More on Compassionate Practice

A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond

What makes somebody a master physician? What can we learn from historical texts about some limitations and possibilities, strengths and weakness of Chinese medicine that are no longer visible in the modern clinical context, especially as practiced in the West? How can we acquire and transmit skills to adapt Chinese medicine more flexibly, beyond the now standard “perfumed, candle-lit privileged context of the so-called worried well” (in Daniel Altschuler’s words) in order to serve patients in dire need who may not have access to standard health care? Wouldn’t YOU want to try and to save a patient suffering from appendicitis with Dahuang Mudanpi Tang, rather than watching them suffer and possibly die as they wait for biomedical care in an overburdened or nonexistent system?

On a deeper level, is there a role for Chinese medicine as a tool to “re-humanize” (in Leo Lok’s poignant word) the people we touch by reconnecting them with their physical, social, and environmental bodies and helping them find peace and ease and comfort, rather than merely making their lab results and diagnostic tests conform to a standard value imposed by for-profit pharmaceutical companies? Can Chinese medicine, or any medicine for that matter, be a tool of resistance to our modern relentless pressure for maximum productivity and efficiency in our industrialized capitalist society shaped by corporate greed where doctors are left feeling like assembly line workers and cogs in the machine?

This episode of the Pebble in the Cosmic Pond is actually the second part of a conversation Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms had with Daniel Altschuler, on “Compassionate Practice.” It turned out that Daniel was the perfect person to help us find answers, due to his varied experiences of training under a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Taiwan, followed by his work teaching and practicing in Seattle and his passion project of providing free healthcare to any and all once a year in a monastery in rural Nepal. I hope that you agree with Leo and me that Daniel is a rare treasure and wonderful example of just this “compassionate practice” that this whole conversation is ultimately about.

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Additional Information

• Open Hands Medicine - Daniel Altschuler's Non-Profit in Nepal
• Daniel Altschuler's clinic website - Home - Acupuncture Seattle - Traditional Chinese MedicineAcupuncture Seattle – Traditional Chinese Medicine | Looking for Acupuncture in Seattle? Chinese Medicine, Cancer Acupuncture Specialist, Dr. Daniel Altschuler can help you.
• Dr. Wilms' free course: Introduction to Classical Chinese — Translating Chinese Medicine
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• Leo Lok's courses - All Courses - Voices of Our Medical Ancestors