My 2009 - Medicine

Let's see what happened in my medical life this year.I joined Medical department since Jan, after spending 6 months in A&E department. I was back to tagging, and quite often became a "bully" victim and I learned that "fierce MO will get less referrals" ha.And of course, it's never lack of interesting cases in medical wards. Some that I share:Chronic symptoms - Dont' overlook!Rare diagnoses -

My 2009 - Magic & Performances

Time flies and it's time for a recollection of the year again!Unlike the one I did for 2008, I guess this is apparently a year that emphasizes more on "quality" rather than "quantity" ha. I'd attribute this to mainly 2 reasons: The time-consuming exam preparation and, difficulty in getting leaves! I had to turn down a few invitations for performances - including some were for tutorials in magic

LOT 10 Hutong, Best!

While I was back in KL, I took the chance to visit the "LOT 10 Hutong" with family - the so-called M'sia's first gourmet heritage village, which was open since early last month.It features over 20 famous street food stalls mainly from KL Petaling Street, and most of it have survived half a century, and passed on to the 2nd or 3rd generations, namely "Kim Lian Kee", "Ho Weng Kee", "Soong Kee" and

Retouching life

This week I noticed my face had fallen. I've been watching things crinkle and sag for a few years now. But suddenly it seems so much the worse for wear. People usually think I'm a good 20 years younger than I actually am. And thanks to genetics, perhaps I'll keep fooling them. But I remember the precise moment I realized my skin had lost its youthful blush. And now, it seems to have lost everything.
In the interest of getting some portrait commissions, Larry has been showing people a nude he took of me a few years ago. My long hair covers most of my body, pulled over my head, and down my front, exposing just one breast. It is a beautiful photograph. And it seems to capture the last moment of youth in my body, just as a portait taken by my best friend when we lived in Los Angeles does of my face.
In my art, I am obsessed with things broken, aged, worn and wounded. I find an incomparable, powerful beauty in their degradation. Can I find that same love and passion for the face I look at each morning in the mirror, as I smooth my skin with the lightest touch of foundation, line my eyes with khol, brush on mascara, and restore color to my lips and cheeks.
Can I find that same awe for this body, its thin skinned hands, and ever fleshier hips, thighs and knees?
Ann Haaland over at The Paint Box was blogging about diminishing eye sight and its effect on painting and life.
In advertising everything is retouched to perfection.
How can we create a retouching lens of our own? In our hearts, our eyes and our minds?

Typical Workplace Perspectives

OMG...this is SO TRUE. Ha!

unusual forms with fabric and yarn

Pantone Inspired Christmas Posters & Cards. Christmas By Colour.

Pantone Inspired Christmas Posters & Cards. Christmas By Colour.

this was what i meant to share.

If It's Hip, It's Here

If It's Hip, It's Here

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Interesting Chest Xray (6)

Believe me, this is a good one for learning. I'm currently doing my Respiratory rotation, and came across this CXR in the chest clinic. It's of a patient with Miliary Tuberculosis and TB of lumbar spine. During the last follow-up there's a new shadow noted near the right heart border, suspicious-looking. He was proceeded with a CT Thorax.CT scan showed no significant hilar or mediastinal lymph

"In the Cards" by Andrei Jikh

Andrei Jikh, currently an artist in Theory 11, is being called "one of the most influential names in cardistry community today". This is his video contesting for "Nikon Festival 09" - To capture the essence of your day in 140 seconds or less - and the best video can take away $100,000.This is his vid - "In the Cards"Visually breathtaking and amazing vid. Love it!

The Mom-and-Pop Water Shop § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

The Mom-and-Pop Water Shop § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

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Post-Call Syndrome

Post-call syndrome is a terrible disease.I still remember that I once described it in my previous post as "...36 hours or longer of non-stop working, it's still alright for the overnight but the next day morning is when the awful time comes. You'll have subtly dropping GCS, with episodes of LOC (loss of consciousness) and apneas, as if you're ready to collapse anytime. The LOC can happen anytime

How to Patch a Hole with Crochet - CraftStylish

How to Patch a Hole with Crochet - CraftStylish

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Appreciation - Cont'

Ya, a late discovery again;)The story continued from Aug 09 - you can read from "Appreciation". I was told by my colleague that it came out on newspaper - but I only discovered it recently in the noticeboard somewhere in hospital.So, to complete the story, here's it: And the group pic.Happy and, I'm grateful for the appreciation! ;)

Studying Chinese Medicine in Santa Fe!

I've known now for many weeks now, but I want to share the news with you and the universe (if you will) through this blog. My medicine bug has developed from an itch to a full blown infection. My wife and I are packing up our life here in Chicago and heading west to the otherworldly expanses of New Mexico--Santa Fe to be exact---where I will be studying holistic medicine (Chinese) and sharing those experiences with you here on this blog and she will continue to inspire me and others with her great spirit and photographs and videos. I will be of their incoming Spring class, beginning classes Jan 11.


It's November 28, 2pm. My steady employment with the Flaxman Library where I help manage the film study collection and restore "sick" books to health is scheduled to end Dec. 18. That's 3 weeks from now! We've been working to get rid of all unnecessary items--furniture and old clothes, mostly--but writing down "3 weeks" sure opens my eyes to how much more needs to be accomplished before then. So why am I sitting here just writing about it? This needs to be done too--perhaps most of all. There's been a sort of mucus plug of emotion and the words that define these feelings that are blocking a clear flow of motivational energy. There has been a steady buildup of stagnant blood and energy because of this that reaches from the pit of my stomach to the base of my brain; and as a result, I've been experiencing a paralysis of the will (is that Kidney shen?). Writing is the best therapy for me to help my body breakdown that plug and promote a balanced communication between my gut and head. Perhaps after an hour of this therapy I will be able to concentrate and work without the distraction of the anxious knot in my belly. So here I am writing--hopefully not in circles, but perhaps a wavering attempt at a linear narrative, as natural progression as a vascular highway or the alimentary canal--thinking that somewhere along these lines the mucus damn shall fail and I might progress.











I want to talk here about my intentions for studying Chinese Medicine in New Mexico, and to do so I will share the letter of intent I wrote during the application process to SWAC that secured me membership in their graduating class of 2014. If you are familiar with the previous posts then you will recognize some of that text repeated here.

Enjoy.

***

I am thirty-three years old, and as I experience more the dynamic between this mind and body, I become more aware of myself within. I am not this body, but what is my increasing human potential? For the past six years I've been working within three special collections at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago conserving and restoring the circulating books, the artist books and the 16mm print films in these respective collections. As the I study the philosophy and the practice of Oriental Medicine I cannot deny the correlation between book conservation and the clinician's first consultation with his or her patient. It involves more than fixing what's broken; it begins with a careful assessment of the whole with all senses. How old is the object? Is the wear observed accurate for its age, for its level of circulation, for its storage condition. Is its smell earthy or more like vinegar? Does it feel cold and damp or is it dry and brittle. Is the problem congenital (i.e., in the case of an artist book if the artist refuses archival materials because it is the ephemeral nature of found materials, say, or the degradation of a paper hinge that interests the concept behind the book's design) or is the problem a result of mishandling or equipment error (re: broken films) in which case policy must be amended and education the key preventative. We can not deny the inevitable "death" of any object in a collection, but we can manage their care to delay their degradation in order to help maximize the quality of their resource. Of course, films and books--no matter how rare the print or complicated the anatomy and binding--are not people, but they are material expressions, a transference of a personal experience that needs care all the same, and I am honored to facilitate that care.

