TCMStudy Weekly Update 12/08/25 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 With the rise in popularity of Ozempic, a lot of people have been asking about Chinese herbs for diabetes. (Apparently berberine, an active ingredient in Huang Lian, is being touted as "nature's ozempic.") But rather than prescribing large amounts of an herb that could easily destroy a your Spleen, let's talk about gentler pair: Huang Qi and Shan Yao. Herbs for Diabetic Patients You probably learned in school that diabetes corresponds to...
4 months ago • 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 8/6/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 Lately I've been waking up with itchy eyes, a fuzzy head, and then I have a runny nose throughout the day. It's been making it really hard to get out of bed in the morning! Whenever this happens, it takes me a few days to realize the culprit: allergies. 😤 Here are some of the things I've been using to fix it... My Battle with Seasonal Allergies... (And the Herbs That Won) Lately I've been waking up feeling like I lost a fight with a bee....
4 months ago • 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/14/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 In this article we're talking about unconsciousness. (Remember in Points class when we would talk about how REN-1 could revive someone from drowning? Who do you think was the first person to try that? Who was like, "Oh no, this person is drowning! Let me try sticking a needle in their taint...") More specifically, let's talk about Jing-Well points and when they're actually used to restore consciousness... Jing-Well Points and Reviving...
7 months ago • 6 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/7/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 When you were in school, you probably learned about precautions and contraindications for acupuncture treatment -- basically, when NOT to needle. But did you know that the Huang Di Nei Jing has its own set of prohibitions for acupuncture? Let's talk about those... Prohibitions on Needling In school, we usually learn there are certain situations when a patient should not be needled, or we should at least be cautious and not use too many...
7 months ago • 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/30/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 Earlier this week I was trying to track down the quote, "The Yangming channel is full of qi and blood." (A footnote in Deadman says it comes from chapter 9 of the Ling Shu. After a bit of searching, I actually found it in chapter 24 of the Su Wen and then again in chapter 65 of the Ling Shu). But along the way, I ran into an interesting passage where Huang Di asks about beards: Why don't women have beards? If a soldier injures his penis,...
7 months ago • 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/23/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 In modern times and in the west, we tend to draw our maps with North at the top of the page. (This means that East is on the right and West is on the left.) But in ancient China, they drew their maps with South at the top of the page. In this newsletter we'll talk about why that is and how it effects various aspects of Chinese medicine... Which Direction is Up? Nowadays, we tend to draw maps with North facing up. But it wasn't always like...
8 months ago • 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/16/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 Do you ever feel like you spend a lot of time studying, but it just doesn't get you anywhere? Or do you feel like you try to study, but then you get distracted right away? Well here's a quick study tip that may help... Study Focus Story Time... First year of school, I remember a friend who did rather poorly on a midterm. When he got the test back, his reaction was, "Man, I spent eight hours studying for this test and I still bombed it..."...
8 months ago • 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 3/26/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 It's spring now! (The first day of spring was last Thursday.) Let's see what the classics say about spring... The Spring Season In the previous newsletter, we talked about how the superior practitioner treats what is not yet ill, or treats disease before it sprouts. One way of preventing disease is to live in accordance with the seasons. And one way to detect disease before it occurs is to understand how the qi should act in each season:...
9 months ago • 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 3/12/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! 👋 We often say that traditional Chinese medicine places an emphasis on preventative medicine. (You may have heard the phrase, "Don't wait until you're thirsty to begin digging a well.") Here we'll talk about what two of the classics have to say about "treating what is not yet ill..." New Podcast Episode There's a new podcast episode out! In this session, we talk to Chen Yen about the state of the acupuncture market: With all these schools...
9 months ago • 4 min read