Clinic Room on Level 12 of UTS Tower 1

The view from tower one across the road
The view out from tower one, level12

Hi CMA blogs,

Here's an update of the clean and ready to be used clinic room on level 12. The view from this room is great but hardly seen as the windows are too high. As you can see there is a massive construction site on the other side of the road. The only problem with this room is that there is never any soap at the sinks. Back to lectures on Monday after a two week break-urgh!

Herbs that regulate the Qi

Hi C.M.A blogs,

Here's a photo story about a herbs that regulate the Qi. In herbs clinic we had a quiet day so we had a study session. Just gives you an idea of what goes on. I wish to be better at herbs, luckily we are on a two week mid semester break, so may go over them a little bit...Thanks Warren and people for the pics.

Ross Penman & the Chinese Medicine deer hunter!

Ross Penman. This is an update for all those interested in a talk from the Tai Yi Society and anybody interested in hearing of this elusive and independent man. I owe you a response! Even the journey to this man’s ear has been profoundly difficult. An ethereal smoke of communication and lost calls floating around a strange fog! A clear goal was set. This man would talk to the Tai Yi Society (UTS Chinese Medicine society, why we couldn’t call that I don’t know). Anyway I began my trek through a misty forest at dawn, hunting my elusive prey! In my sites , almost as ethereal as the mist itself, was a strange deer. Quick and highly tuned this animal seemed to stare confidently from the distance but any placing of a wrong step, snapping a stick on the ground, I could sense would send it off into the hinterland to be lost forever… As I had very little useful information of its habits and no knowledge of what it liked, except of course the love of the fabled shakuhachi Japanese flute, taught by Riley Lee, Google Ross’s name and that is pretty much all the information that turns up! I had to approach with extreme caution. Not only that but he was in a small herd guarded by some very loyal does who would fiercely protect any sort of terribly hostile attack-for example a phone call..! I began by gathering all information on dates and times of when the talk could be done. I always had my diary and pen available for any instant capture! I was never hindered by the attitude of the feisty does protecting him. I knew over time they would soften, as I am a patient man. After leaving a few unreturned messages at his busy clinic the prey knew I was on to him! At last fortune favoured the bold and on one last try I caught the man between treatments and he decided to see what was going on.

“Hi it’s Damien here”

“Hi Damien’

‘you remember me? I had some treatments from you ages ago’

‘yes’

“how’s the shakuhachi playing going…”

It was a clear shot and the quivering arrow pierced through the mist creating spinning eddies of circling smoke like the aerodynamics from a planes wing tips that gave seconds of clear sight in its wake. These moments were so short as I was always aware of this man's enormous time pressure from his back to back patients.

And so began a stilted communication. In the second phone call that I managed to get through to him he stated he wanted to give a talk. He booked it three months ahead! I was hopeful but secretly believed he wouldn’t honour it. Why? It was just such a time lag that anything could happen. I watched the deer trek off into the shadows wondering if it would ever be seen again. I never had a mobile or an email to contact him with. As time grew closer I wrangled a confirmation out of him and it was on! He wouldn’t give any indication of what he wanted to talk about though, but I had no intention of snapping that forest twig under foot and so I never gave any pressure. People turned up and the talk happened. He stated on that night he hadn’t done a talk for 25 years. Thank you Ross Penman for your time.

Back to the present day and I have to disappoint by saying Ross refused to do another talk through the Tai Yi Society. He stated that he wanted to be associated through UTS as a guest lecturer. Well that’s up to you Ross and best of luck with that. How will this deer function in the concrete jungle that is UTS? Probably quite well! Lets just hope we don’t have to wait another 25 years to hear this man's experience and ideas and that he gets a mobile phone and an email address!

Fire needle technique and cupping

In these vids and pics Madelaine does her first fire needling and afterwards we tried cupping the cyst to draw out what was inside (urgh!), but it proved to stubborn and we will wait another week. This is three weeks after Jeff's first fire needling as the second week the cyst was too inflamed after initial needling. This cyst has been present for a few years so it has needed a bit more work than James's cyst which popped after the first week, he had his cyst for a lot shorter period of time.

After cupping a classic bruise mark was left. This will disappear in a few days.

Scalp Acupuncture

One happy chappy...
James did a thorough job on my head! He mastered the best technique on about his eighth needle. The other seven were this bent or at 90 degree angles after being jammed into to my scalp...

After treatment I noticed a difference in my mood. I felt light headed and energised. However the reason why we are doing this is to help people who, for example, need better and improved muscle response in the their legs. Below is a patient named Josh. He very kindly allowed me to take this photo in clinic with Cong (UTS TCM lecturer and practitioner in the clinic). Josh came to the UTS acupuncture clinic to try treatment out to help with his recovery from a car accident in October 2008. He sustained major injuries to his spine and now is working to regain the use of his legs. He also has reduced mobility and strength in his arms. He is a determined man and his ability for walking or aided walk is looking fantastic. This is because of all the physiotherapy work he does, determined attitude and therapies such as acupuncture and Chinese Medicine herbs. One type of treatment we have followed for Josh is electro scalp acupuncture. In this photo you may see some leads travelling to his head as well as to his arms. The point is to stimulate the the motor function areas of the brain. Its an interesting combination of western understanding of areas of the brain and how they work and eastern understanding of drawing energy to needed areas of the body to stimulate muscle response, in this case.As you can imagine we have been delighted with Josh's muscle test response improvements and the ability for him to feel sensation down the legs with acupuncture too. He's off to America soon to the Shepherd centre for some intense work but I must say it's been a real privilege to have met him and to have worked with him for this short period of time as I feel as though I have learnt a great deal from him. If he ever sees this blog I wanted to show him that we go through the same acupuncture that he's been through too, except he didn't have to endure the needles being bent in half on his head as someone did it on mine first! All the best Josh and I hope for an update when you get back.

Around and about herb clinic

Raw herbs in jars!Jars of herbs and raw herbs in drawers
Row of raw herbs!
More rows of raw of herbs, most we have to know-pin yin, English and the nature, tropism and which channels they go
powdered herbs

Really nice looking cup cakes from next door...
This is what it looks like to have a bunch of people look at your tongue! Thanks Warren !!