5 Elements and Trauma Survivors: From Repair to Resilience

What are the factors affecting our profession right now? Understanding the state of research evidence, Medicare coverage, Veterans’ Administration progress, practice scope encroachment, post-pandemic healthcare in the US, public perception of healthcare, and acupuncture within the complementary and integrative healthcare landscape is crucial to the continued growth and flourishing of the profession. The roles and impacts of the NCCIH (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health), climate change, US political polarization, and more can make the difference in our success.

Can we go beyond “repair” and help trauma survivors gain resilience for the next time danger threatens as well? Acupuncturists are skilled at diagnosing and repairing pathology, both subtle and gross. The 5 Elements illuminate the phases of the threat response and where the process goes awry and can guide us to highly effective ways to restore balance and regulation using their corresponding tissues, organs, or emotions: awaken arousal (metal), signal threat (water), mobilize a response (wood), restore coherence (fire), and digest the gristle (earth). The 5 Element model can also help trauma survivors cultivate their capacity for somatic mindfulness (metal), distinguishing discomfort from fear (water), mobilizing responses commensurate with the level of threat (wood), recognizing that the threat has passed (fire), and harvesting lessons that expand rather than contract (earth). Alaine Duncan, author of The Tao of Trauma and long-time acupuncturist with the Veterans’ Administration, shares 5 Element diagnostic and treatment strategies.

Dr. Shiu provides updates in the diagnosis and treatment of brain- and neurology-related disorders as they relate to Chinese medicine. From brain health maintenance and prevention to more specific diagnoses and targeted treatments in both Western and Chinese medicine, ancient knowledge and new developments can be integrated. New diagnostic techniques and technologies can be utilized within the context of Chinese medicine for disorders like stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other conditions linked with cognitive decline as well as concussion/TBI, Long COVID, migraines, and more.

Practice basic muscle testing to integrate this useful technique into Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment planning. Like tongue and pulse, muscle testing is a biofeedback tool for increased certainty to confirm which Chinese medicine diagnosis, channel involvement, herb and acupoint choices, tui na techniques, and more will be most effective. This is a hands-on class in which students will practice techniques with feedback to build physical skills and confidence, so they can immediately apply what they've learned with clients.

Skull palpation as a diagnostic tool can be invaluable in determining diagnosis and treatment strategies for neurological disorders and tendencies toward disorders. The location and nature of markers give clues to what is affecting the brain and nervous system and what treatment strategies could be most helpful. Students will explore contours of the skull to identify indentations, inflammations, and other markers indicating interference with brain health and longevity in different areas of the brain. Related strategies to resolve obstacles to brain health and longevity will also be discussed. Students will map locations, identifying features and common findings, and practice techniques related to enhanced brain function of different components of the brain.

Alaine Duncan, author of The Tao of Trauma, examines how traumatic stress can be hidden away in our tissues, making it hard to find for even the most skilled clinicians. Trauma survivors necessarily cultivate elaborate management strategies to hide their dysregulation and help them cope. This class explores places where dysregulated vibrations are commonly stored, how to access them, and how to support a survivor’s body-wisdom's return to balance and regulation. Chinese medicine diagnostic skills, Western neuroscience, and bodywork approaches can reveal and address brace and collapse responses in organs, meridians, joints, diaphragm, blood, fluids, muscles, fascia, and emotions. Students will identify treatment approaches designed to reach traumatic stress held in many locations. The class will also address patient management skills and cultivate treatment strategies to aid in avoiding overtreatment and causing reactions that result in fear or mistrust or miss the hidden vibration of traumatic stress completely and leave survivors wanting.

What is an individual acupuncturist to do, given the state of the profession? How can acupuncturists best strategize education and ability to be successful after graduation, amidst the pressures affecting the profession?  Dr. Anderson will discuss approaches to managing and optimizing work successfully within the current landscape with a view toward what creating a successful future could look like.

In multiple chapters of the Ling Shu and Su Wen, the main topic is wei qi/defense qi and/or ying qi/construction (nutritive) qi, and how to use acupuncture and moxibustion to treat the channels to harmonize and strengthen these functions. Modern life in technological societies has disordered our defense qi functions such that the innate body/mind intelligence can no longer respond effectively to exterior pathogens, environmental toxins, and internal functional and emotional issues, leading to what Chinese medicine names lao sun or taxation fatigue. Several classical Chinese medical sources, from Li Dongyuan's Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach and Zhang Jingyue's collected works to the Nan Jing, Shang Han Lun, Su Wen, and Ling Shu teach us how autoimmunity and chronic degenerative illnesses are conceived and develop over time. In this seminar, Z’ev Rosenberg, professor, practitioner, and author of four books, will systematically teach students how to diagnose, understand, and treat chronic autoimmune illnesses from these source texts, with a focus on the relationship of defense qi to ministerial fire and how these functions lose their self-regulation and become destructive to personal health.