Upcoming Jing Fang Intensive in Beautiful Girona, Catalonia Region of Spain

2026-02-09T22:55:18-05:00By |Blog, Classic Formulas, Diagnosis, Our Courses|

This March in Girona, Catalonia, I’ll be teaching Diagnostic Skills for Classical Formulas, a focused two-day course for students and practitioners who want to move beyond surface familiarity and develop clear, reliable diagnostic thinking grounded in classical medicine. Using live clinical cases, we’ll work directly with what patients present—observation, pulse and abdominal palpation, and careful questioning—and show how these findings cohere into meaningful patterns that naturally guide treatment with classical formulas. Core frameworks such as yīn–yáng, the five phases, and the six conformations will be used as practical tools rather than abstractions, with classical texts approached systematically and always in service of application. Set in the historic, walkable city of Girona, this teaching emphasizes method over memorization and cultivates a way of thinking that remains clinically alive long after the course ends.

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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 […]

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Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng for Insomnia with Anguish

2025-12-03T13:56:25-05:00By |Blog, Classic Formulas, Diagnosis|

In the last post, I wrote about two formulas for insomnia, Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng and Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng. Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng is an odd, teeny-tiny formula, and the way it works may be difficult to understand, especially the use of dàndòuchǐ, which we probably learned as primarily an herb for resolving the exterior. In this post, I will explain the mechanism of this formula as I understand and use it. How does it treat “anguish in the heart” type insomnia?

Before diving into that, I want to share a recent message from a student who suffered from a rash after a profound loss:

“I kept thinking about how you talked about Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng and how it was for anguish in the heart. That word, anguish,  is exactly how I’ve been feeling from the moment of loss.
Anyway, I took some ideas from the formula you originally suggested for me, which already had zhǐshí and zhīzǐ, and added a high dose of dàndòuchǐ, and it was like a lock-and-key magic!  After 3 1/2 months of this rash being so, so stubborn, it started to change dramatically. For the last week and a half, every morning when I wake, the rash is better and better, and I even think something feels a little emotionally lighter as well.
So thank […]

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