Qiological Podcast

Wind isn’t just a breeze, it's also an agent of change. Not metaphorical change—but literal, seasonal, even cosmological change that moves through bodies, weather, and even geopolitics. The energies of nature are not only magnificent forces that sculpt landscapes. But also unfold within us as a kind of inner weather. In this conversation with Christine Cannon, we continue our exploration of the ce...

Ever wonder if the body tells its own version of your inner story? That maybe the channels don’t just carry qi—but also the shape of your longings, the tempo of your fears, and the echo of old emotional weather? What if meridians are a kind of cartography, not just for physiology, but for the inner landscape of the self? In this conversation with Andreas Brüch, we explore how Saam acupuncture offe...

Sometimes the tools that help us see clearly aren’t visible at all—like magnetism, sound, and light. We feel their effects more than we can explain them, but when you start to work with these in clinic, something subtle shifts. In this conversation with Greg Bartosiewicz, we get into a layered discussion of acupuncture, magnetism, light, and biofields. Greg’s background in proteomics and medical l...

In the early 80’s as acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture in the West, it developed differently in response to the established medical and educational systems already in place. In the USA there was no national health service, while in the UK, that was a pillar of the socio-political landscape.  Sybil Coldham was not a practitioner of acupuncture, instead she was involved with...

What does it take to truly learn something? To not just know it in theory, but to have it live in your hands? Discipline, repetition, and a touch of obsession might be part of it—but so is heart, motivation, and the magnetic force of curiosity that keeps pulling you forward. In this conversation with Dr. Henry McCann, we talk about what it means to engage deeply with the practice of medicine. Henr...

Sometimes it’s not what we hear, but what emerges in the space just before—where meaning hasn’t formed yet—but something is already calling your attention. It’s that quiet edge of awareness where both healing and mystery tend to show up. In this conversation with Christoph Wiesendanger, a jazz pianist with an abiding interest in Chinese medicine, we explore how rhythm, resonance, and reflective aw...

Part One What if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape? In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chine...

Part Two What if the body wasn’t a fixed map, but a living, improvisational landscape? In this conversation with Lan Li, a historian, filmmaker, and rhythm-savvy thinker at the crossroads of medicine and imagination, we explore how anatomy is more than skin and sinew—it’s a set of metaphors, shaped as much by culture as by scalpels. Lan brings insight from her work in neuroscience, film, and Chine...

The roots of tradition sometimes take hold in unexpected soil. What happens when traditions from France, Korea, and China converge in one practitioner’s hands? There’s a kind of alchemy in the way knowledge travels—through stories, teachers, and clinical results that raise the question of what is going on here. In this conversation with Jacques MoraMarco, we explore the shape of a career that’s sp...

What do we do when the world feels like it’s unraveling? How to respond when our systems—political, economic, medical—feel brittle, even broken? It’s easy to fall into despair, or look away. But maybe what we’re being asked to do is look closer. To stay present. In this conversation with Ed Neal and Mel Hopper Koppelman, we explore the edges where medicine, ecology, and culture meet. Both are thin...

Sometimes the best opportunities don’t look like opportunity—they look like risk. Like driving hours into the mountains. Like renting a stranger’s massage room and hoping someone shows up. But there’s a strange kind of capacity that comes from following a hunch—especially the kind that seems to go against the grain. In this conversation with Irina Cividino, we explore her unconventional path as a...

Technology is evolving fast—and it’s starting to mirror us in ways that are both fascinating and a little unsettling. As AI becomes part of our daily lives, it raises an important question: how do we stay human while working with machines that mimic us? In this conversation with Vanessa Menendez-Covelo, we explore the intersection of Chinese medicine and artificial intelligence. With a background...

It’s a curious thing, sometimes you want to get away from something. Maybe it’s the town you grew up in, or a family business. You think you know it, and are not interested. But circumstances change and find your way back to it with new eyes. In this conversation with Thomas Leung, we trace the arc of a family deeply rooted in Chinese herbal medicine. From his great-grandfather’s shop in Guangdong...

