This workshop will briefly introduce Japanese acupuncture methods. Among the techniques that are characteristic of acupuncture practice in Japan is the use and role of palpation. Palpation of the body, especially the abdominal region and palpation of the radial pulses plays an important role in informing the decision of what treatment to administer. These methods are also used continuously during treatment and give feedback to what one is doing and has achieved. This feedback is not only very helpful as it allows one to fine-tune and modiy the treatment in an ongoing interactive manner, but it plays significant roles in helping the system of practice evolve and in personal development.

In the morning, the workshop will explore how abdominal palpation is used and demonstrate with practice how the findings on the abdominal wall change as a result of strategical gentle needling. In the afternoon the workshop will explore how radial pulse palpation is used and demonstrate with practice how even more refined needling methods and touch methods can trigger changes in the radial pulses. Thus during this workshop the participant will learn Japanese acupuncture palpation skills, specifically of abdominal and pulse diagnosis and two gentle needle techniques.

Content:
The workshop aims to provide a theoretical and practical knowledge of Paediatric Tuina to TCM practitioners and students. It refers to the work of the Free Children Clinic Xiaoxiao, in Milano.
It is focused on clinical practice, learning through problem-solving in small groups.
Its contents are:
- Introduction to children physiology, pathology, semeiotics and diagnosis.
- Areas, lines and points used in children.
- Main patterns and related treatment strategies.
- Specific paediatric tuina techniques and sequences.
- Treatment for the most common problems, as poor appetite, lassitude; fever, respiratory diseases; digestive and intestinal disorders; sleeping troubles, hyperactivity.
- Use of guasha and moxibustion in children patterns.
- Case history discussion or direct work with some little patients.

Comments:
The clinic Xiaoxiao treats only children, with paediatric tuina and acupuncture, and it is run for the 4° year, once every week, in Milano, Italy.
In the first 3 years (2005-08) it led a pilot-study for the cure and prevention of recurrent respiratory diseases in 0-12 years old children, with 8 sessions free of charge: the first 7 sessions take place every 10 days and the last one around two months after the completion of treatment.
The current pilot-study is designed for children who do not sleep well or are hyperactive.
The therapeutic choices are not rigidly set by protocols: they follow the Chinese diagnosis and take into account the complexity and the variability of the patients.
Paediatric Tuina is the main treatment, but we also use acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, ear-seeds, guasha, plum-blossom needle.
This project is supported by the Federation of Italian Schools of Tuina and Qigong (FISTQ).
From November 2005 to June 2008, during school time, we treated 58 children, from 2 months to 12 years old, for a total of 392 sessions (45 children for prevention and cure of respiratory disorders, of which 39 have completed the 8 sessions).
From October 2008 to January 2009 we treated 27 children, for a total of 104 sessions (40 sessions for respiratory disorders, 41 for hyperactivity or sleep disorders, 26 for other problems, as infant abdominal pain, nocturnal enuresis, dermatitis, intestinal disorders, growing problems).

We usually teach the parents the main individual tuina sequence, which will then be applied daily at home. Parents also learn some “emergency” sequences (in case of common cold or cough, fever, constipation, etc.).
The care-givers can also attend a two-days course that takes place twice a year. Here they get a basic knowledge of Chinese Medicine and of specific children physiology, pathology, diagnosis, tuina points and techniques, acquiring the ability to recognise the main clinical patterns and to design and apply a treatment.

The Xiaoxiao clinic also acts as a clinical training centre for tuina practitioners and acupuncturists (in Italy acupuncturists must be MD) who already have a good knowledge of Chinese Medicine and wish to focus on paediatrics: by June 2009 35 practitioners will be trained through a basic or advanced paediatric course.

Observations on the preliminary results can be read on the Journal of Chinese Medicine (n.85, October 2007)

The face is a valuable source of information regarding signs of health and illness, personality and character along with markings that signify psychological issues and patterns. This workshop is designed to teach practitioners how to recognize and utilize these markings, colors and shapes to diagnose disease and achieve some recognition of the underlying personality traits and emotional issues that can be understood to facilitate the healing process. Participants will discover that face reading is a valuable tool for diagnostic purposes that will validate symptoms and assist in finding the best treatment options for the patient.

“Illnesses may be identical but the persons suffering from them are different”.
(Xu Dachun ,17th century physician)
How can one best use acupuncture to treat the person as well as the illness? Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture emphasises diagnosis and treatment on the root (ben) rather than the manifestation (biao). To achieve this it uses very different diagnostic and treatment protocols from TCM. It focuses on the emotional world of the patient, as well as other diagnostic signs described in the Su Wen. Its use of points is also derived almost entirely from the Nei Jing, rather than the more modern point functions used in TCM. Overall it provides an extremely profound method of practising acupuncture that gives the practitioner an excellent tool for treating the person rather than just the illness.

