Guest guest Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Hello, I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners-intermediate pulse diagnosis book. Thanks! Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 pulse classic Li Shi Zhen work with this for 5 yrs and then graduate to mae jing pulse classic keep it simple, work with as many pulses you can feel feel your own and it will show enough variations to school you lastly don't take any book seriously dr holmes www.acu-free.com heidi L wrote: > Hello, > > I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners-intermediate > pulse > diagnosis book. > > Thanks! > Heidi > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Learning pulse diagnosis from a book is like learning what food tastes like from a cook book. Has anyone ever really felt a rolling bean pulse? These standardized descriptions are vague and difficult to differentiate in real life. There are a lot more than 28 different pulse characteristics as well! The only way to learn pulses is to take thousands of pulses, ideally under the guidance of a master. It really takes years to begin the study where it starts to make sense. I've learned enough to know that I have barely scratched the surface. Christopher Vedeler L.Ac., C.Ht. Oasis Acupuncture http://www.oasisacupuncture.com 8233 N. Via Paseo del Norte Suite D-35 Scottsdale, AZ 85258 Phone: (480) 991-3650 Fax: (480) 247-4472 Chinese Medicine Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of heidi L Friday, July 22, 2005 9:10 PM Chinese Medicine beginners pulse diagnosis book Hello, I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners-intermediate pulse diagnosis book. Thanks! Heidi http://babel.altavista.com/ and adjust accordingly. Messages are the property of the author. Any duplication outside the group requires prior permission from the author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 from the sounds of it, studying with a " master " may be a little costly.... j/k. I know that yolu cant learn everything from a book, and ofcourse I would also practice on as many people as I can. Just interested in any recommendations from books. I am really interested. H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 While I agree with you that pulse mastery requires practice practice practice, and a good teacher, Chinese medicine is both a practical and literary craft. Learning pulses requires learning the 28 basic qualities, which are like an alphabet. It also means that it is preferable to learn basic medical Chinese, so that one can relate the characters to the pulse qualities. The Chinese language is intimately related to the pulse qualities themselves as described in the literature. Then, one can discover for oneself new qualities and combinations, and also find other pulse descriptions in the classical literature. For example, the Nan Jing describes seasonal pulses as hook-like/gou mai in summer, hair-like/mao mai in autumn, stone-like/ shi mai in winter, and string-like/xian mai in springtime. While pulse mastery is a long-term commitment, pulse reading gives rewards from the very beginning. Just do it and grow. An accurate diagnosis is half of medical practice. I agree with Holmes that you should begin with Li Shih-zhen's pulse book, and then move on to the Mai Jing/Pulse Classic. On Jul 23, 2005, at 12:31 AM, Christopher Vedeler L.Ac. wrote: > Learning pulse diagnosis from a book is like learning what food tastes > like from a cook book. Has anyone ever really felt a rolling bean > pulse? These standardized descriptions are vague and difficult to > differentiate in real life. There are a lot more than 28 different > pulse > characteristics as well! > > The only way to learn pulses is to take thousands of pulses, ideally > under the guidance of a master. It really takes years to begin the > study where it starts to make sense. I've learned enough to know > that I > have barely scratched the surface. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 - " heidi L " <hlangeneckert <Chinese Medicine > Saturday, July 23, 2005 7:10 AM beginners pulse diagnosis book > Hello, > > I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners-intermediate > pulse > diagnosis book. > > Thanks! > Heidi > http://babel.altavista.com/ > > > and adjust > accordingly. > > Messages are the property of the author. Any duplication outside the group > requires prior permission from the author. > > If you are a TCM academic and wish to discuss TCM with other academics, > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 Sat, 23 Jul 2005 04:10:19 +0000, " heidi L " <hlangeneckert wrote: >> I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners-intermediate pulse diagnosis book. Adding to the discussion: 1) Leon Hammer's book 2) a computer-based pulse-reading system intended to aid instruction 1) As several have mentioned, the Han MaiJing, and Li ShiZhen's texts are the classic documents; and extensive, perhaps decade-long practice is essential (for all but the most gifted). I would note that from what I have gathered, traditional pulse mastery, which has probably always been as rare as it is today, was/is personally transmitted, in master-student relationships, over an extended learning period. In my opinion, what the average modern student picks up (myself included), in standard institutional academic settings (in the PRC as well as elsewhere), is, in comparison, rudimentary at best. I have to add mention here of Leon Hammer's book - Chinese Pulse Diagnosis: A Contemporary Approach - as an option for the serious student, even at beginning / intermediate levels. The reason is that Dr. Hammer's work grows out of the apprenticeship relationship with an acknowledged master (the late Dr John Shen), and attempts to present that body of acquired and cultivated expertise in precise detail, in terms of both methodology and interpretation. Getting to know this book, to the extent of making it useful, is, admittedly, a major, long-term task, and greatly facilitated by hands-on instruction by Dr. Hammer or one of his certified teachers. But probably more efficient than going it alone. Some aspects of this book are idiosyncratic (and heavily criticized), but the attention to detail and precision stand as a challenge to his critics as well as followers. As Dr. Hammer has also pointed out, the pulse " classics " are also human creations and by no means infallible. (What, after all, do we know about the context of origin and purpose of those books?) The proof of the pudding, in my experience, lies in the relationships of particular pulse position/quality combinations/complexes to specific diagnoses. Dr. Hammer elaborates on what qualities and combinations are common (and less so) at particular positions, and their significance; and special relationships among positions & qualities. This is the practical gold mine (to add another metaphor) of the book, an instance of what Elisabeth Hsu (in The Transmission of ) calls the " virtuosity " of the ming laozhongyi (illustrious old/master CM doctors). That is to say, specific practical insights collected from experience (added to personally transmitted/inherited experience) which makes for masterful medicine. 2) A group of researchers-practitioners north of San Francisco, led by Michael Broffman, developed from the 1980's through at least 1999 a computer-based system of capturing and displaying pulse qualities, focusing on the educational aspect. An article in the California Journal of Oriental Medicine (Vol 10, No. 4, Fall 1999, pp 30-33) outlined the history of this and presented its rationale, with numerous graphic illustrations. It was called (at least then) " PulsImagery™ " . As fascinating as this appears, I've not noticed it making much of a splash since. One piece of research associated with it involved a clinical trial (in conjunction with a degree thesis at San Francisco State University). Machine identified pulse characteristics were compared with those read by an expert practitioner. While it looked interesting, and claimed significant results, a point of some suspicion was that the " expert " - one of the authors of the system - was also conducting/calibrating the machine analysis. If this system carries on, perhaps fulfilling one of its main goals as facilitating student training in pulse reading, then it, as a form of " media " (nowadays in some ways comparable to " books " ) would be another approach for the beginner/intermediate pulse student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Another excellent text I can recommend for studying pulse diagnosis is " Secret of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis " from Bob Flaws. It is possibly the clearest text on the pulse in the English language. On Jul 22, 2005, at 9:10 PM, heidi L wrote: > Hello, > > I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners- > intermediate pulse > diagnosis book. > > Thanks! > Heidi > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 Heidi, One of my favorite books on Pulse Diagnosis, and in fact, one of my favorite books on the subject of at large, is a little gem by the Shandong Science and Technology Press called, Pulse Diagnosis. Here is a link to get you there: http://www.redwingbooks.com/products/books/PulDiaSha.cfm Good luck, David Karchmer Austin, TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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