Qiological Shoptalk

Qiological
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In this Qiological Shop Talk podcast, we bring you roughly 20-25 minutes of practical clinical methods, perspectives, and advice on acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine that has its work boots on. In this short segment you’ll get a clinical gem of practical material that you can begin to investigate the next time that you walk into clinic. Roll up your sleeves. Let's get to work!

  1. 10 HR AGO

    041 Top Three Considerations in Treating Menopause • Christina Jackson

    When we work with menopause in the clinic, we quickly see that hormones alone don’t determine the outcome. Sleep disruption, heat, and weight changes often reflect how the body is adapting to a major physiological transition. Effective treatment isn’t about correcting hormone levels alone, but about supporting the body’s capacity to adjust as its internal resources shift. In this conversation, we sit down with Christina Jackson for a clinical discussion on menopause through the lens of Chinese medicine. We explore why the common symptoms of menopause — sleep disturbance, heat, and weight gain — are often interconnected, and why addressing sleep first can create the foundation for improvement across the whole system. We also discuss how menopause is frequently oversimplified as a Kidney deficiency pattern, when in reality many patients present with liver dynamics, fluid depletion, or mixed patterns that require a more nuanced approach. We also talk about the importance of patient education. Helping patients understand the role of lifestyle, nervous system regulation, and long-term depletion allows them to participate more actively in their own care. Effective care during menopause isn’t about pushing the body harder or chasing lab numbers. It’s about working with what is presenting, offering the right support at the right time, and helping the system regain its ability to regulate itself.

    29 min

  2. 5 MAR

    040 Approaching Perimenopause • Lorne Brown

    When we work with perimenopause, we find it isn’t hormones alone that determine the outcome. It’s the body’s capacity to adapt to change. Effective treatment isn’t about replacing what is declining, but restoring resilience so the system can regulate itself. In this Shoptalk, we sit down with Lorne Brown for a clinical conversation on understanding perimenopause through the lens of Chinese medicine. We explore why the oversimplification of “estrogen decline equals symptoms” is not a clinically useful perspective, and how kidney resources and liver adaptability shape a patient’s experience. We discuss why seeing what is presenting matters more than diagnosing by label, and why hot flashes in one constitution require a very different approach than in another. We also talk about the importance of treatment dosage and momentum, and how short, concentrated courses of acupuncture and herbs can recalibrate the system more effectively than scattered, infrequent care. Effective care is not about doing more. It’s about offering the right support at the right time, in the right amount, so the body can regain its own balance.

    35 min

  3. 19 FEB

    039 Wen Bing Strategies for Treating Winter Colds • Kerri Westhauser

    When treating warm pathogens, it’s small well-timed interventions that bring about effective clinical results. The treatment doesn’t look dramatic, the key to success is meeting the body where it’s ready to respond. In this Shoptalk we sit down with Kerri Westhauser for a conversation on using Wen Bing formulas in the treatment of colds, flu and coughs. We’ll discuss why the oversimplification of “wind-heat equals virus” is not a clinically helpful perspective, along with the Wen Bing focus on timing and layers. Kerri reminds us that when you see a patient matters just as much as what you see. We also discuss the importance of the fluids and the recovery phase, as a way to consider treatment for lingering dryness, fatigue, and scratchy coughs that remain after the acute illness has resolved. Along with why light, aromatic support often is more helpful than heavy cloying tonics. As is often the case with Chinese herbal medicine effective treatment isn’t about doing more. It’s about with clarity and precision doing just enough.

    31 min

  4. 5 FEB

    038 Using Saam Acupuncture for Colds and Coughs • Andreas Brüch

    Seasonal colds move like shifting weather through the body—from icy surface invasion to lingering damp in the lungs. In this Shop Talk conversation, Andreas Brüch shares how Saam acupuncture maps these changes with clarity and precision. We explore how Taiyang strategies open the surface at the earliest stage, why the Urinary Bladder meridian can be used even when patients feel chilled, and how Lung and Yangming treatments help once the cold moves deeper. You learn about differentiating fluids—dry, wet, hot, or cold—guides point selection, and how reversing Cheung Bu combinations can dry dampness or moisten dryness effectively. In this Shop Talk conversation with Andreas Brüch, we explore treating colds and coughs through the lens of Saam acupuncture. Andreas has spent decades traveling between Germany and Korea, studying the ways that six qi, five phases, and the nuances using the four-needle technique. His approach is practical, rooted in clinical clarity, and shaped by a deep appreciation for how simple, targeted treatments can bring the system back into a healthy balance.