Outside of my work within these collections I am of a creative community of painters and performers, photographers, writers and critics and curators. I've collaborated on book projects and video-performance pieces; I've written and preformed in stage plays; I've taught short fiction to high-school students; I've run bookbinding workshops; I have artist books in one of The School's special collections and four different chapbooks available at a local artist run book store. Curiously, these small accomplishments and experiences that put myself out into the community have ultimately led me to pursue the study of medicine. I questioned earlier, What is my increasing human potential? I don't know the full answer, but I do know it is not just writing another--this time larger--play and finishing my novel (though these goals are unmistakable). My human potential is to engage further and more deeply with my local and (potentially) global communities. I want to open myself up to this medicine and to the people of New Mexico. My human potential is to know myself fully and to express that self without prejudice and with complete honesty. My studies and practice thus far have been rich in the humanities, and I can't think of a more natural progression in the study of what it is to be human than the study of a medicine rich in its revelations of mystic truth.

Like most people born and raised under the western health care umbrella, I grew up having no familiarity with the life style of natural medicine or preventive medicine, much less the holistic-health care model of Oriental Medicine--classical or otherwise. My idea of prevention comes from my childhood experiences of painful vaccinations and an ear infection every Fall until I was six. There was nothing sacred about medicine; it was a job which allowed our single mother, a Registered Nurse, to pay the rent and keep the cupboards half full. Its pattern was simple: it was the doctor's cold invasion, the white-walled office, hands that smelled rubbed with alcohol, the pallid eyes, the otoscope pushed too far into the canal of my raging ear; the ear infection confirmed, antibiotics, then feeling better in a day or two. It's difficult to differentiate your body from yourself at such an early age. How do you not misinterpret each illness as a personal attack on your character? Why should I endure these pains alone, I would think, when my sister--my twin, no less--had the privilege of sleeping through every October undisturbed. Why was there no devil's finger digging in her ear? What made my body's relationship with this evil bacterium so different from hers? By my sixth year my eustachian tubes had made their natural course downward, forward, medially and the seasonal infections were gone. Consequently, our visits with the doctor also disappeared and I stopped with my jealous introspections. For the next seven years we would not visit a doctor unless we really had to, that is if what ailed us could not be fixed at home--but what could not a mother cure? Between the chamomile teas and ibuprofen we came to understand that the body would take care of itself. Our mother never got sick. All her years helping the sick and dying in nursing homes, emergency rooms and eventually neonatal intensive care units the one thing she "contracted" and then communicated to my sister and me was that the body is a very capable machine.

Three years ago, however, I learned that my capable machine was everything but capable. I had neglected my body to the inconsistent lifestyle of a young man in graduate art school. Suddenly one afternoon I began to suffer from a dry, burning that affected the middle of my back, my right arm (including the axillary) and right pectoral. A week later when this burning progressed into painful blisters, and while my wife and I were traveling to Arlington, Texas for a wedding, the diagnosed was made clear: I had shingles. I asked the tending physician how this could have happened. My hygiene was very important to me, I told her, and I didn't eat greasy foods. My ignorance was showing. It is not impossible, she told me, but it is rare for some one in their late twenties to suffer the effects of the herpes zoster virus. My immune system had been compromised and stress with no regular relief was the most likely culprit. The diagnosis came too late for the antiviral to have been effective, so it was not prescribed. My body would have to carry on as before for the next four to six weeks with no outside assistance except moderate doses of a prescribed painkiller "when needed" which only made me nauseous. I mention this occurrence in my life not because it then introduced me to the powers of Oriental Medicine or to my current OM practitioner, but because it was then that I realized I had been neglecting that trinity of mind, body and spirit and that there were consequences to this delinquency. This machine is only capable as long as we work with it as partners towards a shared wellness. Since the shingles outbreak I've been exercising regularly, trying to eat seasonally, engaging in talk therapy once a week and visiting with my OM practitioner when ever I can while working to cultivate a successful herbal medicine garden in the summers (with varying degrees of success) and reading all I can get my hands on regarding the theory, the science and practice of OM and the bio-sciences. Technology and the Western medical model can nearly guarantee a longer life, but if we do not come to understand the body's fluid relationship with the mind and spirit and the relationship we share with our environment (for better or worse), and if we do not practice and regulate these teachings, how can we expect to maintain balance thereby ensuring a richer quality of life to accompany that longevity?

New Mexico is a second home to me. In fact it was my first home for my first eight years of my life, split between Clovis and Portales until my mother, newly divorced, moved my sister and me into West Texas to begin a new phase of her life. Now my wife and I are packing up our life in Chicago and moving West to the Santa Fe area to start a new era of our life together. What interests me about studying Oriental Medicine in New Mexico is, first, the scale of the land; nature abounds; there is no denial or distraction from the relationship the body and spirit has with nature. Second, the integrative primary care of this medicine as evinced through SWAC's externship opportunities--not to mention the opportunity to intern at Harbin at the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine. As well, I am interested in other traditional medicine modalities unique to the southwest, and I hope to extend my studies into these communities during my tenure at Southwest Acupuncture College and after to understand the culture and the practice of the native herbalists and develop relationships with the native medicine men of the surrounding reservations.

I've been reading Ted Kaptchuck's The Web that has no Weaver and Ithza Veith's translation of the Nei Jing, but I've also been reading the essays from Kenny Ausubel's (founder of the Bioneers) anthology, Ecological Medicine, which includes talk about not just personal health care and disease prevention but the health and healing of our environment in conjunction with our personal and community well being. I have a growing interest in gardening and subsistence living through unoffensive farming practices that parallels my amateur (thus far) studies of natural medicine and healing. The Permaculture Institute there in New Mexico is an ideal compliment to my studies that only the natural resource of New Mexico can provide. Integrative medicine is not limited to our professional relationships with allopathic doctors and other complimentary and alternative healthcare practitioners but it can involve the cooperation of all community leaders and services, including architects, city planners, farmers, engineers, gardeners, public school administration.

Chinese Medicine school is the first step of my journey to becoming a healer and a lifelong process of self cultivation and scholarship that I don't expect to get any easier after the first four years of study. What excites me about this education, aside from the didactic study of the philosophy and foundations of Oriental Medicine and the clinical practice, are the opportunities for self-exploration, the opportunities to learn how to grow within myself so that I can share the best of me. I don't want to go to school just to become an acupuncturist and a Chinese herbalist; through Qi Gong and Tai Chi and meditation I hope to better my resolve as a human being, to act with clearer focus without the intervention of ego, to allow myself to be vulnerable yet confident at home, in the public, with my patients and other heathcare professionals.

