# White Pine Institute: Chinese Medicine Advanced Education, Clinic, Blog and Community

> Discover opportunities for learning at the White Pine Institute, including classes and mentorship in classical Chinese medicine\.

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## Pages
- [Upcoming Teaching Clinics](https://whitepineinstitute.org/upcoming-teaching-clinics/)
- [Courses](https://whitepineinstitute.org/sharon-weizenbaum-courses/)
- [Home](https://whitepineinstitute.org/)
- [Full Day Training: Diagnosis is the Key to Successful Herbalogy](https://whitepineinstitute.org/full-day-training-diagnosis-is-the-key-to-successful-herbalogy/)
- [Cost and Payment](https://whitepineinstitute.org/gmp/cost/)

## Posts
- [Embodying the Teachings of the Graduate Mentorship Program](https://whitepineinstitute.org/embodying-the-teachings-of-the-graduate-mentorship-program/): The \<a href="https://whitepineinstitute\.org/gmp/"\>Graduate Mentorship Program\</a\> is a comprehensive 2½\-year training in Classical East Asian herbal medicine, but this medicine is not meant to be understood only with our minds\. In the 2027 GMP, we are adding a new dimension of embodied learning, with monthly instruction from Ethan Murchie exploring the physical culture of the material we are studying\. By experiencing the Great Sweeping Motions, channels, and classical physiology in our own bodies, what can seem abstract becomes easier to understand, recognize in our patients, and see expressed in the herbal formulas we use\. Watch the interview with Ethan to learn more\.\.\.
- [Gathering Língzhī on Horseback](https://whitepineinstitute.org/gathering-lingzhi-on-horseback/): This summer I have been riding into the Massachusetts woods in search of the beautiful red, lacquered Ganoderma Tsugae that grows here on eastern hemlock, which is a North American relative of the Chinese medicinal mushroom língzhī 靈芝\. Being on horseback on my sturdy and eager horse, Spencer, allows me to cover more ground than I might on foot\. Where I live, there are many miles of forest to explore so I set out for the hemlock groves\.
- [Reading Huáng Yuányù's Binomes  As Descriptions of Processes of Becoming Rather Than Static States](https://whitepineinstitute.org/reading-huang-yuanyus-binomes-as-descriptions-of-processes-of-becoming-rather-than-static-states/): Translating Huáng Yuányù means resisting the urge to read his two\-character expressions as single, fixed words\. Take wēn nuǎn \(溫暖\), usually just "warm": read separately, wēn is warmth being incubated, nuǎn is warmth becoming life\-giving\. The binome describes a process, not a state\. This pattern \(an action followed by its natural consequence\) recurs across Huáng's language, from shū xiè \(untangling, then release\) to chén sù chán mián \(a disease that ages, lodges, clings, then persists\)\. Asking why Huáng chose two characters instead of one has reshaped how I read his physiology and pathology\.
- [Two Excellent Zhi Zi \(栀子Gardenia Fructus\) Formulas for Sleep](https://whitepineinstitute.org/two-excellent-zhi-zi-栀子gardenia-fructus-formulas-for-sleep/): Continuing the discussion of classical formulas for sleep, Sharon introduces two effective zhīzǐ formulas: Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng and Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng\.\<br\>\<br\>
She begins with zhīzǐ itself, the fruit of the gardenia plant: bitter in flavor and cold in nature, it discharges fire, dispels vexation, clears heat through urination, cools blood, and resolves toxins\. Its key action is to disinhibit the shàoyáng pivot\. When that pivot is inhibited, descending heat \(the physiological life\-force\) accumulates and turns pathological, affecting all three jiāo\. Zhīzǐ is uniquely able to clear heat across all three\. It works especially well when an inhibited pivot agitates the spirit or blood and concentrates the urine to a hot yellow\.\<br\>\<br\>
Both formulas treat an agitated spirit manifesting as insomnia, differing by where the blocked pivot sits\. Sharon uses Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng when the insomnia involves too much thinking \(waking and unable to turn the mind off\), and Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng when the patient wakes with a distinct feeling of anguish\. When patients relate to neither, a zhīzǐ formula isn't appropriate\.
A follow\-up post will explore why dàndòuchǐ and gānjiāng are used\.
- [Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng for Overthinking Insomnia](https://whitepineinstitute.org/zhizi-ganjiang-tang-for-overthinking-insomnia/): Sharon explores Zhīzǐ Gānjiāng Tāng, a "teeny\-tiny" two\-herb formula of zhīzǐ \(3 g\) and gānjiāng \(6 g\), mentioned only in clause 80 of the Shānghán Lùn for the case where body heat and slight vexation remain after strong purgation\.\<br\>\<br\>
She unpacks the pattern: strong purgation creates a new blockage in the middle\-soil and shàoyáng pivot, trapping heat that wafts upward as vexation\. Unlike the deeper Zhīzǐ Chǐ Tāng pattern \(a heart\-kidney disconnection that brings nighttime anguish\), this is a shàoyáng/soil pattern\. Here gānjiāng works not to warm a cold middle but to open it so zhīzǐ can descend the floating heat, drawing on the perspective of Dr\. Tán Jiézhōng\.\<br\>\<br\>
Clinically, Sharon reaches for this formula with insomnia marked by unstoppable, non\-distressing thinking: patients who can't fall asleep or wake with a restless mind that won't quiet\. Being small and light, it pairs easily with formulas like Xiǎo Cháihú Tāng, Sì Nì Sǎn, or Cháihú Guìzhī Tāng, and works well as a late\-afternoon tea\.

## Portfolio
- [Deborah Mizeur](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/deborah-mizeur/): Clinical Herbalist and Nutritionist \| MS, CNS, RH \(AHG\)
- [Marintha Tewksbury](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/marintha-tewksbury/): Acupuncturist \| MSTCM, L\.Ac\.
- [Martine Cornelissen](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/martine-cornelissen/): Acupuncturist \& Herbalist \| Member, NVA
- [Nina Behr](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/nina-behr/): Acupuncturist \(TCM\) \| Member, Swedish Acupuncture Association
- [Nicole Sharkey](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/nicole-sharkey/): Acupuncturist \& Herbalist \| EAMP, L\.Ac\.

## Categories
- [Blog](https://whitepineinstitute.org/category/blog/)
- [Articles](https://whitepineinstitute.org/category/articles/)
- [Videos](https://whitepineinstitute.org/category/videos/)
- [Classic Formulas](https://whitepineinstitute.org/category/classic-formulas/)
- [Podcast](https://whitepineinstitute.org/category/podcast/)

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## Portfolio Categories
- [2026 Graduates](https://whitepineinstitute.org/graduates/graduates-2026/)
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