    28 min

  5. 22 JAN

    037 Simplifying Herb Formulas By Considering Flavor and Function • Andrew Nugent-Head

    Colds and coughs arrive uninvited, rearrange our plans, and remind us that the body has its own weather systems—its own logic for how things move, settle, and resolve. Treating colds well requires more than naming a pathogen; it asks us to pay attention to terrain, timing, and the person standing in front of us. In this conversation with Andrew Nugent-Head, we explore respiratory illness through the lens of classical Chinese medicine as it was practiced before modern standardization. Drawing on his study and clinical experience with Republican-era doctors, Andrew reflects on a time when physicians treated everything from acute emergencies to chronic disease—and when formulas were understood not as fixed prescriptions, but as flexible strategies rooted in flavor, nature, and direction. Listen into this Shoptalk as we explore how herbs work through their flavor and nature, how to treat colds and flus without falling into rote pattern diagnosis, the importance of changing the internal landscape rather than “killing” an illness, and what it really means to practice patient-centered medicine when respiratory bugs come through the door.

    34 min

  6. 8 JAN

    036 Gua Sha for Colds and Coughs • Carly Hererro

    Ever underestimate a simple tool? Sometimes what looks like folk medicine turns out to hold profound clinical value. In this Shop Talk, we get into gua sha with Carly Herrero, an acupuncturist and massage therapist from Maine who’s made this deceptively simple technique a cornerstone of her clinical work. Listen into this conversation as we explore how gua sha acts like a “controlled burn”—creating local inflammation to reduce systemic inflammation—why it’s effective for colds, flus, and lingering coughs, and how to match technique and dosage to the patient’s constitution. Carly shares practical insight on treatment locations, using gua sha at home, and what to look for when teaching patients to use it safely. Her reminder is both humble and powerful: effective medicine doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the simplest methods—used with care, attention, and the right touch—make the biggest difference

    27 min

  7. 18/12/2025

    035 Treating Kids with Colds • Maya Suzuki

    It’s the quiet, gentle skills that often enough create the most change in clinic, especially for kids. The techniques easily overlooked because they seem so subtle, gentle or simple, it’s these interventions the body soaks in with a thirst. In this Shop Talk, we sit down with Maya Suzuki, a practitioner rooted in Japanese medicine, whose work with pediatrics reveals just how responsive, intuitive, and astonishingly resilient children’s bodies can be. Listen in as we explore why treating kids requires a completely different mindset than treating adults. The importance of proper dosage. How overtreatment is surprisingly easy to slip into, and how children themselves often tell you exactly they’ve had enough. Maya takes us inside her palpation process and shares how the Shang Han Lun becomes a 3D map in her hands. She describes how this is useful in tracking colds, coughs, and seasonal pathogens through the taiyang and beyond. She also talks candidly about knowing when East Asian medicine can take the lead, and when Western medicine needs to step in—emphasizing the importance of collaborative clinical care. Effective treatment isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing just enough, with presence, precision, and trust in the body’s own capacity to heal.

    38 min

  8. 01/12/2025

    034 Why I usually see Shaoyang cold and flu issues and what I do about it.

    Cold and flu season arrives on schedule every year. Patients walk with symptoms of not being quite well and if you’re paying attention—you can discern the pattern as it shifts and moves. The body tells you where the pathogen has landed, and what it’s up to. In this shoptalk with Eran Evan, we investigate the colds both from the Jing Fang perspective and also take into account the habits of modern life. You might see the progressions the old books speak about because our patients rarely do something about an external invasion at the beginning. Eran comes out of the Jing Fang lineage, and has years of study with Dr. Huang Huang. He’s got a knack for understanding how to apply old formulas in the modern day. We'll be discussing both garden-variety colds and the lingering effects of long-COVID. Listen in as we wander through why a sore throat points to a Shaoyang pattern, what Zhang Zhongjing’s little postscripts can still teach us, and how formulas like Chai Hu Gui Zhi Gan Jiang Tang or Xiao Chai Hu Tang aren’t just prescriptions—they’re snapshots of a physiology in motion.

    26 min
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About

In this Qiological Shop Talk podcast, we bring you roughly 20-25 minutes of practical clinical methods, perspectives, and advice on acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine that has its work boots on. In this short segment you’ll get a clinical gem of practical material that you can begin to investigate the next time that you walk into clinic. Roll up your sleeves. Let's get to work!

Information

  • Creator
    Qiological
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Qiological
  • Show Website
    Qiological Shoptalk

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