I don't doubt that I am an eager learner of the endless possibilities of healing but what is my intention as a healer? I want, as Jeffery Yuen puts it, to "witness the intricacies of life" and tap into my greater potentials as a human being. I get great joy sharing with my wife and friends my limited knowledge concerning the hows and whys of the nature of our body, it's relationship with our adulterated environments, of our modern heathcare system and primary care. But medicine is more than fascinating trivia about our collected viscera; it's greater than politics; it's more than managing disease. It's about people helping people. I hope to master the art of Oriental Medicine through rigorous scholarship, practice and self-exploration so that I may understand and advocate more clearly how we can secure a productive, healthy life for ourselves and our families and our communities and our environment and perhaps understand something more about the process of ourselves along the way.

new way to stay in touch

I've been posting more at tumblr these days. Just because there's a tumblr contest where I work at Saatchi. Winner wins $1000, which I'm donating to charity if I win. So head on over to tumblr, follow me, reblog me and help me win.
Not sure which charity yet, but maybe Kiva, which is all about microloans and keeps the $$$ working for people who need it.
Any ideas. Let me know here in your comments or on twitter, where you'll find me as rivarama.

So Proud of You, Brother!

- Extracted from NewStraitsTimes, 18th Nov 09:TWO Malaysians helped bring to life the characters in Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming movie A Christmas Carol.The Disney animated feature is scheduled to be released here (in 3D in selected cinemas) tomorrow, two weeks after its release in the United States.For Kuala Lumpur lad Jax Lee and Penang-born Woei Lee, “it was a dream come true”.Jax served as an

Cyril: Simply Magic

"Can magic really bring happiness?Can magic break cultural and language barriers?Can magic change the world.Cyril: Simply Magic is unlike any other magic show ever made, and it’s not just because Cyril is unlike any other magician. Simply Magic focuses on the idea that magic can affect people’s lives positively. More than just entertainment, magic has the potential to bring happiness. And also

2012

No I haven't watched the movie yet.But I saw one patient today, complaining of palpitation with onset while he was watching the movie yesterday. The movie is too worrying to him, he said.So the palpitation persisted throughout the night and he couldn't sleep and had been feeling a bit of giddy.So he came today for an ECG. Guess what did it show? Believe it or not, it is...A fast atrial

Grik Update (3)

Just to show some pictures that I took with my phone:This is the main building, with male, female, paediatric and maternity wards in it. 10 to 15% of the working time will be spent here for ward round and the ward works.The rest of the time will be spent here, the "famous" JPL (Jabatan Pesakit Luar) ie. outpatient department. Here basically you'll see all types of patients with all types of

From Receiving End to Now The Sending End

MO (Medical officer) A is referring a case to MO B.MO A: "Hi Dr. X, I have a case to refer..."MO B: "Ok. (sounds really unhappy like MO A owes him something)"MO A: "I have this 60 year-old lady here who was admitted for uncontrolled diabetes, her condition actually improving with insulin Rx and hydration. However, today she's noted to have spiking temperature, increasingly tachypneic and HR goes

Grik Update (2)

I'm post call now. Had a fantastic call really..and it all started after my dinner (I think I was lucky to be able to finish the dinner - coz after that the mad moments are just nonstop).Right after the dinner, got a call from Hospital: "Dr pls come to labour room STAT. We have one eclampsia lady who fitted for FOUR times!"Gosh I almost threw into a fit too. Young mother, preterm, undiagnosed and

Greetings from Grik

Hi dear all,I finally can get myself "Internet-ly" connected. Found a cyber cafe here, quite nice actually. Just some quick updates:1. I was kinda low mood on the first day. It's a mixture of feeling of nervousness/ fear (after stepping into the labour room and saw the neonate resuscitation trolley), bit of uncertainty plus the depression after seeing the hostel condition. I'm still hesitating

Bye Taiping...for Now

This is a shot of Taiping Hospital by Dr Ang CL, a physician who previously worked here. A great shot indeed! And Dr Ang, if you're reading this, we all really miss you! ;)So I'm leaving today..to a district hospital called Grik, due to my departmental earthquake. It's in North Perak, quite near to the border as you can see from the map. Not too sure how's life there gonna be.I do hope I can

Typing Speed?

Saw this game from Yee's blog. Looks like an old game but quite fun to play.Here's the record..hehe.81 words TypingtestPlay and challenge! XD

I'm Amazed

Saw one patient in clinic today."Hello doc! How are you doing?" He greeted me cheerfully."So how are my blood prolifes? Kidneys still good? My cholesterol controlled? Of course it is, I take my pills everyday - and on top of that, I do exercise - I do a lot of gardening ha.""But you know what, I actually hate pills. To be honest, I wasn't on any medication until the admission 2 years ago and they

Love Story

If you have not already noticed, I actually changed the background song to this "Love Story meets Love Story" by Jon Schmidt. Just to show the music video of it...and this music is just simply marvellous!

Good - Cheap - Fast?

Saw this in MMR. I agree that this should be hung at all clinics! ^^Esp. to those patients who are so unwilling to wait just a while more, but when it's their turn they'll talk to you for half an hour and not stopping! Nobody is perfect - consideration and understanding is always appreciated by us! ;)

Departmental Earthquake

This is a not-so-good month. Things are going haywire.Early in this month 2 of my colleagues got a shocking letter that they were going to be sent out to a district hospital - despite the fact that they are already quite senior in the department. Hence my department head called an emergency meeting with the hospital director - ya, if you can remember, the legendary director - the final plan

Hilarious!

I used to visit FAILblog quite often and really find it an unique site. It's like a collection of the vids and pics that can give you some really good laugh. Just to share a few:FAILed maths.What an embarrassing moment. Impromptu eye shield. Risk of suffocation is higher than eye injury! FAILed news placement. Will you still go for the plunge?Hit and run? FAILed. Coz left the most important

Beware of the...Hoax

The other day when I went to a ward to see a referral, I heard some "interesting" conversation among two "senior" housemen with two other fresh newcomers. It goes like this:SHO(Senior HO)#1: "So you're new here. Just to brief you a bit on your work. First of all, punctuality. You're expected to come to ward at 6.30am or earlier, and you're expected to finish the blood-taking and ward round before

Boxes

When we work in corporate environments, or any structured work place, it can be difficult to get started on projects that have no definition. No rules, no strategies. And no deadlines.
I was talking with a colleague at my day job, who said that her biggest obstacle in sitting down to do art work was that she liked to think out of the box. And needed a box to begin with. She longed for rules to break.
I told her how a friend of mine keeps a notebook with a list of creative project ideas. She refers to it every time she’s ready for a new endeavor and methodically checks them off. The list is always longer than her time allows, but gives her structure and a sense of accomplishment. It’s a creative to do list that’s never done, and always evolving.
Interestingly enough, I learned a quick technique in a water color class, that instantly gave the work a more professional look and feel. And that was, simply taping off a border, or box with masking tape to be removed after the painting was done.
Boxes do serve us well.
The question is: how can we create them for ourselves, without boxing ourselves in? Because unless the box makes it easier to get to our creative work, it’s of no use.
Borders and boxes can hem us in as much as they can inspire us to break out. We must know ourselves well enough to know what works for us.
So what works for you? Quick, write something down even if it makes no sense.

A New Film--Numen: The Nature of Plants

I just received a link from John of Learningherbs.com for a new film about the nature of plants--medicinally and otherwise. If anyone's interested in the value of medicinal plants--or anything that grows and changes--and how and why we should learn to reconnect with the Nature of which we are all part and parcel you can visit their website at http://numenfilm.com/ and view a short 35 sec of some great time-lapse cinematography of sprouting plants or you can join their e-mail list and view a longer, more inspirational 15 minutes of the film. Fantastic! I can't wait to get a copy for myself. Supplies are limited, they say.