Sometimes what holds us back isn’t a lack of skill or knowledge, but an old story unknowingly agreed to. One that says it’s unseemly to want success, that business is at odds with healing. But what if your clinic wasn’t just a way to help people—but also a practice of alignment, agency, and even joy? In this conversation with Julie Bear Don’t Walk, we explore how business and medicine aren’t separ...

There’s a moment in every practitioner’s life when they start thinking less about where they’re going and more about what they’re leaving behind. What does it mean to practice for decades, to see students turn into colleagues, and to watch the medicine evolve through your hands? The arc of a career in acupuncture isn’t just about technique—it’s connection and contribution as well. In this conversa...

Childhood is a surprising, messy, and unpredictable unfolding that follows an orderly  pattern of stages through reliable spirals of development. In this conversation with Moshe Heller, we explore the complexities of childhood development through the lens of Chinese medicine. Moshe shares his insights from years of working with children, drawing connections between physiological, emotional, a...

There's magic in learning how to translate the mysterious into the practical—especially when it comes to bridging the world of acupuncture with the language of Western medicine. Sometimes, all it takes is a burrito and a bit of bravery to create connections that open doors. In this conversation with Elie Cole, we explore her journey from a massage therapist to a successful acupuncturist with a thr...

Some paths in life aren’t so much chosen as they are revealed—often through unexpected encounters, serendipitous moments, or a relentless tug of curiosity. The call to become a healer, to step into the role of a doctor, is often as much about who you are as what you do. In this conversation with Dr. Steven Rosenblatt, we step back into the early days of acupuncture in the West. From his serendipit...

Thirty plus years ago, as an acupuncture patient, I found myself puzzling over the question of “Just how does acupuncture work?” That question has been a reliable traveling companion ever since.  Our work requires a lot of “techne’” and it should, there's a lot to know and we as professionals should know it. But clinical work is more than technical knowledge. It’s this other aspect of our wor...

Change unfolds within the  predictable cycles Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. But, what actually emerges into being, that is usually novel and surprising.  In this conversation with Christine Cannon, we explore the Wu Yun Liu Qi—the Five Movements and Six Qi—and how this intricate system maps out the energetic cycles that shape everything from world events to the experience of our i...

Fascia—it's the connective web that holds us together, yet its role in acupuncture is often overlooked. What if understanding this intricate network could refine the way we think about acupuncture, movement, and healing? In this conversation with James Spears, we explore the interaction of Tung acupuncture and the fascia. James shares his path from traditional acupuncture education to integrating...

The history of medicine isn’t just about treatments and techniques—it’s about migration, adaptation, and how healing traditions take root in new landscapes. The movement of Chinese medicine to the American West is a story woven with resilience, ingenuity, and cultural exchange. In this conversation with historian Tamara Venit-Shelton, we explore the migration of Chinese medicine through the lens o...

The body holds experience in layers—some are structural, some energetic, and others deeply emotional. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pelvis, a place of both power and vulnerability, stability and flow. It’s the root of movement, the center of balance, and a space where emotions and history are stored, often in ways we don’t fully recognize. In this conversation with Krystal Couture, we e...

Following a blueprint is fine for building structures, but when it comes to life choices, someone else’s recipe for success probably will be only marginally helpful. Plans are helpful, and perspective even more so. In this conversation with Sydney Malawer, we explore what it means to build a practice that actually works for you. From rejecting conventional business advice to embracing a model base...

Transformation arises from the unknown. In a world that often craves certainty, the practice of staying with discomfort, observing its rhythm, and allowing clarity to emerge can lead to remarkable insights—not just in healing, but in how we live. In this conversation with Stephen Cowan, we explore how the art of not-knowing-yet invites discovery. Stephen shares his journey from Western medicine to...