Upcoming Intensive in Beautiful Girona, Catalonia Region of Spain

2026-02-07T10:18:53-05:00By |Blog, Classic Formulas, Diagnosis, Our Courses|

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching in Girona, Catalonia next month, March 7 & 8, offering a focused learning experience grounded in classical principles and their practical application.

This teaching is organized by Joaquim Planas-Ramirez, a teacher of the classical Shánghān zábìng lùn approach to treatment in his own right. It is intended for students and practitioners who wish to move beyond surface-level familiarity and develop a clear, structured approach that can be applied directly to study, clinical reasoning, and professional practice. Rather than emphasizing memorization or stylistic, intellectually driven interpretation, the course focuses on a method grounded in what is actually presented by the patient.

We will pay close attention to how clinical information is gathered—through observation of physique and tongue, palpation of pulse and abdomen, and careful questioning—and, crucially, how this information can be interpreted in a grounded, reliable way so that findings consistently guide real treatment decisions.

Using live clinical cases, we will examine how a patient’s presentation—what we see, feel, and hear—coalesces into a clear pattern, and how that pattern naturally leads to specific treatment choices.

The curriculum integrates theoretical clarity with hands-on application. Core frameworks such as yīn–yáng, […]

Read More
 0

Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng for Overthinking Insomnia

2025-12-10T12:11:20-05:00By |Blog, Chinese Translation, Classic Formulas, Diagnosis, Individual Herbs, Our Courses|

Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng for Sleep

Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng is another teeny-tiny formula,[1] consisting of zhīzǐ, 3 g, and gānjiāng, 6 g. It is mentioned only in clause 80 of the Shānghán lùn, where it states, “In cold damage, the doctor used pills to purge strongly. Body heat remains, and there is slight vexation. Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng rules.

Let’s break this down a bit, starting with “cold damage.” Cold damage is often considered a term limited to the causative factor of the Máhuáng Tāng pattern. However, when thoroughly reading the Shánghān zábìng lùn, it is clear that Zhāng Zhòngjǐng used it in a much broader way than this. His use of the term cold damage can be summarized as an event that blocks the flow of the life-force yáng in the body. This is in contrast to the term wind-strike, which is also a much broader term than simply the causative factor causing a Guìzhī Tāng pattern. Wind-strike can be summarized as an event that leaves aspects of the body too open and thus prone to leakage. Hence, we have cold damage expressing blockage and wind-strike expressing leakage.

In this case, a blockage, cold damage, was understandably treated with strong purgation. Though we think of purgation […]

Read More
 0

Differentiating Several Patterns that can Explain Insomnia

2025-10-27T17:35:31-04:00By |Blog, Classic Formulas, Neijing, Our Courses, Shang Han Lun Physiology|

One of my students, Polina Shneyderman, recently posted her results using Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng as follows:

I wanted to share a case that was helped so much by a tiny formula I learned from Sharon in her GMP. I have a patient who is a textbook Guìzhī Tāng pattern and who has done really well on different modifications of Guìzhī Tāng. She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, where her body produces too much collagen, and as a result, she has heart palpitations, agitation, and very loose joints. Guìzhī Tāng has helped with heart palpitations, periods, cold, and body aches. One thing I could not tackle was her waking up before her alarm in the morning, feeling a sense of terror or fear of missing something important.
I learned from Sharon that there is a formula called Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng—zhīzǐ and dàndòuchǐ—and that it can help with this kind of terror. I added these two herbs to her formula, and she now sleeps soundly and peacefully until her alarm wakes her up. The bonus—her blood pressure is normal now, too—patients with EDS tend to have dangerously low blood pressure.
Just wanted to share a success story and thank Sharon and other White Pine mentors who help us all be better clinicians.

In the next post, I will discuss this […]

Read More
 0
Skip to content
Go to Top