Yao Shan Chinese Herb Program
Emphasis and Highlights
Sensory Learning and Calibration
Chinese Herbs Awaken our Consciousness through our Sensory Orifices.
They often challenge our senses, calling us to break from an every day expectation
A portion of each class is devoted to engaging herbs in an inquiry of smell and taste and visual examination.
Special emphasis is placed on the calibrations of the categorization nuances of taste and smell and texture.
Students are encouraged to keep a tasting /scent notebook throughout their studies.
They often challenge our senses, calling us to break from an every day expectation
A portion of each class is devoted to engaging herbs in an inquiry of smell and taste and visual examination.
Special emphasis is placed on the calibrations of the categorization nuances of taste and smell and texture.
Students are encouraged to keep a tasting /scent notebook throughout their studies.
Approach Chinese Herbs as Living Beings
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Studying Chinese herbs with a focus on how their Qi is expressed through form helps us to decode their functions and indications. This naturalist approach lends insight to factors too often overlooked as the herbs are shuffled into categories and abstractions. With this view we can have greater intimacy with the herbs and make memorization easy. |
Chinese Herbs Can Touch the Spirit
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Herbs have long been used for spiritual cultivation. We explore the use of herbs as tools for spiritual development and consciousness awareness . Herbs are at the intersection of spiritual practice and health practices in the Yang Sheng/ Nourishing Life/ Longevity approach. |
Herbs For the Channel Systems:
Luo, Sinew, Divergent and Extraordinary Vessels
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Evan has long been in the inquiry of how Chinese herbs encounter the various Channel Systems beyond Primary and Zang Fu models. Integrated in the classes is information about how specific herbs enter the Sinew, Luo, Divergent Channels and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels are offered. |
Chinese Herbs Can Impact the Psycho- Emotional Wellbeing
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Explore Chinese herbs to reach the psychological and emotional aspects of a person. Herbs can help elucidate the complexities of emotional life. Discover a method for studying and applying Chinese herbs to psychological and emotional conditions. |
Formulas as Teachers
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Chinese herbal formulas act as teachers of treatment strategies and vehicles which impart subtle clinical distinctions. Understanding the architecture of formulas and patho-mechanisms that they reveal allows the practitioner to engage diagnosis and treatment with more clarity. From that clarity formulas become transmitters of the yi/intention of specifics of healing. |
Clinical Integration Rooted in Diagnostic Skills
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Diagnostics are demonstrated throughout the course of study using pulse and tongue, face, and hand. The study comes to fruition with clinically relevant integration for your healing practice. |
Eight Weekend/ Modules
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Weekend 1: February 8-9, 2020 Weekend 2: March 7-8, 2020 Weekend 3: April 18-19, 2020 Weekend 4: May 16-17, 2020 Weekend 5: June 13-14, 2020 Weekend 6: September 12-13, 2020 Weekend 7: October 17-18, 2020 Weekend 8: November 14-15, 2020 All dates are subject to change |
Class 1: Orientation to Study and Practice |
Class 2: Study of Qi and Its Dynamics: Integrity & Resilience |
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In this introductory weekend we will focus on the importance of having a clear method in the study of Chinese herbs. We approach medicine as applied philosophy. Class 1 dives deep into the core cosmological and metaphysical concepts that form the underpinning of all that we study.
At the same time, we focus our approach on being rooted in our senses, combining our sensory experience of the herbs- their taste, smell, texture, shape, how they grow- with our philosophical world view to create the epistemological framework of future study.
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This weekend focuses on the physiology and patho-mechanisms of Qi. We will explore how scent, taste, and shapes of different herbs affect the movement of Qi in different parts of the body. Multiple treatment strategies, from classical to contemporary sources will be presented.
The difference between prenatal and postnatal tonification in treatment will be clarified. Tongue diagnosis is highlighted as a window into the Qi dynamics.
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Class 3: Xue and the Dynamics of Blood |
Class 4: Jin-Ye the Dynamic of Fluids |
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This weekend focuses on the physiology and patho-mechanisms of Xue/Blood and its dynamics. Multiple treatment strategies, from classical to contemporary sources, for the tonification and invigoration of blood will be presented.
A presentation of herbs in the treatment of the Luo Vessels rounds the weekend.
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This weekend focuses on the physiology and patho-mechanisms of jinye/fluids. Understanding how to assess the physiological prerequisites for successful treatment of pathological fluids will be emphasized. Distinctions in the transformations of phlegm and the transformation of dampness will also be clearly explained. Multiple treatment strategies, from classical to contemporary sources will be presented.
Additionally, a model for understanding the endocrine system will be explored.
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Class 5: Engaging the ShenThis weekend focuses on the treatment of Shen. Strategies for nourishing the heart to calm the Shen will be presented. Subtle distinctions between anchoring, settling, sedating tranquilizing shen will be explored. Strategies for the treatment of psychiatric, psychological and emotional disorders will be examined. This weekend will also teach the principles of the treatment of neifeng/internal wind. Distinctions between the “Big shen” and the “Little shen” will be drawn.
Treatment strategies for neurological conditions will be presented.
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Class 6: Securing the Root- Kidney Yin Yang and JingThis weekend focus on the treating the Root and Foundation. Strategies for the tonification of yin/yang and jing-essence will be presented. Treatment principles for KI disease will be explored. Key clinical distinctions between prenatal and post-natal deficiencies and how to detect this on the pulse will be examined. Treatment strategies from classical traditions,
Zhu Dan-Xi and the Nourishing Yin Current, Zhang Jie-Bin and the Warm Supplementation Current will be explored.
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Class 7: Shang Hun Lun- Treating Exogenous ConditionsThis weekend focuses on the treatment of exogenous conditions through the lens of the Shang Han Lun. This seminal text provides us with the foundational concepts of Chinese herbal medicine. We will explore treatment strategies for resolution of Cold Damage while also discerning the subtleties of the essential methods used by Zhang Zhong-Jing.
With each formula we will also examine creative and flexible usage of these foundational formulas by contemporary clinicians
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Class 8: Wen Bing Tradition - Clearing Heat and ToxicityThis weekend focuses on strategies for clearing heat and toxicity. Herbs and formulas that clear different types and different levels of heat will be differentiated. We will explore treatment strategies for the resolution of diseases caused by heat and the concepts of seasonal and environmental conditions causes of disease.
The concepts of lurking heat and incubation will be examined in light of contemporary understanding of chronic degenerative and infectious disease.
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Additional Class Resources