Epistula Vultaris, Medical and Magical Recipes of the Vulture

It has been too long since my last post--tomorrow will be two months past. I've been busy writing a post on the spleen (a western and eastern perspective) and researching and writing for a larger essay about the magic and myth associated with ancient and modern medicine--esp. Chinese Medicine and its use of acupuncture for mental conditions (I prefaced this article with an earlier post here about the Ghost Points). I want to add a quick post here as a sort of resuscitation. I will be updating soon with the first half of the spleen post, but now I want to just add some notes of interest. Notes from some articles I've found interesting. And naturally, they pertain to the subject of Magic, myth and medicine.

The following post concerns an article I can't stop re-reading. It was published in the Oct 1943 publication of Speculum, vol. 18, No. 4 and it is about an unpublished treatise on medicine and magic from the age of Charlemagne--in fact, that's the full title--found in the back of a book in a great library in France. There is no mention of who found the letter or when or how the author (Loren C. Mackinney), who is also the translator of this Latin text, got possession of the piece. Being a well respected Scholar of Medieval Medicine, I suppose that one afternoon an envelope lined with cardboard and with a return address to the Paris Biblioteque Nationale found itself upon Dr. Mackinney's desk. His scholarship in the article is focused primarily of the list of magical and medical recipes and its comparative history.

As stated previously, this one-page treatise, titled Epistula Vulturis, was found in a medical manuscript in the Paris Biblioteque Nationale and contained the listing of 17 magical/medical recipes compounded from the various parts of a vulture and other substances. Researchers don't know who wrote the piece, or if these were just notes from a curious reader who left there research on a blank page near the end of Book I of Dioscoride's Materia Medica. Nearly half of the recipes included in this treatise, says MacKinney, closely resemble the passages from Natural History, published in the first century and written by the Roman naturalist and philosopher, Pliny the Elder (or Gaius Plinius Secundus). However the wording is more contemporary, he says, to the sixth-century writings of Sextus Placitus Papyrensis--particularly his Book of Medicine from Animals, Cattle, Beasts and Birds. But this accounts for only seven of the recipes. The other ten recipes are not found in any of the Roman handbook, which means they were undoubtedly a record of the unwritten folk medicine and magic of that period. So it's very probable that whoever wrote this small treatise was not making notes from the texts and neglected his research but rather slipped this paper gem against the gutter of Dioscoride's Materia Medica as a sort of preservation of culture.

The following is the translation of the letter by the late Professor of medieval history and specialist of medieval medical history, Loren C. Mackinny:

(Translation)
INCIPIT EPISTULA VULTURIS or
HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF THE VULTURE

To the Province of Babylonia Alexandria, greeting from the King of Rome. The human race does not know how much virtue the vulture has in it and how much it contributes to healing. At the hour at which it is captured, kill it, using a sharp reed instead of a sword. Let him who kills it be alone, and before he decapitates it, let him say to it : "Angel Adonai Abraham, on your account the word is completed." And when you cut it open you will do well to repeat the above mentioned words.

[recipes:]

1. The bones from its head (wrapped) in deer skin will cure every pain and migraine (of the head).
2. Its brain you mix with the best of oil and put in the nose, and it will expel all ailments of the head.
3. Wrap the eyes in wolf skin and hang around the neck and it will drive away pain from the eye.
4. If you put its tongue in the right shoe and walk with it (thus) all your enemies will adore you.
5. Its gall mixed with SUGAR OF FENNEL and HOREHOUND and with OIL OF BALSAM and ATTIC HONEY, you apply in the morning, and presently it will relieve all pain in the eyes.
6. Its liver you beat with its blood and ATTIC HONEY and give thrice for seven mornings, and it will heal all epileptics and lunatics and will drive out fear.
7. Its blood purges the itch.
8. You dry its spleen and afterwards mix it with BITUMEN OF SULPHUR and OIL OF COPPER and OLD AXEL GREASE, and if you use it as an ointment it will cure paralysis.
9. You burn its lung with NETTLE and BARK OF MALAGUETTA and of ROSE in equal amounts and give it for fever; verily it will cure you.
10. You mix it (?) with MUST and CITRON for one who is impotent and he will be healed.
11. You dry and beat its little kidneys and testicles and give with wine, to him who is unable to have intercourse with his wife, and he will find remedy.
12. If you wrap its heart in lion or wolf skin (and place around the neck of one possessed) all demons will flee and if you fall among thieves (while you have it) they will adore you.
13. Its wings are valuable for many things. If you bind them on the left foot of a woman who is unable to bring forth, she will be speedily delivered; and when she has brought forth, quickly take it away (i.e. the vulture wing) lest her viscera follow.
14. If you secretly fumigate (with vulture wings) anyone's home which is being troubled, all evil will flee from it.
15. Its feet and claws lying in your home will prevent sorcery from being done there. And if it has been done formerly it will have no effect.
16. If you cook its grease with OIL OF COPPER and WAX, it will heal the sinews.
17. And if you anoint with it (i.e. the grease) a yoke animal which you plan to sell, on that day you will receive (your) price for it. Finit finit.

A pretty thorough list of recipes long out of vogue. I wonder though, about the efficacy of these healing modalities. I can't imagine the National Health Organization--through their department of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) research--funding for double-blind studies on the healing potentials of vulture parts. Granted, most of these recipes are more magical than medical, but it is a peek into a world where magic and medicine were interchangeable and mythic. In a world where illness and disease is attributed to devils and sorcery why wouldn't it be a magic called medicine that would exercise the body of those pernicious influences?


We've come a long way to broaden the divide between magic and medicine by classifying the body and it various properties and functions into repeatable patterns for future identification. This system of repeatable familiarity is comforting to us. This is logical thinking, this is real to us. But should we discredit the lore of the vulture's magic and medicine as superstitious, as pseudo-scientific and therefore ineffective? The vulture's spleen, some bitumen of sulphur, some copper oil and old axle grease, may not sound like the most obvious cure for paralysis, but imagine the millions of tax payer dollars we'd save from stem-cell research if we could show the efficacy of this one simple recipe? The more I think about it though, the more the idea of harvesting spleens from government regulated vulture farms makes me want to march in protest. Okay, that's where I put my foot down. Leave the vultures alone.

what do you do when you're bored?

It's not as if I don't have a list a mile long - of creative and personal projects like submitting health insurance claims - but sometimes the get up and go just isn't there. Hey. I'm a coach, I know how to turn doldrums into productivity. But... what do you do when you're bored out of your brain?

McDonald's Ordering Song?

Again a late discovery. But it's so nice to share!A very entertaining vid by Family Life Education Pasefica (FLEP). Creative! ;)

Macau Magic Trip: Shop & Fun

Welcome to Macau! And this is the Church of Sao Paulo, the most famous landmark in Macau.Apart of the magic performance (and food), we spent the rest of the time going around in the city. I didn't manage to go to HK as planned earlier due to some reasons, but nevertheless, we had really good time in Macau!One of the places that you must visit is the Venetian Resort-Casino. An extremely luxury

Macau Magic Trip: The Food

I think no one needs to be worried of where to look for good food in Macau - it's everywhere. There are always some best dining options in the city!The Noodle and Congee Corner in Grand Lisboa. Nicely designed.Tried the traditional hand-made noodles. Can watch the expert chef preparing the noodles in the open kitchen!Here can try the HK style WanTan mee with big shrimp dumplings. I had it twice

vancouver's living roof

Vancouver's 6 Acre Living Roof - Growing Cities Series from Dave Budge on Vimeo.

