Study Aids

May 23, 2003

Hi all!

Some of you, including myself, are at present studying some form of

Traditional . Trying to remember all the properties

of the herbs, the composition of formulas and all the acupoints is a

daunting task. Along my way I have come across and used various study

aids in my effort to try and get the information to stick in my head.

Everyone has a different way of getting this info to stick. Here, I

suggest some of the ways in which I found various study aids to be

helpful and some to be not.

Acupoints: By far the best way I found to memorise the acupoints was

the use of Deadman's flashcards (Journal of Chinese medicine

publications www.jcm.co.uk). Most memorising devices use these

flashcards and can be very effective. They can be withdrawn from

their case and can fit into your jacket pocket and are pretty robust,

although extended use does get them dirty.

Herbs: Another form of flash card can be employed here. A company

called Herb Zoo (www.herbzoo.com) manufactures flashcards for both

the herbs and formulas. The herbs are divided into sets A and B of

which I have both. Again they can fit into your pocket but are quite

flimsy so you'll need to laminate them quick. John Wahnish

(www.tcmcentral.com ) does a handy herb book that's a lot easier to

lug around than Bensky. It covers most herbs and has handy condensed

tables and questions at the bask to test you on, although the

shorthand system is a little baffling for my little brain.

Formulas: Again Herb Zoo do the formula sheets aswell. Size is A4 and

again need to be laminated quickly. They very helpful in learning the

actions and symptoms the formulas treat but not the ingredients.

Again John Wahnish does a formula book which again covers most

formulas condensed into tables with indications of the actions of

herbs in each formula.

Internal and External Medicine: The only book that I've found which

has external and internal medicine with the appropriate formula and

acupoints all in one and easily to read and digest is John Wahnish's

handy manual. Again condensed into handy tables, it covers the most

important syndromes but does only cover about half of them.

If anyone else would like to add to this then please feel free to

post your experiences onto the site. I hope this info can help those

that either are studying TCM or would like to know more about it in

depth.

Attilio

May 23, 2003

Hi All, & Hi Attilio

wrote:

> Some of you, including myself, are at present studying some form

> of Traditional . Trying to remember all the

> properties of the herbs, the composition of formulas and all the

> acupoints is a daunting task. Along my way I have come across and

> used various study aids in my effort to try and get the information

> to stick in my head. Everyone has a different way of getting this

> info to stick. Here, I suggest some of the ways in which I found

> various study aids to be helpful and some to be not.

One of my papers has memory techniques to help learn the Qi

Cycle, 5-element relationships, six levels, the most important AP

points (shu-mu, yuan-luo, xi, hour, 60 command pooints), etc. See

" The study of acupuncture - sources and study techniques " at

http://users.med.auth.gr/~karanik/english/vet/source1.htm

Other study sites are at

http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/study.htm

Best regards,

WORK : Teagasc Staff Development Unit, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

WWW :

Email: <

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

Email: <

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

May 23, 2003

Wow, thanks alot for that Phil. There's alot of extensive information there, wish i saw it a few years ago!

Attilio < wrote:

Hi All, & Hi Attilio wrote:> Some of you, including myself, are at present studying some form> of Traditional . Trying to remember all the> properties of the herbs, the composition of formulas and all the> acupoints is a daunting task. Along my way I have come across and> used various study aids in my effort to try and get the information> to stick in my head. Everyone has a different way of getting this> info to stick. Here, I suggest some of the ways in which I found> various study aids to be helpful and some to be not. One of my papers has memory techniques to help learn the Qi Cycle, 5-element relationships, six levels, the most important AP points (shu-mu, yuan-luo, xi, hour, 60 command pooints), etc. See "The study of acupuncture - sources and study techniques" at http://users.med.auth.gr/~karanik/english/vet/source1.htmOther study sites are at http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/study.htmBest regards,WORK : Teagasc Staff Development Unit, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, IrelandWWW : Email: <Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, IrelandWWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htmEmail: <Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

May 24, 2003

Hi All,

When I was an undergrad I read a book called the Art of Memory by Frances Yates, where she described the renaissance and classical techniques for memorizing large amounts of information, used to great effect by the Jesuits, and, interestingly enough, by Matteo Ricci (of Ricci Institute fame), who was one of the first Jesuits in China to have any real access and influence. One of the ways that he got in with people was by demonstrating his memory and teaching people his system so their children could perform better on the imperial exams. One of the things that he noted was that Chinese has its own pictures for words, which makes the whole process of memorizing much easier.

Part of this system is creating places, what he calls memory palaces, which are familiar to you. They can be imagined or real, but they must be easy to divide up into smaller parts. Jonathan Spence, a China scholar with a pop sensibility, wrote a book about Ricci called, appropriately enough, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.

Then one creates poignant images to fill these spaces that evoke what one is trying to remember. They should be shocking, nasty, or at least memorable in some way. The good thing about this system is that if you always walk through the place in the same order, the things are always in the same place, and you can start at any convenient landmark and work forwards or backwards.

Later memory theorists (and I use the term loosely here) used chains of association in much the same way. To remember long strings of nouns one can just imaging each object changing into the next in some strange way. I think I have an old paper that I wrote about this someplace, I can dig it up if anybody is interested.

One thing that is useful for points is that you already have a crib sheet in the form of the body. There are some interesting hypnosis techniques that involve body triggers (touching a point on the body to trigger a mental state) it would be interesting to memorize point functions while stimulating the point, and then recall by touching the point again... though GV 10 might be a little hard to reach.

Stimulating more senses is also very helpful. When I was in massage school I had to do an interpretive dance about mitochondria(well, it was massage school, and I went to a very flaky one), I will never ever forget what mitochondria does (which in my case was throwing pillows, but that had something to do with all of that wonderful ATP I was creating). With herbs, smelling and tasting the herb are useful adjuncts to wrote memorization. Poetry and songs are extremely effective. I wrote a somewhat naughty and very stupid limerick about bai zhi which has unfortunately stuck in my head long since I have memorized its functions in a more useful way.

In any event, if anybody's interested in this I think I have some stuff lying around, and I was considering spending the next year installing the materia medica and a couple hundred formulas in my head, so I'll be doing some more thinking and research anyway.

Cheers!

Par Scott, Lic Ac, MAOM44 Pearl St Cambridge, MA 02139617-713-0915

-

Chinese Traditional Medicine

Friday, May 23, 2003 5:24 AM

[Chinese Traditional Medicine] Re: Study Aids

Hi All, & Hi Attilio wrote:> Some of you, including myself, are at present studying some form> of Traditional . Trying to remember all the> properties of the herbs, the composition of formulas and all the> acupoints is a daunting task. Along my way I have come across and> used various study aids in my effort to try and get the information> to stick in my head. Everyone has a different way of getting this> info to stick. Here, I suggest some of the ways in which I found> various study aids to be helpful and some to be not. One of my papers has memory techniques to help learn the Qi Cycle, 5-element relationships, six levels, the most important AP points (shu-mu, yuan-luo, xi, hour, 60 command pooints), etc. See "The study of acupuncture - sources and study techniques" at http://users.med.auth.gr/~karanik/english/vet/source1.htmOther study sites are at http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/study.htmBest regards,WORK : Teagasc Staff Development Unit, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, IrelandWWW : Email: <Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, IrelandWWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htmEmail: <Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]