Gua Sha is a straightforward technique commonly used in Asia by practitioners of Traditional Medicine, in both the clinical setting and in homes, but little known in the West. It involves palpation and cutaneous stimulation where the skin is pressured, in strokes, by a round-edged instrument; that results in the appearance of small red petechiae called ‘sha’ that will fade in 2 to 3 days. Raising Sha removes blood stagnation considered pathogenic, promoting normal circulation and metabolic processes.

Laboratory research using laser Doppler spectroscopy has demonstrated a 400% increase in surface microcirculation associated with gua sha treatment lasting for a full 7.5 minutes and statistically significant increase sustained for the full 25 minutes studied. Preliminary results of a study using gua sha for patients with neck and shoulder pain indicate gua sha is an effective treatment. Both studies were conducted at the University of Duisburg Department of Integrative medicine and hospital in Essen Germany.

The patient experiences immediate relief from presenting pain, stiffness, fever, chill, wheeze, cough, nausea, and so on. Gua Sha is valuable in both prevention and treatment of acute infectious illness, upper respiratory and digestive problems, and many other acute or chronic disorders. Gua Sha is one of the best-kept secrets of East Asian medicine.

Participants will learn the history of this amazing technique, how to palpate for sha, how to perform gua sha, when to use gua sha clinically and how to interpret the results in the context of East Asian diagnosis and prognosis. This seminar is a favorite for practitioners because what is learned can be used right away in practice with immediate results.



Arya Nielsen has a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophies of Medicine with a focus on Integrative Clinical Science and Health Care. She is national board certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine and past chair of the New York State Board for Acupuncture. She has been in private practice for 32 years, is a Master practitioner at Tri-State College of Acupuncture and Adjunct Faculty at Beth Israel Medical Center’s Department of Integrative Medicine in New York City, where she is director of the Acupuncture Fellowship Training program for inpatient and hospital-based rehab care. Dr. Nielsen is the author of Gua Sha, A Traditional Technique for Modern Practice, Churchill Livingstone, 1995; (trans.to German and French) and Gua Sha: Step-by-Step a teaching video. Arya can be contacted by email at anielsen@chpnet.org or at her website www.guasha.com

The basis of acupuncture theory and practice has not been investigated much by the scientific community. If this situation is to improve we must start doing this work ourselves. Stephen has developed a grass-roots research agenda focusing at first on small-scale exploratory studies. Working with his Toyohari-Meridian Therapy colleagues around the world, he has helped develop and supervise a number of exploratory studies performed by practitioners, many with no research background. He has also consulted with researchers to carry out a number of more technical small exploratory studies. Stephen will present an overview of this work and hopes to inspire colleagues and researchers to establish similar agendas on a larger scale for the profession. This presentation will give a large picture with examples of how the field can move forward with small research steps.

Words like science, research and methodology can easily be understood as belonging to the people with higher degrees doing big research projects. This is so wrong. In fact you can look at each of your patients as a small project you are going to solve. Acupuncturists without any previous knowledge in the field of science can learn simple methods to be used in their daily clinical work. Anette did a bachelor in science after practicing acupuncture for 26 years. She will share her own experiences how simple methods can be used to benefit the outcome of treatments and benefit the knowledge from experience.

Marian Nielsen Joos, Denmark
Welcome to the 2nd Scandinavian TCM Congress in Denmark
Mogens Gade, Denmark
Words of welcome from the mayor of Jammerbugten
Birte Nielsen, Denmark
Greetings from the Danish Acupuncture Society
All teachers, worldwide
10 min introduction of all the lectures and topics
Nils von Below, Germany
The future of Chinese Medicine in Europe – where are we heading?
Simon Becker, Switzerland
ETCMA: the importance of an Umbrella Association for Chinese Medicine
Marian Nielsen Joos, Denmark
The Congress is open and may you enjoy yourself

Medicine is intention (yi). Those who are proficient at using intention are good doctors.’
Sun Simiao

As practitioners of Chinese Medicine we are part of lineage that stretches back thousands of years. We are also part of a larger body of physicians who have endeavoured to heal the sick since time immemorial.