Macau Magic Trip - Performance

The performance day was on 24th Aug. It's in the launch party for the APPT (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) tournament in Grand Lisboa Casino in Macau, organized by PokerStars.net.The day kicks off with the Press conference. Crowded with reporters!My friend George Wong started his magical Mask-changing routine (a.k.a "Bian Lian) - one of China's most elusive performing arts. His speed of mask-changing

Macau Magic Trip - Arrival

Ya I'm back from my Macau trip (23/8 - 28/8) - my apology for sorta late update. Really too many pics to choose from;)I was actually invited to perform in the welcome party for APPT (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) tournament '09 - held by APPT and PokerStars in Macau, the so-called the heart of poker in Asia, a very vibrant and exciting city indeed!This exciting event took place in PokerStars poker

I'll be Away

Hi dear all I'll be away for a week for...another big thing;)Venue: MacauDuration: 6 daysGoing with: Magicians + Models + SingersFor: A magical event in Casino!Why Casino? : It's where the card magic gets really interesting;)See ya!See my previous magic performances here.

what's your life like?

Next time you are feeling sorry for yourself, for whatever reason. Goodness knows sometimes it's downright therapeutic to wallow in a little self pity. When you're ready for a little perspective. And a whopping dose of Magic Medicine, just read this:

http://briananelson.blogspot.com/

Appreciation

It's a late update, but 11/8/09 is a day that I'll always remember.I got a call from Emergency department, the place that I worked in, that there's a "meeting" to attend on 11th. It's really a big surprise. "Majlis Penghargaan Perkhidmatan Kecemasan Hosp Taiping" - specially held by a VIP, guess who?Ya, he's the VIP that appeared in my blog long time ago - in fact, it's EXACTLY one year ago! The

Is the Heart still Beating?

I encountered a "tough" medical check up the other day. Not about the patient but the form that I need to fill up. One particular part was rather odd, and I think if I were to show to a consultant, he'd scratch his head too.It's like this:And if I try to translate it (I'm trying my best), the questions are:Heart condition:a) Rhythmb) Any sound "beside and above" the heartc) The location which the

Beautifully Imperfect

I know it's not something new but, just wanna share one of her last works:"Funeral" TVC - by Yasmin Ahmad"In the end, it's these small things that you remember, the little imperfection that make them perfect, for you..."I think everyone is also the "beautifully imperfect" one for certain others..And I must say that this is a really meaningful and touching clip..just like all her others..We'll

Cool Tech

I always think technology is the coolest when it comes to using it for enhancing patient's care. I came across this online and just wish to share it. Pic from CyberdyneThis is HAL - Hypbrid Assistive Limb.."'Robot Suit HAL' is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical capability. When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles via motoneuron,

make darfur a topic

read this and tweet

Keep my Fingers Crossed for Yasmin

I'm really shocked to read the news regarding our beloved Yasmin, multi-award winning director who has suffered a cerebrovascular event and now being admitted to Intensive Care Unit. According to the news she underwent neurosurgical operation so I guess the stroke was a hemorrhagic one. She's still unconscious.My heart really sank. I remember that I wrote a post regarding her last year - saying

Healing Self, Healing Others

There is an unseen tether that ties the body and the mind to the spiritual, the earth to the heavens, certainty to the unfathomable, water to wet. Can there be spiritual without body, without material? That seems like a stupid question. Of course, we say, spiritual is beyond the body--superior to the body? Inferior? Perhaps anterior or posterior to it? It is without the body, it is no body. Can the same be said for the mind? I don't know enough to confirm or deny that one but certainly the mind affects the health of the body. I remember as a boy once willing myself sick so that my mom's boyfriend would leave early that night. I thought I was faking it until early that next morning when I woke with chills and a fever. What happened? A coincidence? Perhaps. But consider the pains from depression, the weakened immune system associated with stress, or even how the mind can lag and become melancholic when the body is sick. When our body comes to its end we might consider that it is just us, a lone consciousness, that remains and that tether, that something unseen that strings this all together now, is a compass to direct us where Nature's considered for us our next stage for inquiry. But in the meantime it is a conscious material self that becomes us, that is because of us that we must work to understand so as to better fully express the quality of what it is to be human. Of course philosophy, literature, architecture and the fine arts of all cultures past and present teaches us that those expressions of humanity are not without their quality and quantity, so what is so special about understanding the whole of the human body? I like to think that this is the apex of human study; the closer we come to unraveling the mystery of the trinity that manages the miracle of the human form and function the easier it can be for us to begin to fathom what we are not, then consider the potentials of what we can be. That's what I'm working toward: to know the body in this living material manifestation so that I may better comprehend the matter of me without. It sounds pretty heavy, but I think the process of every human potential lends itself to a path toward self discovery.

When we study the miracle of body through its viscera and physiology, the strength of its muscles, its vulnerability to disease (consider how something smaller than a single hemoglobin can disrupt the balance of this universe of us as easily as we microbes can interrupt the Earth's homeostasis), through its complex functions to transform matter into energy, its system of defense against these microbial invasions, how can we not consider this phenomenon separate of the miracle of mind and the miracle of spirit? How, too, can we not consider the influence of the cosmic and earthy nature in which all this did manifest? The body is not alone in the process of living. When the body ceases to communicate with mind and spirit and the balance of Nature, this is death.

The University of California San Francisco's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine has a series of televised lectures about current research concerning the science behind the health value of this trinity--mind/body/spirit medicine, for example, or the "truth" behind psychoneuroimmunology (that is, how the body's natural defenses can be compromised and/or strengthened by the various states of our mental and spiritual well being). The Center calls this series a "mini medical school for the public". All videos can be viewed on their YouTube channel uctelevision. Here are links to two lectures in particular that better illustrate mindfulness in healing:

Mind-Body-Spirit Medicine

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UmteTW868I&feature=channel_page

Here Dr. Kevin Burrows, a physician and director of the Mindfulness Programs at the Osher Center, shares his research on mind-body (one word) medicine, and his hopefulness as science begins to corroborate what ancient wisdom had come to understand through thousands of years of study. In the last 15 minutes of his lecture Dr. Burrows introduced another branch of this tree of study that has led me to wonder further into this mystery. It is the work of Dr. Larry Dossey, a physician and proponent of Complimentary and Alternative medicine, and editor of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing.

I'll be brief in this post about Dr. Dossey and hope to explore my studies of him in a later post. When Dr. Dossey was editor of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, he wrote that there are three eras of medicine. Three eras of medicine? He doesn't mean the history of medicine--western or eastern--that helped to define our concepts of medicine. He means modalities of healing. You can actually find an article of his published in the current issue of Explore titled "Mind-Body Medicine: Whose Mind and Whose Body?" that includes a table detailing these eras from which I've sourced my information.

Medical Eras:

Era I

Space-Time Characteristic: Local

Mechanical, material, or physical medicine

Description:

Elements of Era I are causal, deterministic, and describable by classical concepts of space-time and matter-energy. Mind is not a factor; “mind” is a result of brain mechanisms.

Examples:

Any form of therapy focusing solely on the effects of things on the body are Era I approaches, including techniques such as acupuncture and homeopathy, the use of herbs, etc. Almost all forms of “modern” medicine— drugs, surgery, irradiation, CPR, etc—are included.

