Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee Program in Petaluma

Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee with be doing a special two-part program in Petaluma at the end of the month!

The two-part program consists of an afternoon session on Monday April 30th and a morning session on May 1st. The first session will be "The Way of the Feminine and Suppleness within the Daodejing." Then, instead of our normal study group meeting, she is going to do a special session looking at the key chapters of the Daodejing discussed, with a character by character analysis. The ideal would be to attend both sessions if possible.

Dates and times are:

Monday April 30th from 3pm to 6pm: "The Way of the Feminine and Suppleness within the Daodejing"

Tuesday May 1st from 9am to 12 noon: "Character by character discussion and analysis of the key chapters presented"

The cost of the programs is $45 for one session ($40 for members) or $80 for both sessions ($75 for members). 

This is a fantastic opportunity to spend time with Elisabeth here in Petaluma. Elisabeth is an internationally renowned scholar and translator of classical Chinese medical and philosophical texts.  Elisabeth has been a major influence on my practice and philosophy - before I met her in San Francisco I seriously considered traveling to Europe to study with her. Now, here she is in Petaluma again! 

Last time we sold out ahead of time and I have already had people contacting me for this next presentation, so please contact me at (707) 763-8040 if you are interested in this great opportunity. 

Office Updates

We have had a busy autumn with the normal bustle of the Center, the start of our membership program, our ongoing Classical Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong Groups and our sold-out programs with Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee! Elisabeth will be coming back in May -  I'll have more details as we get closer. 
We have several programs scheduled for November and December (see our class schedule on the side of the page) but all in all winter is a time for settling in and going deeper. 
The Center will be closed on Thursday November 24th and Friday November 25th for Thanksgiving. In December we will be closed on Monday December 26 and back in the office on Monday January 2nd. All of our other hours are the same as usual.

Introduction to the Daodejing with Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee

Elisabeth will be here in Petaluma on Monday November 14th from 1pm to 5pm presenting an introduction to the Daodejing (Tao Teh Ching) and early Daoism. Most of Elisabeth's public programs focus on the Classical Chinese medical texts, so this is a fantastic opportunity to get her insight and analysis of this fundamental philosophical text that informs so much of the traditional Chinese health practices. The fee for the workshop is $50.

It is not necessary to have a background in Chinese Medicine, just an interest in Daoism, Chinese philosophy or Classical Chinese Medicine.

Please contact the Center for Traditional Health Arts at (707) 763-8040 for more information.

A bit about Elisabeth:

Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee is an internationally respected scholar and translator of Chinese Classical Medical and Philosophical texts, as well as a practitioner of acupuncture in Paris. Her lectures are popular all over Europe and in North and South America for their unique depth, accuracy of detail and liveliness.

Dozens of Elisabeth's books and articles have been published in several languages. Her long time partnership with Father Claude Larre, produced such works as the 7-volume Ricci Dictionary of Chinese Characters, their translation of selected chapters of the Nei Jing, Ling Shu and Su Wen, as well as the set of 16 books transcribed from their English lecture series published by Monkey Press.

Elisabeth's passion for classical Chinese Medicine and philosophy, along with her dedication to teaching, make her lectures an inspiration.

Nourishing Life - Nutrition Workshop Download Available

Nourishing Life: An Introduction to Chinese Medicine Principles of Food & Nutrition

Download in MP3 & PDF format

I am happy to have this available now in our online shop. This program includes downloads of the two hour audio recording of the workshop and an e-book in PDF format of the handout for the class. The recorded workshop covers practical Chinese Medicine principles of food and nutrition that are easily applied to modern life, optimizing your diet to meet your individual needs and goals, eating with the seasons, and balanced eating to enjoy your food.

http://cthashop.blogspot.com

New Biodegradable Packaging

If we ship your herbs to you, you might notice that your herbs are arriving in a new grey package bubble mailer. I was happy to find these as they are fully biodegradable, are also recyclable, and actually have an extra adhesive flap so you can reuse them if you like.

Medical Qigong Workshop in the Garden - May 22

This introductory Medical Qigong workshop will be at Quarryhill Botanical Gardens in Glen Ellen. This is the first introductory workshop that I have taught in almost two years and I am excited to have it in such a beautiful setting. We'll cover Quiet Qigong, Three Gates Gong and Closing Gong with an emphasis on using nature for healing.

