Shanghan Lun Acupuncture

The six conformations grid along which the Shanghan Lun is outlined lends itself remarkably as a clinical guide for acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. The six channels or conformations are the physical representations of the six climate influences or six qi liu qi in nature. In the body they form the six pairs of hand and foot channels directly linked to these six qi. Zhang Zhongjing, though being an ardent herbalist and protagonist of the Shennong lineage in Chinese medicine, recommends acupuncture protocols throughout the Shanghan Lun and Jingui Yaolue. He is the first historical physician to actually recommend the integrated and streamlined use of herbal medicine and acumoxa.

When using six conformations in diagnosis and differentiation, the identified pattern dictates the treatment by stipulating a narrow selection of herbal formulas to be used. These herbal formulas can then be extrapolated into an acupuncture model that follows the same aforementioned physiological and pathological differentiation models, to obtain ultimate consistency between herbal and acupuncture treatment for mutual enhancement and increased clinical results. All this happens while eliminating the use of random arbitrary point selections out of symptomatic considerations.

The goal of this course is to provide a framework for acupuncture and moxibustion therapy based on Shanghan Lun rationale of the six conformations. Specific point prescriptions will be discussed, but even more importantly a methodology for point selection that can be applied to any Shanghan Lun-based herbal therapy will be taught. The methodology for point selection will consider the same many factors that the original author has considered in the design of his herbal formulas.

The extrapolation process into a point prescription evidently considers the specific attributes of point qualities as a basis for their selection. But the point selection goes far beyond individual, sometimes symptomatic, actions and delves deeply into the realm of channel specificity, yuan and luo qualities, transport point actions, back shu and front mu points, channel intersections, local and distal combinations, hand and foot channel connections, specific functions of points, and needling versus moxibustion, etc. As in an herbal formula, the single ingredient is subordinate to the whole and the goal of the acupuncture prescriptions is to employ the points as a balanced team on a joint mission. Point selections for the discussed disorders are further influenced by the three conditions of biao-ben-zhongqi physiology of the affected channel within the six conformations, the control ke cycle of the five elements as part of the pathomechanism, and the patterns of disease progression in six conformation pathology as outlined in chapter 31 of the Internal Classic of the Yellow Emperor huangdi neijing. The point prescriptions become simulations or holograms of the herbal prescriptions, though not necessarily in number of ingredients/ points, but by all means in over-all therapeutic action and channel affinity.

This course instructs the participant in acupuncture point protocols to match the core archetypical formulas of the Shanghan Lun. These very protocols have been developed by Dr. Versluys and have been effectively used in clinic for many years, thus demonstrating a solid track record. Upon completion, the participant will have mastered a methodology to translate or extrapolate any classical herbal formula into an acupuncture and moxibustion prescription, thus allowing for greater consistency in clinic, increased efficacy and full herb-needle integration.

8 CREDITS (NCCAOM, CALIFORNIA)