EraII

Space-Time Characteristic: Local

Mind-body medicine

Description:

Mind is a major factor in healing within the single person. Mind has causal power and is thus not fully explainable by classical concepts in physics. Era II includes, but goes beyond, Era I.

Examples:

Any therapy emphasizing the effects of consciousness solely within the individual body is an Era II approach. Biofeedback, relaxation, self-hypnosis, imagery, visualization, and placebo effects are included in Era II.

Era III*

Space-Time Characteristic: Nonlocal

Nonlocal or transpersonal medicine

Description:

Mind is a factor in healing both within and between persons. Mind is not completely localized to points in space (brains or bodies) or time (present moment or single lifetimes).

Mind is unbounded and infinite in space and time, thus omnipresent, eternal, and ultimately unitary or one. Healing at a distance is possible. Elements of Era III are not describable by classical concepts of space-time or matter-energy. Era III includes, but goes beyond, Era II

Examples:

Any therapy in which effects of consciousness bridge between different persons is an Era III approach. All forms of distant healing, intercessory prayer, some types of shamanic healing, diagnosis at a distance, telesomatic events, and probably non-contact therapeutic touch are included in Era III.

____________

* There have been scientific studies regarding the efficacy or at least the recordable effects of certain Era III therapies such as distance healing, pranic healing and medical qi gong. Through TheSSEChannel by scientificexploration.org you can view excerpts of various SSE Talks explaining the scientific studies of these healing therapies. The talk concerning the pranic healing is especially interesting. Here's a brief description from the video channel:

Title:
An Extensive Laboratory Study of Pranic Healing Using Cells in Culture Subjected to Gamma Radiation

Summary:
A long-term study showed that pranic healing techniques (believed by practitioners to be "Qi or life-force energy") significantly enhanced the survival rate of cells subjected to radiation.

About the author:
Joie P. Jones, PhD, Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA USA.

For more, visit www.scientificexploration.org

The second video of the two I found most interesting to the subject of mindfulness in medicine (Era II medicine) is Coping with Stress-The Truth About Psychoneuroimmunology (or PNI)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R9mD-iJZIg&feature=channel_page

Margaret Kemeny, Phd, Professor of Psychiatry at UCSF talks about her research on stress and how our ability to manage it affects or health and well being. What I like about this lecture is how clearly she explains the chemistry and physiology behind the what and the how of these effects.

***

What is the bottom line here? I guess the big question here is What is healing? We are aware of the body's ability to fight disease and infection and the influences of mind and spirit and environment to do so, but we also know that sometimes the body can be overtaken too powerfully and needs a little to a lot of help to pull through; and, of course, we know that sometimes no matter how much outside and inside help delivered, the body's fight for survival just can not be won. My mother is a Registered Nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit in Texas. She knows the battle of managed care for the sick and dying. In the case of 23 week old newborns, for example, what can you say about the health of the tiny patient and the state of his or her mind and spirit in regards to its suffering and potential healing? The work of the healthcare practitioner is to facilitate the intrisic healing mechanics of the body. But in cases such as these when the body was not able to mature to full-term in the womb and is then unable to viscerally function properly without the aide of machines and pharmaceuticals engineered to substitute the body's various deficiencies what can one do but manage the symptoms complicated by such a premature birth and work feverishly to simulate the mother's in utero landscape with warm lights in an incubator, IVs, synthetic surfactant (to increase pulmonary compliance or to keep the alveolus from collapsing under the force from the high surface tension of the water in the fluid that surrounds the alveolus), and a feeding tube? Who doesn't turn to prayer in one form or another to compliment these treatments? Or the gentle touches from the family and their encouraging words? This too is complimentary medicine. It is the rudimentary, most ancient of healing practices we could ever afford: love and compassion. Regardless of the healing modality, regardless of the science or era of a medicine, we can't always save the patient, but we can let them know that through all the pain and suffering they might endure they are not alone in this process and that all is being done to help them through. This is the best that any of us can ever hope for or hope to give. So yes, touching is good.

Glasgow Coma Scale?

Medical officer (MO) doing round with 3 house officers (HOs).They stopped at one bed, which a patient has his eyes opening to call, with localizing response to pain and incomprehensible speech.MO asked HO X, "What is the patient's GCS?"HO X: "His GCS is full."MO: "Maybe yours is not. Do you know how to assess GCS?"HO X: "Hmmm...actually not too sure..."MO shook his head, and asked HO Y to

on a rant

does meditation make me even more sensitive?
people are driving me crazier than usual this week.
jonathan fields is wondering why blogging is making him fat, when he lists a series of injuries that seem to be preventing him from working out like he did in his 20's. but i didn't see the words "physical therapy" anywhere.
why does this raise the hairs on my neck? because i want a yoga guy to know better. then again, maybe that isn't fair of me.
for some reason i give a pass to my karate grandmaster and most of the teachers who instruct us to do things that I KNOW are bad for our bodies. And I do them anyway, or DO IT MY WAY when i can.
Still, this is the thing that makes me nuts. If you're in the business of physical exercise of any kind, you should be up to the moment on what works, what doesn't and the latest in technique, even if your art is thousands of years old.
And another thing...
another day.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of paying attention to your muscles and tendons, and ligaments and joints and bones. And getting the help you need for every injury.

Super Babies!

Would anyone disagree that these "super babies" are really tooooo cute? ;)

hard core dharma

The voice in my head: Where to start?
Answer: Start where you are.
I'm taking the audio version of Hardcore Dharma at The Interdependence Project. Which works for me because I just don't have a free evening. Each week I download an MP3, keep up with the readings, and try to soak up as much as I can. Not being in the room makes a big difference.
It's difficult not to multi-task while listening to the audio. But that's one of the points of this. To make a commitment not to multi-task. And it's astonishing to realize how much I am multi-tasking all the time. Although to be honest, what I've noticed more than my multi-tasking, is how much I rush through things in order to get to the next.
This morning was the first morning I had all to myself, without any need to rush to the office, so I was able to sit for longer than the 10 minure minimum. And what a difference that makes. Walking across 28th Street to the subway, my mind wasn't so filled with chatter, and my eyes and ears were resting more comfortably in the sights and sounds along the way.
The last several weeks have felt like the city's been screaming at me. Not a moment of quiet or peace. Even the 4th of July, 3 day weekend at home felt unrestful.
But now, the hum of the air conditioner in the office sounds like a white noise lullaby.
My breathing is steady and deep.
I fell back to 10 minute sessions in an attempt to stick to the 7 day meditation vow each week. 10 minutes is easy to do no matter how little time you have. But having the opportunity to sit for my more normal half hour is so much more fruitful.
Yet, one of the interesting things I've picked up in this course is something I know so well in karate, and seem to forget too easily in everything else. Consistency is key. And every sit is different. No need to judge. The most important part is showing up.
The fact that my 10 minute sits were not restful isn't a reflection so much of the medititation time, but of what life has been feeling like.
This morning's half hour, leisurely meditation reflected on the actual time and space I was in. An empty apartment, no pressing appointments, no pressure.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of time to sit and to breathe.

Best Excuse Not to Quit Smoking?

