Inspired China Conversation & Dialogue on Healing with Lonnie Hodge and Des Walsh

In late April, I was honoured to partake in a wonderfully, inspired and insightful conversation with Lonnie Hodge and Des Walsh on their radio program China Conversation. They are both amazing men with tomes of valuable experience and knowledge. This was truly a delight and a gift for which I am eternally grateful!

You can find both Lonnie and Des on Twitter, too @lonniehodge and @deswalsh.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chinaconversation/2009/04/28/China-Conversation

First steps to the IOM Integrative Medicine Summit

It's funny how life happens. Synchronicity is always a welcome surprise, often unplanned. Nevertheless, it appears, connects, reinforces and guides.

Thanks to a friend who offered support and encouragement, I discovered the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of Public nearly two months before it commenced. Midst the seemingly mounting challenges that healers, natural medicine and traditional medicine doctors and practitioners have faced within the United States, especially within the last few years, I was hesitant to attend. yet, something much larger, much more powerful than misgivings, fear and a sometimes disheartened heart, compelled me to push on. It is for the sake of people and healing that I rededicated my life (More here).

Upon reflection, the medical doctors, the healers and Chinese medicine doctors I have studied with propelled my steps. The memories of those lessons and of the stories shared still live within and continue to teach and to give! Yet, the patients, the numerous patients, their family members and people afflicted with illness throughout the world called to my heart, appealed to my mind. They could NOT be denied! The stories they have shared compelled me to journey on! After all, these stories were not just stories and/or memories. Rather, they were and are the lives, experiences, and moments in time shared for the benefit of others. Accordingly, attendance arose from communal knowledge, aggregate wisdom, and the incredible honour and courage of all the people who touched my life. Together, we would go if only in spirit to uplift healing for ALL.

As my Chinese teachers said， "我应该做的！“ In the context of our lessons, my internships and conversations, this implied so much more than mere duty or obligation. It contended that doing all that one could as a Chinese medicine doctor or healer was and is a sacred duty, a contract, an obligation before all others. Mere words cannot convey the meaning and weight of those words, but I hope you read them with your heart/mind and sense their gravity. I realize this sounds strange but I know no other way to explain this. This sacred contract, this reciprocity is embedded and encoded within my heart and mind--linked and locked eternally.

Thanks to dear friends who have listened, healers who simply heal in accordance with the laws of reciprocity and the goal of health restoration and/or better quality of life in mind, I decided to go--to give voice to the voiceless. Remembering the reasons for the path, for the journey became imminently clear.
For all those kindred souls and persons who were unable to attend, for those whose lives were cut short due to hegemonic institutions and/or bureaucracy and/or the lack of 'appropriate treatment' for what ailed them, and the family members and loved ones whose lives have been altered by someone's illness, I realized that these steps were necessary. They were not my own. They were the sum of all！

Suddenly, the yolk became easy.

Thanks to all who led me to the seemingly distant shore, who guided the steps midst the downpours of life and the mist of uncertainty. Together, we took these first steps toward change, toward shared vision and continued the global conversation. More importantly, we traveled much farther. Uplifting healing for all, spirits joined, we soared to the next level...... Namaste,湘君

Thanksgiving- With deep and profound gratitude

It's Thanksgiving Day in the USA

Although I personally believe that everyday, every moment, every breath offers so many facets to be grateful for,and at the very least remind us of our own humility and humanity, they also present opportunities to express kindness, gratitude, benevolence.

It's hard to imagine that ten years ago, I would not have been able to type this post or share my thoughts through this medium, weakened by the wolf of lupus, MS and so many other conditions, struggling to maintain breathing, to walk more than a few steps and keep my kidneys from failing. Yet, things change! My favourite book, the YI JING so clearly illustrates this.

It has been a long, arduous journey, through mountains and ice storms, sometimes sliding down icy peaks and searching through darkness for the Northern Lights, but the rewards have been priceless. As I sit here tonight, I am especially thankful for the lessons of illness and healing, the many discoveries along the way, the people and places I would not have otherwise encountered and the MANY people who shared their journeys, their experiences, the knowledge and skills along the twists and turns thus far.

I am especially grateful for the way everything seems to fall into place when we need it, how everything we need is somewhere within and around us. Awakening to the existence and presence of these necessities is all that is required:)

Tonight, as I do everyday, I appreciate the life I have been granted since the day Chinese medicine entered my life. I appreciate Dr, Arvigo for sharing Mayan traditions, the way my life has always led me back to the Sioux healing methods and knowledge of elders, for Ms. Souly for sharing Lao traditional medicine, for the Buddhist traditions I've learned along the way, for Unani and Quranic healing and teachings, Tibetan Medicine and so many others.

I appreciate:

Dr. Ashis Brahma for his friendship, his laughter and his love, for chats and comparative medicine conversations, for always believing and being the incredibly special man he is.

Dr. Elizabeth Garcia-Gray for her friendship, encouragement and support, for so many conversations and the times she shared her memories of her grandmother preparing herbs for the family, revealing that they rarely needed to go to the hospital.

Dr. Matt Krystal, Dr. Brian Hoffert, Dr. Richard Guzman, Dr. Alex Bolyanatz, Professor Ellen Johnson and all my professors for the tools they gave me to continue along the pathway, to pursue the way

Professor Jane Jiajing Wu aka The Chinese Lady for her friendship, her lessons that keep on giving, for her encouragement and her love

Dr. Larisa Turin for initially saving my life and teaching me so many Chinese and Mongolian Traditions

Dr. Zhengang Guo and Dr. Guang Xie for teaching and supporting me along the way, for sustaining my life and showing me the way

Dr. Yan Zao Ming, Dr. Qiu Shao Lin, Dr. Shu, Dr. Yang Qing Zhi, Dr. Shen, Dr. Zhang, and Dr. Chu for sharing so much of your time, knowledge and skills, for being such wonderful examples of what Chinese medicine doctors are and should be

My Huaihua family for all that you are

Dr. Zhu Ming for allowing me to learn and research in Huaihua and for his vision

Dr. Wang Hong Cai for his invaluable guidance, friendship and a memorable class

My friends and family for the incredible gifts you are to me

and My children for their love, for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make as we continue this path for true healing of all,

My Tongxue for being the wonderful man you are

and the many, many patients that have also been my teachers.

Thank-you all so much! I wish you all love, health and happiness. And to anyone who reads this, I wish you the same. Mitakuye Oyasin.