TCMStudy Weekly Update 03/25/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! π Spring is almost here, and soon the caterpillars will be wriggling and the butterflies will be flying. While youβre out taking long strides through the courtyard, I thought it might be fun to talk about an herb with a funny name and an unusual function that you may not have heard ofβ¦ π¦ Wooden Butterfly Mu Hu Die (oroxyli semen) is an herb from the Stop Coughing category. Like many others in this group, it moistens the Lung to stop cough....
7 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 03/25/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! π In a previous newsletter, we talked about the herb pair Huang Qi and Shan Yao and their potential effects in lowering blood glucose levels and increasing insulin sensitivity. Here, we can talk about another curious pair: Xuan Shen and Cang Zhu. One tonifies yin and the other dries dampness. How does that work? Xuan Shen and Cang Zhu for Diabetes If you read the book Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology by John Chen and Tina Chen, it...
7 months agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 03/25/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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...
7 months agoΒ β’Β 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 8/6/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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. π€ 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....
8 months agoΒ β’Β 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/14/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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...
11 months agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/7/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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...
11 months agoΒ β’Β 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/30/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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,...
11 months agoΒ β’Β 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/23/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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...
11 months agoΒ β’Β 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/16/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! π 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..."...
11 months agoΒ β’Β 4 min read