Excuse #1An asthmatic patient is found to be a smoker.Dr: "You'd better give up your smoking. It could worsen your asthma control."Pt: "No I can't...I have problem if I do that."Dr: "Problem which is?"Pt: "I'd easily get angry if I don't smoke. Really one. You can ask my wife..."Pt's wife: "Ya he's right...his temper gets horrible if cigarette is not there. I think I won't encourage him to stop

A Special Week

After much effort,Something wonderful finally happened...The very first time ever since I work in this ward...Something difficult to achieve, and hard to believe...We manage to have an empty cubicle!! (In fact the ward is really quite empty - only 10 patients!)Imagine everyday in the past 6 months we are having a ward-full of patients and even bed extensions at times...this scene is considered a

Magic in Medicine and the 13 Ghost Points

I am no scholar of the history of medicine or the anthropological etymology of traditional healing practices around the world, but I can guess that the medicine of early human was a split between the heroics of emergency care and the magical battle against the demons of disease. It was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's improvements on the microscope and his subsequent studies of microbiology that lead to germ theory and immunology that faltered these supernatural conclusions. Now we use words like bacteria and virus, autoimmune disorder to describe the monsters that, seasonally or otherwise, usurp our body and mind. Most of us cannot see demons or devils or ghosts so we dismiss the notion as superstition and therefore not of physical importance. But we can at various magnifications witness, study and categorize the germs representing these superstitions. No longer do we count on the shaman's communion with the Spirits and our ancestors to intervene to exorcise the pernicious influence out from our body. It is pharmaceutical science we believe in, it is pharmaceutical science that works. But was the treatment by the shaman or the priest any less effective than our modern science? Was the non-scientific understanding of the clinical nature of the devil-for-pathogen any less accurate than the science of how a pathogenic enzyme weakens a cell wall thus allowing a virus, say, to hijack the cell in order to industrialize its "evil" genetic material? A devil by another name doesn't sound so sweet; but, really, were our ancient brothers and sisters of the healing arts off the mark when they considered our spiritual and mental delinquencies a correlation--if not a direct cause--of the ghosts and devils that ravaged our well being?

Let's consider the human form. It is a sack of ghastly viscera held between an armature of cartilage and bone; it is a machine of complicated circulatory pumps and muscular devices able to manipulate matter and do work; it is a material construct of a spiritual consciousness; it is a biological super-bug; it is alive. Regardless of how we approach the object of us and its function, we understand it as comprised of three elements: the body, the mind and the spirit and as a result of the balance between the communion of these three, susceptible to illness.

Chinese Medicine is one of many medical traditions that embrace this natural trinity when considering the health of each patient. Of course it is not without its history of demonized conditions exorcised through ancestor worship and prayer, repentance, etc. Illness within the body was understood early on as consequences of the patient whose actions were out of sink with the movements of nature and reflected in the body through various patterns of the 8 principles: hot, cold, damp, dry,internal, external, yin & yang. What about mental/brain disorders and emotional disturbances? Particularly mania and epilepsy was thought to be the work of ghosts. Ah... But these ghosts or devils could be tamed and led outside and away from the body by a physician utilizing, through acupressure or acupuncture, a prescribed pattern from the thirteen ghost points developed over 2000 years ago.

See below:
13 Ghost Points *

GV26 --Gui Gong--Ghost Palace LU 11

LU 11--Gui Xin--Ghost Convincing SP 1

SP1--Gui Lei--Ghost Fortress PC 7

PC7--Gui Xin--Ghost Heart BL 62

BL62--Gui Lu--Ghost Road (Fire needle 3-7 times)

GV16--Gui Zhen--Ghost Pillow

ST6--Gui Chuang--Ghost Bed (Fire needle)

CV24--Gui Shi--Ghost Market

PC8--Gui Ku--Ghost Cave

GV23--Gui Tang--Ghost Hall CV 1

CV1--Gui Cang--Ghost Hidden (Moxa only)

LI11--Gui Chen--Ghost Official (Fire needle 3-7 times)

Hai Cuan--Gui Feng--Ghost Seal (Needle or Prick)

*Source: www.tcmstudent.com/study_tools/Ghost Points.html which sourced the information from "Sun Si-Miao's Ode to 13 Ghost Acupoints for the Treatment of Mental Disorders". American Journal of Acupuncture. Vol 20, No 3, 1992, p267-268.


No longer are these points used to exorcise a patient of their demon but, interestingly, to help treat various onsets of psychological illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, mania, epilepsy, etc. But how often do Western practitioners of Chinese Medicine use these points to treat a patient's mental illness? Would they even describe these points as "ghost points" to their Western patients? Are these practices still used in the People's Republic of China? In his March 1979 article Mental Illness in China: A 'Contradiction among the People', Joel Greenberg reports about two groups of American psychiatrists who visited the People's Republic of China to study the treatment practices of Chinese psychiatric doctors on a growing patient population of mentally ill. Oddly enough, the subject of ghost points was never addressed in the article. Of course the common practices of herbal prescriptions, acupressure, acupuncture and moxabustion were used in conjunction with Western pharmaceuticals ("antischizophrenic drugs") and a dose of communist idealism: "'The doctors believe that patients have arrived at wrong conclusions because they have not made thorough investigations' into their illness. In-hospital classes are held, where the patients study Chairman Mao's philosophical works and articles on how to handle 'the contradictions among the people,' or interpersonal difficulties."

The points that were needled--"in front of each ear canal for phobias; at the temples for ruminative states and at the mandibular joints and vortex for schizophrenia"--do not appear to match any of the 13 points listed above. But this is Chairman Mao's China. Traditional Chinese Medicine has publicly replaced Classical Chinese Medicine practices. "Superstition" in Chinese medicine has all but been completely rid of and the integration of Western science and biomedical theories and practices is the mainstream in Chinese hospitals and with the government trained "barefoot doctors" administering aide and health education to rural China.

The literal ghosts of illness and disease were replaced by figurative ones which still let us consider the mind-body disturbance that elicited the imbalance that fostered the pernicious influence to ravage the body and the mind. Then those figurative ghosts were busted and now remains the symptoms of disease to be managed. More and more, though, through the integration of Western and Eastern medical practices into mainstream medicine and the health care reform's focus on wellness and prevention, we're learning that managed disease care doesn't have to be the singular work of modern medicine. Health care professionals can actually promote health and wellness in the communities by educating the public of the curative magical practices of our bodies. The act of someone fostering wellness in another may be without its magical paradigms, but there is something sacred to the act, the ritual of giving of oneself to help heal a stranger in need. Modern healers may no longer be our village shamans or country priests but they can be guides to help us see the invisible that afflicts us, to understand the intentions of that heated influence and to educate us to know our bodies, our lifestyle (without judgment) and our environment so that we may avoid future altercations with the Devil pathogen that's keeping us from enjoying the full life we all deserve.

Rare Diagnosis (2) - Fahr's Syndrome

Saw a really interesting case last week.A middle-aged woman was brought by her husband who's worried that she might be suffering from dementia, although it seems a bit early onset for her age. Her behaviour and personality seems to be changing over the past few months, and frequent falls were also noted.Examination revealed Parkinsonian features: Mask-like facial appearance, shuffling gait with

would you rather shop or make something?

