What to look for in a TCM practitioner

[Guest guest]

I've been on a couple of the websites mentioned on the list to find a TCM

practitioner for myself. The majority of the listings, or at least in my area,

show as acupuncture--only a few show herbs. IMO, to balance out my body, I will

need to use both herbs and diet, so should I only choose the ones who list herbs

as their specialty, or do most of the acupuncturists deal in herbs as well?

I've never been to a TCM practitioner before, so since I will have to travel

quite a ways from the middle of the desert in Southern Utah, I don't have the

luxury of going to several people.

 

 

Tamara

 

" You, yourself, as much as anybody in the universe, deserve your love and

affection. "

-- Buddha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Tamara:

 

Try the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute website,

directed by Roger Wilkes, for a referral. They're in

Montana and have graduates and students in many

places.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jack

 

--- Tamara <savepawsfurever wrote:

 

> I've been on a couple of the websites mentioned on

> the list to find a TCM practitioner for myself. The

> majority of the listings, or at least in my area,

> show as acupuncture--only a few show herbs. IMO, to

> balance out my body, I will need to use both herbs

> and diet, so should I only choose the ones who list

> herbs as their specialty, or do most of the

> acupuncturists deal in herbs as well?

> I've never been to a TCM practitioner before, so

> since I will have to travel quite a ways from the

> middle of the desert in Southern Utah, I don't have

> the luxury of going to several people.

>

>

> Tamara

>

> " You, yourself, as much as anybody in the

> universe, deserve your love and affection. "

> -- Buddha

>

>

 

>

> Tired of spam? Mail has the best spam

> protection around

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Jack. Will check it out.

 

Jack Sweeney <mojavecowboy wrote: Tamara:

 

Try the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute website,

directed by Roger Wilkes, for a referral. They're in

Montana and have graduates and students in many

places.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jack

 

--- Tamara <savepawsfurever wrote:

 

> I've been on a couple of the websites mentioned on

> the list to find a TCM practitioner for myself. The

> majority of the listings, or at least in my area,

> show as acupuncture--only a few show herbs. IMO, to

> balance out my body, I will need to use both herbs

> and diet, so should I only choose the ones who list

> herbs as their specialty, or do most of the

> acupuncturists deal in herbs as well?

> I've never been to a TCM practitioner before, so

> since I will have to travel quite a ways from the

> middle of the desert in Southern Utah, I don't have

> the luxury of going to several people.

>

>

> Tamara

>

> " You, yourself, as much as anybody in the

> universe, deserve your love and affection. "

> -- Buddha

>

>

 

>

> Tired of spam? Mail has the best spam

> protection around

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tamara

 

" You, yourself, as much as anybody in the universe, deserve your love and

affection. "

-- Buddha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Jack, the RMHI does have a very impressive website. It's what suckered

me into taking their course. Unfortunately the website doesn't carry

through to the rest of the operation. It was one of the most poorly

taught courses I have ever taken and was full of erroneous

info " taught " by people who didn't even know what was in their own

texts. It was so bad that if the only " TCM " healer within a hundred

mile radius was a graduate of the RMHI, I would refuse to see the

person.

 

And if the RMHI refuses to deliver what was promised, you can just kiss

your hardearned money goodby and forget about getting a refund. I

found out the hard way that the RMHI located itself in what is perhaps

the only state in the union which does not have a BBB (Better Business

Bureau). The state also has a do-nothing consumer protection agency.

It is so bad that today I won't buy anything from any company located

in Montana. There may be honest business people in Montana, but the

others know that they have nothing to fear from any kind of regulatory

agency no matter what they do. I don't feel like playing economic

Russian Roulette with any company located in Montana.

 

Chinese Traditional Medicine , Jack Sweeney <mojavecowboy

wrote:

>

> Try the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute website,

> directed by Roger Wilkes, for a referral. They're in

> Montana and have graduates and students in many

> places.

>

> Kind regards,

[Guest guest]

Victoria:

 

Thank you, I've been reading a lot of Roger's posts

and the RMHI website info lately, and he seems to give

a different impression. He goes to great lengths to

educate people about the legality of working as an

herbalist.

 

Based on your experience, though, I won't recommend

the site to anyone else.

