine for the people.
So let’s talk about that a bit, but before I start rambling about that, I want to send you to a good informative website about poverty- Learn About Poverty.
Medicine in general
I find it amazing that there are people in this world who don’t get the health care they need because they don’t have enough money.
It can be a very basic treatment they need and can’t afford, and it can be a constant care they need, for a chronic condition, which can add up to thousands of dollars a month.
Either way, they can’t afford it.
Posted on October 12, 2008 by Yael
I started studying Chinese Medicine 10 years ago.
My friends are more or less used by now that I do things in a different way than others- I didn’t go to university, I seek help of psychology when I feel I need it, even my wedding was different than most people’s.
So studying Chinese Medicine didn’t come as a terrible shock to people, but it did raise one simple questions: What *is* Chinese Medicine??
Trying to explain
It’s been 10 years now that people are asking me about Chinese Medicine, and it’s been the same 10 years that I’ve been trying to think of the best answer that I can- and the answer I have is pretty lame.
I can some how describe Qi, and I can more or less explain the concept of Yin Yang.
But seriously, how are you suppose to explain about the Dao? On second thought- do you really need to go and explain about the Dao??
Posted on October 4, 2008 by Yael
September 2008 was all about Paul McCartney for me.
43 years ago, the Israeli government didn’t allow The Beatles to perform in Israel, claiming they will corrupt Israeli youth. You have to admit, of all the dumb things Israeli governments did over the years, this has to be one of the the top 3 dumb things of all times!
Earlier this year, the Israeli government actually issued an official apology to the remaining Beatles, which made us all think that something good is about to happen.
After many rumors, around September 1st we got the news.
Macca will be performing in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Oh.
My.
God!
Posted on September 17, 2008 by Yael
My son, Shahar (which means Dawn in Hebrew), receives acupuncture since the age of 4 months.
Long before I got married, I knew that my children will receive Chinese Medicine sessions. Being the preventing medicine that it is, it seems only right to begin working on one’s health at a very young age.
As I am very fond of combining the best of 2 worlds, we combine between Western medicine and Chinese Medicine- we have very good practitioners, and whether we go for a routine session or an S.O.S session, this combo works well.
Or so I thought until recently… It’s been 2 weeks now that I’ve been feeling that my faith is a bit shaky.
Sick boy
Shahar is sick every 2 months. More or less.
I’m not very updated about other kids, maybe I should be, but I feel that it’s a lot.
Every parent knows what it means to have a sick child- a not very happy kid, broken nights, not very good working days…
90% of the times we used acupuncture, it was the turning point of the illness. After the session our boy would be on the right track to recovery. It’s seems as though the illness is rushing to leave the body.
Truth should be told- it’s pretty amazing.
Posted on September 9, 2008 by Yael
At the end of August, I went on a short, well over-due vacation along with my husband, just the two of us.
We went to a spa resort here in Israel, which spoils you rotten.
Exactly what we wanted. Some peace and quiet.
We were there for 3 days.
If you could see the out-door pool which is in the middle of a forest, you’d understand about the silence there is in this place, how life can be so relaxing and quiet…. amazing.
In the past, if someone would tell me “take 3 days off”, I’d laugh- 3 days? That’s nothing!
But now that I’m a mommy, I think “3 days?? That’s eternity!”
So our boy went to his grandparents for the weekend and we headed up north.
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