Dear Friends,   We are standing at the threshold of something old and deep — the approaching Year of the Fire Horse , a year that speaks directly to the heart, to love itself, and to the ancient medicine of right relationship.   I want to share with you a medicine teaching that is as timely as it is timeless — one that weaves together the Chinese medicine wisdom of the Heart , the principle of Ming Li , the returning power of the feminine principle . Let us ride together for

# A Prayer of Blessing for Inner Peace May the war within you find its end. Through the ancient and patient work of laying down what was never yours to carry. May the breath come easily. May it reach the places that have been holding — the jaw, the chest, the low belly, the places behind the eyes where grief has lived so long it has forgotten it is grief. May those places soften. Not because they are forced. Because they are finally safe. May you find beneath the noise of you

In the last year, three people I know have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Each time, I've sat across from someone whose life has just shifted—a diagnosis that marks the beginning of a long, uncertain road with limited conventional treatment options. Each time, I've thought: what if we had known ten years ago?   Because here's what most people don't realize: Parkinson's doesn't begin with a tremor. The neurodegenerative process that leads to Parkinson's Disease start

the times are urgent; let us slow down -Bayo Akomolafe   Slowing down is about lingering in the places we are not used to. Seeking out new questions. Becoming accountable to more than what rests on the surface. Seeking roots. Slowing down is taking care of ghosts, hugging monsters, sharing silence, embracing the weird. If a humanist response to, say, the killing of whales or police violence urges us to do more and more to stop these phenomena, the call to slow down reminds us

In January 2010, when a large-scale earthquake struck Haiti, I was still in my first years of clinical practice. Reports were coming out from the country, eventually estimating that 300,000 people died, making the earthquake's aftermath one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. A team of physicians and EMT's from Portland, Oregon were heading down to volunteer in relief efforts and I was invited to join them—three weeks helping out in a country that had just bee

Wu Yi Tong Yuan: This profound saying captures a fundamental truth about the origins of Chinese medicine. The Etymology and Pictographic Evidence The ancient Chinese character for "medicine" (yi 醫) originally contained the radical for "shaman" (wu 巫) alongside radicals for weapons and arrows, but during the Warring States Period, the shaman component was replaced by the radical for herbal decoction—a shift that literally encoded the historical transition from shamanic healing

The lights go up earlier each year, it seems. Storefronts blaze with cheer, carols loop endlessly, and everyone asks about your plans. Yet for many of us, this season—the stretch from late November through the new year—feels less like celebration and more like survival. Do you feel it? The burden of being cheerful? Do you feel out of step with the season everyone else is celebrating?   If you're struggling right now, if the darkness feels heavier than it should, if you can't

Physiological Mechanisms At the biological level, SAD appears to involve several interconnected systems. The reduced sunlight in winter disrupts our circadian rhythms—our internal biological clock that governs sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, and mood regulation. Light entering the eyes signals the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain, which orchestrates these rhythms. Winter's darkness also affects neurotransmitter production. Serotonin, our "feel-good" neurotransmitter,

The Yi Jin Jing  (易筋經, Classic of Tendon Transformation) stands as one of Chinese internal cultivation's most profound treatises, encoding within its exercises a complete philosophy of bodily transformation through the cultivation of sinews, tendons, and connective tissues. This ancient text, traditionally attributed to the legendary Bodhidharma at the Shaolin Temple, reveals a sophisticated understanding of how working with the body's tensile structures opens the pathways of

When Ananda asked the Buddha if having good friends was half of the holy life, the Buddha corrected him: "Not so, Ananda. Having good friends, good companions, good comrades is the whole of the holy life." Not half. Not an important part. The whole.   This is not exaggeration or poetic flourish but a statement about how human beings actually become who they're capable of becoming. It is certainly true in my life. We don't develop trustworthiness in isolation, perfecting ourse

So many privileged people these days talk about "feeling safe" as if safety is an external condition, not an internal state.  There is a disease of distrust in others, definitely a result of a consumer-motivated culture where one constantly wonders: what are you trying to sell me? We scan every interaction for the transaction hidden beneath it, the angle, the manipulation. We've become expert threat-assessors, building elaborate systems to protect ourselves from being fooled,

September 2025 We're in what I would describe as a cultural autoimmune response, where we attack parts of our own social body as if they...

The black rhino's tracks were pressed deep into the red earth where she had stopped,  turned 180 degrees, caught our scent on the...

September 16, 2025 In my clinic this morning, I placed my fingers on Mrs. Chen's wrist, feeling for the subtle rhythms that diagnostic...

Dear Seekers of Wellness and Wisdom,   If you've been exploring movement-based wellness practices, you've likely encountered both yoga...

Dear Visionary Leaders and Community Builders, What if you could offer your team, organization, or community something that reduces...

The sickness of our times is doubt - in self and others. The medicine is to build your trustworthiness.   If there was ever a time to...

The Forgotten Art of Sensing In the ancient Greek conception of aisthesis  (αἴσθησις), perception was not merely the mechanical...

Dear Mamas,   What leads you to your most beautiful and best experiences? As a mother, partner, health-care practitioner and woman - I've...

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