All students that graduate from colleges of Chinese medicine nowadays have good theoretical understanding and competent technique. But is that enough to become what the Nei Jing regards as an outstanding practitioner, a sheng ren, ‘One who through his power awakens and develops people’s higher nature.’ ? Do our colleges place as much emphasis on teaching their students how to excel in the art of medicine as they do in the science of medicine?

It is not been fashionable in our culture for at least fifty years to think in terms of developing virtues in oneself. And yet Chinese, and especially Confucian, culture places a high priority on a person developing certain virtues. What are the virtues that a physician needs to develop in order to acquire some of the attributes of a sheng ren? Practitioners of Chinese medicine have written their thoughts on these issues, as have other physicians and thinkers from other cultures and traditions.

This talk draws out the themes that Chinese and other practitioners of medicine have regarded as the most important in the practice, not so much of the science of medicine, as of its art

Lyrics and poems

Dr. Arya Nielsen will discuss the post-graduate fellowship training program
in acupuncture she directs at a medical teaching hospital in New York.
Acupuncture Fellows work under her direction in the Department of Surgery, Oncology, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab, Orthopedics and Pain and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center which is associated with Albert Einstein Medical College.

„The Alchemy of the Heart: the Monkey, the Horse and the Pole Star“.

Peacemaker or troublemaker? Seat of centred stability or turbulent
chaos? Heart open or broken? An exploration of the transformative
fire of the heart and the search for the transcendent radiance of
Shen Ming in love relationships and meditative practice. With
suggestions for key acupuncture points to assist the process. A
special study will be made of the heart in the Daoist tradition and
the acupuncture points in the chest area.

- Emotions and the movement of qi (emotions and classical thought, emotions and movement of qi, emotions and illness), with a focus on clinical practice.
- Constraint (yu), internal heat (neire), agitation & restlessness (fanzao) and their relationship to TCM patterns and most common clinical manifestations (depression, anxiety, insomnia etc.).
- A brief overview of classical disease categories (zangzao, bentunqi, baihebing, meiheqi, diankuang) and their application in clinical practice.
- Main patterns seen in psycho-emotional disorders and treatment by acupuncture.
- Case examples will be given throughout and the patient/practitioner relationship will be discussed

Comments:
The opening of the first Chinese text dedicated to acupuncture reads: “All acupuncture methods must find their root in the shen” (Huangfu Mi, Zhenjiu jiayijing, “The systematic classic of acupuncture and moxibustion”, AD 259, chapter 1). These words echo the first sentence of chapter 8 of the Lingshu.
Those who treat the ill and in particular those who use non-conventional medicines are well aware of the importance of certain psychic aspects in the disorders told by patients.
Some patients speak directly of anxiety, depression, insomnia and agitation, expressing an emotional and mental discomfort, others describe this “feeling unwell” through sensations such as pain, weight, swelling, knots.
There are times when the “emotional illness” shows itself clearly, others in which it seeps in with the most alarming modalities. In both cases it is clear that a psychic part permeates our everyday practice.
Acupuncture has attracted many of us precisely because it is a medicine which considers the person as a whole. Moreover it seems to produce substantial effects even on the most subtle aspects, in spite of its apparent focus on the body.
It is always fascinating to see how important is the connection between psychic and physical disorders in the “Chinese” way of interpreting signs in patients. It is also of great comfort to see how our work is facilitated by not having to separate emotional, mental and somatic areas.
The perspective we shall take in this lecture is mainly on emotions as movements of qi. And we shall discuss clinical presentation of disturbing states (as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, food disorders, psychotic outbursts) in relation to Chinese medical point of view. This will lead us to consider treatment hypothesis and doubts, successes, questions of real cases.
Starting from the classics, we’ll see how emotions, that is, internal movements of qi, interact with the denser and thinner forms of qi (body, zangfu, shen).
And we’ll talk about the single emotions, how to recognize th

In this lecture, I will speak about the theoretical, practical as well as magical aspects of alchemy – focusing on the Taoist tradition but touching also on Vedic and European versions where there are overlaps. I am convinced that alchemical principles and attitudes form the basis of much of TCM and that understanding the alchemical world view allows us to be better practitioners and to make optimal use of the tools of Chinese Medicine. However, for me, an even more crucial opportunity shows up when we take alchemy beyond the treatment of individual symptoms and begin to use alchemical principles and practices to heal the rift between the body, mind and soul in modern Western culture. Infusing modern consciousness with the energies of this ancient tradition supports the emergence of a new, more integrated way of being where spirit and matter are once again joined as partners in the dance of life. This talk will be theoretical, practical and experiential. As in all alchemical experiences, there will be an external and internal component so come prepared to discover something new about your self, your work and your world.