This is a benefit for the Garden. You can register by calling (707) 996-3166 or visiting their website at http://www.quarryhillbg.org/home.html

The class is scheduled for May 22nd from 9:30-11:30.

New Interns

Leslie, my previous intern, has finished acupuncture school last month and moved on. Good luck and best wishes to Leslie!

I am very happy to have two new interns, John and Katie, both of whom are very interested in Chinese herbal medicine, students at AIMC Berkeley and already doing great work in our herb dispensary. I'm looking forward to working together with them for some time!

Welcoming the Rawlinsons

I'm happy to welcome Ian and Cindy Rawlinson to our offices! They are both very skilled, long term practitioners of Five Element Acupuncture and will bring a great amount of experience and knowledge with them. I've known them for many years and am happy to continue our association with them here!

Nourishing Life Booklet & Newsletter Update

I've had people asking for the PDF booklet that I sent a link for in the last newsletter. The booklet is called Nourishing Life: Traditional Chinese Medicine Principles of Individualized Nutrition.

Here is a link to the free PDF: http://traditionalhealtharts.com/misc/NourishingLife.pdf

Also, I've been a bit behind in sending the newsletters lately as I've been working on a writing project with Peggy Schafer that has taken all my spare time. That is wrapped up for now, so I'm hoping to send the next newsletter out fairly soon.

Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm Internship

Peggy Schafer is going to be starting up the 2011 medicinal herb farm internship in March - I'll be teaching there in the mornings. Here is the announcement:

Would you like to gain understating and deepen your relationship with Chinese herbs through their cultivation? Perhaps you are concerned about losing access to herbs and thus are interested in being a part of the development of Chinese herbs as a domestic emerging market? How about access to better quality herbs than is commonly found in the marketplace. Or maybe you are a grower seeking to diversify your production? Besides offering seed and field grown herbs the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm operates as an experimental farm to explore these possibilities as well as aid herb conservation. Our internship program allows those interested in hands on knowledge and experience in all aspects of growing and harvesting Chinese herbs with the guidance of Peg Schafer; educator and nationally recognized Asian herb grower.

This program will follow the seasonal progression of growing herbs from seed sowing and pot culture in the nursery to field production covering soil management, planting, cultivation, harvesting and drying of leaf, flower, seed and root herb crops.

Sean Fannin, an accomplished practitioner from the Center for Traditional Health Arts will start each session with Medical Qigong. This introduction and ongoing practice will develop Quiet and Moving Qigong practices while gaining practical understanding of the theories.

The eight session program runs from March through October, the second Saturday of the month. Hours are from 9-3. Interns should be in good physical shape and be prepared and committed to work to the best of their ability. The program is $400. If you are interested please email Peg at pschafer@sonic.net.
We will hold two open houses in February to get acquainted. A visit to the farm is mandatory for intern consideration. Please email a short blurb describing what you are looking for and why you are interested, and any agricultural experience you may have, as well as any health considerations.

First Meeting of Classical Chinese Medicine Study Group

We had our first meeting of the new Classical Chinese Medicine study group last Saturday. It is a really nice, diverse group and we had a great initial meeting. This first session was primarily overview, with discussions on how to analyze characters, and applying that to the characters for yin, yang, tian (heaven), di (earth) and Dao. These characters essentially form the first line of Chapter 5 of the Suwen, and we had a good group discussion of the meaning of that first line as well.

Our next meeting is set for Saturday, February 26th from 9:30-11:30. If you are interested contact me as there is room for a couple of more people and this would still be a good starting point.

Harmonizing with the Season

I will be sending out the second newsletter in the current series of newsletters soon. The series looks at the practical, adaptable methods, practices and approaches to health that are detailed in the Chinese medical classics. This current newsletter focuses on harmonizing with the seasons, with an emphasis on autumn (because it is autumn, of course). I discuss this in the office a lot, as the seasons have a tremendous influence on our energy, emotions and overall health.

In the autumn it is easy to get overwhelmed and burnt out. There is a reversal of the qi - from the outward, open movement of the summertime, to the drawing in or harvest of the autumn. This makes it easy for heat to accumulate in the chest, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and reactive. It is important to take the steps to keep yourself in harmony with the season.

The key themes of autumn are discernment, boundaries and letting go of what is not essential. It's ok to work hard (essential even), but that work needs to be on the things that matter. If you are feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself, what would happen if I didn't do (fill in whatever you like here)? If the answer is "not much" then don't do it. Spend the time on what is more essential to you and you will be on your way to more fully participating in the movement of autumn.