Maybe it's the rain, but I had a hankering to go to Ocean State Job Lot to pick up more plastic containers to organize my studio. Or, head over to New Paltz to buy a pair of tie die yoga pants that I've been yearing for. Instead, I stopped at a yard sale on my way home, picked up a vintage wicker settee for just $30 bucks to replace the 20 year old shredded sofa on the porch. And they even drove it to the house for me.
In a somewhat constant state of transition, I was having trouble settling into just being home. Larry had already left for the airport, and it had been a busy week with my nephew visting on his way from Isreal to sell Dead Sea Products in a DC mall.
And, it was raining. As good a reason as any to go shopping... but the itch was stronger to hole up in my studio, despite the chaos, and work on a project I've been thinking about for months.
I drink almond milk, and tossing the cartons out always gives me pause. I put them in the recycle bin, but not really sure if these cartons with waxed paper outside, and foil inside actually can be recycled. In theory of course they can. But are they?
Reuse is actually better than recycling. And I've had a pile of these hanging around for a while with the intent to make a large tote from them. I hit a snag when I realized that the sewing machine couldn't manuever some of the necessary seams. And after a bit of agonizing, realized that duct tape was the perfect tool!
So for my next attempt I am going to skip the sewing altogether, and go straight for the duct tape. There were some great online tutorials for making change purses from juice cartons. All very kid friendly.
I of course opted to intuit the construction realizing that I don't actually follow directions well at all. And I have to say, I was sooooo satisfied with the result. And so glad I'd opted for studio time instead of shopping.
At the end of the day, shopping always leaves me rather fuzzy headed and psychically exhausted. Making things leaves me feeling pleasantly spent, like a good work out.
So I'm thinking I can use this as a way to save a bit more money these days. If I give myself the option of making something, anything, instead of shopping each time I get the urge. We'll see what happens.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of making something out of your garbage instead of shopping for things that create more waste...
Get the book: Magic Medicine: Rx for Creativity now, at Lulu.com, order directly from me, or keep an eye out on Amazon.

Failed Contraception?

(Pic from Foto S.A)Just to share a story:A friend of mine did an educational community project during his final year as a medical student, which aimed to create awareness of contraception in a village (kampung).They have prepared the presentation and booklets explaining on various types of contraceptives, which the primary emphasis is on barrier method - condoms, due to its cost-effectiveness

Like most people born and raised under the western health care umbrella, I grew up having no familiarity with the life style of natural medicine or preventive medicine, much less the holistic-health care model of Oriental Medicine--classical or otherwise. My idea of prevention comes from my childhood experiences of painful vaccinations and an ear infection every Fall until I was six. There was nothing sacred about medicine; it was a job which allowed our single mother, a Registered Nurse, to pay the rent and keep the cupboards half full. Its pattern was simple: it was the doctor's cold invasion, the white-walled office, hands that smelled rubbed with alcohol, the pallid eyes, the otoscope pushed too far into the canal of my raging ear; the ear infection confirmed, antibiotics, then feeling better in a day or two. It's difficult to differentiate your body from yourself at such an early age. How do you not misinterpret each illness as a personal attack on your character? Why should I endure these pains alone, I would think, when my sister--my twin, no less--had the privilege of sleeping through every October undisturbed. Why was there no devil's finger digging in her ear? What made my body's relationship with this evil bacterium so different from hers? By the sixth year my eustachian tubes had made their natural course downward, forward, medially and the seasonal infections were gone. Our visits with the doctor also disappeared and I stopped with my jealous introspections. For the next seven years we would not visit a doctor unless we really had to, that is if what ailed us could not be fixed at home--but what could not a mother cure? Between the chamomile teas and ibuprofen we came to understand that the body would just take care of itself. Our mother never got sick. All her years helping the sick and dying in nursing homes, emergency rooms and eventually neonatal intensive care units the one thing she "contracted" and then communicated to my sister and me was that the body is a very capable machine.

Three years ago, however, I learned that my capable machine had been confronted by the stresses on my inconsistent lifestyle of a young man in graduate art school. Suddenly one afternoon I began to suffer from a dry, burning that affected the middle of my back, my right arm (including the axillary) and right pectoral. A week later when this burning progressed into painful blisters, and while my wife and I were traveling to Arlington, Texas for a wedding, the diagnosed was made clear: I had shingles. I asked the tending physician how this could have happened. My hygiene was very important to me, I told her, and I didn't eat greasy foods. My ignorance was showing. It is not impossible but it is rare for some one in their late twenties to suffer the effects of the herpes zoster virus. My immune system had been compromised and stress was the most likely culprit. The diagnosis came too late for the antiviral to have been effective, so it was not prescribed. My body would have to carry on as before for the next four to six weeks with no outside assistance except moderate doses of a prescribed painkiller "when needed" which only made me nauseous. I mention this occurrence in my life not because it then introduced me to the powers of Oriental Medicine or to my current OM practitioner, but because it was then that I realized I had been neglecting that trinity of mind, body and spirit and that there were consequences to this delinquency. This machine is only capable as long as we work with it towards its wellness. Since the shingles outbreak I've been exercising regularly, trying to eat seasonally, engaging in talk therapy once a week and visiting with my OM practitioner when ever I can and reading all I can get my hands on regarding the theory, the science and practice of OM and bioscience. Technology and the Western medical model can guarantee a longer life, but if we do not come to understand the body's fluid relationship with the mind and spirit and the relationship we share with our environment (for better or worse), and if we do not practice and regulate these teachings, how can we expect to maintain balance thereby ensuring a richer quality of life to accompany that longevity?

On Reading the Huang Di Nei Jing (Ilza Veith translation)

There are many treasures shared from reading through the Nei Jing--if not an infinite number of gems; for it's like opening a book to read from the gestures of the cosmos and each bit of light needles the heart by way of the brain, by way of the eyes . In a practical sense, the Nei Jing is an understanding of the circular, multilayered philosophy of Yin and Yang and the 5-Elements principle. But I say one reads "through" the text because my experience is you can't just read it once or twice and then impress your friends for having kept such company as the Huang Di and Qi'Po. Depending on your state of mind, your development spiritually, philosophically, professionally as you read each chapter, you will be drawn as a wandering satellite to orbit a certain philosophical gem, a poetic gesture, a technical inquiry, an historical curiosity that reflects your current position with yourself in the world. The theory of Yin and Yang is simple and complex and I would love to understand it further and live by the 5-elements, but what moves me most right now as I read through it again is the relationship between Huang Di and his court physician Qi'Po. I think as students of body and medicine (though my studies so far are only amaturish) we all want that communion with our teachers: our childish enthusiasm to understand this theory and practice with question after question after question, trying to delve further and deeper so that we can be the best healers we can be and the teacher's unflinching patience to keep our head above water. It's a lot of information to try to ingest and keep put as if it had always been in us and/or accessible anytime (is it?). Qi'Po and Huang Di's relationship is about pacing and deep breathing with The Tao; otherwise you will learn nothing and never recognize the truth right before your eyes because you're struggling so hard to reach the bottom where the goal, the "truth", lies as fallen treasure to be had. I don't mean to say that the Nei Jing is a cautionary tale of the fallen student, Iquaris in the middle of an ocean metaphor, but I do mean to say that the magic of the body is a bottomless abyss and from reading through the Nei Jing I've begun to think that the best way to understand that bottomless abyss (ocean metaphor alert!) is to recognize our own bouancy in it. Once we learn how to be in the knowledge, then can we begin to mark distance in it.