The word “Tao” is often translated as “the Way”, but the most ancient pictogram of the word is “a Face Running along a Path”. This implies that there is an original face, most often understood as the combination of Jing from the physical constitution, the inherited talents, abilities, interests and desires along with the Jing of the spirit, all of which can be seen on the face. And, if you know who you are, you can determine where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do with your life. This workshop will discuss the meaning of the various signs of Jing on the face and explore how Jing is meant to be accessed, activated and utilized through the Extraordinary Meridians, which may be the conduits for Jing transfer. Combined with personality and life experiences, the Jing becomes the fuel for the run that leads you to your Golden Path - a Taoist metaphor for an inner alchemical process that leads to an outer manifestation of your destiny or Ming.

The theoretical foundations of Chinese medicine are clearly embedded in the cosmology and philosophy of late Zhou and Han dynasty times. During this period, Huang-Lao Daoists created a holographic model of the world that linked the spheres of Heaven, earth, and humanity in a detailed system of symbolic correspondences. This system of metaphoric references spelled out the multi-layered qualities of macrocosmic and microcosmic reality in detail, including the “how,” “where,” “when,” and “why” of the connection between the Above and the Below.

During the period of approximately 500 B.C.E. – 150 A.D., these early Chinese scientists created a complex system of functional relationships utilizing the symbolism of the Five Phases (wuxing), the Six Conformations (sanyin sanyang), the Eight Trigrams (bagua), the Sixty-four Hexagrams (liushisi gua), the Ten Heavenly Stems (tiangan), and the Twelve Earthly Branches (dizhi), which commanded all areas of intellectual activity. It formed the common frame of reference that did not need to be reiterated every time a new field of research was initiated. Since astronomy, geography, and medicine were all probing into intricately related parts of the same whole, the basic parameters of their scientific discourse were the same.

The influential Ming dynasty scholar physician Zhang Jingyue later reminded his fellow physicians of these origins by coining the statement yi zhe yi ye, “medicine is symbol science.” Zhang’s definition of medicine calls for a renaissance of the mythopoeic alchemy that once represented the foundational roots of Chinese medicine. In its original sense, alchemy is the process of blending a multitude of related natural phenomena and their associated functional data in the process of symbol creation, rather than the amalgamation of metals or the fusion of physical elixirs.

Based on ten years of research, Prof. Fruehauf shows in this lecture that the inspiring core meaning of Chinese medicine can only be revealed when this original cosmological context is taken into account. By aligning the twelve organ networks of Chinese medicine with the corresponding macrocosmic systems of the twelve branches, the twelve houses of the Chinese zodiac, the twelve months, the twelve states, the twelve rivers, and the twelve seasonal hexagrams, it will be shown how a host of detailed information about the function of each network and its intricate relationship to the spheres of Heaven, earth, and society becomes accessible.

Hidden shame and guilt affecting your emotions and spiritual aspects.”

To help people suffering from sexual abuse is a challenge for any practitioner on a professional level. The sexual abuse affecting the victims emotionally, spiritually and physically will influence their integrity and identity and will have a negative impact on their individual development. The challenge is to see the interaction of different imbalances since their symptomatology is so complex. The problems can be seen as different layers of tensions on both physical and psychological levels. The manifestations are experienced often because they do not identify the cause/s of the unconscious tension. The knowledge we have of their sufferings and the use of the theories of TCM are tremendous beneficial in order to identify and understand the complexity of their problems. The lecture will focus on how the shame and guilt affect victims in different ways, and discuss their problems from a TCM perspective and how acupuncture is beneficial to different problems and their self healing process.

“Does (chinese) spirituality need one spirit? The cultivation of the five spirits in the Xiuzhentu 修真图 ("Chart of the Cultivation of Perfection")”

The Xiuzhentu is - like the Neijingtu - a daoist representation of the body illustrating principles of neidan (inner alchemy), cosmology and chinese astrology. Because there is no fundamental separation between the natural, the sacred and the human body, the Xiuzhentu represents the the divine body of the adept as he or she undergoes the alchemical transformation.
Within this transformation the five respectively six spirits, which are the spirits of the five viscera (wuzang) and the gallbladder, play a key role. So for the purpose of our seminar we will have a closer look to the illustrations and the description of the five resp. six shen, in form of the six animals, tiger, dragon, turtle/snake, phoenix, red bird and the twin headed deer. We will focus on the question, how do we have to understand the spiritual cultivation of the different physical and mental functions of the several organs and and how can we integrate this understanding in our own clinical praxis?