In the newsletter article I'll have more on this.

Chinese Medicinal Plant Walk

Quarryhill Botanical Gardens in Glen Ellen, CA

Saturday September 4th from 10 - Noon

Every year Peg Schafer and I lead this medicinal plant walk at Quarryhill Botanical Gardens. Quarryhill is an amazing, world-class woodland garden specializing in Asian plants. We'll see and talk about a variety of rare and commonly used Chinese medicinal plants in terms of cultivation and usage. This is a great opportunity to see, learn about and get a feel for the live herbs in a beautiful setting.

All proceeds benefit Quarryhill Botanical Garden, $15 non-members (of the Gardens) $10 members.

(707) 996-3166

www.quarryhillbg.org

Newsletter Series

Within Chinese medicine, health is not simply the absence of disease, it is a dynamic changing state that embodies efficient living and allows us to fulfill our potential. There are actually a small number of important things that we can do that are necessary for this. Every day in the office I discuss some of these things with people and see how well they work. The nice thing about traditional Chinese medicine is, even though it may sound different or even esoteric at first, it is first and foremost practical and adaptable; it is about what works over the long term.

With this in mind I have decided to write a series of newsletter articles on the methods, practices and approaches to health that are laid out in the classical texts and are applied to our modern lives. The first newsletter in this series will be emailed out soon.

This series will encompass the following topics:

Living with Awareness

Following the Seasons / Natural Rhythms

Food and Nutrition

Restorative Practices

Movement / Physical Training

Health Interventions

The primary themes within all of these interrelated topics are awareness, simplicity and effectiveness.

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter you can sign up on the main page of our website (just scroll down to the form ) at Center for Traditional Health Arts. Once you have joined the mailing list check your email for the confirmation letter (which you'll need to confirm your newsletter subscription).

Summertime - Harmonizing with the Season

Now, just past the summer solstice (which is mid-summer by the traditional Chinese view) I have been thinking about the traditional recommendations for harmonizing with the summertime. Along these lines, I revised the following article that I wrote several years ago:

"The three months of summer are called prospering and developing the flower. Heaven & Earth intertwine and the Ten Thousand Beings flower and bring forth fruit..."

- Neijing Suwen, Ch. 2

The traditional recommendations for harmonizing with the summertime all have to do with finding the proper movement for moderating the fullness of the season. In other words, we must express the fullness and vitality of life that is inherent in the season, but be careful not to let the same fullness of the sun and the heat overwhelm the body.

To begin with, as we do with all of the seasons, we can look at our sleep & activity cycle as one of the most basic ways to govern the rhythms of the body. During the summertime it is recommended to go to bed later (within reason) and wake up early in the morning. This follows the movement of the sun: longer days and the increased light and warmth activate the energy and the body needs less sleep than in the other seasons.

In terms of our waking hours, the summertime allows the largest amount of activity during the day. However, it is important to protect ourselves from the extremity of the sun (even if we are not outside) by doing more activity in the morning and evening, and less in the middle of the day. In this way we won't become overheated or depleted by the influence of the sun, which is always the concern for this season. The Chinese character for this is actually a pictogram of a person who has eaten too much of something good and is overly full. While the light and sun of the summer is full of vitality, too much will leave us full and overheated.

In terms of exercise, Qigong should be practiced in the morning, facing the eastern direction or in the evening facing the west. We can also walk in the morning or evening, taking longer walks when time allows. The image of walking in the springtime was loose strides in the courtyard, staying close to home. Our image for walking in the summertime is a long ramble through the countryside, perhaps taking a nap under a tree or next to a stream during the heat of the midday sun.

It is fine to exert our strength in this season with our work and exercise, but we should remain mindful to not damage the fluids of the body (which are keeping us cool in the heat of the season) with excessive activity.

In terms of our mental state, it is recommended in the summertime that we act calmly and without anger, thus assisting the completion and fulfillment of the beauty of the season. The movement outwards that is inherent in the season should be followed naturally, without any extra force. Whether it is too much time in the sun and heat or too strong of an emotional response, an excess of outwards movement will press the qi and fluids to the surface, where they may be dispersed and lost.

Following these traditional recommendations for harmonizing with the season ensures the proper movement of qi within the body, helping to prevent illness and support vitality.