Ummmm...a lot, all at once. And we are only fifteen students left now, compared to last year´s class of 30 or so.
The classes have covered basic Chinese medical concepts, mostly concerned with history at the moment. What is yin and yang, what´s their history, what are examples of them. What are the Five Elements, what´s their history, what are examples of them. A little chinese medical history, but not much yet. Vague intros to Chinese philosophy, including very definite matter-of-fact descriptions of Daoism through using Philosophical Daoism as the rule (like defining and teaching what driving is after having read about it in books but never driven a car).
There have been discussions a little bit about clinical practice. Not much, yet. More will come. There is a project for ”Nourishing life”, in where the students are to think through how they can nourish their own life to help them as medical practitioners (the things discussed in the post about the Heart were mostly not present). This might be through anything: swimming, hobbies, taking walks, finger-painting, training qigong or meditation, Tai Chi, making food, and all this is supposed to be put into an E-portfolio. Pictures are appreciated. There will be a presentation before Christmas. The general idea is good that they emphasize, but many students in the class feels this section might be a teensy bit over-represented with time.
Very, very basic qigong has been taught. Not basics – there are no basics taught, just very basic qigong of the simplest versions with very little information to it. The students are however told that to be skilled at what they do, they should practice qigong.
Points and channels have been taught, the first three yin-channels of the arm (Lung, Pericardium, Heart). So far, it is just the point and placement that is taught. There´s no information on what the points do or how they weave together in a treatment: all this comes later. Next up is the first yang-channel, Large Instestine. Students have been taught how to find them and mark them on other people, and this has been corrected and judged. The Five Transporting points of those three have been taught and checked in a test. It has been lots of information, if someone knows nothing to begin with.
There has also been some go-through of channel theory, lessons done at quite high speed with more lots of information in. I have to say I admire those who have come to the course with little or no pre-knowledge: if they are following everything that has been said, they have much better skills at learning than I ever did.
The basics of needling has been taught, and taught quite well. Students are not yet needling others, but have trained on fruit, needle-pads, and various other objects. This was done in one class. I hope there will be more. It´s up to the students if they practice at home. Nothing has been taught about how to withdraw needles yet. Nothing has been taught on pulse diagnostics (there is a lesson in one week´s time, I think) or tongue, except that it has been mentioned.
We have had classes in Anatomy, also at quite high speed (no wonder; they only get four lessons) and on Physiology, which we get lots of the whole first year. This later weaves into pathology and differential diagnosis in a module on Western diagnostic views. The course in Physiology covers basics of biochemistry, cells, and then into the nervous system and other stuff. We are going to spend some time on cells, monomer chains, structures, and the periodic table. The teacher told us today that many from the acupuncture course have, over the years, ventured an opinion that this course might not be necessary for being good at Chinese medicine. This was wrong, she stated: we would need it for later modules.
The module is absolutely not necessary for becoming good at Chinese medicine, but it is of course necessary if someone wants to take a degree here. The reactions from most students in my class to the Physiology course are like to that of the Nourishing life section, but a little stronger.
At best, the Physiology might give a basic knowledge and understanding of how Western medicine is constructed in its current shape, which perhaps will be useful sometime in the future. Most likely not, but perhaps. The good part of learning pathology and differential diagnosis later, is to better understand if a patient turns up after having been treated in Western medicine and pulls out a list of medicines or a diagnosis. You really don´t have to know physiology – at all – to be a brilliant chinese medical practitioner and perform virtual miracles of medical skill on your patients.
There is also a class on Therapeutic Relationships which I haven´t attended, since I´ve done it and trained it before. And taught it. And written about it. For years.
So it´s a mixed bag of modules and information. The quality of teaching has been fairly OK, if a bit fast. The general tone has been OK, as seen over the whole spectrum. It will be interesting to see how it develops over time. I personally study in huge amounts on the side too, and try to make my expensive days in London count.