 

There seems to be a real need for a good, low-cost

course on Chinese herbals. Thanks for educating me

about RMHI.

 

Kind regards, Jack

 

--- victoria_dragon <victoria_dragon wrote:

 

> Jack, the RMHI does have a very impressive website.

> It's what suckered

> me into taking their course. Unfortunately the

> website doesn't carry

> through to the rest of the operation. It was one of

> the most poorly

> taught courses I have ever taken and was full of

> erroneous

> info " taught " by people who didn't even know what

> was in their own

> texts. It was so bad that if the only " TCM " healer

> within a hundred

> mile radius was a graduate of the RMHI, I would

> refuse to see the

> person.

>

> And if the RMHI refuses to deliver what was

> promised, you can just kiss

> your hardearned money goodby and forget about

> getting a refund. I

> found out the hard way that the RMHI located itself

> in what is perhaps

> the only state in the union which does not have a

> BBB (Better Business

> Bureau). The state also has a do-nothing consumer

> protection agency.

> It is so bad that today I won't buy anything from

> any company located

> in Montana. There may be honest business people in

> Montana, but the

> others know that they have nothing to fear from any

> kind of regulatory

> agency no matter what they do. I don't feel like

> playing economic

> Russian Roulette with any company located in

> Montana.

>

> Chinese Traditional Medicine , Jack Sweeney

> <mojavecowboy

> wrote:

> >

> > Try the Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute website,

> > directed by Roger Wilkes, for a referral. They're

> in

> > Montana and have graduates and students in many

> > places.

> >

> > Kind regards,

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Roger definitely knows how to make a good first impression. And I'm

sure if anyone knows what's legal and what's not, it's Roger.

 

People are picking up a lot of the basics on here, on websites like

Al Stone designs, from books like The Web That Has No Weaver and

Henry Lu's Chinese Herbal Cures, etc. But eventually the point

arrives for many people when they want more structure. They want to

be tested on what they know. They want proof/ validation that

they're not fooling themselves about what they know. And a lot of

people never realize how much they do know until they are away from

the first teacher and first classroom. And until they have an

opportunity to apply it.

 

I'm going to digress here in order to illustrate this. When I was

teaching computer classes through a community college's dept. of

Continuing Ed, for various reasons not all the classes started at the

beginning of the quarter. Since there was an attendence requirement

(at least 9 out of 11 classes), if students had to miss their

regularly schedualed class, they could come in on another afternoon

or night and make it up with another class. Since so much of what

they did was actual hands-on and working through a guided text, this

worked. Anyway, I lost count of the number of times that people who

were only one or two weeks (classes) ahead of the people in the class

they sat in on were surprised by what they had learned. They would

end up helping the other students to understand and do things. And

had a good time doing it. I'll never forget one woman in particular

who during break came up to me and confided that she had thought she

was stupid but those people were really stupid. I had to grin as I

told her they're not stupid, only beginners and that they were where

she had been the previous week. She was a second week student, and

that was their first night. She had picked up a lot more than she

had realized. Needless to say she had a new found self-confidence.

 

The only classes that I gave a final exam to were the ones that were

made up entirely or predominately of public school teachers. They

needed a final exam to believe they really had accomplished anything.

 

This is the point that a lot of people who are very serious about TCM

are going to reach eventually. Even if they don't attend a TCM

school, they are going to want some kind of recognized outside

validation that involves them being tested.

 

BTW, some of the students who attended those CE classes (the ones

taught by others as well as myself) went on to take regular college

computer classes. Because they had gotten that all-important first

experience with and foundation of learning prior to the college

classes, they had a much easier time in the college classes than most

of the rest of their classmates did. For one thing, they knew they

could do it because they already had. They weren't sitting there

having to deal with fears that they couldn't do it. It wasn't brand

new to them. It wasn't brand new territory.

 

Because they already had a foundation and an overview of the subject,

they picked up more from their instructors than most of the rest of

their classmates did. The first time someone hears about something

new, they pick up a few facts (as they sit there also dealing with

feelings of being overwhelmed and wondering if they can do it). The

next time they hear it, they pick up even more because a foundation

to hold facts already has been established. The third time even more

sticks in memory, and so on. The students who had had one or more of

the CE classes and the ones who had a PC at home (which few people

did in those days as the PC thing was just starting) went into those

college classes with an advantage.

