Institut für Aus- und Weiterbildung
in Chinesischer Medizin

Content

In our various trainings with Engaging Vitality, we have become familiar and proficient with many tools which help us to have direct feedback about any needling and moxa technique we’re already practicing. And that’s truly great!

During these years training and sharing experiences with colleagues, many times I have been asked to take a little time to give feedback or brainstorm about specifics related to the use of Teishins and Moxa -because I use them so much in my own clinical practice, and they are so in line with our respectful and attentive EV approach.  I’m by no means an expert on either subject (there are many of them out there, giving regular seminars in Europe, for instance the toyohari training or Bob Quinn for non-insertive needling/teishin, and Felip Caudet for moxa), so this workshop is designed just to share with fellow Engaging Vitality practitioners the specifics that I have found most useful when blending these elements in my own clinic.

The workshop is designed to give EV practitioners an entry into how to integrate Teishin/non-insertive needling and different types of moxa using the EV listening tools to guide each intervention. For that, we need to have our EV basic training up and running, so we can take for granted basic skills as Shape of Qi (SOQ), Qi Signal Assessment (QSA), Yang Rhythm, Fluids, and so on. We don’t need to have them all mastered, but we do need a working knowledge to build on. The content of this workshop is the fruit of the observation and reflection on the mechanisms, errors, lacks and pitfalls I’ve found during the years, and the ways forward that eventually came out of that. My intention with this is to save fellow travelers the unnecessary waste of time that comes of walking a road when it has no signs yet… Of course, each one of us will find their own way to walk the road, and that’s one of the marvelous things about it.

During the workshop we’ll go over some very basic notions about teishin and non-insertive needling, and moxa. Colleagues are advised to continue investigating training options if they got deeply engaged with teishins or moxa techniques.

 

Course structure

Day 1: Teishin

• Introduction to Teishins, where they come from, shape, materials.
• Reviewing SOQ Needling. Revisiting the vector and field ideas.
• Understanding how SOQ can help us decide material and length of the tool. Understanding natural affinities, checking SOQ, Yang Rhythm, Fluids.
• Practicing tonification and dispersion techniques, using SOQ to track improvement and the different specifics of each technique. Using Yang Rhythm and Fluids to track improvement and when to finish the intervention.
• Practicing specific techniques to unblock movement, using SOQ, Yang Rhythm and Fluids to assess the intervention and dose. Working with Local Listening and the specific teishin techniques.
• Teishin techniques to target large areas. Using QSA to guide amount of intervention, and when to stop
• Complete treatment with teishin: is it possible? Using all our EV array of tools to understand when it is working and when it is not…

 

Day 2: Moxa

There are many types of moxa, and not enough time to cover even the basics of them all in a day… so we’ll focus on 3 of them only: Okyu (direct, rice/thread moxa), Chinetsukyu (cone moxa), Moxa pole. If time allows, we’ll go over Ontake (Moxa in bamboo tube).

• Introduction to moxibustion. Affinities to Qi, Xue, Fluids. Constant vs. intermittent stimulus. Vectors and fields. Content and container.
• OKYU: Basics, affinities, main effects and indications.
  • Acquiring and practicing the basic technique
  • Practice: QSA and SOQ to track the intervention and know when to stop. Taking note of the effect on the Fluids, what do we mean by affinity?
  • Effects of okyu on the channels, using Channel Evaluation to understand the mechanisms.
• CHINETSUKYU: basics, affinities, main effects and indications.
  • Acquiring and practicing the basic technique.
  • Practice: revisiting the effect of moxa cones on the SOQ. Tracking the effect on the channels, using Channel Evaluation to understand affinities.
• MOXA POLE: revisiting familiar ground. Vector and field methods.
  • Practice: vector or field techniques? Using SOQ, QSA, Channel Evaluation to track and calibrate the intervention. Reality is not fixed.