By Eric Brand I’m writing this blog from Guilin, one of China’s most beautiful cities. Guilin is one of the key cities of Guangxi province, and it is home to the distinctive karst mountains that feature prominently in Chinese landscape paintings. I… more »

by Honora Wolfe First I want to say something heretical in the world of marketing. I don’t think you HAVE to have a website at all. When do you not need a website? First, if you have no knowledge of how to work with and manipulate your own site (add… more »

By Eric Brand While perusing the Chengdu herb market with my teachers, I saw some very nice specimens of whole herbs that had not yet been sliced for decoction. I got a lot of authenticated samples to bring back for our little herb museum at Blue Po… more »

By Eric Brand I’m writing this blog from Chengdu, China, the capital of Sichuan province. Sichuan is the homeland of Fu Zi (Aconiti Radix Lateralis Praeparata), and it is also the homeland of a trend in Chinese medicine called the “Huo Shen Pai” (Fi… more »

by Bob Flaws Yesterday I taught a webinar on how to treat asymptomatic Western medical diseases with Chinese medicine. One of the pieces of feedback we received was from an MD who said that contemporary Chinese medicine should not follow Western medi… more »

by Bob Flaws On April 19, 2010, Ananhad O'Connor published an article in the Health section of the New York Times. In this article, Ms/Mr.(?) O'Connor quotes a number of studies which show that drinking alcohol can worsen allergic rhinitis (AR). The… more »

by Bob Flaws Toxins (毒 du) are one of the causes of disease in Chinese medicine. However, many students and practitioners are not clear about the Chinese medical concept of toxins. In Shan Dong Zhong Yi Za Zhi (Shandong J CM), issue #6, 2004,… more »

By Eric Brand I'm writing this blog from China since I am on a trip to visit my teachers and our manufacturing facility. I have an insatiable appetite for books, so I thought I'd begin another round of the travel blog with a mini-guide to the best s… more »

By Lorraine Wilcox Friday, April 16th, 2010 was the third day of the third lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Li Shizhen in Ben Cao Gang Mu and Yang Jizhou in Zhen Jiu Da Cheng both mention picking mugwort on the third day of the third lunar month… more »

By Eric Brand Last weekend I was at the AAAOM conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Set at a beautiful desert resort, the conference was an intimate gathering of many of the movers and shakers in the field. As usual, the AAAOM conference coincided… more »

By Eric Brand Chinese medicine remains a relatively new field in the West, and there are a few essential pieces that remain largely untapped in our community. In particular, I’ve noticed that many CM schools don’t incorporate strong training in the… more »

by Bob Flaws Anyone who has ever taken a class with me has probably heard me say, "Mastery is always mastery of the basics." This is so, so true. Unfortunately, this truth is rarely accepted and acted on, which of course, is why true masters are few… more »

By Eric Brand A few years ago, the U.S. FDA announced that manufacturers of dietary supplements must comply with cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) regulations. This law takes effect at different times for companies of different sizes, and… more »

By Eric Brand Last week I talked on the phone with a customer who was inquiring about genital herpes and our external formula Jade Dew. As it says in our product guide, Blue Poppy’s Jade Dew formula is from the Zhong Yi Wai Ke Xue Jiang Yi ("Chinese… more »

by Malia Kirby Back before I chose to study and practice Oriental medicine, I figured microbiology was where it's at and, to tell the truth, I'd still be perfectly happy looking through a microscope, making Gram stains, and identifying the assorted "… more »

by Bob Flaws Yesterday, Marnae Ergil and I had a short discussion on Facebook about teaching Chinese in Chinese medicine programs here in North America. Marnae's point was that, although a reading knowledge of Chinese is highly useful when studying a… more »

By Eric Brand In the West, we constantly hear people expressing fear about supplementation during external contraction, and this fear often centers on the phrase “tonifying the pathogen.” However, Chinese books basically never talk about “tonifying… more »

by Malia Kirby As practitioners, it is vital that we know our Chinese medical theory backwards and forwards – but knowing the theories, pulses, pathomechanisms, and treatment principles possible should have been accomplished before stepping across th… more »

By Juliette Aiyana President Obama gave school lunches a 6 cent budget boost. What’s that equal to, six extra tater-tots per day? Big **** deal. I’m not overly impressed with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Yes, this act will continue to… more »

By Eric Brand Shawn wrote a great blog on green tea the other day, so I want to follow it up with a little blog about oolong tea. I am generally fan of all types of tea, but oolong is probably my favorite for day-to-day consumption. Oolong tea is o… more »

by Shawn Tzu As we move into the spring season, we have entered the time of year of the wood phase and the season of the liver. As you undoubtedly know, the two most important medicinals to benefit the liver at this time are Huang Peep and Chi Pee… more »