The Clinic at Southbank

03/10/2024

Always good to know we have "experts" for this kind of thing, even if it has taken them a bit of time to catch on.

The shape, color and texture of your tongue can offer valuable insights into your wellbeing, experts say

30/09/2024

On our way back from the last Terenzana Summer School of 2025. We spent a week reading around thirty of Ye Tianshi’s cases on taxation fatigue (xulao 虛癆). Ye Tianshi’s style of prescribing truly is pure poetry, and picking it apart takes time and patience. I continue to be amazed how many of the issues people in eighteenth century Suzhou struggled with are not all that different from those our patients present with today. In the course of the week, we deepened our understanding of the ministerial fire (xianghuo 相火), learned how to supplement essence/the kidneys via diet and through a focus on the middle burner, understood better why Six-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia (liù wèi dì huáng wán) is an important formula for children and teenagers, and were able to extend our understanding of Li Dongyuan’s conception of ascending and directing downward to Ye Tianshi’s use of formulas like Settle the Emotions Pill (dìng zhì wán) or Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia Pill (zhī bǎi dì huáng wán). A great group of students including several new faces, bringing new perspectives to the mix. Teaching a group that includes practitioners with twenty years plus of experience alongside those that have just started practicing is a challenge, but all the better for it. In the course of the week I even learned how to facilitate my teaching with the help of AI. Not something I would have expected at the beginning! So good-bye to Italy for now, but already looking forward to next year. Xue Shengbai instead of Ye Tianshi, wenbing 溫病 and fuxie 伏邪, as well as a whole week on Zhang Xichun. Thanks to everyone who makes their way to Terenzana, and especially Tina and Cinzia for making it all possible.

27/09/2024

Talking with Alex Jacobs about Chinese medicine

Part of the BAcC's Cultivating Tradition Series, BAcC CEO, Alex Jacobs interviews Professor Volker Scheid about some of the most important ideas and themes i...

16/09/2024

Just returned from teaching the first module of my Advanced Chinese Medicine Meta-practice Course at Chiway Akademie für Akupunktur und Asiatische Medizin. Keen international group of participants with stimulating discussions. Looking forward to the next three years.

12/09/2024

The second instalment of my attempt to explain key terms in Chinese thought relevant to the practice of Chinese medicine with the help of cycling

Whether as a cyclist, a practitioner of Chinese medicine, or a Neo-confucian scholar, the reason we are interested in discovering li 理, the topic of the previous blog, is to establish a basis for effective action. What is special about li, and what makes it different from how we nowadays tend to c...

08/09/2024

After a very successful first event planning for the 2nd Terenzana Summer School, which will take place from 18 - 23 May 2025, has now been completed. The 2025 Summer School will focus on the treatment of warmth disorders (wenbing) and lurking pathogens (fuxie).

You can download the prospectus here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wjju7j61f45ushd/Terenzana%20SS%202025%20Prospectus.pdf?dl=0

Enrolment is now open and places are limited to 25 participants.

17/08/2024

We just finished the first English language summer school on the beautiful surroundings of the Agriturismo Terenzana in the Etruscan part of Tuscany. Thanks to a super group of students from the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Italy, Romania, and the US, as well as my fellow teachers Susi Picher and Gudrun Kleinrath. We spent five days taking a deep dive into the thoughts of the 13th century medical master
Li Dongyuan (famed for his treatment of Spleen and Stomach, but interested in and knowledgeable of so much more), and their value for contemporary Chinese medicine practice. Along the way, we learned why Liu Hejian‘s concept of the mysterious palaces 玄府 is so useful for understanding and treating all kinds of stagnation patterns, why moving qi comes in many different kinds, and how allowing the emotions to move freely can sometimes be facilitated with herbs. Plus great food, time to get to know each other, relaxing by the pool, cycling, and most importantly
lots of laughter. The next English language summer school will take place in late May 2025. Topic: wenbing and lurking pathogens

03/08/2024

An experiment. If it works, there will be more.

Chinese medicine and cycling are two of the passions of my life. I have practiced Chinese medicine for over four decades now, and cycled for more than six. One of the most precious gifts cycling has presented me with during all this time is a space for silent contemplation. Spending hours riding alo...

15/05/2024

My lovely wife giving a talk at the TCM Kongress in Tcm Kongress Rothenburg

14/05/2024

Thanks to Michael Max for organising this conversation, and to Stephen and Leslie for being such thoughtful co-conversationalists.

356 Considering Yi- Meaning, Significance and Conception • S. Boyanton, L. de Vries, V. Scheid May 14, 2024 In this episode we discuss 意 Yi, commonly translated as Meaning or Significance, and also as Intention. Intention gets talked about a lot in our trade, but for me over the course of time, ...

04/03/2024

We now can offer California CEUs for this course. For more information please contact info@chiway.ch