 

BTW, if you live in a state or a country where CE classes (or their

equivalent) are cheap, I highly recommend getting your first intro to

a difficult subject in a CE class. Also, in some states members of

the public can request a class in any subject be taught. If enough

people want the course and sign up for it, it will be taught if the

college can find someone to teach it.

 

The YMCA/ YWCA, Parks and Recreation Departments, etc. also will

offer classes that the public requests.

 

I also encourage other list members on here to do some teaching posts

on whatever TCM subjects they're particularly interested in. A lot of

the people who join this list do so in the hopes of people on here

doing that.

 

Part of my educational background is that for a year and a half, I

attended a college that was set up with a grant from the Ford

Foundation to be a leader in the field of education. The professors

and other staff were experts in how to teach as well as various

subjects. They knew how to do the maximum amount of teaching in the

shortest time. Also how to offer an outstanding education.

 

One course in particular was team taught. It also was

interdisciplinary. What this means is that instead of teaching

different subjects as different subjects, they were all taught

together. The first two years looked at Western civilization in

detail. Not only the history but the literature, the philosophy, the

music, the architecture, the relgion, the art, etc. I learned to look

at the art, literature, philosophy, etc. of a particular period as

how it grew out of and reflected that period. What was typically

medieval or Egyptain about it.

 

For three days per week, the class took place in a large auditorium.

On Monday, one of the history professors might give a lecture on the

history of the period. On Wednes., one of the lit profs might give a

lecture on the literature. On Friday one of the art profs or the

philosophy profs might lecture on the art or the philosophy of the

period. And so on.

 

Three days per week (yes, there were Sat. classes), we broke up into

smaller groups to discuss things. The first two years (24 semester

hours) covered Western civilization. In the third year students had

their choice of two non-Western countries to study in detail. The

fourth year was one semester in which students studied a modern

American problem of their choice in detail. A major paper was

required.

 

So after having that experience with interdisciplinary and teaming

teaching, I very much rely on and hope for a team effort on here.

Also, after that background plus the CE experience, having people at

different points and with different needs and wants on here is no

problem. In fact it's second nature and what's normal to me.

 

Whatever one's particular areas of TCM interest, I just about can

guarantee that there are quite a few other people on here with those

same interests. If they don't have those particular interests, they

simply skip over posts dealing with those aspects of TCM. A lot of

times people very much enjoy posts on a particular aspect of TCM but

don't mention it. Usually because they think it would be

presumptious of them. I have an advantage that other list members

don't have. When people apply to join the list, they get to tell

what interests them in particular about TCM. There is a very wide

range of TCM interests on this list.

 

So post away and ask questions. BTW, a lot of times questions get

asked that I simply do not have the knowledge or the expertise to

answer. But other people do. Sometimes I can't anwer a question until

much later. For example, several weeks ago there were posts about

learning more about concocting herbal formulas. Several posters gave

a lot of very good info about that apect of TCM. I didn't forget the

question. One of my Christmas presents was the book Dui Yao: The Art

of Combining Chinese Medicinals. When I requested the book I didn't

know if it was going to have something that would be very helpful to

me and to others. As it turned out, it is a very helpful book. That

book is going to provide material for a lot of posts on here. It

helps one to have a much greater understanding of herbs and formulas.

 

Sometimes people ask about a particular Western-defined medical

condition that neither I nor anyone else on here at the time have any

adequate TCM info about. But that doesn't mean the question is

forgotten. Later someone may join the list who does have the

knowledge. Or, in the meanwhile I or others on here run across some

good info on the subject. I know that in some cases that doesn't help

the person that caused the question to be asked originally, but at

least we might be able to help others. You do the best you can at the

time, but more important, you keep on trying and learning.

 

Chinese Traditional Medicine , Jack Sweeney

<mojavecowboy wrote:

>

> Victoria:

>

> Thank you, I've been reading a lot of Roger's posts

> and the RMHI website info lately, and he seems to give

> a different impression. He goes to great lengths to

> educate people about the legality of working as an

> herbalist.

>

> Based on your experience, though, I won't recommend

> the site to anyone else.

>

> There seems to be a real need for a good, low-cost

> course on Chinese herbals. Thanks for educating me

> about RMHI.

>

> Kind regards, Jack