Dr Arnaud Versluys Interview by Ross Campbell

July 23, 2015

Interview with Dr Arnaud Versluys by Ross Campbell Arnaud Versluys’ training in China was unusual both for its thoroughness – he studied to bachelor, masters and doctorate level – and for the fact that he eventually disciplined himself to the clinical use of formulas from the Shang Han Lun and Jing Gui. He learned this way of doing things outside the university system in lineage with his master, Dr Zeng. The method of practice he learned in that setting is based very closely on an idiomatic configuration and self-contained diagnostic structure that goes back two thousand years. Most students with a background in TCM find this way of doing things quite exotic and are surprised to find that many basic classical precepts do not relate coherently to what they have been taught. Dr Versluys’ talent as a teacher is to be able to explain the content of the classics in a very meticulous manner whilst at the same time bringing the content to life in a joyous way. The passionate and faithful dedication to Shang Han Lun practice by the ongoing lineage has led to some conflict and discord with what has become the mainstream of Chinese medicine. The issues […]

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The Chinese Medical Canons’ View on Immune Response and Its Regulation

By Arnaud Versluys, PhD, MD (China), LAc This short article was submitted to the Pacific Symposium Chinese medicine conference in 2012. In biomedical terms, immunity is ‘a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products.’ The actual process of resisting the pathogenic perpetrator is called immune response or immune reaction, which is ‘a bodily response to an antigen that occurs when lymphocytes identify the antigenic molecule as foreign and induce the formation of antibodies and lymphocytes capable of reacting with it and rendering it harmless.’ The concept of immunity is omnipresent in classical Chinese medical literature. And in particular, immune response is described as early as in the Han dynasty (circa 200 BC) Huangdi Neijing, or the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, therefore being the first and foremost medical textbook to spell out in great detail the step by step process that the body goes through when responding against pathogenic affliction. The Neijing Spiritual Pivot anecdotally describes the following: “Huangdi says: How is pain engendered? For what reason and what is it called? Qibo answers: Wind cold and damp qi, lodge between the flesh […]

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Interview: Medicina Chinesa Brasil

Interview with Arnaud Versluys, PhD, MD (China), LAc By Dr. Reginaldo de Cavalho Silva Filho Chief-editor, Medicina Chinesa Brasil http://www.medicinachinesabrasil.com.br/ How did you develop your interest on Chinese Medicine? And how did you pursue this goal of learning Chinese Medicine? I have had an interest in medicine since early childhood, and developed a strong interest in complementary medicine since the age of 13 or 14. When I was about 15, my mother started receiving acupuncture and herbal treatments from Dr. Pierre Sterckx in Belgium. He was at the time one of the top people in the field in Belgium and had vast China experience. I would accompany my mother on her visits and hold long conversations with Dr. Sterckx. He is ultimately the person who planted in me the idea of going to China to study Chinese medicine. At the age of 18, after finishing high school, I enrolled in the Hubei College of Chinese Medicine (now called Hubei University of Chinese Medicine) in Wuhan, where I started my Bachelor in Medicine training in general Chinese medicine. After 5 years I graduated there and continued to pursue a Masters and ultimately my doctoral degree at the Chengdu University of Chinese […]

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Aspects of the Cultural Personality of Chinese Medicine and the Imperative Focus on the Classics

By Arnaud Versluys, PhD, MD (China), LAc This short article was originally submitted to the Pacific Symposium Chinese medicine conference in 2011. Chinese Medicine is an ethnical medical system with strong cultural characteristics. As one enters Chinese medical school, the primary task at hand is to assume new ways of thinking and immerse oneself in its different philosophies. Especially for Western students of Chinese medicine, the need to mold one’s mind and measure oneself a new set of values and life principles, is one of the most important undertakings of the aspirant student. This mission of shaping one’s thought patterns in classical style is crucial to allow one to think in ‘old-fashioned’ Chinese ways as it will be the only means to grasp the often challenging analytical thought models developed by the ancient Chinese. The method for this intellectual training is most often anecdotal instruction about how the ancient Chinese viewed nature at large and human nature specifically, emphasizing models such as yin-yang and five phase theory. In a more medically applied context, these originally non-medical theoretical models are then related to solid and hollow organs and elemental correlations of organs in basic physiology; hand and foot channels and five […]

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