Japanese-style – Bob Quinn Seminars

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Bob Quinn

The Clinical Tip That Changed My Life

A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn

Sometimes we remember a tidbit of information in the right moment, and it can become a major inflection point for us in our career. I’d like to relate just such an occurrence from 2004 when in a moment of need I recalled a passing comment from Kiiko Matsumoto from some years before in a seminar. My focus in writing this blog is not so much the tip itself, although it is a good one to be aware of, but more on citing an example of how change can arrive in our lives in quantum leaps.

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Tool Quality

A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn

I have quite a collection of shonishin tools. I use them in my classes to show possibilities, but in actual practice there are only a few I use again and again in my actual treatments. Students always ask how important it is to have an expensive teishin or other tools. (A teishin is one of the nine classical needles mentioned in the Ling Shu—it is about the size and shape of a toothpick, some bigger and some smaller than that.)

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Moxa – An Art

A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn

I taught a class on moxa this morning at NUNM in Portland, OR where I am employed as an instructor. It is always gratifying to open the “moxa door” to another group of practitioners. I myself waited probably 5-7 years after I acquired my license before I brought in moxa in a meaningful way. For the sake of my earlier patients I wish I had begun earlier, because I now see moxa as almost indispensable. It does something that needles cannot do (of course the reverse is true as well, what needles do cannot be done with moxa).

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Direct Moxa In The Treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease

A Blue Poppy blog post by Bob Quinn

Many people have by now read the extremely helpful material (literally life-saving for some patients) put out by Heiner Fruehauf, Ph.D. on the treatment of Gu syndrome. This was discussed in my last blog. Chronic Lyme disease is, in his opinion (and mine at this point), a modern instance of this ancient syndrome. Always the focus in Heiner’s material is herbal medicine. Here I want to briefly mention how direct half-rice grain moxa (or smaller) can be used to help these chronic Lyme patients.

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Bob Quinn

A Bear In The Clinic

I just finished hosting Iwashina Anryu Sensei (he is called Dr. Bear) in Portland, OR. He taught a seminar to 42 people Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday we had a smaller study group with him for 12 lucky practitioners. He was here in Portland for a little more than a week.

There is so much to say about what can happen when we have the chance to interact with master level practitioners. Some speak of a “transmission” and it seems a reasonably good word for what I experienced. I did receive a treatment from Dr. Bear, and for the first time I had the opportunity to give him a treatment. It was an honor and a great learning experience.

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Bob Quinn

An Insight Into The Eight Extraordinary Vessels and ST36, 37, 39

Recently I had an epiphany while preparing to teach a module of the OCOM DAOM program in Portland, OR that I’d like to share. To prepare for teaching I went back over my old notes from training in Dr. Yoshio Manaka’s way of using the 8EV with ion pumping cords, a unique polarity style of treatment. His system was called Yin-Yang Channel Balancing. I practiced that style for 10-12 years—for certain patients I still give ion cord treatments. I have also studied with Kazuto Miyawaki, acknowledged as a modern master of the 8EV, and have used his system of 8EV treatment. In the Miyawaki system polarity agents are used as well, in this case zinc and copper discs. It also makes clever use of moxa on the master-couple points.

Posted on September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Shonishin – Such A Curiosity!

“If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.”
J Krishnamurti

Yesterday I taught an all-day shonishin seminar for the Oregon State Association as a fundraiser. I was helped by Daniel Silver and Todd Wymer. For those unfamiliar with this term—Shonishin—it is a Japanese style of pediatric treatment that does not often use inserted needles. Instead techniques of stroking, tapping, scratching, and vibrating points are used. Various interesting tools are employed to do this work.

How can it be that such minute levels of stimulation as we find in shonishin are often enough to bring about the kinds of change infants and children need? It is difficult, if not impossible, to explain, given our current understanding of the human body. The amount of contact pressure is often only 5 grams or so, and yet this is enough to bring surprising change to many conditions commonly encountered.

Posted on September 22, 2019September 24, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Dr. Nagata’s PNST & The Power of Jing Well Points

Last year I worked as part of a team to produce a book on the work of Dr. Hiroshi Nagata, MD. I had earlier read an article about his work in the “North American Journal of Oriental Medicine” (www.najom.org). This work involved many hours of unpaid editing of the book. I volunteered because I find his ideas and his story compelling and, beyond that, helpful to my patients.

Posted on September 21, 2019September 24, 2019 by Bob Quinn

Era 1, Era 2, Era 3 Acupuncture?

“What I do is live, how I pray is breathe…”
Thomas Merton

Larry Dossey, MD in his earlier books talked of Era 1, Era 2, and Era 3 medicine. I think it is an interesting way to frame the great diversity we find in medicine these days. A patient facing all the options available today can easily get confused, and his way of categorizing medical styles is a big help, because the goal of each is actually quite different.