Pulse and Herbal Diagnosis

I remember when I was just starting out in my studies of acupuncture, I visited an herbal pharmacy in Boston's Chinatown.  In the back, an older gentleman sat at a card table and took pulses.  He spoke no English, and just took my pulse for a few minutes.  Then he jotted down an herbal pharmacy in Chinese characters and handed it to me.  I took the paper over to the several people who were busily measuring out raw herbs and handed it over the counter to them.  They quickly made me up an herbal remedy, handed it over to me, I paid them, and I left.  And the herbs worked quite well for me!

At the time, this seemed like magic.  How on EARTH could someone just take a pulse, and from that alone come up with an herbal formula - without asking any questions?!?  Now, many years later, I understand how such a thing is possible.  It requires only 3 things, and the most elusive of them for many practitioners is a reliable system of pulse diagnosis that expands with the needs you place on it so that you can get as much or as little information as you NEED for clients presenting with patterns of greater or lesser complexity.  The system presented in Simplifying the Pulse will do just that, and can be used equally well with herbal diagnosis as with acupuncture diagnosis.

By request, I will be covering the basics of how to use the pulse this way during the upcoming class.  The principles discussed can be applied to different styles of practice so that you may set up a patent, powder, or raw herb formulary to complement the work you are already doing, with the pulse being the central diagnostic method.  One common difficulty faced by practitioners who are trained in both TCM and meridian-therapy styles is how to easily use herbs in their meridian-therapy style practices without having to shift mental gears and do a full TCM-style intake.  I will discuss ways to overcome this problem and how meridian therapists can set up a pharmacy to complement the patterns they see and treat in their practice.  However you think about your acupuncture work, you will learn how to feel the qualities in the pulse that will allow you bring herbal medicine, dietary supplements, and food prescriptions seamlessly into your existing practice.

For meridian therapists who have special interest in this facet of pulse diagnosis, I suggest picking up a copy of the book The Practice of Japanese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, by Ikeda Masakazu, as recommended reading before the coming weekend.  While I do not find everything in this book applicable to my own practice or suitable for my clients, it is one of the best sources for expanding what is usually taught as meridian therpay in this country and understanding how to translate between traditional acupuncture meridian patterns and more modern herbal categories of treatment.